Getting started

[Kim]

I have a healthy loathing of grip shifters, but I note that:

On a derailleur-geared recumbent, there's a significant advantage to a shifter that lets you go all the way to bottom gear in one go.  So grip shifters, bar-ends, thumbies, etc. are preferable to trigger shifters or road levers.

Excluding the likes of Rohloff and Sturmey-Archer, SRAM are the only people who seem to be able to make a grip shifter out of something other than cheese.

[mrto]

I have a healthy loathing of grip shifters, but I note that:

On a derailleur-geared recumbent, there's a significant advantage to a shifter that lets you go all the way to bottom gear in one go.  So grip shifters, bar-ends, thumbies, etc. are preferable to trigger shifters or road levers.

Excluding the likes of Rohloff and Sturmey-Archer, SRAM are the only people who seem to be able to make a grip shifter out of something other than cheese.

I had the same loathing of grip shifters in the past and avoided then as a result, but my new to me Bacchetta Giro coming with them has changed my opinion to they can be good and sometimes even the best option.

[Kim]

The ones on barakta's trike seem to work well enough, other than not providing useful indication of what gear you're in (they have a little window, but with USS the angles are all wrong).  I still prefer bar-ends, but I have the luxury of a left hand that can operate shifters.

[diapsaon0]

The former owner of my ICE Adventure had the original grip shifts changed to bar ends and the brakes adapted to work from one lever - left hand.  I much prefer both of these mods.

[Kim]

Yes, barakta's got both front brakes on a dual-pull lever on the right (which works well as long as you keep them reasonably balanced, and I find it more intuitive when I ride the trike, as that's what I'm used to on my bicycles), along with the original twist-grip for the rear derailleur and an extended bar-end for the front.  And a couple of switches to jibble the e-assist power level.  It's a bit crowded, but it puts all the controls where she can get at them.

The rear brake is operated by the original twist-grip on the left handlebar, which she has to lean over and operate with her right hand (which is a bit of a faff, but adequate).  Her left hand can, on a good day, keep the steering pointed in the right direction, and there's also a bell where her most-functional little finger can operate it.

[McWheels]

Coz a cruzbike is an easy entry level laidback, readily available at an affordable price?

Did for my first one. New frameset from OEM end-of-line discount and the rest just standard bike bits. People shut themselves down so quickly - I just reckoned it must be possible as long you're ok to learn a new skill; and it was.

[fd3]

Don't get me wrong, I was very tempted by a Cruzbike, but the only one I saw on eBay went well beyond my price range.  Conversely I got my SPM on this forum for £500 and my Trike for a little more on BHPC.  Paying more for the trike was a safe bet as there was little chance that I wouldn't manage to ride it.
But then budgets are a personal thing.

[Scrantaj]

Quick update. Thanks to all who commented.

After chatting with Igor Ralic, the guy behind Velomotion, I've plumped for one of his frames.

He was extremely helpful and patient with my questions and helped me spec something that does what I needed.

Frame is due in about 6 weeks, I'll post pics when it arrives and as I get it built up.

[mrto]

That's great I'll be watching with interest!

[woollypigs]

Got a Azub Six (USS), more a touring bike, but I'm sure with a bit thinner tyres it would do just fine as a faster rider. And as Kim said USS might be the way forward if arm, shoulder, neck is an issue.

Good luck with the new bike, and welcome to the dark side

[Scrantaj]

So getting parts together for the build when the frame arrives.

Question about pedals.  I usually ride flats for long distance stuff, are they apractical option on a 'bent?  I have clipless pedals and shoes and was wondering about using them or not, especially for the first few rides to avoid the dreaded clipped in slow topple.

[Kim]

Doable if the bottom bracket isn't too high compared to the seat, but foot retention is easier, as you don't need to fight gravity to keep your feet on the pedals.  It's less of a safety issue with bikes than with tadpole trikes, as the main risk from slipping is bashing your heel on the front wheel rather than running over your foot.  If you're already used to using clipless pedals, I'd say they were a no-brianer.  (Though by all means stick to flats for ease of getting a foot down until you're past the wobbling stage.)

[fd3]

I set my pedals to minimum retention, so they helped keep my feet on the pedals but unclipped with little/no effort so that I didn't have an issue.

[Lightning Phil]

I’d say having your feet clipped in, is better when going down. You’re not going to damage the ankle / foot with awkward twisting or jamming it in the front wheel.

[woollypigs]

Yup, didn't have any issues with clipless on my bent, when I started out.

The only issue I got is, I have to put my feet in a different position on the ground when stopped, so that I don't topple over. Compared to a stop on a up wrong. This often causes less grip to the ground in my cycling shoes, for some reason reason. And I haven't learned that spot of by heart yet, so I often do a one legged dance when stoping.

[Scrantaj]

Still waiting for the frame to arrive.  A short delay at the Velomotion end and now held up in customs in the UK.  Arrived in the UK 2 weeks ago but Parcelforce are sitting on it while they decide how much to charge me in Import taxes.  Despite chasing via email and Twitter and sending them the invoice and proof of cost apparently it takes 5 days to respond to an email and no-one can tell me when it's likely to be actioned.

 

[woollypigs]

If it is slightly like dealing with DVLA, your emails will have to be printed out so that they can be scanned into the system they use to deal with customers, this take about 10 days ...

[MattH]

No, it's a courier. So as it's been sat with them for two weeks now, they'll return to sender as the recipient didn't accept delivery in time...

[PaulM]

Still waiting for the frame to arrive.  A short delay at the Velomotion end and now held up in customs in the UK.  Arrived in the UK 2 weeks ago but Parcelforce are sitting on it while they decide how much to charge me in Import taxes.  Despite chasing via email and Twitter and sending them the invoice and proof of cost apparently it takes 5 days to respond to an email and no-one can tell me when it's likely to be actioned.

 

Hope you get it soon. It seems to be easier to get kit from the USA than the EU these days. Of course if Velomotion didn't make the right declarations ....

Paul

[Scrantaj]

No, it's a courier. So as it's been sat with them for two weeks now, they'll return to sender as the recipient didn't accept delivery in time...

Not a courier, Parcelforce.  I've had no opportunity to accept delivery as they haven't actually attempted it yet.  The parcel is still sat in their "International Hub" in Coventry.  Paperwork is all in order but everything is done by letter.  Sent me a letter a week after they received the package asking for the original invoice as proof of value.   That's been sent and it's been another week since that and still no movement.  I need them to tell me what customs charges are due so I can pay them and customs will release the package for delivery.  Emailing them doesn't help as they have a 5 day response time to email enquiries.

I don't want to use the B word here, but if you voted for it this is your fault.

[Mr Larrington]

Porcelfarce sat on the timing kit we'd borrowed from a USAnian pal until 1: the letter arrived on my doormat; b) the bill was paid and iv) the following Monday happened.  I am planning to stick it to The Man by smuggling it back into USAnia in The Luggage in a couple of weeks time and sending it from there.  Ha!  Take that, fascists!

[Kim]

Porcelfarce sat on the timing kit we'd borrowed from a USAnian pal until 1: the letter arrived on my doormat; b) the bill was paid and iv) the following Monday happened.  I am planning to stick it to The Man by smuggling it back into USAnia in The Luggage in a couple of weeks time and sending it from there.  Ha!  Take that, fascists!

Cue Mr Larrington being hauled aside by the humourless TSA goons to explain why there appears to be a timer in his luggage...

[Mr Larrington]

I'm going to take the batteries out, obv…

[Scrantaj]

Right, it took a while in the end but finally have a 'bent build and ridable.

In the end it took almost 6 weeks for ParcelForce to sort themselves out and get the frame delivered.  On the plus side it was in good condition and undamaged when it did finally get delivered.  On the down side it was the wrong colour!  At some point there had been a mix up at Velomotions end and I got a white frame and not a yellow one as ordered.  Rather than messing about returning it and getting mixed up with customs and ParcelForce again Igor agreed to refund me the cost of getting it resprayed here.  That took another week or so but I'm really happy with the end result.  There was nothing wrong with the quality of the original paintwork, it was just the wrong colour!

Assembly was a learning curve.  I used my Audax bike as a donor for running gear, wheels etc.  While it was mostly straight forward there were a couple of places were the tolerances on the frame were a fraction out but a combination of very careful dremmel work and sand paper got it sorted.  I very nearly cut the donor fork steerer too short but caught the detail in the instructions from Igor just in time.

I experimented with thumb shifters but just couldn't get a good setup with them on the superman bars so plumped for bar end shifters in the end.  The MTB specific shifters from Microshift aren't cheap but they are really well made and work perfectly with the Deore XT rear mech from the donor bike (It had very silly gearing with an 11-50 cassette).

I started out with SPD pedals but very quickly switched to flats after flailing madly trying to get my feet in them and weaving like a drunk puppy all over the road on my first couple of tries at riding it.  Flats have worked out really well and I'll be sticking with them I think.  I'm still working on final details like where to mount the Garmin, lights, mudguard position etc.  Debating making the seat angle a bit lower, but that will mean I have to shorten the steerer tube to see over it, so it can wait for a bit I think.  Started on the highest position but found that reducing it a couple of steps actually made it easier to ride.

I've clocked up around 50km on it so far with only one fall when I messed up a gear change on a steepish hill and lost my balance.  Otherwise going well so far.  My only real issue atm is slow moving traffic, I still need more practice at slow speed balance, anything under 5mph and it gets very iffy and pulling away in traffic is still a bit hit and miss.  Doing 30 mins a day just practicing atm, with my longest ride being today, doing an hour mostly on quiet local lanes.  Looking forward to being able to get out longer and further with an eye on getting back to Audax next year.

In the mean time here is a picture of the Flying Banana as my wife has dubbed it.

[woollypigs]

Very nice banana, I'll say.