I have this from Serfas for my V20 and S40. Works well on the handlebar.
To V20c as a lifelong DF roadie
- Thread starter gaspi101
- Start date
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
1st I use a Lezyne Classic Drive Mega 700XL that I can mount either far enough down the boom to keep my legs from blocking the beam or the light mount stub near the cranks. Either location with the 400lm (almost 4 hours) or 250lm (6 hours) mode gives a long run time and is plenty bright enough to illuminate the path. The beam is not adjustable.
ride.lezyne.com
2nd is powered by 3 AAA batteries, 300lm adjustable beam light ziptied to my helmet. I can use it by itself in the widest setting to be visible to others as well as not hit anything, or focus the beam to its smallest size to highly illuminate objects or temporarily "flash" drivers attempting to pull out in front of me to make sure they see me. This one luminates a whole house at about 200m with the beam focused
3rd is a single AA powered 100lm adjustable beam light ziptied to my helmet that I can use to flash drivers with a shake of my head like the 1 above. It is more of a safety light but less irritating for drivers and doesn't have the range or power to significantly illuminate anything.
Those last long enough for the parts of my rides in the dark if the batteries are fully charged. For longer rides, I either carry spare batteries for either of the helmet mounted lights, or plan a stop so that I can recharge them with the 10,000mHa recharger I'll carry, which will also recharge either or both of the tail lights I'll use depending on the length of the time and conditions of the night ride.
CLASSIC DRIVE 700XL
Offering a super bright 700 lumens of output and up to 87 hours of runtime, this bike light is incredibly versatile day or night. It features eight output modes, including a powerful Daytime Flash mode, and has side cutouts for 180° of visibility on the bicycle. A versatile strap securely mounts...
ride.lezyne.com
2nd is powered by 3 AAA batteries, 300lm adjustable beam light ziptied to my helmet. I can use it by itself in the widest setting to be visible to others as well as not hit anything, or focus the beam to its smallest size to highly illuminate objects or temporarily "flash" drivers attempting to pull out in front of me to make sure they see me. This one luminates a whole house at about 200m with the beam focused
3rd is a single AA powered 100lm adjustable beam light ziptied to my helmet that I can use to flash drivers with a shake of my head like the 1 above. It is more of a safety light but less irritating for drivers and doesn't have the range or power to significantly illuminate anything.
Those last long enough for the parts of my rides in the dark if the batteries are fully charged. For longer rides, I either carry spare batteries for either of the helmet mounted lights, or plan a stop so that I can recharge them with the 10,000mHa recharger I'll carry, which will also recharge either or both of the tail lights I'll use depending on the length of the time and conditions of the night ride.
gaspi101
Well-Known Member
Hey buddy what beautiful pictures!!! I am jealous…looks like you had a great time. Wish I could help with climbing tips but from what I’ve experienced, just laying back and spinning easily works fine in climbing 6% hills (or bridges, in my case). Send more pics!It's been rainy lately, and the bike infrastructure isn't high up on the priority list for cleanup.
View attachment 14048
Only got one little extended practice ride in, 15km around the town.
Until today.
33+37 km there and back again. Had to do the walk of shame in a few places because on anything longer than a couple hundred meters of 5+% i end up all over the road at this point, being an absolute hazard for cagers and myself. Maybe relying too much on upper body/arms, not leveraging myself against the seat properly yet?
Through a series of unfortunate events i was unable to lock up my bike at the destination.
So i hauled it along for a hike. Bottles, Kryptonite lock, filled scarab back and all.
It climbs pretty well with a little encouragement.
View attachment 14049
Also learned that mounting a light on the handlebars is a no-no.
In particular while wearing reflective clothing.
What do you guys use to mount your lights on the boom
gaspi101
Well-Known Member
Today marked the 3 weeks since I brought my V20c home from the bike shop, and took my first baby steps. Riding only weekends, and after some spills!, I think I have this baby figured out. Here’s me and another local, John Chapman on his V20, mixing it up with the gang on our regular sunday 60 miler…with a nice sprint to 33mph before arriving to the beach! Need a bigger crank no doubt.
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Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
Gonna start leaving them behind regularly braddah.
As for the cranks, some peeps are fine with a single front and a huge cassette in back to cover a wide range, but I've found that a 52/34t crankset with either an 11-30t cassette or an 11-34t is enough to get me over anything I'll ever ride over. The gaps on something like a 10-40t or 10-50t would be too big for me. I've used the 34t on the front and the 30t in a few places that had me struggling to keep it upright or relatively straight at 6kph. I could probably run a single 53t front for the flats I always ride on and be fine, but the 34t is a must for climbing so I don't bother to keep 2 cranks to swap out for different rides.
For reference, my FTP on my V20 is probably 220w and I am about 78kg now.
gaspi101
Well-Known Member
Wow! I’ve got a 36/48 crank with a 10-38 cassette… I thought I’d need more climbing gears…I think I need more for the top speed…
I have 52/34 crank with 11/40 cassette.
Andreas
Member
Fall may be beautiful, but those patches of damp foliage also slow me down to walking pace. I can literally feel the front wheel wanting to break out.
It was the same on my first rides. After about 7 rides and 200 km it was much better. What works for me: I pull myself up and ride sitting upright alternately. Now (700+ km) I can also do longer inclines lying down and can stay on the right side of the road.33+37 km there and back again. Had to do the walk of shame in a few places because on anything longer than a couple hundred meters of 5+% i end up all over the road at this point, being an absolute hazard for cagers and myself. Maybe relying too much on upper body/arms, not leveraging myself against the seat properly yet?
So don't worry, it will come naturally.
Yesterday I even dared to do hills in switzerland with my wife. It wasn't supposed to be a sporty tour, we just drove chilled, but managed 900+ meters in altitude over 60km:
Nice ride!Fall may be beautiful, but those patches of damp foliage also slow me down to walking pace. I can literally feel the front wheel wanting to break out.
It was the same on my first rides. After about 7 rides and 200 km it was much better. What works for me: I pull myself up and ride sitting upright alternately. Now (700+ km) I can also do longer inclines lying down and can stay on the right side of the road.
So don't worry, it will come naturally.
Yesterday I even dared to do hills in switzerland with my wife. It wasn't supposed to be a sporty tour, we just drove chilled, but managed 900+ meters in altitude over 60km:
Where I live, it's hard to find a flat piece of road. Yesterday included 740m of climbing, and any "preferably flat" route Strava can find for me will have an average of 10m up per 1km forward
Reading about your cassettes here, maybe I was a little overzealous getting just a 28t?
I think there's a 33t from SRAM as well... Might need a longer chain then.
Food for thought going into next season. The next 5 months will be majority Zwift. And having tried and failed to wrangle the frontend onto my trainer once before, i don't see myself switching road and trainer a lot
Cute dinosaur on the back! I have this Pikachu when I ride indoors. I didn't want it to disappear when I ride outside.
Questions... what's the 360 camera you use? How do you record for the length of your ride, which I assume is more than an hour?
Picture.
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Randyc3
Well-Known Member
I have 52/36 qxl rings with 10/42 casett.
M.J
Well-Known Member
Man, that's a huge group!
I wonder if a triceratops would be more aero?
I have a camelbak in my tail bag, too. I put some Velcro under the seat and around the hose so I can just reach down and grab it for a sip and then put it back so it's not in the way.
My gearing is 52/34 with an 11-28 cassette. I'm more focused on tight gaps between gears for racing on flat courses than on climbing. I will climb on this bike if I have to, but it's not my favorite and I avoid it whenever possible. Except for the occasional sprint-hill KOM, I have a few of those.
Looks like you're really taking to the bike, good job!
I wonder if a triceratops would be more aero?
I have a camelbak in my tail bag, too. I put some Velcro under the seat and around the hose so I can just reach down and grab it for a sip and then put it back so it's not in the way.
My gearing is 52/34 with an 11-28 cassette. I'm more focused on tight gaps between gears for racing on flat courses than on climbing. I will climb on this bike if I have to, but it's not my favorite and I avoid it whenever possible. Except for the occasional sprint-hill KOM, I have a few of those.
Looks like you're really taking to the bike, good job!
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
There are only 2 places on my usual ride where I get into the Big/small and get into the 50kph range for a short time on the descents. When the wind is right I can get it up to 70kph on those descents but my rpms are about 120. I am not sure how much speed I could gain on those 2 descents by switching to a 53t or even a 55 on the front, but changing out a chain ring for a 53t or even buying a 55t crankset would be cheaper than trying to go full SRAM with a new driver, new cassette with a 10t, new chain and SRAM cranks. As a matter of fact, I just found today a used 53/39 chainring set for my Shimano cranks for about $40 that looks to be in excellent shape. So, don't be so focused on climbing gears. Yeah, V20s can climb, but it really shines more and more as the terrain flattens out.
DavidCH
In thought; expanding the paradigm of traversity
I cannot possible conceive of doing 70kph at 120 rpm. LOL. I don't even last for long doing 44kph at 120. But I am in the throws of upgrading the engine.
gaspi101
Well-Known Member
This is desktop or wall-frame level photography right here. Beautiful!
gaspi101
Well-Known Member
Haha I love the Pokémon! So cute. That’s Reggie, my stegosaurus crocheted by my wife. My favorite dinosaur (also the most aero dinosaur). The camera is the GoPro 360 Max, and I run a little cable from the camera to an external battery pack that gives me 30 hours of recording time…the SD card records about 15 hours so it fills up with two rides or so…I had a similar set up with my DF bike except the camera was on the front, and the battery was on a small frame bag.Cute dinosaur on the back! I have this Pikachu when I ride indoors. I didn't want it to disappear when I ride outside.
Questions... what's the 360 camera you use? How do you record for the length of your ride, which I assume is more than an hour?
Picture.
Does the go pro 360 do loop recording and in small increments, like 5 min vs one big 3 hour file?
gaspi101
Well-Known Member
I think I chose my crank incorrectly...assuming that I needed a smaller crank to account for the climbing penalty of a recumbent...Now considering changing from a 33/46T crank to a 37/50T...Cassette would remain a 10-36....I ride mostly flats and I can definitely feel myself spinning out at 26-27mph...definitely need more top-end gearing.... but 3-4 times a year I like to go with friends to the hills, where it's mostly rollers, but there are a couple of short 14-18% climbs that we usually (back in my DF days) would sprint up to....I'm not as strong as you...taking all of this into account, do you think a 37/50 crank with 36 cassette ration will be enough to climb some steep grades (albeit slowly)...? Don't care about speed on the climb, just not sure if a 37-36 gearing ration will keep a V20 upright up such grades
gaspi101
Well-Known Member
I don't know about loop recording because I've never recorded more than 13 or 14 hours in one session...but yes, when offloading the video files, they are broken up in to 8 minute segments of about 4GB each.
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
It really is all about the engine, so you are on the right path. Winter is coming so we can build it up for Spring
I wanna be clear though. That 70kph is with plenty of gravity and wind with a full effort. Hitting 50 without any super natural help leaves a healthy mark so so don't think I'll be trying for any records.
