Just pushed the button on a Cruzbike

[ElyDave]

New frame to be picked up when I go to Houston in a couple of weeks.

Current road bike will donate its bits, minus levers.  New levers as I intend using the bar end shifters I have in my spares box. This will be my sanity project for March during the emissions trading silly season.

[Kim]

 

[LMT]

Nice one, you won't regret it.

[McWheels]

boo-yeah! 

What you got? S40'd be my choice.

[ElyDave]

Yep, S40 being delivered to the office tomorrow

[ElyDave]

Ooh, it is a thing of beauty 

[Socks]

Is that one of those front wheel drive jobbies?  I've often wondered how they compare to rear wheel drive recumbents, obviously the chain line is much neater however is the steerign technique different?

[Kim]

I've only ridden a Toxy/Raptobike FWD where there's a cunning arrangement of idlers to allow the chainline to pivot, and the main difference that FWD makes (apart from mechanical fussiness and weight saving) is the amount of oil you get on your leg.  (I suppose there might be a traction advantage, but I haven't ridden one in a situation where RWD would struggle.)

Can you steer a Cruzbike with your feet?  I've seen it done with a Flevobike.

[Wobbly John]

  (I suppose there might be a traction advantage, but I haven't ridden one in a situation where RWD would struggle.)

I've seen Bottlemasher OTP have traction issues with his Burows FWD on hills...

[ElyDave]

Can you steer a Cruzbike with your feet?  I've seen it done with a Flevobike.

you should be able to, apparently pedal steer is one of the learning points to master

[McWheels]

When taking on a Cruzbike, one must accept that there is a learning curve, and it will be steep, and you start at the bottom. Their website forum has hints and tips and generally those who follow them report positively.

After 2500 miles, it's not so much you steer with your feet, as much as they are involved when you steer. It's no more oily than any other uncovered chain. It is huuuuge fun. Unbelieveably, I have no need for n+1.

[Phil W]

I believe it will see an outing at the Woodman 100? I would be interested in taking a look, if there is time. I will be on my road bike next weekend, but have the S40 as a possible next recumbent.

[ElyDave]

Phil, there should be time I hope. 

It will definitely be making an appearance as I no longer have a road bike to ride - it gave itself for the Cruzbike.  I've got about 350km on it so far and looking forward to seeing how it and i perform together over a longer distance, all part of getting ready for a tour of Islay and southe west Scotland in the summer.

[Joe.B]

How are you getting on with learning to ride the Cruzbike Dave? Is it as as challenging to adapt to one as Cruzbike themselves say? 

 

[ElyDave]

with in excess of 3000km on other recumbents (ICE B2 and M5 M-Racer), i'm finding the transition easier than i expected. 

In terms of my progression, the B2 was the perfect starter 2-wheel recumbent, nice and stable, upright enough to balance easily.  The M5 took a lot of getting used to, absolutely solid as a rock at high speed, downhill it's on rails, but a low speed nightmare. Very difficult to get used to, I think I had my a-ha moment about a year in when I realised I could ride it in slow traffic.

The CB by contrast, has been a lot easier to get used to.  The pedal steer is far more noticable at start up where you need to use handlebar pressure to counter it, but like most other recumbents, pick a point on the horizon and lift your vision and it's much steadier.

The more upright position on the S40 gives a good view of the road, and it absorbs bumps better than the M5. I don't think I'd recommend the S40 as a first recumbent, if any CB, probably the T50 or Q45.

More thoughts and the build diary are here https://adventuresofanathleticdiabetic.blogspot.co.uk/

[Phil W]

Good to see you and see the S40 yesterday. Forgot to look / ask what you have done about lights. Noted you had normal battery rear lights on back of head rest which is a good mounting point. Is the front a battery light as well? I would imagine dynamo lights to be a pain with wiring with dynamo hub at rear?
The bottle cages under seat, were they zip tied or secured in some other way? Good to confirm same wheel base as my road bike, so rear rack mounting possibility for car. The seating position / cockpit certainly seemed a good fit, barring the under steering tube bottle mount touching my tummy!

I also saw you at Ingatestone so pacing at that point was similar to my road bike.

[ElyDave]

Cheers Phil,

lights are a dynamo set up, Shimano hub, B&M Luxos front and you missed the rack mounted rear and the USB werk strapped to the frame just in front of the seat.  Wiring runs through a piece of chain tube mounted on the right rear stay and then underneath the frame using zip ties around the underseat rack mounts, then under the frame and up the boom to the front. three separate cable runs with no joints.  Others have done it through the frame using a couple of holes there and the bottle cage mounts.

That bottle cage under the handlebars is only mounted using one hole, the one closes to the front as otherwise it got in my way as well.  There are two underseat mounts with nuts and bolts through the seatback.  I'm not sure they'll ever be that useful on the move as they're not that well positioned.  I also had a water bladder in the LH fold away pannier on the carradice.

Average riding speed, including walking part of the farm yard and a couple of routing errors was 25kph, 4hr 30 min with 5 hrs total elapsed time. A bit slower than i've been so far over flatter terrain near me - I'm nearer 27kph there.  I was actually quite surprised how well I was doing uphill, matching the roadbikes around me.  Galleywood was a challenge but Danbury OK.  I will need lower gearing for my summer tour though.

Good to meet you as well, and finally put a name to a face.

[Phil W]

Yeah I have looked at battery lights and still think dynamo is best option for the longer audaxes.. As long as cabling is fairly tidy I would be happy with that.

How does your average speed above compare to similar terrain on your road bike?

[fd3]

Eh up Dave, what's the latest on the Cruzbike?