Tony N.
02-03-09, 07:30 PM
Has anyone here done a Cruzbike conversion? If so, how do you like it and how difficult was it? Also, show pictures if you have them.
Thanks,
Tony
Thanks,
Tony
Recumbent - Cruzbike Conversions
Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.View Full Version : Cruzbike Conversions
PaPa
02-03-09, 08:46 PM
http://www.cruzbike.com/forums/index.php
defjack
02-05-09, 04:34 PM
Just ask on the Cruzbike forum.My kit is on the 5th frame and its still going strong.My first build I just like to play around with them. Jack
Maro
12-07-10, 09:41 AM
Just ask on the Cruzbike forum.My kit is on the 5th frame and its still going strong.My first build I just like to play around with them. Jack
I can not see how can you adjust the distance from the seat to the pedals.
It kind of depends on the donor bike...
I can not see how can you adjust the distance from the seat to the pedals.
It kind of depends on the donor bike...
bobkat
12-12-10, 10:31 AM
Last summer I did a Cruzbike conversion using a Downtube Folder Bike.
It was easy to do. Though donorbikes vary widely and some require moire fiddling around than others, on the whole it was easy to do.
I haven't done any full sized bikes yet, but one of these days........
The hardest thing was learning how to ride it once I got it built. I put on every kind of pad that was around the house here, old hockey pads, elbow pads, knee pads, and thick oleather welding pants! Didn't want to leave much blood and hide on Wal Mart's parking lot!
Actually learning to ride it went fairly well, and I now have a few hundred miles on it, around 450 - 500 and would have more except for our snow and ice.
Climbs really well as most people with them claim, yet only have 8 speeds. Because of the small sized donor bike it might be a bit more twitchy than a full sized bike, but I find myself riding it even more than my other bents. A lot of people learn to ride them no hands though either my skills are inadequate or the little donor bike with 20 inch wheels precludes it.
Some say there is a lot of hype with the Cruzbike's claims, but by and large I find everything that is said about it to be very true! For a bike limited with small tires, only 8 speeds, fairly heavy for its size, andphysically little (so it should be uncomfortably) it performs admirally, even when compared wo one very expernsive titanium bent that I also own and love!
It's easy to adjust by lengthening and shortening the boom - all built into the conversion kit. The seat itself doesn't move. When I look at pictures of me riding it I think that the cockpit looks too small and it should be uncomfortable, but amazingly it isn't! Surprisingly very comfortable, and my comparisons include a couple of very comfortable LWB bebts. The longest distance I've rode no stop so far is around 50 miles or so.
Check on the Cruzbike website, though I have a tough time signing in and keepipng signing in there. Have pretty well given up on it, other than to read other's posts.
Were I going to start a century today I'd probably mount my V3Ti, but for a lot of other riding I'd take the little Cruz!
It was easy to do. Though donorbikes vary widely and some require moire fiddling around than others, on the whole it was easy to do.
I haven't done any full sized bikes yet, but one of these days........
The hardest thing was learning how to ride it once I got it built. I put on every kind of pad that was around the house here, old hockey pads, elbow pads, knee pads, and thick oleather welding pants! Didn't want to leave much blood and hide on Wal Mart's parking lot!
Actually learning to ride it went fairly well, and I now have a few hundred miles on it, around 450 - 500 and would have more except for our snow and ice.
Climbs really well as most people with them claim, yet only have 8 speeds. Because of the small sized donor bike it might be a bit more twitchy than a full sized bike, but I find myself riding it even more than my other bents. A lot of people learn to ride them no hands though either my skills are inadequate or the little donor bike with 20 inch wheels precludes it.
Some say there is a lot of hype with the Cruzbike's claims, but by and large I find everything that is said about it to be very true! For a bike limited with small tires, only 8 speeds, fairly heavy for its size, andphysically little (so it should be uncomfortably) it performs admirally, even when compared wo one very expernsive titanium bent that I also own and love!
It's easy to adjust by lengthening and shortening the boom - all built into the conversion kit. The seat itself doesn't move. When I look at pictures of me riding it I think that the cockpit looks too small and it should be uncomfortable, but amazingly it isn't! Surprisingly very comfortable, and my comparisons include a couple of very comfortable LWB bebts. The longest distance I've rode no stop so far is around 50 miles or so.
Check on the Cruzbike website, though I have a tough time signing in and keepipng signing in there. Have pretty well given up on it, other than to read other's posts.
Were I going to start a century today I'd probably mount my V3Ti, but for a lot of other riding I'd take the little Cruz!
psychling1
12-18-10, 07:23 PM
Though I've never done a conversion I have completed a pretty extensive road test of all the Cruzbikes (October 2011 at Jim and Maria Parker's home in NC). I have a Sofrider and will be receiving the Vendetta when it makes first production in Feb 11. Here's my Training Blog (http://psychling1.blogspot.com/) that includes a fair amount of my recumbent background and my UMCA W-E-W Indiana Cross State attempt on the Cruzbike Vendetta in May of 2011. I already hold the one-way W-E UMCA Indiana Cross State Record on my Bacchetta Ti Aero. Here's my review (Cruzbike) and a video:
Cruzbike Front Wheel Drive Recumbents - Review (http://psychling1.blogspot.com/2010/11/cruzbike-front-wheel-drive-recumbents.html)
I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning with Maria and Jim Parker at their North Carolina home (and warehouse in a nearby location) riding, I think, every Cruzbike in their line-up. The Quest, the Sofrider, the Silvio, the Sigma and the Vendetta.
Coming from a recent 2 years of nothing but RWD recumbent riding I was not used to using my hands to do anything accept steering, braking, shifting (and in my case) just letting my hands hang from rubber straps I hung from the handlebar. For the previous half-century of my life my biking was done on DF road bikes.
In 2008, after an agonizing (saddle sores, neck strain, shoulder pain) 900 miles in 8 days of riding my Litespeed Compact Vortex road bike in southern Indiana I feared my cycling days were over. I took the recommendation of my good friend Joe Reichert to try a RWD high-racer (Bacchetta Ti Aero). It took a few days to adjust to the recline position and change in center of gravity but thereafter I was `alive' again for cycling. No more wasting of energy coping with eminently avoidable tissue damage, sore shoulders, back and neck. I was able to convert that energy into riding for `performance' on the recumbent.
Two years later I completed a 160 mile one day road `race' in two hours and forty five minutes faster on the recumbent than I did on the DF upright. THAT is a convincing translation from suffering to performing!
Lately I"ve been frustrated on the RWD recumbent with a few things. First, in the cocpit setting I had to deal with a very narrow range in which my legs could move laterally; second, because of the riser having to be so `tall' I was continually worried about not seeing the road immediately in front of me; third, my upper body was not receiving ANY challenge while my legs were continuing to get strong and fit.
Cycling of any kind is better than zonking out on the couch to relax. But cycling that doesn't ignore the upper body, recruits the whole body, and doesn't cause tissue damage and pointless shoulder, back and neck pain is ... nothing less than OPTIMAL.
I'll be brief: I placed an order for the Cruzbike Vendetta yesterday. And I'm hoping to do the same for the Cruzbike Sofrider soon. The features and benefits of these bikes are significantly different, but the FWD, allowance of the upper body to contribute to the generation of power, and all the best of recumbent and road bike performance are more than persuasive.
Again, the best of the road bike and the best of the recumbent are combined in the line of bikes from Cruzbike.
I'll have more to say about some of the unique features of these bikes in later posts (climbing, turning, management of challenging switchbacks, safety in urban settings, performance in competitive events).
My assessment is that there will be a strong `wave' of acceptance among young, middle-age, and older riders and racers with the Cruzbike lineup. And when the general public begins to see and experience Cruzbikes they'll buy them for their kids. And when the natural superiority of Cruzbike Vendetta FWD design begins to demolish racing records (as Maria Parker has been doing with consistent regularity) there will be a "whole lotta shakin' goin' on" in the bicycling world(s).
Here's a vid of me on the Sofrider, the Silvio and the Vendetta.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmZ7rttP3ko (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmZ7rttP3ko)
- Dan Fallon / Chicago and Arizona
Cruzbike Front Wheel Drive Recumbents - Review (http://psychling1.blogspot.com/2010/11/cruzbike-front-wheel-drive-recumbents.html)
I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning with Maria and Jim Parker at their North Carolina home (and warehouse in a nearby location) riding, I think, every Cruzbike in their line-up. The Quest, the Sofrider, the Silvio, the Sigma and the Vendetta.
Coming from a recent 2 years of nothing but RWD recumbent riding I was not used to using my hands to do anything accept steering, braking, shifting (and in my case) just letting my hands hang from rubber straps I hung from the handlebar. For the previous half-century of my life my biking was done on DF road bikes.
In 2008, after an agonizing (saddle sores, neck strain, shoulder pain) 900 miles in 8 days of riding my Litespeed Compact Vortex road bike in southern Indiana I feared my cycling days were over. I took the recommendation of my good friend Joe Reichert to try a RWD high-racer (Bacchetta Ti Aero). It took a few days to adjust to the recline position and change in center of gravity but thereafter I was `alive' again for cycling. No more wasting of energy coping with eminently avoidable tissue damage, sore shoulders, back and neck. I was able to convert that energy into riding for `performance' on the recumbent.
Two years later I completed a 160 mile one day road `race' in two hours and forty five minutes faster on the recumbent than I did on the DF upright. THAT is a convincing translation from suffering to performing!
Lately I"ve been frustrated on the RWD recumbent with a few things. First, in the cocpit setting I had to deal with a very narrow range in which my legs could move laterally; second, because of the riser having to be so `tall' I was continually worried about not seeing the road immediately in front of me; third, my upper body was not receiving ANY challenge while my legs were continuing to get strong and fit.
Cycling of any kind is better than zonking out on the couch to relax. But cycling that doesn't ignore the upper body, recruits the whole body, and doesn't cause tissue damage and pointless shoulder, back and neck pain is ... nothing less than OPTIMAL.
I'll be brief: I placed an order for the Cruzbike Vendetta yesterday. And I'm hoping to do the same for the Cruzbike Sofrider soon. The features and benefits of these bikes are significantly different, but the FWD, allowance of the upper body to contribute to the generation of power, and all the best of recumbent and road bike performance are more than persuasive.
Again, the best of the road bike and the best of the recumbent are combined in the line of bikes from Cruzbike.
I'll have more to say about some of the unique features of these bikes in later posts (climbing, turning, management of challenging switchbacks, safety in urban settings, performance in competitive events).
My assessment is that there will be a strong `wave' of acceptance among young, middle-age, and older riders and racers with the Cruzbike lineup. And when the general public begins to see and experience Cruzbikes they'll buy them for their kids. And when the natural superiority of Cruzbike Vendetta FWD design begins to demolish racing records (as Maria Parker has been doing with consistent regularity) there will be a "whole lotta shakin' goin' on" in the bicycling world(s).
Here's a vid of me on the Sofrider, the Silvio and the Vendetta.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmZ7rttP3ko (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmZ7rttP3ko)
- Dan Fallon / Chicago and Arizona