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Brought home my first recumbent!
A shiny new red Bacchetta Cafe!
I chose it over the Giro 20 and Agio (I had narrowed my decision down to these 3) because I liked the inbetween wheel base for my 12 mile each way commute on the chewed up busy city streets of Houston and semi-nimble handling compared to long wheel base Agio and other lwb bents. The components are basic decent stuff that should last me a while. I decided to stick with the Re-Curve seat because I like the mesh back and the bottom has the waterproof cover. I also had the shop order me the Bacchetta fenders, under-seat rack and kickstand. And they installed a Mirrcycle mirror on the left bar. Big thanks to the guys at Planetary Cycles in Houston and you guys for answering my questions in my "do i need to get bent" thread. Now of course I have some accessorizing questions! 1. With the bachetta rack, what are some good waterproof panniers? 2. Lights! I have a Light and Motion Vega light on my Riv... best place to install this on the cafe? And what about tailights? I like the cateye TL1000 but where should i put it??? 3. Suggestions for cyclocomputer? I like the planet bike protege on my other bikes. It's wired. Will that work ok or should i go with something wireless? 4. Hand pump? I've have the aircartridge pumps but do prefer the frame pump on my DF. 5. What's some fast rolling but puncture resistent tires I can get in a 26 and 20? I also usually run my tires with the kever strip placed between the tire and the tube. 6. Any other suggestions for specific items or places to shop besides the giant mailorder places like nashbar and performancebike? |
Originally Posted by d2create
A shiny new red Bacchetta Cafe!
I chose it over the Giro 20 and Agio (I had narrowed my decision down to these 3) because I liked the inbetween wheel base for my 12 mile each way commute on the chewed up busy city streets of Houston and semi-nimble handling compared to long wheel base Agio and other lwb bents. The components are basic decent stuff that should last me a while. I decided to stick with the Re-Curve seat because I like the mesh back and the bottom has the waterproof cover. I also had the shop order me the Bacchetta fenders, under-seat rack and kickstand. And they installed a Mirrcycle mirror on the left bar. Big thanks to the guys at Planetary Cycles in Houston and you guys for answering my questions in my "do i need to get bent" thread. Now of course I have some accessorizing questions! 1. With the bachetta rack, what are some good waterproof panniers? ortlieb?? they may be long but the sssmaller roll tops should be fine 2. Lights! I have a Light and Motion Vega light on my Riv... best place to install this on the cafe? And what about tailights? I like the cateye TL1000 but where should i put it??? Front fork blade on a NOB or on the derrailleur arm (with a Minoura space bar??) 3. Suggestions for cyclocomputer? I like the planet bike protege on my other bikes. It's wired. Will that work ok or should i go with something wireless? Yes, it should work...may need a longer wire harness though, they're cheap. Calhounclcles has a sigma sport 1200 with long wire for $14. great computer. 4. Hand pump? I've have the aircartridge pumps but do prefer the frame pump on my DF. Topeak road morph, period. 5. What's some fast rolling but puncture resistent tires I can get in a 26 and 20? I also usually run my tires with the kever strip placed between the tire and the tube. Shwalbe stelvio. 6. Any other suggestions for specific items or places to shop besides the giant mailorder places like nashbar and performancebike? hostelshoppe.com |
I like Cafe because it reminded me of the RANS tailwind. I actully was going to buy the dual 26' inch wheel but my feet started to feel kinda strange after a short while so I passed. The Cafe was fine although.
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I'm going to back Luger up and say it's tough to beat a stelvio for a mix of speed and durability. Also the topeak road morph is an excellent pump - very easy to use and has a guage even. For computers, you may need to buy one with a longer wire harness, depending on where you're going to mount it.
Congrats on the purchase. It's hard to beat a bachetta. |
Congrats on the new bike. I just got mine two months ago. I went with the Sun EZ-Sport for three reasons.
1. I like the comfort and hadling of the long wheel base. 2. It looks kind of like my 60s stingray. 3. It was in my price range. I haven't gotten the faring on it yet, but that's coming. For now it's the sweetest ride I've had since I was 12. |
The jury is far from unanimous about Stelvios. I have given up on them because after 6 tires, they always failed before the tire wore out. That's not a reflection that they wear well, it's a reflection that they are fragile. That suppleness comes at a price. The most common failure was the cord would separate, leaving me with an 'S' shaped center strip. The longest I ever had a Stelvio before it failed was about 2000 miles, the shortest was about 300 miles.
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Tires
I was going to upgrade to the Stelvios and was scared off by too many reports of failures. I opted for the Marathon Racers instead. I know i may have sacrificed a bit of speed but they're still fast and ride and handle great! We'll see how they wear, but so far I'm VERY happy with them.
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I'll add that I'm not all that hard on tires. Despite my poor luck with Stelvios, I routinely wear Primo Comets down to the cord; and Primos are usually considered more for performance than for durability. It's not uncommon for me to get 3000+ miles on a Primo, even on the rear.
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My first Stelvio 406 blew out (front mount) through the side wall, about a 1" long rip while tooling along
at 18mph. Able to stent the rip with a piece of kevlar and make it the 6mi back to the car. Not a promising mode of failure, and like Blazing, Primo Comets have done very well for me. Stelvio had less than 2kmiles at time of failure. To the OP there is a rider in the Houston area you might look up: Cletus Lee He has done quite a bit of touring on bents and although his website seems to be limited to a slide show it is worth a brief visit. www.clee.org |
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