What did you do to your Cruzbike today?

[McWheels]

Rode it for the first time down to the local park for its beauty pics before I start adding on all the everyday accessories, install the THOR seat, and build my underseat storage case. This thing rolls so quietly with that Onyx Vesper sprag clutch freehub, it's just such a pleasant experience. I also submitted a picture to GCN Tech, so those of you who watch it regularly keep an eye out for and chime in if you see it appear.
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My inner pedant wants a word..... I'll translate nicely.
- Cruzbike logos on the rear wheel and words on the front wheel should be commonly aligned. I know the front is rotated that way to see it through the fork and chainstay.
- The only visible valve should be bottom dead centre (yes, I know it's not written down!), but it would place the words with vertical symmetry. And then you could match that alignment with the Zs on the rear wheel. Nice detail getting the tyre logo aligned too.
- Dealer's choice whether the cranks have to be flat or follow the line of the chain - I don't think they've got a rule for recumbents but assuming we follow it as written, then they're good. Drive side fwd, smallest sprocket, very good.
- Pedals level
- Aesthetically I love the background, but da rools say plain.

Good luck, let's see how we go.

 

[RojoRacing]

My inner pedant wants a word..... I'll translate nicely.
- Cruzbike logos on the rear wheel and words on the front wheel should be commonly aligned. I know the front is rotated that way to see it through the fork and chainstay.
- The only visible valve should be bottom dead centre (yes, I know it's not written down!), but it would place the words with vertical symmetry. And then you could match that alignment with the Zs on the rear wheel. Nice detail getting the tyre logo aligned too.
- Dealer's choice whether the cranks have to be flat or follow the line of the chain - I don't think they've got a rule for recumbents but assuming we follow it as written, then they're good. Drive side fwd, smallest sprocket, very good.
- Pedals level
- Aesthetically I love the background, but da rools say plain.

Good luck, let's see how we go.

I'm actually aware of all of those and the other rules, but choose not to follow some for various reasons that you already mentioned, since I've seen such violations make it through in the past. If we were worried about conformity, we wouldn't ride anything but DF bikes, right? If this pic doesn't get picked for such reasons, then I'm ok with that.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I switched the Shimano 105 53/39 cranks to Dura Ace 54/40, and installed the 105 left side crank arm with the 4iiii power meter on the DA cranks so I now have an extra tooth on the front. The left crank is 165mm, and the right DA crank is 170mm, but I can't even tell the difference. The Winter winds are blowing down the river so on some days it is going to be a hoot going down it but really hurt going back up.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I logged at least 7641km in 2025 and 7517km in 2024 on my V20, not counting 10km for each outing on public roads to the river, which is well over 15,000km (9000 miles) on a single chain, and when I checked chain wear the other day it was still not even .5. As many of you know, and may have seen on some of the vids I uploaded to Youtube, the Arakawa is very clean, and I almost never rode in the rain. My lube strategy was 1 drop per link of Silca's Super Secret Synergetic at the beginning of each month regardless of mileage, and once or twice near the end of the month spraying WD40 on the chain near the cassette as I spun the cranks backwards. After almost every ride I wrapped an old towel around the chain between the RD and cranks and spun the cranks backwards to wipe off most of the external dust. Other than the Arakawa being very clean and dust free, and not riding in the rain, It's virtually impossible for MBB FWD bikes to kick dirt up onto the chain like RWD bikes so I think this is 1 of the other contributing factors in how much mileage I am getting.

Since I used to install a new chain at the beginning of the year no matter the mileage I shouldn't need to install a new 120L chain, but I will because of another reason. My V20 currently has the short cage SRAM Force AXS RD that has a 33t cassette capacity, and I have a long cage Force AXS RD with a 36t cassette capacity that I will be putting on my V20 so that I can put the AXS short cage RD (with new jockey wheels) on my project bike. Also, I will be running the Dura Ace 54/40t on my V20 from now on and with the 11-36t cassette I will probably have to add 2L to the new chain to make it fit.

A high of 4C tomorrow is predicted for Tokyo, and rain the day after, so now is as good a time as any as you won't catch me outside in less than 10C unless there is some big mistake