Vendetta Riders / Racers at Events

[psychling]

Every time I ride the Vendetta I get lots of positive comments from people. Drivers passing me, people on the street, other cyclists.

Now I'm hearing people refer to Jim and Maria's accomplishments on the Vendetta at well known cycling events (Sebring, Texas Time Trials, UMCA records, etc). Local riders are talking about purchasing the Vendetta. It's becoming common for me to welcome a visitor every other week or so wanting to `try out one of those Cruzbikes.'

Now is the time for Vendetta riders to enter local events as a rider or racer. Here in Arizona I'm registered for a metric century next week, and a 200K brevet on November 5th.

Putting together my cycling schedule for 2012 I'm looking at Sebring in February and TTT in September. Other events interest me, too.

So ... time for Vendetta cyclists to make their presence known, following the example of Jim and Maria Parker: talk the talk, walk the walk.

- Dan

 

[Andrew 1973]

I agree!

"Now is the time for Vendetta riders to enter local events as a rider or racer."

One small problem; I don't have a Vendetta.

 

[NoCruzbike]

I agree, Dan

Next Spring, after I purchase a Silvio frame, I will be out there with the bike...showing people what it can do. Thanks for letting me test ride the Silvio. It helped me decide to buy one. As for your cycling adventures, rock on...

Patrick Lyford

 

[Nanda Holz]

Vendetta for sale

I believe I have the last Vendetta from the first batch available for sale, if anyone is interested. It does have some demo mileage on it...see pix here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spincyclz/

 

[Paul Brown]

Vendetta vs other of my bikes Coastdown test

Hi Y'all,

I'm a newcomer here, My name is Paul Brown and I live in Santa Rosa CA. I grew up in my family's bike shop in Anaheim and opened my own in Marin in 1980. In the 1980's I spent a lot of time building , designing , and tweaking DF bikes for Tri use. I set up Paul Solon's RAAM winning bike in 1989 and the TT bike he used to set the 12 and 24 hours unpaced national records at Hellyer Park in 1993. 272mi/12hr, 509.29 /24 hr. Other riders I assembled bikes for won the USTS long and short course Nationals, Ironman Japan, Ironman Tahiti, Ironman Canada, the Vineman.I worked with the US National TT squad in 1986 in Leadville getting ready for the World Championships refining rider fit and shoe cleat placement. I've ridden a number of centuries, 23 double Centuries,(two on a track bike w/ no hand brakes), so I've experienced the pain of long hours in the saddle. I've been intrigued by the records Maria Parker has been breaking, and admire her ability and determination to take that much punishment to achieve her goal. I've also been intrigued by the MBB front wheel drive format and jumped at the chance to test a Vendetta against other bikes I own. I have two of Steve Delaire's 'bents, a ti pursuit 700c/451 with a Mueller fairing and a Tiger 406/406, which is a fun and fast street machine and a good climber. In my tract there is a smooth street about 3/16 ml long that drops evenly about 110 feet. Not a huge grade, but useful for rolling resistance as well as aero resistance. I rode one of my 700c DF frames, the two Rotators and the Vendetta to get some comparison numbers. All tires pumped to max rated pressure. It was harder for me to balance the vendetta taking off, the boom got in the way of being able to fully sit up and the bike wandered in less than a straight line on the two slower runs. I posted the best runs of the other three bikes and all four of the Vendetta. I ride a 61 cm DF so am taking up some airspace on that machine. The results:

DF Mikkelsen on the hoods: 1:14.2 min
DF Mikkelsen on the drops: 1:11.3 min
DF Mikkelsen full tuck: 1:08.1 min

Rotator Tiger 406 wheels unfaired: 1:07.2 min
Rotator Ti Pursuit unfaired: 1:07.0 min
Rotator Pursuit w/fairing 1:04.1 min

Vendetta run 1: 1:01.6 min
Vendetta run 2: 1:05.8 min
Vendetta run 3: 1:03.4 min
Vendetta run 4: 1:04.3 min

Vendetta run average: 1:03.8 min

I was in a bike accident 14 months ago on a DF when a car made a left turn into my path. I hit it doing around 20mph. The impact knocked me out. The impact sheared the front q/r, bent the front axle, blew the front tire and broke the carbon fork. I bent the left Ritchey crank in when my left knee hit the car. It ripped the speedplay cleat apart on my shoe and I flew about 17 ft and landed on my right side, arm up to protect my face. I had a comminuted fracture of my right scapula crushing the outer 1/2", tore my ac joint, pushed in 7 ribs which are still tender, tore the medial collateral ligaments in my left knee, bruised my left hip socket, and had some crumbling of C6 and C7 vertebrae in my neck. I kept my sense of humor, however, and am very thankful the accident didn't paralyze or kill me, and good news, I'm riding again.

The fixed angle 23 degree seat pan on the Vendetta was a problem for me. I couldn't see the road ahead through my glasses. I cut a piece of foam to prop up the seat pad to 26.5 deg, and added some foam to the front of the headrest so I could see the road through my glasses. I started on a loop I've done a number of times. The Vendetta doesn't seem like its going as fast as it is, it rides that well. I was doing about 23.5-24 with little effort. The vibration through the seat made my glasses buzz and blurred the road when leaning against the headrest. I also started getting a cramp in my left bicep from the closed up arm position with drop bars and ultegra sti shifters. About 4 miles into the ride I had an older Ford van swerve into my lane and make an abrupt right hand turn. I narrowly missed him, but suddenly the boom felt ominous to me. A head on impact like I sustained last year might crush my chest against the boom. I had covered the bolts that hold the bar clamps with electrical tape before my ride, as they had sharp edges and I scraped my arm on one while installing the extra seat pad. I wonder if a hinged boom, with the pivot at the headset, might be a prudent design consideration. It would allow easier ingress/egress and might keep the boom from hurting your upper body in the event of a frontal collision.

This is an awesomely fast ride. I found it climbs better for me than my Tiger which has a stiff frame that I'm used to.

Nanda Holtz at Spincyclz in Petaluma CA. graciously lent me his coveted Vendetta for a day for testing. A Great guy and interested in making the bikes he sells really useful for their riders.

Paul Brown
Santa Rosa CA

 

[ak-tux]

Reading Paul Brown's post

Reading Paul Brown's post above leaves me wondering whether a silvio will be better suited for his situation. It's seat angle of 45 degrees and full suspension may not be as aero but may be better for his neck considering the injuries he sustained in the previous accident.

Maybe as cruzbike production capacity increases more models may be available. Probably something in between a Vendetta and a Silvio with say a 30-35 degree seat angle and maybe a rare suspension only.... you never know.

 

[John Tolhurst]

Interesting Numbers

"In my tract there is a smooth street about 3/16 ml long that drops evenly about 110 feet. Not a huge grade, but useful for rolling resistance as well as aero resistance. I rode one of my 700c DF frames, the two Rotators and the Vendetta to get some comparison numbers. "

Thanks Paul for posting, they are interesting numbers.

When you get to putting power out you will find the V accepting everything you can throw at it, not a skerrick of flex will you see and for that reason it will climb even better than it descends.

You concern on the impace safety is a fair one. What I expect to happen in a serous collision is for the nose of the boom to fold or crumple, over a distance of 5 or 6 inches, and that will make a profound difference. The other strategy is to ensure the slider is well lubricated inside the boom and that the clamp bolts are at a minimal tightness. One of my customers T-boned a card, the boom telescoped, the chainwheel bent and he hopped away with a sprained ankle. I would like to test and callibrate this aspect of the bikes safety.

Glad you like Nanda, I agree, he takes a holistic approach and delivers product more tuned to his customer than we can do remotely.

I hope to see other comparative reports when the occasion arises.

 

[pjotr320]

Next Sunday I'll take part in

Next Sunday I'll take part in our annual 51km TT over a dyke. Today I had another 60km ride to get to know the V better, and I think we're really starting to like each other.