Seating on an Evox

[Bianchiriderlon]

Hi

I recently bought an Evox (modified long wheelbase, (a so-called semi-recumbent)) bike. The Evox is also sold under the Quetzal and Mikado brands. This is along the same lines as a BikeE but the tubing is oval, not square and the bike has a typical crank/ring/bb arrangement. Overall, I find the bike to be good value for the money, but I have one concern. The seat is very uncomfortable. It is hard to detect just how uncomfortable until the bike is ridden for some distance. It is ok starting out, but by the time I’ve gone 10-12 km, my lower back and hips begins to ache. Had this been apparent at the time I was considering the purchase, I may have given the bike a pass. :(

The seat is a large, overly cushioned saddle style mounted on large springs. The brand printed on the seat is “Drifter.” It is attached using standard hardware to a seat post welded to the end of the seat boom. The bike is adjusted to the user by loosening a couple of Allen bolts and sliding the boom back or forward with respect to the pedals.

There is also a small seat back welded to the end of the boom. This is a padded oval cushion which supports the lumbar spine. When riding the bike, the springs allow the seat to rock from side to side which I suspect is a large part of the problem.

My question is: has anyone any experience riding this bike? Do they have the same seating problems? I was wondering if a BikeE seat may fit. If so, I am not certain that they are still available as I have heard that BikeE is no more. I may try a conventional seat on there and see how it fares. Any advice would be welcomed.

Thanks

Charles in London Ontario

[ppc]

The seat is very uncomfortable. It is hard to detect just how uncomfortable until the bike is ridden for some distance. It is ok starting out, but by the time I’ve gone 10-12 km, my lower back and hips begins to ache. Had this been apparent at the time I was considering the purchase, I may have given the bike a pass. :(

I hate to break this to you, but with these semi-recumbent designs, in my opinion you get the worst of both upright and recumbent worlds: your riding position doesn't allow you to get off the saddle to take weight off the bike to jump over curbs, shift your center of gravity or honk on the pedals, and it's obvious you sit with all your weight on the wrong part of your posterior (the muscles, instead of the sit bones on a regular saddle), you have no back support and you have to bend forward, so it doesn't justify giving up the few advantages of an upright. It's no surprise that your hips and lower back ache after a while, pedalling while bending forward without back support. There's a reason they're marketted for short distances only. It looks as uncomfortable as those cruisers with monkey bars, long fork and chrome everywhere, but at least with the cruisers you know where the emphasis is, and it's not comfort, it's looks.


I was wondering if a BikeE seat may fit

It won't, unless you're handy with a milling machine and files. The BikeE seat is mounted on the square boom's top rail with 4 sliding plastic clamps and two QR skewers. You'd have to manufacture an adapter to fit it to your bike.


If so, I am not certain that they are still available as I have heard that BikeE is no more. I may try a conventional seat on there and see how it fares. Any advice would be welcomed.

One thing you could try is weld an extension to the stunted back support and attach a proper seat back on it. Maybe you can bolt the extension instead of welding it, maybe you'd need bracings for additional solidity, I don't know, and I can't tell how solid it is there from your photo. With a real seat back, you'd be able to rest your back against it and, I think, almost eliminate back pains.

I don't like to be so blunt, but frankly if I were you, I'd sell the bike while it's new and still has resale value and get a cheap CLWB instead, with a proper riding position. I'm not sure it's worth the effort of upgrading it...

[Bianchiriderlon]

Thanks for your well-reasoned response. I'll play with the seat for now as I feel I would lose too much selling it. Perhaps I can fashion a seat back for it. Maybe a more rigid seat would help. If worse comes to worse I'll reserve it for trips to the grocery store. :)

Cheers

Charles

[Bianchiriderlon]

Hey, I got my seating issues worked out! I was out for a 30km ride with no discomfort. It was all a matter of adjustment. Now the worst thing about the Evox is that they changed the name from Quetzal. The Resplendent Quetzal is a beautiful S.A. bird which is on the endangered species list. I have put up a photo of a mom and her chick as an avatar.

Cheers

Charles

[ppc]

Hey, I got my seating issues worked out! I was out for a 30km ride with no discomfort. It was all a matter of adjustment. Now the worst thing about the Evox is that they changed the name from Quetzal. The Resplendent Quetzal is a beautiful S.A. bird which is on the endangered species list. I have put up a photo of a mom and her chick as an avatar.

Great, glad it all works out for you! I'm sure you can live with the new name if you can ride on it :)

[LRtrike]

I have a 'real' Quetzal recumbant, that darned thing has 120 gears. It'll take me a while to go through all of them. :o) It has underseat steering that, frankly, scares the bejeebers outa me. <g>
Lynn

[Bianchiriderlon]

I heard that the earlier series had a wide gear range. The newer Quetzals such as the Azteca are undistinguishable from the Evox. Some of the up-market Quetzals have better components and I believe that there is an aluminum model available. Had I known that at the time I bought mine, I would have spent the few extra bucks to get a lighter bike. However, all things considered, the bike is working out ok. There is a third name these bikes sell under. It is Mikado as in the G&S Operetta. My bike even says on one of the tubes "designed by Mikado."

Cheers

Charles