Recumbent - Questions about EZ Speedster AX

Hi,

I have looked through this forum extensively to try and find answers to my questions before posting but to no avail. I read the Bentrideronline's review but I'd like some additional feedback before maybe buying one of these. They seemed to give it a pretty good review.

I am considering one the Speedsters for a variety of reasons. They seem pretty sturdy and I am big guy with respect to weight and taller than average. By the time I add lights, rack, panniers, etc. the weight climbs right up there even before I add a load. The AX's components don't seem bad for the money. I want a SWB as it is easy to transport and it'll take up less room in the garage. I am a very avid bicyclist but normally it is on folding bikes and this will be my first recumbent purchase. I am used to riding on smaller wheels so SWB doesn't feel twitchy to me.

From what I could tell (and being no bent expert) the Speedster AX was a lot of bang for the buck. It seemed like an upgrade in tires and rims and it could be a pretty decent performance bargain. Combine that with the fact that I can pick one up new for under $500 and it seems like a pretty good intro bike. Then if I REALLY enjoy it I will pick up something better.

I really need something sturdy but I still want decent performance. I have sometimes gone too much for light weight and I had to be supper attentive to wheels and other components. It seemed like I was always adjusting supposedly "strong" but lightweight wheels. I also live where the roads are not glass smooth so again that puts more stress on the wheels. The Speedster seems very sturdy and while not super light, 36 pounds, it seemed like it would be a good compromise and maybe suit me long term.

So what are the pro and cons of this bike besides it is not ultra-light? I have an ultra light race bike already and quite honestly I love to ride it but I always worry that I am going to break something when I ride it and that is a real buzz kill. Last thing I want flying down at 50mph is what happens if the wheel decides to self-destruct. Another way I am sorting of looking at this purchase is it will be my recumbent that I will make all the mistakes on so if it gets destroyed, I don't have a wad of cash wrapped up in it. I am also not potentially buying someone else's headaches by buying used.

I'd probably ride it 15-30 miles at a time and probably never every more than that. So any thoughts, options, suggestions, alternatives are welcome. The one bad thing I've heard about it is sometimes the handling is a little sketchy. Any insight to that comment would be helpful. Fire away!

Since no one has replied I thought I throw out a link I found regarding it and see if anyone has any comments specifically to what was said. Here is the link:

http://www.mnhpva.org/Meetings/2005/aug_05/pages/12.html

Here is the text of the page:

EZ Speedster SWB
Dave Krafft showed an EZ Speedster SWB recumbent made in Taiwan for J&B/Sun. This one comes from Edina Bike stock, but they, like most dealers, haven't been able to sell any of these things after people give them a test ride. Their literature implies a close connection with Gardner Martin and Easy Racers, but Dave seriously doubts that Gardner ever worked on this dog. The design is both too bad and too recent (that is, close to when Gardner died) for that to be a plausible story. Whoever did do the design clearly didn't think to just copy a V-rex or P-38 either. It has nearly zero trail and negative tiller, so it is very squirrelly for most people to ride.
(I've long been an advocate of near zero trail, but it only works in conjunction with significant positive tiller. Without at least 6" of tiller and proper reach, minimum trail can be a disaster. Mark)

Can it be rescued? Dave has considered replacing the fork, but that would still leave tiller problems that can't be helped much due to its shortness and the fact that the steerer tube is so close to any realistic riding position (even with the seat back reclined a lot as Mark has done with the Trek recumbent and the Rans Rocket with good results). Others suggested USS and/or indirect linkage steering. It could even be converted to a tadpole trike, though it would sit pretty high for that. Dave would like to come up with some fix, since it is very likely that J&B will soon be dumping several container loads of them at a greatly reduced price and Dave thinks the components alone would be worth the expected price (probably $400 compared to a list price of $999). If the required fix is too much effort, he may just strip one for the parts, including decent mechanical disk brakes and a pretty nice pivoting stem. It is also a heavy beast (over 40 pounds) but that is mainly in the frame, which is another reason to just go ahead and strip one.

Any thoughts from current owners? I can pick up an AX for about $450 new in a state near me. So obviously these things aren't selling and the importer is just dumping them. So any comments would be appreciate from either current owners or people who have ridden them extensively. Our weather here is snowy so I can't easily take an extended test ride. Thanks!

I had the lowend model for awhile this summer. I bought it so my wife could ride my EZ Sport when we rode together. My initial impression was negative. I didn't really like the way it handled and it seemed a lot harder to start out on than my Sport. But after a long ride or two, I realised I was riding quite a bit faster than I could before. I was easily cruising at 2mph over what I had been doing and found with a little effort I could run in the 19-20 mph range (I am 47 and only got really serious about riding in August). It seemed to climb better and keep speed better on mild grades. I ended up trading it in when we got our tandem because my wife could not ride it like she could the Sport. If I had to do it all over I would never get rid of it. In fact, if I could get the high end model for the price you are talking, I would not hesitate. It is definitely a great bike for the price.

By the way, where are you seeing the EZ Speedster AX for $500?

BK Xray- What didn't you like about it at first with respect to the handling? Or what impressions did you have specifically that were negative? I know the higher BB can be a challenge than the LWB I think I could adapt quickly. I am younger than you but not by a lot. This would be my first bent and I don't want to make an expensive mistake. I have bought like 12 bikes this year already. Yes, that is really 12 so my bike budget is definitely blown so I have about $500 that I am willing to invest in an entry level bent that will still have decent performance. I can't see dropping too much on it until I know I will really like it. To rent a bent isn't cheap on a daily basis either to do like and extended test ride.

The price I found is for a bike shop in River Falls, Wisconsin. Problem is they are for local pickup only and it isn't too far away from me to drive there. Maybe 30-40 minutes or so if it wasn't for all the darn snow we have now and sub zero temps. Tonight will be maybe -10 or -15F. I road for a little today but it only got up to about +8 and dropped quickly while I was riding. I don't think I'll be doing that again BUT a bent with a bubble could be pretty cool!

Thanks for the info and any more details are appreciated.

Amyd- thanks for the input. What did you NOT like about it. I am still thinking about buying one as it'd be a good donor bike for the money at the least.

I can understand where if the designer has a close relationship with the review that that a potentially biased review could result. That is why I am here on the forum asking. I know that I don't understand bents well enough to choose on my own without additional input.

I also undertand that what is bad to one person may not be to another. That is why I am trying to find more specific details about what the negatives are. I used to race cars that had some quirks that could be dangerous if you weren't prepared for it but in my situation it gave me another way to control the car. In the wrong hands this put the driver at risk if he wasn't prepared for it but at my skill level it was a plus but I would never recommend that car to someone else unless they were highly skilled.

Since I am a newbie to bents I am all ears. So the more specific people are the easier it is to totally rule this bike out or not. Thanks again for the input.

Ok, I went and took it the AX for a test ride today. Not ideal conditions as it was maybe +6 when I was on it. My biggest gripe was I kept hitting my knees on the bars while the bars were at full extension. This made it a little hard to get moving at first. The bike doesn't seem super stable at low speeds but this was aggravated by my knee strikes on the handlebars. I chalked a big portion of this up to my inexperience with bents.

Since I can honestly say that I don't know anything about what the ideal design of a recumbent should be I can't speak intelligently on this topic. What I can say is after riding it on snow and ice I quickly adapted to it. It seemed pretty fast too. Maybe because I am used to riding folding bikes with smaller wheels I adapted to the twitchiness. Yes it seemed a little heavy but it did feel pretty robust. The darn seat must way a ton by the looks of it. Finding another seat would probably shave off 3 pounds off of it.

Maybe with my large mass closer to the rear wheel somehow helped its handling characteristics. I rode it under less than ideal circumstances and I was positively surprised about how it rode. I would like to take a longer test ride before taking one home but if I could have other opinions about what was "bad" about it I then could see if they were significant factors for me or maybe I wouldn't even notice them.

My last thought was buy it and if I hate it pick up a Giro frame for about $500. Then I could swap out the parts and have a pretty decent Giro for far less than what a base Giro without disc brakes costs. I recently saw an unpainted Giro frame for $500 or so. This combined with the AX could give me a lot of options for not a lot of money.

Again any other opinions are welcome. If my logic is flawed or I can find a better bent for about $500 point me in that direction. I am not married to the AX and I am trying to approach this in a logical manner.

Thanks!

The handling was a little weird at first. I came off a long wheelbase EZ Sport with a low bottom bracket. It felt strange to have to get my feet up so high and it made it kind of unstable starting up. Also I am kind of short legged and had to have the seat up almost against the steering stem. The learning curve on the Sport was very short, one ride and I was totally comfortable. It took a few more rides on the Speedster to feel at ease.

BK- thanks for the input. I'll probably pick one up probably next week. I am going out of town for a few days and they had a couple left. At that price I can always strip it if I put more time in on it and hate it. Unfortunately that won't be likely until spring time. If I wait that long to buy one all the deals will have dried up so I'll likely take the chance on one once I get back unless I can find something drastically wrong.

I would like to know what you considered "weird" about the handling. For example was it nervous and had no stability. Did it seem to dart of in different directions on its own? Did it seem to have high speed instability? I know the higher BB bikes are a little more challenging to start off since you have your feet so high off the ground. I knew that would be more of a challenge going in but it definitely wasn't as high as some I tried before. So more detailed info would be helpful.

wavshrdr i purchased an ez speedster ax end of season discount i was pissed i found the guy in river falls some 2 bills cheaper and only 30 min away after i bought it thats how it goes. like x-ray the handling a little nerving you learn the lean and steer combo as you go i almost went down on hill going about 18 mph to much turn no lean a real no no. my first day out. if your knees are hitting the handlebars is the seat far enough back? mine came wo the pedal extenders make sure you get them i got sore knees w/o them they made a diff when riding the trainer but have not been on the trail to fully test they should come with the bike sun sent me a pair at no cost .i,ve only got about 200 miles on so far the tiller mount squeaks the chain guide has a hum or whir you learn to ignore depends on what gear your in it can be substantially less the tires are sluggish my brakes were not set up right and i was riding with the brakes on and did not know it. it is hard to mount a computer on this model because of disk brakes i had to fashion a mount for the rear wheel but i use a cheap one with no adapters. i had mount a water bottle on the rear seat stay i dont know where else it could go and not be in the way.i tend not to look around when riding this bike my stability is altered i bought this bike for long rides 40 miles or so @15-18 mph flat trail with out geting the numb junk like on my df,s im not real happy with it i did some mashing but ti should not have affected my knees thats my biggest complaint and it does have some high speed instability sorry this is long but all in all you wont find better deal for the money entry level ez1 go for that amount wish i would have found mine for that amount any other questions i ,d be happy to answer

I just got my new-in-box SUN EZ-Speedster AX last week for $500. UPS truck came by with 2 boxes and I had a bike shop put it together. It is my second recumbent bike (first was a 1995 DH5000, CLWB 20" front / 26" Rear wheel). I brought the EZ-Speedster AX without test riding it, thinking it was like a V-Rex clone, and because I liked the parts specs - disc brakes, SWB, etc, and thinking a 'great price' at $500. But when I got it back from the bike shop, boy was it squirrelly. I will give it a try for one summer. If I do not like the squirrelly feel, I am thinking of getting a bike builder shop that can do TIG Aluminum welding to modify it to look like the RANS Stratus to get rid of squirrelly feel. Should be an easy modification? <Just throwing another option out, besides moving EZ-SPeedster AX parts to another frame.>

$500? What is the hesitation all about? Just do it! Recumbents don't get cheaper.

I have the mid-range model (cromoly frame; it's red) not the alumin. higher end one. But it has disc brakes!

I bought it from a neighbour who researched it carefully, bought it, had it for a short while, rode it for 50 km, and then bought a trike. Nothing wrong with the bent, he just realized once he had a bent that the trike was his dream ride.

I am happy with it, though it helped when I replaced the tires with something slimmer and fancier. (And pricier. [Edit: Primo comets]) It must've added 2-3 km to my speed.

It's a great beginners bent. I rode 800 km (about 600 miles) on a tour last April (Olympic peninsula, San Juan islands, lower Vancouver island) over a week and it was great. I'm 200 lbs or so and my camping gear was 60 lbs. Not a worry. (Never had a flat, either.) It was slow going up the hills, but the bike's geared nice and low. I went 40+ mph on downhills. I rode on gravel and I rode on the shoulder of the highway (a bit scary where the shoulder is narrow). Thing looks like it's brand new and rides like it is brand new.

I'd like to get something higher end, but at the same time, I'm kinda of reluctant to replace it because I'm fond of the bike. It doesn't owe me anything. I'm not afraid of going over bumps or onto rough terrain. It's not fragile. It feels indestructible.

As for the bike being twitchy, I think that's the rider. (I've tested HPVs, Burleys, Rans, you name it, and they're all twitchy when you are i) going too slow or ii) new to bents.)

It is a great beginners bent (esp. for that money). Ride it for a year, build up the bent muscles and by then you'll have a better idea of what you are looking for. Personally, I wouldn't want something I was worried about breaking -- esp. at speed -- and I like the fact that I can tour on this thing easily. But I think an aluminum frame transfers power better, because it is stiffer. (Or maybe it's the geometry.) I tried a Speedmachine and it was pretty good, albeit pricey [Edit: and not as light as I had hoped]). I tried a Bacchetta and it was good too. Simple, stiff and fast. Still, I grew pretty comfy on the EZ Speedster very quickly so before I replace it, I'm going to test ride a lot of bikes.

Thanks for the info. When I have some free time and good weather (i.e. no snow where I can test it) I plan to go for an extended ride before buying. It looks to be a good value for the $$$ and I can always strip it later and build something else as the components aren't bad.

Hi,

I have looked through this forum extensively to try and find answers to my questions before posting but to no avail. ... They seem pretty sturdy and I am big guy with respect to weight and taller than average. ...
So what are the pro and cons of this bike besides it is not ultra-light? ....

I'd probably ride it 15-30 miles at a time and probably never every more than that. So any thoughts, options, suggestions, alternatives are welcome. The one bad thing I've heard about it is sometimes the handling is a little sketchy. Any insight to that comment would be helpful. Fire away!
I bought one of these shortly after they first became available (April 2004). Mine was the CX, cro-mo frame with disk brakes for around $950 + tax.
This was the first bent I owned. I chose a SWB because I was worried about bent's higher weights, and also that I could stick it into the back end of my SUV (I had no car rack at all then).
Random comments:
---at that time they only had one frame size available, I'm not sure what its wheelbase is but I am 6'2" and this bike turned out to be a bit too short for me--I got knee pain from incomplete extensions.
---I found that you could cut most of the chain tubes away and see a significant improvement in noise and drive drag: http://www.norcom2000.com/users/dcimper/assorted/inanities/recumbent/speedster/speedster_tube.html
---The handling is rather twitchy. Partly due to the SWB and little front wheel, but there seems to be a bit of torsional flex in the head tube boom as well. During normal road cruising on clean pavement its fine but going through rocks or sand is definitely a both-hands-on-the-bars affair.
---I only ran 1.5" tires on it; never tried wider or narrower ones.
---I didn't like that there was nowhere good to mount water bottles within reach when riding. I used a seatback messenger bag for ths shorter (25-35 mile) rides I did.
---The only things that went wrong with mine was that the bolt holding the seat back to the base would loosen once every few weeks, but you would hear it rattling long before it fell out and it could be tightened with just one hex wrench. The other thing was that some of the spoke nipples were chewed and had to be replaced and the wheels re-trued. They spun true but at one point I noticed that some spokes were VERY tight, while others were almost rattling. That is more a matter with cheap wheels than with the particular bike however. I re-did the wheels myself with new nipples because I was bored.
---I got foot numbness on longer rides, but I suspect that's just due to the higher BB level involved.
---I also think this bike has lousy handlebars. It would do better with narrower "mantis"- or "inverted V"-style bars.

I don't know if I will sell mine or try to cut + lengthen the frame.
It would need at least 4" more length to work well for me, but (if I do it) I'm thinking of adding 10" or so to slow down the handling somewhat. To see if it is long enough for you--you should be able to sit on it and completely straighten your knee, while pointing your toes and keep the ball of your foot on the pedals.

The second bent I bought is a LWB (Cycle Genius Falcon). The handling is a lot more relaxed, the BB is lower (much less foot numbness) and it adjusts several inches longer than I need, but it is heavier (for flatland cruising that isn't much concern really) and it is harder to transport (I had to get a bumper-mount rack).
~

Wavshrdr / others: any new thoughts on the Speedster? Regrets? New better findings if you were to do it again?

Here we go again......

http://mnhpva.org/Meetings/2005/aug_05/pages/12.html

Here we go again......

http://mnhpva.org/Meetings/2005/aug_05/pages/12.html

Amyd, you're posting the same link that was already placed above. Maybe you hadn't read the thread?

The point is that appears to be a very subjective article with numerous people not sharing those opinions.

I was curious if the people that made the purchases above have any reflections.

Amyd, you're posting the same link that was already placed above. Maybe you hadn't read the thread?

The point is that appears to be a very subjective article with numerous people not sharing those opinions.

I was curious if the people that made the purchases above have any reflections.

I test-rode a few different 20/26 SWB's before I bought the Speedster; I didn't find its steering to be drastically different from any of the others. Because of my height however I had the seat all the way back and the steering riser almost straight. A short person wouldn't be able to adjust it like that.

The prices I remember were $800-$950-$1300 for the three original models. The close-out prices were running about half that. Mine is just gathering dust at the moment.

One advantage of the heavy trussed frame is that it is stiff; I weigh 275 and it doesn't flex a bit when I sit on it, and I have to push pretty hard on the pedals to see any BB boom flex. If you are heavy or especially strong and you don't like the idea of a flexy monotube SWB, the Speedster is definitely different from that.
~

I generally refrain from saying bad things about bikes, but I really don't like the EZ Speedster. The chain routing sux, and like the MnHPVA review noted, the steering geometry is just wrong! And it's a pig. If performance is one of the criteria, then weight and efficient chain routing matter, and don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise.

In the same vein as the Speedster and still in the $1000 range, you can get a brand new RANS Rocket (http://www.ransbikes.com/Rocket07.htm), which is twice the bike the Sun is. It also has a triangulated frame, and the newer ones have a hugely stiff 2" chromo main tube. You already know about the strength of small wheels. If a thou is too much money, you can usually find a lightly-used Rocket for around $600-800.

While I was test riding bikes for the first time way back when - I very much DISLIKED the Speedster. I could get on a Rans Rocket or V-Rex with no problem whatsoever, but for whatever reason the handling on the speedster spooked me somehow. I ended up crashing / droping the bike and that was that!

I'd buy a Rocket or V-Rex over this no contest.