The new-ish V

[paco1961]

first spin on the newly built up V that may look familiar to some out there. We’ll see who’s paying attention. Purchased frame set from someone who did some pretty impressive riding on it.

still lots of tweaking to do. Maybe the longer chain stay. But had a nice 25mi shakedown ride w 3 PRs without breaking a sweat. Love my S40 but this thing flys!

 

[Brad R]

That seat looks nice. It is definitely not the stock seat. What seat is it?

 

[Lief]

That front triangle at least was either A) in the RAAM or B) owned/assembled by @ratz. I recognize those stickers.
And if it's not Ratz' bike then I very well may have attached those stickers.

I don't know if the background of this pic is Kentucky or South Carolina or New England...that might whittle it down to one of 4.
Not enough snow to be Minnesota so...I'm eliminating Ratz.

 

[Lief]

can't trust the groupset since you said it's newly built up.
But...because the seat has screws in the seat-pan I'm guessing Jim or Maria's RAAM winning frame.
Guessing Jim's because the stickers at the top of the boom are inside the clamp - he runs taller than. most.

 

[paco1961]

You have a future in investigative science! The pic is KY, Louisville to be exact. Kevin Gambill’s RAAM Frameset. Actually, when I was first looking into CB, Maria put me in touch w Kevin and he was nice enough to meet me in a local park for a test spin. Ultimately went w the S40 for my switch from DF to my first bent ride. After BikeSebring in Feb I decided it was time for a V. Remembered Kevin saying he might like to sell the frameset. Lucky for me he had reg and long chainstay, 2 seats and pads, curved and straight slider etc. but those 42cm, cut down Ritchie bars are just shy of what I’d call suicide bars. Knees barely squeeze between the drops.

 

[paco1961]

That seat looks nice. It is definitely not the stock seat. What seat is it?

Looks like it could be a very early THOR? Just guessing but @Lief might know. Very rough resin work but shape is perfect for me. Retains the 20 degree overall angle but boosts the head/shoulder up a bit. Has very nice lumbar support. Will likely email Jim Parker to see what he knows

 

[BJ686]

Looks great! Definitely looks like you could use a longer chain stay as your bottom bracket is pretty low. Also interesting that you have disc brake up front, and rim brake on rear...I have thought about trying that

 

[Lief]

A future in investigative science? no...just many hours spent huddled over those bikes outfitting them with those reflective boom stickers and wheel stickers.

I guessed Jim's bike because of the headrest - those weren't part of the bike on RAAM (IIRC). I just didn't guess that Kevin would have made that upgrade...but I have been pretty absent from here since then. One fond memory of Kevin was at a Starbucks in the middle of...musta been CO? Feels like we were still in the mountains but I suppose it could have been after KS somewhere. Our whole crew was resting in the air-conditioning for a hot-minute and Kevin was zoning.

L: How you doing Kevin?
K: <awakened from the zone> How am AH doin?
L: Yeah - how you feelin?
K: <inhaling deeply and very matter of fact in his KY drawl> I feel like dog$#!&...
L: ayyyyyy
K: ...and not the fresh kahnd...more like the whaht dusty kahnd.​

I hope I never forget that line - still brings tears of laughter.
Pretty sure we still had about 3 or more days left on that race.

​

 

[paco1961]

Looks great! Definitely looks like you could use a longer chain stay as your bottom bracket is pretty low. Also interesting that you have disc brake up front, and rim brake on rear...I have thought about trying that

I believe the front disc brake was to add a little security for the long mountain descents. It is actually one of the TRP Spyre disc brakes I had in the basement. The one on the frame had a siezed up cable anchor bold. Haven't done the Dremel work to remove it yet.

Will probably leave the existing chain stay in place for now as the lower BB position will make it feel a bit more stable while making the transition. Between the more laid back position and the skinny bars it does feel a bit wobbly. But I'm sure with time that will smooth out. When I was making the transition to CB from DF I'd end each ride with sore shoulders from keeping my upper torso so tight and rigid. Same with my forearms. As I got more comfortable I was able to relax and then took giant leaps in performance. I'm sure the same will be true for this more modest transition. But I'm already not a great descender - think that comes with starting serious cycling beyond age 50! So will take the downhill speed thing as it comes. Oh to be back on that dead pan flat BikeSebring course again for this learning phase. I know some people talked about the hills on this year's course but in general I figure if you don't have to change gears it ain't a hill . . .

 

[paco1961]

A future in investigative science? no...just many hours spent huddled over those bikes outfitting them with those reflective boom stickers and wheel stickers.

I guessed Jim's bike because of the headrest - those weren't part of the bike on RAAM (IIRC). I just didn't guess that Kevin would have made that upgrade...but I have been pretty absent from here since then. One fond memory of Kevin was at a Starbucks in the middle of...musta been CO? Feels like we were still in the mountains but I suppose it could have been after KS somewhere. Our whole crew was resting in the air-conditioning for a hot-minute and Kevin was zoning.

L: How you doing Kevin?
K: <awakened from the zone> How am AH doin?
L: Yeah - how you feelin?
K: <inhaling deeply and very matter of fact in his KY drawl> I feel like dog$#!&...
L: ayyyyyy
K: ...and not the fresh kahnd...more like the whaht dusty kahnd.​

I hope I never forget that line - still brings tears of laughter.
Pretty sure we still had about 3 or more days left on that race.

​

I can hear it now! Those moments are keepers.

Not sure about the whole seat and headrest thing. Looks rather homemade to me with pretty rough resin work and lots of holed drilled in the seat by hand - I suppose for ventilation. According to Kevin the seat and headrest were off another CB he rode in BikeSebring a few years ago.

One odd thing about the bike. When building it up I decided to replace the front disc brake with a front Ultegra I had in the shop. Crazy thing is it won't fit, nor will any other brand I have lying around. the pad holders contact the fork legs keeping the whole assembly from sitting against the crown. I will turn an aluminum bushing about 3/8 or 1/2" to push the whole thing outboard a bit and should be fine. Just have never come across a fork that couldn't take a set of brake calipers?

 

[jcarlo74it]

Hi Paco. Where did you find the exagonal stickers on the boom? Thanks

 

[paco1961]

No idea. They were on the bike when I bought it from Kevin. Leif would be the one who would know since he put them on the bike before RAAM. But I understand that they should miraculously make me much faster!

 

[paco1961]

Would love some advice from some of you V experts out there. Since the sum total of my recumbent (let alone CB) experience is 2 years on an S40 up until two weeks ago . . .

The two images below are essentially the same set up with the only change being installation of the long chain stay and straight slider on the lower image. With the shorter chain stay I was feeling like I needed a little more leg extension and it was so near its extension limit that when I extended it further it was dropping more than it was lengthening the reach. Of course that was raising the handle bars as well.

With the longer chain stay installed the curved (down) slider put the handle bar right in my lap so that I had a hard time getting in and out of the bike. Swapped for the straight slider but even with the bars raised a bit I cannot fit a water bottle and cage under the slider. Hate to mount it on top of the slider for obvious reasons.

The difference in handling is considerable with the boom/slider almost parallel to the ground and with the long chain stay the bike has developed a mind of its own. I'm guessing this will smooth out over time. But the change from the shorter chain stay to the longer made me recall my early days of getting used to the new S40. Not quite that bad but with the lower bottom bracket position with the shorter chain stay the bike handled and felt almost identical to the S40. With the new, longer chain stay it feels like a completely different bike.

Just wondering if any of you real gurus out there (I'm just a "guru" in quantity of posts, not in actual knowledge) have any thoughts.

And just FYI, took it out (with the longer chain stay installed) on Saturday for a 40 mile loop and on one 10 mile, commonly ridden stretch my estimate is that the bike runs about 2.5mph faster than the S at a what I estimate to be a similar power output. Looking forward to getting int dialed in to see what it (I) can do.

 

[paco1961]

 

[BJ686]

I've tried all three size chainstays (standard 19.5", medium 21.5", large 23.5"). If helpful, see pics below of all three on the bike. Based on your and my pictures of the standard and large chainstays, I am going to guess that we have roughly the same fitting on the bike.

I think the large was the fastest for me (but not by much), but I agree with your thoughts that it impacted handling and stability. Didnt bother me much on long, flat straight aways, but did handling did bother me a bit otherwise. Like you, with the long chainstay, the slider/boom was just about parallel to the ground. It also caused the handlebars to drop too low, so I added a curved slider in the "upside down" position.

I currently ride using the medium chainstay, and find that it is the best combination of speed and handling

 

[paco1961]

Thanks. Photos are very helpful.

Just measured my chainstays. Looks like I have what you termed standard (19”) and long (23”) assuming they are measured center to center. Guessing medium would be the Goldilocks length. Now to find one.

Are your water bottle cages bolted directly to the seat or did you need to block them to allow the cage to clear the bottom seat rib?

 

[BJ686]

Are your water bottle cages bolted directly to the seat or did you need to block them to allow the cage to clear the bottom seat rib?

I use zip ties to attach to cage to the seat...this allows the cage to “bow out” a bit so that it clears the ribs under the seat. As you note, it does not work to try and directly bolt the cage to the seat back as the back of the cage cannot sit flush with the seat because of the ribs. See pic....

 

[jcarlo74it]

Hi everybody. I don't understand if the chainstay choice depends by a personal choice or by the body height.
Cruzbyke team told me that depends by the x-seam of the legs...
Thanks

 

[paco1961]

I use zip ties to attach to cage to the seat...this allows the cage to “bow out” a bit so that it clears the ribs under the seat. As you note, it does not work to try and directly bolt the cage to the seat back as the back of the cage cannot sit flush with the seat because of the ribs. See pic....

Hi everybody. I don't understand if the chainstay choice depends by a personal choice or by the body height.
Cruzbyke team told me that depends by the x-seam of the legs...
Thanks

Hi everybody. I don't understand if the chainstay choice depends by a personal choice or by the body height.
Cruzbyke team told me that depends by the x-seam of the legs...
Thanks

Chainstay choice is a litte of both. Certainly if you are 2+ meters tall you won't want the short chainstay as your legs and cockpit will be crammped. Likewise, if you are 1.5 meters tall you won't want the longest chainstay as you may not be able to reach the pedals. But in between there is lots of room for individual preference. How high you like your bottom bracket in comparison to the seat height, how high you want your bars, whether you are using the straight or curved slider, how far you like your arms extended. So the choice is a little of both. I have the short and long for my V but it is becomming clear that medium is what I need . . . if anyone has one laying around. Planning to contact CB to see what they have in stock.

 

[telephd]

Hey, wait, I wanna yellow V That IMO is the best color