Greg S
Guru
As I’ve said a number of times elsewhere, for me and the kind of riding I do, a 30 degree seat angle is perfect. I love riding the V20c but a longer ride this past weekend with some “tricky” situations (sharp turns, traffic, etc) reinforced my opinion that I’d love it even more if the seat angle were closer to 30.
So I resolved to do something about it. I bought a couple of foam wedges, cut one to the width of the V20c frame and applied Velcro top and bottom. If you zoom way in on the photo you’ll see that a single piece wasn’t quite long enough (I was worried about the seat not having enough support) so there’s a second wedge behind the first piece.
The result? 29.2 degrees - perfect! I’ve ridden it a couple of times after adjusting the fit because I’m a little farther forward and it’s a total win. A bonus is that there’s a slight amount of flex in the back half of the seat (I have the Cruzbike custom carbon seat and headrest) which ”gives” a little when you hit a bump so they’re less jarring. It’s possible (though unlikely in my opinion) that repeated flexion will crack the seat but I figure if a 777 wing can flex up and down tens of thousands of times without failure this should be fine given the small amount of force being applied.
The second tweak is I wanted a smaller and lighter rear bag than the Cruzbike race bag (which I own). I‘ve got dozens of bags from my DF bikes but I couldn’t figure out a decent way of mounting them. It finally occurred to me that aero bar extensions would fit in the slots in the frame and one of the bags I have (an Ortleib) with a mount that’s supposed to bolt onto seat rails could be used to bolt onto the extensions.
It was a bit of a tight fit getting the aero bars into the frame but a little grease (both elbow and the other kind) got it done. I’m very happy with the result. Big enough for the stuff I usually carry and there’s room between the bag and the seat to strap other stuff if needed.
Here are a couple of photos:
View attachment IMG_3974.jpeg
View attachment IMG_3975.jpeg
So I resolved to do something about it. I bought a couple of foam wedges, cut one to the width of the V20c frame and applied Velcro top and bottom. If you zoom way in on the photo you’ll see that a single piece wasn’t quite long enough (I was worried about the seat not having enough support) so there’s a second wedge behind the first piece.
The result? 29.2 degrees - perfect! I’ve ridden it a couple of times after adjusting the fit because I’m a little farther forward and it’s a total win. A bonus is that there’s a slight amount of flex in the back half of the seat (I have the Cruzbike custom carbon seat and headrest) which ”gives” a little when you hit a bump so they’re less jarring. It’s possible (though unlikely in my opinion) that repeated flexion will crack the seat but I figure if a 777 wing can flex up and down tens of thousands of times without failure this should be fine given the small amount of force being applied.
The second tweak is I wanted a smaller and lighter rear bag than the Cruzbike race bag (which I own). I‘ve got dozens of bags from my DF bikes but I couldn’t figure out a decent way of mounting them. It finally occurred to me that aero bar extensions would fit in the slots in the frame and one of the bags I have (an Ortleib) with a mount that’s supposed to bolt onto seat rails could be used to bolt onto the extensions.
It was a bit of a tight fit getting the aero bars into the frame but a little grease (both elbow and the other kind) got it done. I’m very happy with the result. Big enough for the stuff I usually carry and there’s room between the bag and the seat to strap other stuff if needed.
Here are a couple of photos:
View attachment IMG_3974.jpeg
View attachment IMG_3975.jpeg
