Road Cycling - Softride

In all the time that I have been checking out bicycles that other are riding - well over a year - I have seen almost every brand of bike except - until yesterday - a Softride.

I visited an LBS that promotes these ungainly looking things and was turned off by them. First, I didn't like the attitude of the salesman and his snide remarks about anyone who doesn't like Softrides. Second, the bike itself looks - well, weird!

Anyone ride a Softride? Is it, indeed, a better, more comfortable ride?

Hey, how about a Sofrtide with a Moon Saddle? You could ride in your designer jeans!

:D

I actualy took one for a test ride about 6 months ago, I was impressed with the ride overall. I can't remember the model name off-hand it was the steel model so was not lightest out there. But overall was very comfortable ride and fairly quick.

The salesman I dealt with told me the benefits but never put down other bikes, he was helpful but not rude or insultive. Main reason I did test ride I filled out a think at softride web site and they had a contest fill out a review and possibly win one. I was out of work so figured why not :)

I haven't riddden one but the 2-3 people I have ridden with and I have talked to like the comfort factor. I do notice a tendency for the beam to pogo, which is probably cadence dependent, but over a larger range of cadences than is normal. (All bikes will pogo at some combination of speed and cadence, most riders never notice). The riders I have talked to don't seem to think it a problem. They aren't waterbottle or pump friendly. Steve

You are correct SCH, if you don't have a smooth cadence you will pogo a bit. If you check out softride's web site they make a note of this. I would find another dealer in you're area and take one for a test ride, it's fun to ride something different.

Several people in my Saturday ride group ride Softrides. Most are triatheletes. They do well on most of the flat courses here in the Florida panhandle. One of my friends tried to ride in the mountains and had to switch bikes. The water bottle problem is solved by mounting a bottle in the areo bars. (on the tri bike set up). The appear to be more ride specific (ie: level to rolling terrain - not big hills) than regular upright frames/ Hope this helps.

ngateguy on this forum rides a Softride. I've ridden with him several times and he rode it during the STP (Seattle-to-Portland) ride. On the flats he really flies but even he admits that there's some pogoing on some of the climbs. He also has the suspension stem on there which I believe is the thing that's giving him the most problems on the bike.

Here's ngateguy and his Softride Solo 700:

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/2003STP-1/PICT0012.jpg

I've also heard you have to replace the support tube every two years or so due to metal fatigue. This is an added cost, but, according to some posts I have seen, is more than made up for by the less stress but on the wheels.

Where I live, you can't escape the hills. There are a few monsters, and a few "half" monsters, and I need something that can climb with ease.

Speaking of pogoing, two or three days ago, I was kind of pedaling along and thinking about other things, and forgot to shift. I was on the middle ring and the largest cog, and had a cadence that would have churned out some real watts, had I not been wasting all the energy going up and down! Luckily, no one was around to witness it.

I believe that support beam on all soft-ride's is made out of CF not that is a very expenesive piece of the bike I would hope you would not have to replace it every 2 years.

Well here I am I think I am the only one on the forum that has one I posted something about the pogo problem but didn't get any responses. I will tell you that it is a very fun and fast bike. I just got back from a brisk and beautiful 40 mile ride from here to Monroe and back on mine The support tube is CF I haven't had any problems with it. It did pogo at first, but the benefit to that is that it forces you to have a smoother cadence and riding style. I also have the suspension handle bars (they have a shock and a spring in them so they float with the road) at first I though there was something wrong with my front end but after I got used to it it was a beautiful thing. As a road bike it is the smoothest ride I have experienced. They are very fast and they do attract attention. The gearing is really not for doing any major hill climbing, but a simple upgrade will take care of that. How ever I do experience pogoing with the handlebars when I stand to ride hills. I have not as of yet figured out how to overcome that. My search of Softrides web site taught me about cadence and curves but nothing about the handle bars, I will have to work on it. Trekride do no let the snobbery of some LBS to turn you off from it. Like any other bike it may not be for you, but go out and test ride one it will be the smoothest ride you have had on a road bike, and remember keep your cadence smooth. I remember an LBS that turned his nose up at my '82 San Remo that I brought in for a tune up wanted to sell me a new bike. I said thanks but no thanks and know get my work done by an LBS that appreciates the classics. Water bottles work but pumps don't but I don't attach my pump to my bikes seeing that I own 4 bikes and 1 mini pump it goes in my bag. Their are also people out there that say you need to by special car racks and storage racks for the softride, and while it does not sit on them like a regular bike I store it inside on a regular rack and it fits on mine as well as Khuon's car bike rack. I should also say I got mine used and you could get different components on it that make it better on the hills I saw a few on the STP this year that had a third chain-ring on them that would make it simple to ride up hills. My funny one was on the ride Khuon and I did together we came on a hill when I was less than a 1/4 of the way up this hill (VERY VERY steep I had trouble on the same hill on the Bianchi last year) when I realized that I wasn't going to make it and I was unable to un clip so I started looking for a place to fall and started to zig zag up the hill Khuon even stopped and offered me to use him as a support and all I thought was I was going to fall on him and we would end up in a tangle of bikes and bodies I finally zigged into a driveway where I could un-clip It must of been a sight to see, I still laugh about it when I think of it. That is really the only hill I have ever had problems ion it and the STP was smooth the problem I really had on the Kitsap ride was too many hills and after 50 miles it was taking its toll on my but that is a fitness matter I will overcome.