Vosadrian's V20 Journey - Australia

[Frito Bandito]

Wow! Lucky it was a tight fit or it would have been bad. Good to know though. I don't use laptops, but I tried an old 13" case for my Macbook that wouldn't fit. So I guess it really is tight. There ya go Adrian. Can you swap to a 13"?

 

[chicorider]

As for the seat, I would recommend giving the stock seat some time first, then decide if you want to replace it. I am one of those for whom the Thor seat was not an improvement, and went back to the stock seat.

 

[DocS]

The Thor sport in carbon looks pretty nice!! Seems to have nice lumbar shape. Any tips on sizing.... I am around 174cm, which is around the border from M to L size.... better to go bigger or smaller with that sort of thing? Also, is the neck reset recommended with the seat?

I have the Thor Sport Carbon seat as well.
It took a while for me to decide if I liked it or not.
In the end, I just left it mounted...

I did do surgery on my Ventist pad, adding a foam wedge in my lumbar area. It helped a great deal with my stock seat.
I got a new Ventist Pad with my Thor seat and haven't needed to add foam to it.

I chose an Ice (trike) neckrest. It works great and is intended to be mounted to a Carbon seat.

Blessings,
Rudy

 

[M.J]

As for the seat, I would recommend giving the stock seat some time first, then decide if you want to replace it. I am one of those for whom the Thor seat was not an improvement, and went back to the stock seat.

Man, I can't imagine preferring the stock seat to the Thor.
Adding a GS Easy to my V20 has been a revelation. It really turned the bike into a long distance road burner. I did my second century of the week today in total comfort, which would not have been possible with the stock seat.

 

[benphyr]

I have committed to the local bike.

Awesome! That is awesome.

. I am pretty good at picking up new skills and have good balance and bike handling skills so the risk of getting the hang of it is pretty low.

you will learn fine. In fact a minor note: this approach may be the biggest challenge. Accepting that it is not a minor flavour adjustment to your favourite desert (chocolate ice cream vs. Triple chocolate ice cream) (er bike) but thinking of it as something entirely new (chocolate mousse with whipped cream topped with shaved dark chocolate) (er Cruzbike). They have same/similar ingredients, functions and delights- fill similar niche (desert) but you would not think you could make the other because you have the recipe for the first one memorized. Thinking of it as a different activity will allow your brain to stop trying to make it into a diamond frame bike and allow the Cruzbike neuro pathways to develop quicker. There are great drills written up to get you started in the most efficient manner. Enjoy the process as well as the comfort. And remember that you are training old muscles to do new things, new muscles, and old brain new tricks. You will love it.

I am most worried about whether it will allow be to ride for long distances in comfort (with my back)

Absolutely it will. Before this year the furthest I ever had ridden in one ride was 100km and I was sore and in pain in multiple ways before halfway. This fall with only slightly more training (Adding one 40km Saturday ride to my daily 14km commute) I rode about 700km in a week including one day of 170km and I was tired but not sore. In fact the following day was 43km without any noticeable issues besides muscle tiredness.

 

[vosadrian]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Plan is to ride the bike as is at first. The previous owner made some attempts to lift the seat angle which may be good for learning, but I would intend to go to standard seat angle as soon as I can. I suspect the Thor seat may be good for me, but I will wait before moving on that. I like the idead of maximum lumbar support and shoulders kicking up, but I will have to try what I have to see where I end up.

Once I have some confidence I will move some of my bits like aero wheels, DI2 etc on it... but no rush for that. It would be nice to get to some level of bent legs before making the bike quicker so I can quantify the benefits. I think it will take me a while to get my legs and also get the bike fit optimised.

Bike should arrive this week. Normally I am the type of person who rarely puts my bike in a car and always start rides from home. But I live at the bottom of a hill and anywhere I go means climbing about 80m elevation in about 1km with some 10-15% sections.... so I think I will be driving the bike to some local parks to try it first using some of the drills on here. Hopefully I can get on top of it quick. I would like to spend the time to get quite good at handling it. I am the type of DF rider who has confident bike handling and ride no hands a lot and track stand and bunny hopping gutters etc. I know I can't do all that stuff, but I want to be pretty confident manouvering in tight places and would be great to be able to ride no hands in time so I can eat on the move and rest the arms. That is one of the things that appealed to me about CB over RWD options.

Cheers!

 

[benphyr]

Plan is to ride the bike as is at first. ... would be great to be able to ride no hands in time so I can eat on the move and rest the arms. That is one of the things that appealed to me about CB over RWD options.

Sounds like a good plan. ... I am sure if you want to you will get to no hands.. eventually.. I can on my conversion kit and my QX100 was even easier so based on your prior balance abilities you will get there. All of a sudden one day you will realize you just went to zip down your jacket and go "oh @&(^ I'm going to lose control" and you'll be like "oh that wasn't that bad" and soon you'll be starting from a stop no-hands, doing endo's, spacing out and taking naps.

 

[Bentsoup]

Those radical bags look good.... just not sure if they fit a laptop. I like that they are added and removed in seconds by just hooking over the back of the seat.

I have committed to the local bike and should have that in a week or so. Then let the learning begin!! The more I considered the options, the more I think out of the all the options, the V20 made the most sense for me. I am pretty good at picking up new skills and have good balance and bike handling skills so the risk of getting the hang of it is pretty low. I am most worried about whether it will allow be to ride for long distances in comfort (with my back) which is the main reason I am moving bent from DF. In terms of the things I like to do on a DF, the V20 is the best fit.... going fast on flats , rolling hills with hills sprints, longer climbs at threshold, perhaps trying to ride with my high level DF bunch.

I'm sure that I will be able to adjust the bike fit to suit me. I believe many riders replace the seat. Which seat options do riders most V20 riders find comfortable keeping in mind I would like something with good lumbar support. I'm pretty sure that is one aspect of the bike I will want to optimise as much as possible for my back.

Cheers,

Adrian

Make sure to either keep up with us in this thread or start your own for updates. Just remember that for some it takes time, others it comes fairly naturally. Also, you might hate it for the first week or so.

 

[bladderhead]

First week or so! Good grief! But then it starts to come right. Then you start to think that it wasn't such a daft idea after all. After a week. Or so.

 

[vosadrian]

So this bike has arrived. For reference, it is a complete bike from about a year ago. Has some robust looking (lots of spokes!!) black aluminium wheels and Sram Rival 11X2 groupset with 165 cranks. It came with:

* Performance adjustable headrest
* Scarab bag
* Moose pack
* Curved slider
* A couple of bottle cages

I have ordered a couple of Zefal Spy mirrors as I suspect I will need them soon enough.

It appears that the previous owner has fitted the performance adjustable headrest incorrectly. Should I just fit the standard headrest to get me going and see if that works first?

Australia tends to swap the brake levers from the USA (where this bike must have been assembled), and this bike has front brake on left, so will probably swap that to be same as my other bikes. Hopefully that is as simple as my DF bikes. I have not worked with Sram before though.

First step... try to get the fit close enough... then off the the locat basketball courts to do some drills! Might take a few days before I get to try that.

Cheers!

 

[Don1]

Awesome. I would set it up in a trainer for a ballpark fit. Leg length, hands level with shoulders, set up the neck support. Have your head as vertical as you can, you might think you've set your eyes to an horizon but u need to go a bit more. Video yourself and spin a bit to be sure your settled. Then do drills. Have fun

 

[Frito Bandito]

It took me at least a week to get the headrest right since recumbents were new to me and I was fiddling with getting the BB the right distance away, as well as the bars, and I had to make sure my helmet wasn't in the way. As a matter of fact I will be pulling the bars about 1cm closer to my chest before my next ride. 1 thing to be sure of is to make sure the boom isn't sliding when you put down some power. That happened to me and I was having to reach for the pedals. So make sure it is tightened correctly. When the bike feels squirrely, sit up and it will even itself out.

 

[vosadrian]

I had to spend a bit of time working on the bike. The book clamp was upside down, so could not adjust the boom well and worked out what the issue was an corrected that. The SRAM front deraileur was all wrong and not touching all the time. Took a while to work out how to adjust the SRAM system (I am used to Shimano). So after a few hours, the bike is probaby for a basic test. I have a basic fit, but I think it will take some time to get it right.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I had to spend a bit of time working on the bike. The book clamp was upside down, so could not adjust the boom well and worked out what the issue was an corrected that. The SRAM front deraileur was all wrong and not touching all the time. Took a while to work out how to adjust the SRAM system (I am used to Shimano). So after a few hours, the bike is probaby for a basic test. I have a basic fit, but I think it will take some time to get it right.

Yeah it will. You'll learn a lot about the bike and what works for you specifically. My quads are just barely hitting the bars at the top of my stroke. Since I like to ride straight armed shortening the reach is going to incorporate biceps a tad more which I am not looking forward to. They are already getting taxed enough as it is. I could let out the boom 1cm but that might hyperextend my left knee (which might mean my left leg is shorter than my right or I sit lopsided). My biceps will get stronger, but I can't mess around with the knee joint. Listen to your body and enjoy the learning process.
I am making the switch from Campagnolo to Shimano so I feel your pain.

 

[bladderhead]

I have a basic fit, but I think it will take some time to get it right.

That is everyone's experience. The way to sort out the front gears is to get rid of them.

 

[chicorider]

A thought on fit, from experience: be careful with having a deathgrip on the handlebar. When I was learning, my grip was so tight that I pulled a tendon near my right elbow that took seven months to heal, even with PT and acupuncture. I couldn't even turn a doorknob. While I was convalescing, Robert at Cruzbike suggested to imagine the handlebar as a couple of ripe bananas--that the grip should be that light. He was right. I was using my arms way too much to counteract my legs, rather than focusing on a smoother, more balanced pedal stroke that didn't need counteracting. Once I was healed, it didn't take long for me to be rolling along for miles with mostly relaxed arms, with about a 30-degree bend at the elbows, and no arm fatigue at the end of long rides. That was several years ago, and I have had no such issues since.

 

[vosadrian]

Thanks guys!

Well I started yesterday. There is a street a short wal from mine that is a dead end and a couple hundred metres long but it is a hill of 2-4%. I rolled down it a few times sitting up (feet out). Then I tried laying back and went to topple over. Tried again and got the hang of it. Then tried a couple times with feet resting on pedals which slowed my steering correction down a lot. Then tried pedalling (down hill so no real pedal pressure). On my last attempt I tried turning around at the bottom to pedal back up. I quickly found what everyone was talking about when I went to turn to correct toppling over but my feet were pushing the other way. Just have to teach myself they are not independant anymore like in a DF and have to work together! Anyway, gave up for another day after that!

 

[Frito Bandito]

I don't think I tried turns until after about at least 10 similar length roll-down tests or so. After those, I started just trying to get my feet on the pedals. Then pedaling while sitting up. Then trying to lean back slowly while pedaling. Then trying to pedal while fully laying down. Then coasting in turns while sitting up. Coasting while laying down. Then pedaling in turns sitting up. Then laying down.
Those were all kind of a blur and blended together, but that seems to be the way to get your brain working at that inclination.

 

[vosadrian]

The turning was just me being cheeky to save walking back up the hill!

 

[Frito Bandito]

What some people call limits, others call stepping stones