SOLD - Sofrider - $225 - Mechanicsville, VA

Zzzorse

Zen MBB Master
Found on Craigslist,

https://richmond.craigslist.org/bik/6203440442.html

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NeaL

Guru
I'm the lucky schmuck who bought it.

I used to search the For Sale section of Craigslist in my nearby areas for "recumbent." When this ad turned up, I thought "What the hell is that?!?!?!"

Ever since I first heard of recumbents, around 1985, or so, I've been wanting to get one. I knew even at that young, lightweight age (15) that the saddle seats of diamond frames were trouble.
Since then, years in a cubicle desk job have been taking their toll on my health. I need a lifestyle change. A few months ago I learned there was a bike shop in Vienna, Virginia selling a variety of recumbents: Long Wheel Base, Short Wheel Base, both bikes and trikes, all available for test-riding. I was only interested in bikes, since I plan on sharing a busy road on my work commute. I don't want to take up so much room on a trike.
I saw immediately that Long Wheel Base designs were out of the question; I'd never be able to fit them in the back of my F-150 without having to drop the tailgate and tie a red flag to the farthest point of protrusion. I value being able to fully close and lock the back windowgate of the bed top with mine and my kids' bikes secured within.
From all the times during my childhood when a chain came loose, I sensed that the mile-long chains on even the Short Wheel Base recumbents were going to be trouble.
Not to brag, but I had already wondered about the advantages of a front-wheel drive bike. Yet for some reason I also imagined steering then needing to be handled by the back wheel. I tried that plenty of times when I was a kid, both trying to ride a bike backwards while looking back over my shoulder, and trying to sit backwards on a bike. I never got it to work then and I can't imagine wanting to try it again now.
But... having the front wheel for both steering and propulsion? That had never occurred to me!
I did a little internet searching on this "Cruzbike" brand. I had one remaining concern about recumbents and that was their sluggishness in going uphill. I don't plan on racing at this time but I do live in an area with lots of hills and I don't want my commutes taking all day.
It was finding this video on YouTube, "Climbing and Sprinting | Technical Analysis," which sealed the the deal for me. After months of searching and taking a pass on many other recumbent ads, I think I bought this Sofrider in only one day after the ad was posted to Craigslist. He asked only $225 for it. Even if the tires and tubes were dry rotted and all of the cables were rusted and broken, I had to get my hands on a Cruzbike and see what it was about.

Since then, I've returned to searching Craigslist, now areas all over the United States, but only with "Cruzbike" as my search word. I want to eventually get at least three more so my kids can each have one, too. My eldest just turned 15 and I want to introduce them to biking properly as they are reaching adulthood.
 
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NeaL

Guru
Sorry for all the editing but I'm one of those people who still consider prose and clarity of meaning to be important, even if I don't get it right the 1st time. Or 2nd, 3rd, 4th...

I tried correcting that last sentence after a few other edits but some kind of computer algorithm is now identifying my comment as spam, preventing me from correcting it any further.

It is supposed to read, "My eldest just turned 15 and I want to introduce them to biking properly as they are reaching adulthood."
 
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Joshwhite

Member
Awesome buy. I paid 475 for mine in good condition with a rack and some upgrades. I have a 3rd ring up front with 22t for climbing. It was listed on this site a few weeks ago. This is definitely a good place to look for bikes for sale. Looking for a Silvio or Vendetta next. There are some cool Sofrider upgrades out there too! Enjoy the ride and ride safe bro!
 

Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
Ah, I see you're in Culpeper . A little bit of a ride, but if you get the chance, bring your bike over with you. I worked with Cruzbike from August 2005 to November 2014, I got lots o' parts and a great deal of experience with the Sofrider, which is an excellent bike. We can go through your ride and tune/fix/upgrade/ stuff and generally have a rewarding conversation.
 

NeaL

Guru
Ah, I see you're in Culpeper . A little bit of a ride, but if you get the chance, bring your bike over with you. I worked with Cruzbike from August 2005 to November 2014, I got lots o' parts and a great deal of experience with the Sofrider, which is an excellent bike. We can go through your ride and tune/fix/upgrade/ stuff and generally have a rewarding conversation.

I might take you up on that. I've been trying to find a weekend when I can go up to the Cruzbike dealer in Mount Airy, Maryland to see what they have on hand and get their advice. I'm looking for fenders, a back rack for panniers, and so far I'm not satisfied with the handle bars despite a couple repositionings.

I'd probably have to bring my three kids along, ages 11-15 with one son in the middle, if that's okay. They each have new unicycles which we can bring along to keep them busy with practicing.
 

NeaL

Guru
I came across a very helpful video on learning how to ride a recumbent, yesterday. It shared the observation that a lot of beginners will push off with one foot while the other is ready on the pedal, but then be in a panicked hurry trying to get their 2nd foot up onto the other pedal.
This was when I kept losing control, so I heeded that advice. That's when I learned something: I can't get my knees through the arch in the handle bars. They're too fat to "thread the needle."
I had been setting the length with one foot at the long end of the crank reach but not checking knee clearance on the close-pedal side.
I haven't tried moving the seat back yet but unless I point these handles upwards, it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to clear them.

I'm not happy with these handles, anyway. Looking at the other models of Cruzbike currently available, it looks like these aren't favored anymore.

Doug, do you have any better handlebars for sale in your stock of parts? If so, I can wait until I get down there for a visit. Otherwise I'll probably be making a stop at a bike shop to see what else I can get in the meantime.
 

Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
After looking at those bars in the ad, I figured they might not be optimal. I'll have to look at my handlebar stash, but I can tell you that a LOT of work went into selecting the ones that were original to the Sofrider V2. I think your is a V1, which started out very early with bars that were a little too short to accommodate typical shifters and grips, but the V2 bar was pretty much perfect.
 

NeaL

Guru
I stopped at a bicycle store up in Warrenton after church today. I don't know the proper name for that gooseneck or giraffe stem holding the handlebars but I hoped they'd have something longer. They didn't have any handlebar parts to suit my needs in stock. Instead we tried rotating the handlebars around, flipping them backwards, trying alternative angles and positions.
I'm going to try pointing the ends upwards but that will require pushing the rubber grips further in and clamping the brakes/shifters outside the grips at the ends of the bars after flipping them around. The cables aren't long enough for that and they've got a bit of rust, anyway. I bought new cable sets. They said they could do the cables for me for $80 labor plus leaving the bike there for a week. Nope. If they could have done it today, maybe, but I'd rather do it myself than wait a week and make another drive up there to pick it up.
I like doing what I can to support local businesses so I also got a rear rack and a pump with the new cable sets while I was there.

Oh, yeah... They had never heard of Cruzbike before so seeing this thing roll into their shop was a mind-blowing experience. They'll be talking about my visit for quite some time.
I had them bring up the Cruzbike website while I was there and talked them up a bit.

Here's a pic of the handlebars.

Doug, are you generally free on the weekends?


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1happyreader

zen/child method
I really don't see how those handlebars would work well.
The stock bars were shaped like a flattened letter M .
I think these bars are stock,,, hard to see with everything black and covered by my add-ons.
might be easier to see than the pdf.
I used a different stem than the previous owner used.
SR bars.png
 

Attachments

  • SofriderV2-DougBurton.pdf
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Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
I have a pair of these in my Sofrider V2 custom that will transfer to my T50:
https://www.amazon.com/Origin8-Spac...63887&sr=1-230&keywords=handlebars&th=1&psc=1

They work well but are a bit pricey. I prefer wider bars on general-purpose bikes. You'll need a bar with a 25.4mm clamp diameter.

This is smother good option:

https://www.amazon.com/Origin8-Clas...8&qid=1502664093&sr=1-302&keywords=handlebars

My weekend availability varies a lot. We'll need to set something up. Saturdays I'm here all day if I'm here; Sundays usually after noon and before 5:30 pm.

Cheers.
 

Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
If you want to improve the way those bars work, I would suggest the following:

The part that holds the bars is called a handlebar stem. This one is adjustable for angle.

I developed some rules for handlebars on my old conversion bikes. Most of Cruzbike's "go-fast" bikes violate all those rules, and folks who own them seem perfectly happy with how they handle. But the original Sofrider was much more similar to the conversion kit bikes that immediately preceded it.

1. It's always been easier for me to keep a straight line when pedaling if my handlebar grips are even with or slightly ahead of the steering axis. If the grips are more than 3" behind the steering axis, the bike wants to wander when I pedal.

2. Vertical grips make your hand interaction with the bars what we call a "pin joint" in engineering. That means when you steer, the bars are like axles in your hands, and your wrists don't get to work in tha act of steering, only your arms and shoulders. If the bars are made less vertical, you can use your wrist muscles in the act of steering, and your wrists are much more precise than your arms and shoulders. Your steering control should improve. I have used completely flat, straight bars before and they work very well, they just tend to work your shoulders a little differently, which can get uncomfortable after a longer ride.

So with the setup you have. I would angle the stem further forward (maybe completely horizontal) and then angle the bars back toward you until the center of the grips crosses the center of the steering column when looking at the bike from the side.

Trying this won't cost anything but a little time, but I think you'll be surprised at how differently the bike handles.

Cheers,

Doug
 

NeaL

Guru
I just ordered the first handlebar you suggested. No matter how much I spin and flip the current handlebars, I just don't think I'll ever be happy with them. I want wider, straighter bars with that slight M shape to give me some flexibility with the positioning. The wider the better because I'll want plenty of real estate for things like lights and other things to mount.
On that topic, an odd thing from the Cruzbike.com Accessories page; they show a picture of a Cygolite Dash Pro 600 bike light but the title and product description is of a Cygolite Dash 460, but priced higher about the same as a Pro 600 on Amazon.com. I sent a message to them about it maybe a couple weeks back, asking for clarification. No response yet. I added a Pro 600 to my Amazon order.

I'll try the stem all the way forward to horizontal but I had it forward at about 45 degrees already when my knees were hitting.
The seat looks to have a couple options for moving it forwards & backwards, and appears to currently be as far back as it can go without maybe drilling more holes. I'll try moving it as far forwards as I can first, that might help keep my knees ahead of the handlebars, and start experimenting from there. But I think I'm still too fat to move the seat forward by much.
 
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NeaL

Guru
I feel like I'm about to crawl out of my skin with impatience and anticipation.

1) I've got a rear luggage/pannier rack I want to mount.
2) First, I want to move the seat as far forwards as possible, before incrementally moving it back only as much as necessary and adjusting the tilt of the backrest, so I don't yet want the rack in the way.
3) Adjusting the seat seems pointless without the new handlebar in place for testing knee clearence.
4) The handlebar, according to tracking, is due to arrive sometime tomorrow evening, which means it won't be sorted at the post office and available to pick up until Friday.
5) A package of accessories from Cruzbike.com is scheduled to arrive today, none of which should be mounted until the handlebar and seat situation is solidified.

I've had the bike for a month and a half now and all I've been able to do so far is kick around and coast on it.
I've seen how people behave while struggling with nicotine withdrawal. I have no idea what that feels like but I feel like acting that same way.
 
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