As much as I like my lardy-arse Speedmachine, I'm tired of getting beaten up excessively on climbs with roadie clubmates. So, time for a Fujin SL2 (probably). I've reached that conclusion from
Light - nearing the 20lbs mark if possible
Lowish - not in a hurry to bust a collarbone from something higher
Preferably not dropped chain/fwd for maneuverability
Not too worried about carrying capacity.
Disk brakes (at least, at the front)
M5s or Barons fall foul of of one or more of the above, and luvverly as Troytecs appear that's a bit spendy. But any other suggestions welcome...
Based on
http://www.velomobilforum.de/forum/index.php?threads/mein-lowracer-ist-da-freu-fujin-sl-1.37891/ - but using an SL1 seat and power tap, and at 10.7kg (24lbs), I should be able to do a little better with a disk-braked SL2. I have a sneaking suspicion Arallsopps Furai SL came in at 26lbs but that could be a figment of my imagination.
So, a few questions:
before Challenge wound up with the current full complement of idlers, gear changes was a little ropey on the front - is the new setup give trouble free shifting with a triple ? - or at least, no worse than on a Speedmachine ?
ISTR Tigerrr saying they needs constant fettling in one of more forum threads - anyone any comments ?
Frame longevity - I realise it's lightweight and I gather the design's been tweaked after earlier breakages, have problems mostly gone ? From a forum trawl Tigerrr appears to be on his 3rd frame - were the first two older frames, or unrelated ?
Tiller - the lightweight version is just a bent (Ti?) tube, the adjustable version covers dangle angle and reach - how much reach adjustment is there ? I gather it won't drop into one's lap as such but so long as there's sufficient scope to avoid knee/brake lever collisions plus a bit more wiggle room..
Looks like mudguards are possible on the disk fork, and botchable on the rear when using disks.
Now, dealers (minor rant content)
Laidback seem to be well-regarded, London Recumbents have stopped selling Challenge (which was a pity' cos they were really good re trying some out some years ago).
The third, who shall remain nameless (but obvious) is a bit..well, pants at selling stuff. They now have a spanky demo Fujin built up as of december - or so I gather from facebook, I'm still waiting for an email ! - which has been at various stages of arrival (or not) since june last year, and I've been hassling about since then - and to be fair, received answer to emails on status, and much of the delay appears to be at the Challenge end (mebbe built bikes take precedence). But various requests - 'so, you'll let me know when yer customers fujin's built so I can have a look ?' - and (several times on my last visit) 'ok, so you'll email me when the brakes are fitted and it's ready to demo ?' (they did once earlier, when the seats arrived) seem to enter one ear and exit the other. Oh, and some SPM steering parts ordered earlier last year (again, to be fair, a while back), last time I was in..'oh..do you know what they look like ? They probably went in the bearing drawer' (that's probably the sibling drawer to the one holding my SPM mech hanger that they had to order a second time...).
Either way, they've blown it on the Spanky Fujin pricing, the original estimate of another 250-700 quid has finally turned into 1k more than the vanilla model, *and* still doesn't have a mech post (which was funnily enough what I said I wanted back in may or June, and I'm not sure I've got the patience for 'just order me a f***ing boom rather than try to convince me to use a dualdrive'
)
So I'm in a quandry, order from Laidback and get it delivered (or 40quid each way to pick up from Edinburgh) with a vague expectation they'll have decent customer service if there's a warranty issue, or use A N Other that's pretty local, can build bikes fine, know lots about 'bents, but seems a bit rubbish at trying to sell anything. And a bit (bit?) disorganised to boot. (Oh and didnt' even have the right waterbottles to give me when I ordered the SPM, if I want to be picky, tho' that was some years ago. Elephants n all that...)