SOLD - Sofrider - $225 - Mechanicsville, VA

[bladderhead]

a very pathetic, frustrating, and infuriating experience.

That was my situation. With everybody looking at me, and me loudly telling the Silvio it was scrap metal and Tolhurst was some sort of con-artist. Do not know why I persevered. I do not regret it now.

Gears are horrible devices for psychological torture, but the only alternative is single speed. I really like the Rohloff on my Grasshopper, but the Silvio forks will not take a Rohloff.

Anyway, you are committed now, you bought the Park tool.

That wet gravel path covered with leaves is going to make you and the bike all wet and covered with leaves unless you get mudguards.

 

[ChaleJake]

Hang in there, Neal. The work is worth the reward.

 

[Rich]

Take your bike out on the weekends when the traffic isn't as heavy and get some practice in. Try to lay out a route with as few hills as possible. It will come to you. It took me till my second year to get comfortable on my Q, but I am an out of shape old guy.
if you have the chance, come down to Richmond, and we can ride on the Capital Trail away from the traffic. Fewer hills here than in Culpeper.

 

[NeaL]

Anyway, you are committed now, you bought the Park tool.

I stuck a wad of gum to it and left it under a table at church. Some random kid will find it and the tool will go to a new home... along with its curse.

That wet gravel path covered with leaves is going to make you and the bike all wet and covered with leaves unless you get mudguards.

I'm actually looking forward to it; winter & wet riding. I worked on fishing boats in Alaska so I kinda miss dealing with rough weather in my work conditions. Splash me with some cold fish slime and I'm good to go.

Hang in there, Neal. The work is worth the reward.

No worries. I'm not quitting. I realized early on that I might need to approach this in stages. Cruzbikes may be more comfortable than regular bikes and designed more intelligently than other recumbents but they're still not really made with fat people in mind.
A lot of workout equipment and clothing are mostly made for people who are already in good shape, not for fat people who need to return to working out. It kinda creates a barrier for those people trying to lose weight.
Now that I've got a supply of lights, panniers, bells, helmet, visibility flag, etc. I might need to get me a StreetStrider and use that instead, until I can fit myself better to the Sofrider. At least with a StreetStrider I can crowd the cars in traffic while going straight and steady, rather than randomly swerving out in front of them like I was doing yesterday on my bike.
I figure that drivers are accustomed to seeing the occasional bicyclist on the roads and are less likely to pay attention as they pass. But seeing a fat guy like me bouncing up and down along the road on a StreetStrider will have them hitting their brakes in confusion and giving me plenty of room as they go around.
While I've got their attention and I'm fat & ugly, maybe attach a sign on my back "Body By Starbucks" or something.

Take your bike out on the weekends when the traffic isn't as heavy and get some practice in. Try to lay out a route with as few hills as possible. It will come to you. It took me till my second year to get comfortable on my Q, but I am an out of shape old guy.
if you have the chance, come down to Richmond, and we can ride on the Capital Trail away from the traffic. Fewer hills here than in Culpeper.

I've been trying that on the weekends but I have custody of my kids at that time. Around-about the same time I got the Sofrider, I got unicycles for each of them. We were going to a local public school where they could learn (need something like a fence or wall along a flat, paved surface for ease of learning, at first) and I was 100% focused on helping them learn to ride their unicycles. After a couple times they didn't really need my help as much, so I started getting out my Sofrider to practice it more. Gradually the kids were less interested in their unicycles and their learning was beginning to stall. It was because their dad wasn't helping, not encouraging and coaching them anymore. So I try to leave the Sofrider behind on the weekends, now.

I'm getting T50s for them for Christmas and plan to take them up to the C&O canal for long rides and maybe pack the bikes for camping trips.

 

[NeaL]

Just a little camera sweep over the gadgets & doo-dads I've mounted on the bike since I got it.
At some point I think I was maybe using these things as an excuse to procrastinate on getting myself up out of bed early enough in the mornings and putting forth the effort to ride it in to work.

Oh, but I need to wait for one more blinky light to come in from Amazon. Otherwise it won't be safe to ride.


https://www.facebook.com/neal.brooks.12/videos/10214834554444550/

 

[cpml123]

That's a lot of lights. Here is another one to add on. I like it quite a lot.
https://cycliq.com/products/fly6/

 

[NeaL]

That's a lot of lights.

I am looking for more. I'll bookmark the link. Thanks.

I have 3.3 miles of shoulderless, back country road with lots of turns & hills in my commute route. This time of year here, it will be in darkness at both times. I want the glow of my lights to be seen before drivers round a curve or crest a hill, so they know something unexpected is up ahead.

 

[NeaL]

*dusting off this old thread*

I haven't been on the forum in a while. I had to come back and have a look at my personal Cruzbike history.

July 2017 - First learned of Cruzbike, bought a Sofrider off of Craiglist
October 2017 - Attended the Recumbent Cycle-Con in Philadelphia, met three of the Parker family.
December 2017 - Bought three T50 frame sets for my kids.
January through September 2018 - Got my kids' T50s completed, my Sofrider upgraded, and went on family trips on some trails.
October 2018 - The kids and I attended our first Cruzbike Ride Retreat in North Carolina.
March 2019 - Ordered myself a S40 frame set. Should be picking it up tomorrow. Gonna get it built quick, nothing fancy. Looking for rugged and dependable components and get busy commuting to work.

 

[benphyr]

How did the Sofrider hold up? How did the pilot do with commuting? I seem to recall a little tentativeness about the particular commuting route. Did that get worked out?

 

[NeaL]

Well, to be frank, because my ass is so fat it's like having a pair of pillows stuffed behind my hips. This pushes my groin forwards, too uncomfortably close to where the handle bars meet the head tube.
Due to the design of the Sofrider, moving the seat as far towards the rear as possible, to allow my groin more room, that results in the backrest being more upright. This has made my body posture too upright with my legs out in front of me. Sitting up like that, pedaling pushes my fat thighs into my fat belly and reduces my breathing capacity.

I can't get a comfortable riding position on the Sofrider, which subtracts from my enjoyment and motivation to ride. I'm currently convinced that I'll have a much more comfortable ride on an S40.

I've ridden the commute route a number of times on my trike so I'm no longer so worried about it. But my pace is sluggish on the trike. The commute gets me home too late and having to leave too early in the morning for my liking. I used a GPS to measure my speeds between the trike and the Sofrider. I'm a lot faster on the Sofrider.

I think a few weekend efforts beforehand on the S40 and I'll be able to climb the local hills on my morning commute without problem.

My main concern right now is visibility. One of the things I like about the trike is that its design puts my flags and their mast lights up high above my head (see picture). When cresting hills and coming around curves, this gives drivers more forewarning; a lot more time to see me.
But mounting these flags down on the chain stays or the seat stays of the S40 frame will put them down a lot lower where they'll be less noticeable, giving drivers less advance notice. I'm planning on mounting them as high as possible behind the back rest.

I've decided to try riding the S40 without the neck rest, nor the new back wedge, at first and decide if I need to add those things later.

 

[benphyr]

I can only imagine what it looks like with you coming down the road at night! I count at least 3 headlights, plus reflectors galore, mast and rear lights too.!. Can you show any comparison for how high those flags really are? what do you have for mast lights? What is the seat angle on the trike? Looks like a pretty awesome setup.

The advantage of being large is that extras are a lower percentage of total mass. I am a 135lbs weakling so a heavy 35lb Cruzbike conversion kit / QX100 has a major impact on my power to weight ratio.

I'm betting on the S40 being awesome. I'm only hugely jealous.

 

[benphyr]

@NeaL
If you were to swap over components directly from your Sofrider, even just for a little while before rewarding yourself with upgrades, then you would get a direct comparison of the two frames. If you do that I would definitely appreciate your comments on the comparison. I'm thinking the comparison will be orders of magnitude difference - beat up old Honda Civic compared to brand new Porche Boxter just with winter tires.

You probably already have components picked out but I can't resist giving my 2 cents: If you are replacing wheels and tires - go with wide tires and go with quality ones so you are not fixing flats - it really does make a huge difference (My experience says average 1 flat / month compared with less than 1 flat per year commuting.)

 

[NeaL]

I try to look like a rolling carnival, with a high "WTF" factor. In addition to multiple lights facing both front and rear, I have every color of Lightweights brand of reflective tapes all over the fenders and frame.
Funny thing is, when I was at the Cruzbike Ride Retreat just riding my Sofrider, one of the other Cruzbikers referred to me as a "peacock." I understood her comparison but when I'm on the road I don't want to end up mating with anything at all.

There was an artist up in Baltimore I knew, he turned every car he had into an art car. I got to ride in one of his creations a few times. He seemed to always have the right of way because all the other drivers stopped to stare and get out their cameras as he rolled by.

The mast lights I have are the Catseye brand ones offered on the T-Cycle website. I have a red and clear one on both masts, just beneath the bottom tips of the flags, where the lower tassel are attached. I'm 5'10" and when standing next to the trike, I have to reach up over my head to turn those lights on & off.
I have no idea about the angle of recline of the trike seat. It has a couple angles in it, and it can be reclined more or leaned upwards.

I'm going to be turning the S40 frame over to a LBS mechanic because I don't know all of the sources for finding parts of all of the different brands. I just know I'll want a double-ring on the crank and, I like colors other than just black or chrome/silver.

I'll be leaving the Sofrider intact. Besides, I don't think the Sofrider has any stock parts left on it, other than the frame, since it left Jim Parker's loving hands when it was first assembled, or something. When I got the Sofrider it had mismatched components and the handle bars were impossible for me to use on the bike.

Between the two bikes I probably won't notice any appreciable difference other than the orientation of my body and how well whichever frame becomes an extension of it.

 

[NeaL]

This Sofrider might now be going onto a Wahoo Kickr as a dedicated indoor trainer. If... I can get ahold of the dang Kickr. Someone recommended that I go through a LBS for a Kickr and the poor guy is hard to get ahold of, with three bike shops in three different towns which he keeps up with.

A little more than a year ago I was going to get a Kickr, but then I had to take an animal to the vet and it set me back about as much as the cost of a Kickr. So I had to put that on hold.
Then I had to take my truck to be inspected last year and something needed to be repaired in order for it to pass. What was the cost? About the same as a new Kickr. And I was just about ready to buy a Kickr again, too.

Last December-ish, I was ready to buy a Kickr for the 3rd time. But... that same animal had to go to the vet again. The vet bill sucked up my Kickr savings.
Now my truck is in the shop, state inspection time again. I just got a call. It needs some parts replaced. How much? A little more than a Kickr.

Fortunately, this will only be eating into my V20 frame budget this time. I want one of those on the Kickr instead of the Sofrider but, oh well.

 

[jond]

This Sofrider might now be going onto a Wahoo Kickr as a dedicated indoor trainer. If... I can get ahold of the dang Kickr. Someone recommended that I go through a LBS for a Kickr and the poor guy is hard to get ahold of, with three bike shops in three different towns which he keeps up with.

A little more than a year ago I was going to get a Kickr, but then I had to take an animal to the vet and it set me back about as much as the cost of a Kickr. So I had to put that on hold.
Then I had to take my truck to be inspected last year and something needed to be repaired in order for it to pass. What was the cost? About the same as a new Kickr. And I was just about ready to buy a Kickr again, too.

Last December-ish, I was ready to buy a Kickr for the 3rd time. But... that same animal had to go to the vet again. The vet bill sucked up my Kickr savings.
Now my truck is in the shop, state inspection time again. I just got a call. It needs some parts replaced. How much? A little more than a Kickr.

Fortunately, this will only be eating into my V20 frame budget this time. I want one of those on the Kickr instead of the Sofrider but, oh well.

a kickr real life story. Why not try a setback seat post on the sofrider. That would allow you to set the seat pan back and get a little more recline. Like a bmx seatpost. Check out sofrider archives.

 

[NeaL]

Alright... the plan to get a Kickr through the LBS fell through.

I don't mind paying full price for a new one but I get the feeling that if I order one directly from the website that it will end up being on backorder, just like the LBS is facing, and they said it would be months!!!

I've been having trouble finding the daylight hours available for getting in some daily riding for the 3,000 challenge. Seriously, if I could brag about doing all 3K miles entirely outside, I would! But realistically, I just haven't been finding the spare time, during daylight hours.
Man, if I had someplace safe & local for putting in the miles at night, though. That would be a blast.


I really don't know enough about what to look for in a used Kickr. I know how to spell "Kickr" and that's about it.

Do any of these used ones look like something I should avoid? Does anyone know? Thanks.

https://baltimore.craigslist.org/d/for-sale/search/sss?postal=22701&query=kickr&search_distance=60

I think I should avoid the Core one, and might try talking down the one who is selling the incline simulator since that's a NO DEAL on a FWD bike frame.