Vosadrian's V20 Journey - Australia

[vosadrian]

Its a shame that Giro stopped making the air attack shield. It looks to me like the perfect compromise of some good aero without standing out as the guy who is has the full TT rig. That wild side looks a bit past what I would be willing to ride and not feel everyone was pointing at it! I mean everyone points at a recumbent enough as it is!!

 

[Frito Bandito]

Yeah, I hear ya. A person can only take so much prodding hahaha.
I have the white/orange/green Air Attack and now I know why it was on sale. It looked a lot better on the shelf than it does on my head.

 

[DavidCH]

HAàaa I hear you... wildside looks well over the top but at 40 something bucks... I had to see what it was like. So I did notice the old guy in the market painting bicycles on ceramic tiles.... maybe he can repaint the helmet?

That would look a bit more like a masterpiece

LOL

 

[Frito Bandito]

I might get my friend to paint the Giro Air Attack and my Limar 007. Both are too loud.

 

[benphyr]

... I mean everyone points at a recumbent enough as it is!!

They can be broken down into two categories almost without exception:

Positive reactions are by far the huge majority:
children/teenagers: squeal with delight, "can I ride it?", "cool where can I get one", nice ride, look at that, that’s so awesome,
geriatric riders: "that looks great"/ is it difficult to learn / completely unfazed regular conversation ("normal"),
Women: genuine interest, curiosity,
Touring or commuting cyclists and the occasional young/middle-aged male cyclist.
90% of people stopped at a crosswalk with you: interested / conversation starter

Negative reactions (very few) are limited to lack of eye contact and lack of response to waves or other recognition and mostly young to middleag

My instinct is to avoid talking with people on the street that I have never met before but this over-abundance of positive reactions makes it much less challenging. The only reaction that I dislike are the punk kids who ask to try it out of some extreme extrovert-ish machismo (possibly related to a mix of inferiority complex, teen-hormones, and showing off to the gang/girls).

 

[Don1]

How do you classify hanging out the passenger window of a passing car and taking photos? I never had anyone do that when I ride my road bike, regularly happens when I go recumbent....

 

[DavidCH]

A little mixed here. Every year or nearly every other year the Pro peloton run the gauntlet of the streets. Recumbent bikes are for the odd. The macho racers have to behave like the rams that are blissful fast thrshing the KOMs.

Sure you get a lot of conversation ... it also generates fear... "how on earth can anyone ride that?"

I guess with a few t50s one could have a cruzbike school... still something to think about.

I love riding that bike. I might be full of hay-fever allergy this time of the year but the adrenalin that flows thru soon corrects that.

 

[vosadrian]

I'm still getting used to the attention. Not really what I was after, but no choice! The first couple of weeks I just rode in the street near my house to get used to manouvering it. So mainly just seeing my neighbours who smile politely. I think in their minds I am now the eccentric neighbour. I have done two rides on a public bike path and I think every person I pass has had some reaction. The serious riders passing the the other direction have a grin and watch me go past (probably thinking that is cute!!). A few less serious riders have yelled out something like "cool bike" or "that's cheating!!". Kids walking around yell out to their parents to look at me. I came across one rider on a trike recumbent going slow. He yelled something out I think about wanting me to stop and chat, but I was on a mission so did not and just yelled "hi" back. Maybe if I do this ride enough, people will get used to it and not make such a fuss!!

On the helmets... I do have a helmet which is probably a good choice for this bike. I had been using a kask mojito, but I use a Specialized Evade (first version) on my aero road bike and it seems to be better at the back for the head rest and is supposed to be pretty aero on a road bike. Not sure if it is still aero on a reclined recumbent. I do find with that helmet and my glasses I still can't quite get the glasses right. Partly because I have been riding in the afternoon and find the sun glare difficult to control compared to DF where I can just look down. I might look into getting a Giro Vanquish at some point though if that is fairly aero on a recumbent? Most helmet forum topics seem to be older when the air attack was the preference.

I fitted the Look Keo pedals last night and just a quick ride in the street. It is more difficult to clip in than on the road bike, but that is probably just because I am use to picking up the nose of the pedal from on top on a road bike and flick it forwards. On the recumbent the pedal sits in the correct orientation so you have to search around to hook the front on. But I think I will get used to that. I did notice straight up that I felt more powerful and was generating power in the up stroke as I do on a DF. I am sure I will gain some good power from being clipped in. Looking forward to first ride with that. Eventually I will move my garmin vectors (same as keo but with power) off my other bike to the V20. I also lengthened the boom and I think my knee angles are better which could be part of the reason for more power.

I had no bottle cages on the bike yet, but the bike came with 2 of the cruzbike ones brand new to fit. Unfortuantely I realised the previous purchased did not get the adapters required to fit them to the seat. So I could not fit them. Are these worthwhile? Should I go to the trouble to get cruzbike to send me some adapters so I can fit them? Or are there better hydration options I should consider? In the meantime I stuck a spare bottle holder I had under the boom... but I did notice that I was brushing it with my knees on the test ride. Not sure if that will become an issue. At the moment I can't imagine trying to drink while riding as I am not that stable... but I need some water to consider longer rides.

 

[Mathew Fy]

adapters required to fit them to the seat. Are these worthwhile?

Yes, If you like using the bottles there. I ended up attaching bags in that location, one holds a bladder with a drinking hose over the shoulder. Many options discussed in the forum.

Regarding the boom location, if you spin it around so the bottle is on top, it doesn't interfere with the knees as much, and it's much easier to access. Perfect for a new rider, but catches a bit of wind.

 

[Frito Bandito]

The consensus seems to be that bottles behind the head are the most aerodynamic, and the CB cages worked well for me there if the bottles were relatively upright. Once I leaned them further back my water bottles were ejected a couple of times. My seat came with holes predrilled for the cages, but I didn't want the bottles that low. IIRC the bottle on the right side under the seat interfered with access to the moose pack. When I first started riding my V20 I wanted to keep the weight a bit lower to reduce wobble. So I drilled a couple of holes in the seat to put mine lower. Where mine are now is under the seat but behind my shoulders. Now I have access to the moose pack without removing the right bottle, and the left bottle doesn't interfere with the rim brake. Like Mathew wrote about the drinking hose, the con on my system is that without a bite down hose connected, I don't have the balance yet to pull the bottle out of the mount while moving. At the angle my bottles are laid back at I have to use some cages that are really tight to prevent ejections. This, the location of the bottles, and the angle makes it look like I am trying to pull a spear out of my butt while still being chased by a bunch of cavemen as I run across a tightrope. I just stop at a turn around point for a few seconds and take a drink. With the bite down hose though, it works like a charm, and frees up the space behind the head for a brain bag or something similar during tours. And the bottles mounted that high under the seat is plenty high enough for the drinking hoses I have to reach.

The Oakley Aro 7 and Poc Cerebral are great looking helmets with visors, but the rear of that Poc doesn't seem like it would work with a V20s headrest. The rear of the Kask Bambino seems higher than the Poc. If money weren't a consideration then those 2 would be on my short list if I could try them on while on my V20. Since, as you wrote, we can't simply lower our head to get the sun out of our eyes, lense quality really should considered if you aren't going to use sunglasses underneath.

 

[benphyr]

we can't simply lower our head to get the sun out of our eyes, lense quality really should considered if you aren't going to use sunglasses underneath.

I am told that this solution to the sun visor is an alternative to a true visor: Tape on the inside top of the lens to provide a shade (like in a car windshield) until you get an idea of where you want that extra visor and then black paint for a more permanent solution leaving the outside looking good.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I am told that this solution to the sun visor is an alternative to a true visor: Tape on the inside top of the lens to provide a shade (like in a car windshield) until you get an idea of where you want that extra visor and then black paint for a more permanent solution leaving the outside looking good.

Great idea. Hmmm. How about something adjustable on the inside? I was thinking of electrical tape but don't want anything to stay stuck on the lense

 

[castlerobber]

I have the white/orange/green Air Attack and now I know why it was on sale.

I have that one, too. Also got it on sale. Obnoxious orange and garish green. At least I don't have to look at it.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I have that one, too. Also got it on sale. Obnoxious orange and garish green. At least I don't have to look at it.

I think Cyndi Lauper snuck into Giro's paint room after hours and gave a few of them her personal touch

 

[benphyr]

Great idea. Hmmm. How about something adjustable on the inside? I was thinking of electrical tape but don't want anything to stay stuck on the lense

Use blue painters’ tape. If it leaves residue then it is probably long past time to replace it or the helmet. It will last fall, winter, spring commutes for a year.

 

[Frito Bandito]

Perfect Idea. That stuff doesn't leave any gum on a surface like glass or plastic

 

[vosadrian]

First ride with clipless pedals yesterday. Once clipped in at speed it is of course no problem, but a little nervous manourvering, so unclip for that. Noticable improvement in power output. Unfortunately the bottle on the boom was brushing my legs and I actually felt I was less stable... probably because of that. I have an Elite aero bottle I forgot about so I might use that instead. But I am starting to get some pace out of this thing:

https://www.strava.com/activities/5042012422

34kph over 50k on a fairly hilly technical course (>400m elevation). At times my average nudge 36kph before the bad hills hit. That is up towards my best DF pace. Maybe 2kph slower... but I have only ridden about 500km this year so far, so my fitness is way down, and I could probably not match this pace on my DF bike currently. So to be possibly bettering my DF pace with <150km ride time on a V20 seems pretty good!

I need to work on stability still. So will continue on the path for a few hundred km more. But I might start riding to the path on the road very cautiously soon.

And now starting to debate when I stick my 50mm wheelset on. I still don't know what wheels my bike has. They look the same as the top photo on the V20 product page: https://cruzbike.com/products/v20 Any idea what they are? (also the bike with wheels is in photo on Strava activity above). Trying to work out if I get the loose spokes fitted and use them for a while or jump to my other wheelset.

 

[paco1961]

POC Ventral Spin works perfectly w the Thor head/neck rest. Probably too low in the back to work w the stock head rest.

Electrical tape followed by a glossy black spray job works great. I find the available visors for road helmets to be essentially useless on a CB or any other bent bike. Market opportunity for you engineers w 3D printers and the wherewithal to put them to good use!

 

[M.J]

First ride with clipless pedals yesterday. Once clipped in at speed it is of course no problem, but a little nervous manourvering, so unclip for that. Noticable improvement in power output. Unfortunately the bottle on the boom was brushing my legs and I actually felt I was less stable... probably because of that. I have an Elite aero bottle I forgot about so I might use that instead. But I am starting to get some pace out of this thing:

https://www.strava.com/activities/5042012422

Following!

 

[DavidCH]

34kph over 50k on a fairly hilly technical course

I would say that's pretty dialed in!