T50 - whatcha planning to build.....

Cruzbike Chris

Well-Known Member
Oops it arrived, forgot to take pic of unboxing. Just way to excited. Yup your right @Doug Burton this thing is a beauty. Very nice welds and excellent packing compared to my first one, a Conversion Kit, a long time ago. Looks purty too next to my trusty Silvio 2.0!
T50-1.jpg
 
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Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
A few more details (I promise I'll compile all these observations into one post later, I promise!)

Rear axle-to-crown clearance 368.25 mm.

Headset bearings are helpfully pre-installed in the head tube, and properly lubricated.

Seat cradle fasteners are very nice and pre-seated in the tubes that carry them off the main frame.

The seat stay clamps are not integrated into the seat stay lower tubes. If you want to increase the seatback recline angle, you can remove the clamps and cut the lower tubes to a shorter length (think very carefully before you do this. The lower tubes are very nicely fashioned and are likely to be hard to replace. Measure 6 times and maybe cut once!)

The seat stays attach to the rear frame mounting points with honest-to-gosh bearing rod-ends. A very nice touch that will insure proper alignment. And they are not made of unobtainium.

The front fork is a variation on the traditional Sofrider/Quest/QX100 design, which I've always thought was awesome for its ability to accept lots of different component groups and arrangements. The derailleur hanger is the same one used on other forks and is retail-available if you bend it.

I've missed the conversion kit for its capacity to encourage customization. I don't miss it so much anymore.

Best, and more to come,

Doug
 

Bill K

Guru
That looks low ... what's the angle... to me that looks worthy of a head rest.

Might just be the clever angle of photography ;)
I just measured it with an IPhone app positioned at the center of the seat, with the seat clamp slid all the way to the back on the T50 frame (as shown in the photo above):
Lowest angle is about 30 deg, and the seat is about 2 inches above the tire (26 x 1.5).
Highest angle is about 50 deg, and the seat is about 9 inches above the tire.
I have it set to about 45 degrees so I will not need a neck rest. At 30 degrees I would definitely need a neck rest, and I would need to rotate the stem 180 degrees to reach the handlebar.
 

Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
If you feel like you need the locking clamp for the steerer tube, this will work.

https://www.amazon.com/Jiyaru-Alumi...eywords=bicycle+tube+clamp+28.6+mm&th=1&psc=1

In the past, when I was working on the Cruzbike team, it wasn't unusual for us to have a customer buy a part, and we would reimburse her/him if a receipt was provided. That way, the customer got the part quickly and we were able to make them whole.

Can't speak for the company, but I bet if you contacted support and proposed this, they'd go along with it.

But I'll be putting my T50 together without the clamp. I need the chainstay angle to be as acute as possible because I have a short x-seam. If you're contemplating using a triple chainring setup, the chainstay angle generally needs to be between 63 and 66 degrees, and leaving out the clamp can help.

Best,

Doug
 

super slim

Zen MBB Master
I just measured it with an IPhone app positioned at the center of the seat, with the seat clamp slid all the way to the back on the T50 frame (as shown in the photo above):
Lowest angle is about 30 deg, and the seat is about 2 inches above the tire (26 x 1.5).
Highest angle is about 50 deg, and the seat is about 9 inches above the tire.
I have it set to about 45 degrees so I will not need a neck rest. At 30 degrees I would definitely need a neck rest, and I would need to rotate the stem 180 degrees to reach the handlebar.
Could you please take a side on photo of the T50 at the 30 degree angle, and also a close up showing the rear seat stay and clamp area?
 

super slim

Zen MBB Master
Bill that is a GREAT set up as you can easily adjust the seat forward/backwards in mm movements, AND angle adjustments from 30 to 50 degrees!!!

Can you please supply all the details of the seat and mounting hardware, as I think other T50 "tinklers" would be very interested!

This set up would allow moving the rider weight rearward, so the rear wheel(s) take 66% to 70% of the weight for a Tilting Delta trike attachment, so all three wheels have the same load on them to reduce the chance of tipping when cornering!

The normal balance for a Cruzbike two wheels is 50%/50%
 
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Cruzbike Chris

Well-Known Member
So for you, that are already done with your build, A couple of quick questions
1. where did you put the 4 rubber grommets
2. and 2 clear plastic washers?
3. how far down the steering tube should the extension riser go?
 

anotherbrian

Active Member
So for you, that are already done with your build, A couple of quick questions
1. where did you put the 4 rubber grommets
2. and 2 clear plastic washers?
3. how far down the steering tube should the extension riser go?

I got four clear plastic washers. I was thinking they might go between the seat pan and the bracket.

I'd like to see official guidance on what that mess of bolts, washers, and nuts do. Way too many to guess (I did see on a different frameset that rubber washers were used between the seat pieces).
 

Brad R

Well-Known Member
Don't they use this one now?
http://problemsolversbike.com/products/headset/adjustable_spacer_-_6547

This kind of part in unfamiliar for many people, as it is not that commonly used.

It goes right under the great big clamp. You set the bottom part with the set screw (don't be an animal on it), and then adjust the height by turning the upper part that is threaded into the lower part.

The video shows an extra clamp that, as Doug says, is not needed.

EDIT.

Actually, that clamp-on cable guide is probably meant to be the locking bit, with the addition of providing cable management. :)

The clamp on cable guide seems to be provided to support use of a front derailleur. It is too big to clamp onto the steer tube.

Mine also came with a wire guide pulley that would support a bottom pull front derailleur.
 

Brad R

Well-Known Member
@Doug Burton

Thanks for the heating tip. Even with heating the extension, I couldn't get it to fully seat. Maybe I needed to cut more off the steer tube.

I got a green frame with a chrome extension. I only got one extension. Some guys mentioned getting two extensions. Maybe the black bikes come with two?

I think there is enough overlap to be secure so I left it.

For those that have not yet built, I had to run a drill through the place where the seat front skewer goes in order to get enough clearance. A 4 mm Allen wrench would fit through, but the skewer wouldn't fit until I ran a drill bit through it.

I may be too fat for this bike with the stock seat. The seat puts my delicate parts very close to the rising part of the frame.

I need a way to move the seat back farther or to raise the seat bottom half an inch or an inch.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a flexible non-compressible material to put between the seat bracket and seat pan in order to raise the seat?

If not, I will probably have to buy a different seat to try and get a better fit.

In any case, I spent hours trying to do what Robert did in the video in 3 minutes.
 

Brad R

Well-Known Member
I noticed 3 tapped holes on the bottom of the frame (under the seat) and one on top of the frame in front of the rear wheel.

Does anyone know what these are for? Underframe rack attachment?

I'd add a picture if I knew how.
 

Eric Winn

Zen MBB Master
Got a partial shipment 3 of 4 boxes on Wednesday, July 5th and the remaining box on Thursday, July 6. Two T50s complete but unassembled. Not sure how FedEx got the shipment split but no biggie.

The "complete" part is a problem and the packing of same is a problem. Missing two rear derailleurs so the plan to unpack, assemble and go riding them today is a bust.

Both bottom brackets in cardboard boxes were just tossed loose in with a bunch of other loose retail component packages inside the space of the four tires. Problem is both BB assemblies neglected to stay inside their cardboard boxes and these are relatively heavy metal pieces. They apparently spent time rattling around inside the "complete" box and scarred/gouged the chain rings (guards, actually) and the crank arms as well as parts of the surface of the black brake assembly units. At least one minor gouge on the threads on one of the BB assemblies but it looks like it should thread OK (see further below about tolerance and lack of chasing on BB shell threads).

Apparently handlebar grips chosen are simple foam tubes with plastic end caps. I received two longish foam tubes. I presume I need to cut each in half for 4 pieces (2 bikes, so four hands/bar ends) or I'm short some foam tubes too. I received one plastic bar end cap that is not a suitable fit and 3 others are AWOL.

I don't mind cutting down the fork steer tube but why is there a friggin star nut pounded into the end I'm supposed to cut off?

Other than the minor kerfuffle with the steer tube the frame set looks pretty good but I was surprised to see the threads on the inside of the bottom bracket shell were cut before the anodizing or whatever the coating is that was applied as all of the threads are fully coated and the threads were not chased after this frame coating was applied. This is probably good in this case as the BB mounting caps or cups screw in very easily and there is a lot more play than I would have expected. I think Cruzbike needs to tighten tolerances here. In this case it is probably a good thing the threads inside the shell got anodized or it would be even looser. I'm hoping after torqueing that this isn't going to be a problem area.

And as others have mentioned, the locking headset spacer shown in Robert's video is AWOL as well.

Grumpy :mad: email sent to support@cruzbike.com with advice to use more secure packaging for bottom brackets at a minimum along with a plea for a remedy for my missing parts. A parts checklist similar to what was in the frame set would have been prudent.

Assembling what I can until I get my missing parts.

"Complete" components are OK but not inspirational. I was expecting them to be a bit better than what they are but I thought I'd give it a try to see how it worked out.

The stock seat cushion and cover does detract significantly from the rest of the bike along with the minimalist foam grips I sort of received. I added two Ventisit cushions to my order because I knew I wouldn't care for the stock seat cushion. My stock Vendetta seat cushions (2 parts) are of much higher quality than the cushion for the T50. My Vendetta seat back cushion has an embroidered Cruzbike logo and both the seat and seat back have two-piece foam inserts. A base dense foam layer and the light, open cell foam top layer to help allow air flow through it and hopefully wick away sweat. The T50 cushions have no embroidery, the covers are cut and sewn more crudely and there is no dense foam layer at all, just a larger extremely light and open cell, really cheap foam. I would suggest Cruzbike chuck the current stock seat cushion and cover design and replace it with something much better or just make the Ventisit the standard, included seat cushion for all the different Cruzbike models.

Even though the stock Vendetta cushions are much better than what comes with the T50 I replaced them quite a while ago with a Ventisit, which is far superior.

-Eric
 

Eric Winn

Zen MBB Master
Yep, welded on tubes where the seat skewers go are not square with each other so the skewers will not fit without truing the bore alignment between the two skewer tubes with a drill - gotta see if I have an appropriate drill bit or if I'm going to have to go buy one.

Edit: I had a 7/32 bit that was perhaps a tiny bit bigger than the existing inner diameter that ended up working pretty well. It was not long enough to go all the way way through so I had to go in carefully from both side of both sets of seat mount holes.

Also, I hope the short extension works for me because on this first bike it isn't coming off without some extensive surgery or Jim Parker's special recipe for unsticking two metal tubes. :eek:

The second bike is going to get some sanding and more trial and error fitting before I put that one on. Wielding the rubber mallet on the first one was not a good idea - I'm blaming Bob. :)

QC definitely needs attention...

-Eric
 
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DavidJL

Well-Known Member
Just picked up my T50 frameset today at the LBS. Almost ready to go, just need to cut fork and do some tweaking. I did notice that the two riser tubes as well as the front slider were tight, so I just grabbed the ones left over from the QX100 steering mod and they fit much better. I did have to adjust one of the two seat ends to make the struts square with the frameset. As for the rear dropouts, it would be better to use nubs instead of insetting, as there might be issues in the future with cracking. Setting up the disc brakes, the LBS could not find a bridge to work with a 160 mm rotor, so we switched it to 140, but would like to use 160 mm on the front. Some time in the future I will probably do the steering mod and fabricate a shorter rear strut. The seat cushion will have to be upgraded sometime, but will see how it functions. I actually took the bike out on the street today, so it's coming right along...
 

Brad R

Well-Known Member
I bought TRP Spyre brakes for my frameset and they were amongst the easiest items to install on my bike. Bought them with 160mm discs and adapters.
 
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