Tall Rider Question

[TrySomeToo]

Hi All, I am both new to the forum and to recumbent bicycles. My adult cycling experience has been on a Bianchi Eros 61 cm road bike and a hard-tail mountain bike with front suspension.

I am seriously contemplating my first recumbent purchase and (as you can imagine) have a multitude of questions. My apologies if I ask some that have been addressed; I'm doing my best to peruse this (and other) forums to climb the learning curve.

I am tall, 6' 4" (76 cm) in height, wear 34" (86 cm) pant inseam and weigh-in at 225 lbs (102 kg).

The bike I am interested in is the Softrider because it would be used to introduce me to recumbents, used by other family members and set up in my exercise area on my Cyclops trainer. Ultimately, Silvio is the machine I can see returning me to serious road riding but this may be a two-step progression by first riding the Softrider during the remainder of 2012 with a future Silvio purchase planned for 2013.

Comments? Would a big individual such as me fit well on the Softrider? Does it offer the adjustability for me?

 

[Charles.Plager]

Hi,
I do believe it would fit

Hi,

I do believe it would fit (although if you were much taller, I might be a bit worried).

I'm 6'1", wear closer to a 31" inseam and weight just about what you do. On my Sofrider, I've now got my seat as far forward as it goes, have the telescoping front tube set to 8" (where I believe it goes up to 12" - I had it set to 7" when I had the seat further back). I installed this adjustable stem to give me a bit more clearance with the knees and the handlebars.

Cheers,
Charles

 

[randyspann]

Tall

My 2 cents: I'm 6' 6" and the silvio works for my height. I do think the cruzbike seat is a little too short for tall riders (I put an extension on mine). Given your experience on a road bike, I would just go with the silvio!

 

[TrySomeToo]

cp and Randy,
Thanks for your

cp and Randy,

Thanks for your comments and from what you posted, I believe either of these cycles could be adjusted to fit my physique.

To Randy's point, I may not wish to "two-step" my way into a Silvio rather, jump in with both feet. I made that mistake before!

Bob

 

[Charles.Plager]

Hi Bob,
As far as the

Hi Bob,

As far as the Silvio/Sofrider decision, I very much understand where you are coming from. I was deciding between the Quest and the Sofrider and a lot of it came down to price. Since I wasn't (yet) convinced I'd like the bike (I really do; I've put over 1000 miles on it since February) and so it made a lot of sense to me to go with the Sofrider.

I do like the bike a lot, but I can easily see myself going with something lighter in the future (Silvio or even Vendetta, or who knows what'll be available in a couple of years). But I'll keep my Sofrider because i can use it to pull either a trailer or a trail-a-bike. And in my case, once I upgrade, I'll be able to get my wife to become a Cruzbiker as well...

Cheers,
Charles

p.s. If it is hilly where you are, I do recommend upgrading the Sofrider to a triple crankset (here is what I did). It's made hills much easier for me.