The seat of the problem on my new V20

[richa]

Thanks!


Thanks for the information; I now understand how it works. I'm impressed by the overall simplicity of it, and think it's a great feature. Alas, I have no silvio/vendetta on which to implement it, but the probability of that changing has gone up with this seat-adjustment.

I curious if you thought about and rejected a piano hinge for the seat? And now that you've proven it works, would you cut the seat and make the original back the part that reclines if you were to do it over?

Also, I'd be very interesting in an update in a few months with any issues that occurred over time. If/when I get a Silvio/Vendetta, I'd likely be implementing this.

Lastly, I'd love to hear how it works when touring, as a comfortable touring bike is my ultimate goal.

Thanks again,

Rich

 

[ratz]

Plate seems like the right way to do that.

Rich,

I've got the new carbon seat; I don't think you'd want to cut it and hinge it. It's super thin and the cut would compromise the over all stiffness of it; the extra plate Philip added is a very elegant way to do this without introducing later flex into the seat. Also you can see he has moved his water bottle mounts to top of the seat back since he used lower holes for the cutout. (at least those look like bottle bolts) That keeps the water stationary the added weight would interfere with raising the syste but theya re probably reachable from the raised upright seat angle.

 

[Wannabe]

GREAT JOB !!!!!

I am hoping that Cruzbike offers this mod as a kit. ...what a wonderful idea. The option that now becomes available is, " a vendetta/ silvio hybrid with all of the best points of both combined" . What an amazing thing! Awesome Phillip, simply Awesome!

 

[WhiteSilvio]

Just a couple of Questions re mechanism

Hi Phillip.
I think I understand your seat mechanism now, (downloaded the video and played it in slowmo) but I just wish to clarify a couple of minor things.

Firstly the seat lives in the up position by default? Is there a way of locking it down against the 2 stops at the top of the original seat?

Secondly to lower the seat you have first to lift the weight of your back off the seat back, at least partially, so that the hinge can be pulled past the overcentre position by the brake cable mechanism, and then you use your weight to push the seat down against the bungy cord spring?

I am assuming to raise the seat that all you do is raise your weight off the seat back and the bungy cord does the rest!

Have you noticed any side to side sway or 'rocking' in the up position, particularly while pushing on, climbing for instance?

I was thinking that if it had been a problem it might be possible to duplicate the lift hinge and place two lift hinges at roughly the same centres as the pivot hinge points at the bottom of the seat. Just a bit of out loud thinking.

I think that your mechanism is pretty inventive; if I'd been doing something like this I would probably overthought the whole thing and made it too complicated. KISS design rules. I have one of the Mk1Silvios and have the opposite problem of wanting to lower the seat angle, but that's a bit harder because there is a frame in the way! ;-(

Ta John.

 

[Pcmousley]

John - Questions answered.

John,
Yes the seat default position is upright I did muse over fitting a catch on the same release cable that locked it flat so you would pull the lever to release the catch and again to release and recline, but the more I use this modification the more I like it, we live in a small town so when I set off I have streets and traffic and once out in the countryside I can settle down and drop the seat back, in fact this morning I needed to improve my manoeuvring skills and get to able ride one handed drink etc etc so I spent 15 miles on the local town streets doing nothing else but stopping starting, hand signals riding one handed, hill starts etc, there is no way I want to be doing this at 20 degrees on my back, the car traffic can be pretty unsympathetic at best toward cyclists so I just appreciate the extra control and vision this gives in town.
Yes again the Bungy raises the seat and follows your back up until it locks, of course if all you want is a little sit up at a junction or just to reshuffle your body and do not come up to the over center position just lie back down again before it locks, whilst the bungy is tensioned enough to lift the seat back there is absolutely no sensation of resistance when laid back, it's as effortless to be there as it was without it.
The seat back is rock solid in both positions, when up there is no side to side whatsoever and it locks solid in the over center, now beginning to climb some grades and you can push as much as you like it's solid, when we get to Lanzarotte next week the climbs there are in the 1,000's of feet so will let you know, but from what I have experienced thus far the position on a V20 versus a tradition bike in climbing is the inability to get out the saddle so feel it is going to be more exertive on the legs but expect with time and mileage they will get used to this, but I do feel on steep hill starts I now have a better chance than being fully laid back.
It has surprised me how well it works and how simple the mechanism became, born from the fact the local stainless steel fabricator was still on Christmas holidays so re thought the thing on what was available off the self, glad the guy took a long break, saved some money and maybe I would of overthought the thing as I was thinking of a triple hinge bolted to both original seat and new seat back, sometimes you just get fortunate with these things.

 

[Pcmousley]

Question

Just to echo Ratz thoughts on cutting the one piece carbon seat, I did think about it but it's a nice seat and think you could end up with instablity in the seat back arrangement if you did so.

Question, I have now fitted some splash guards for Winter but prior to doing this when I removed the seat to carry out these mods there was quite a bit of moisture inside the frame, to try and completely seal the seat to the frame could be messy. Did the old V's have a drain hole in the bottom frame ?? And what's anybody thoughts about putting one in ??

 

[richa]

weep hole


This thread discusses water. The designer evidently added a drain hole in later version. I'm surprised your V20 doesn't have one. I'd think the solution would be to drill one.

http://cruzbike.com/silvio-frame-collecting-water

 

[richa]

Working with cabon fibre


I have no knowledge or experience with carbon fiber, but recall reading a bicycle discussion somewhere where those that had worked with stated it's pretty easy to work with. Easier then welding anyway. Especially when doing repairs. So, would it be possible to add additional carbon fiber reinforcement to an already finished seat are where the hinge is, or, in the even of cutting it, around the edge where it was cut.

Just curious.

 

[castlerobber]

Patent?

@Pcmousley, that is an awesome invention. Have you considered trying to patent it?

 

[Roger Underhill]

V20 Seat Mod

Rich, Hopefully this is the info you need, and I got another 30 miles in today in very windy conditions climbed a number of pretty good hills and the seat in its upright position was rock solid I definitely would not want to be without this now as it just gives you options on seat position.
So the seat back was fabricated from 3mm aluminium sheet, and was cold formed for the hinge section, I traced the shape from the seat cushion and went from the top of the rear of the cushion forward for 16" this made the two holes in the V20 seat that I believe we're meant for bottle cages (but I could not get them to fit without large packers) the point for the hinge and I used the rearmost of these. I traced the hinge from a 5mm penny washer and allowed 3mm for the seat base thickness and another 3mm to allow for the fold, I did not drill the holes until later. Then the fold was made on both sides ensuring they were parrallel, and did make a mock from a offcut to see how the fold went and where the crease line needed to be, the actual folds went well and lined up well either side of the existing bottle holes. Positioning the seat either of the holes and ensuring it was square I marked the slots and drilled and filed until they were the correct length. If you look at the very front of the new seat back the front edge has to be trimmed along the front edge between the pivots points to allow for it to lift. I then folded two of the stainless steel flats (a Seasure part) to match with the hole and trimmed to length so it cleared the frame, I used the exsiting hole in the plate for the pivot point and then aligned the plate to the inside edge of the slot and marked the position of the Bottle cage hole removed it and drilled the hole. Once you have these formed bolt them in place, lower in the new seat back, adjust the folds if need be and once you are ok with the fit place a small shim or card over the bolt heads for a little clearance ensure the new seat back is aligned and square and then mark and drill the pivot holes, I used 5mm stainless with nylocs and did one at a time, the slot may need slight adjustment but you should end up with a smooth movement and just over a 6 inch lift at the back end. The actual lift mech is a Seasure stainless Hasp & Staple 97mm SKU # 23.04 this is used for locking hatches on boats, Seasure is a UK company but I think have USA outlets, but if you really want to do this and have trouble finding one I could mail one to you. Apart from a small hole for the release cable the piece was as is. The hole nearest the hinge was aligned to the front edge of the rearmost hole in the V20 frame with the washer and nut under, in the front two holes I used counter sink head bolts and as these would now fowl the frame were countersunk into the seat base and nuts on the top,

Would it be possible to get Cruzbikes to offer this as an option I wonder? Then I would buy...

 

[DavidCH]

Lanzarote... Now that's a challenge. I posted many videos using Vimeo ... Very easy and it's free. Try not to take any selfies in Lanzarote