Retro Grouch 

Mrs. Grouch and I took our first ride on our new Rans Screamer yesterday. It was our first tandem ride since I broke my elbows 9 months ago so we probably would have struggled a bit on a conventional tandem too.

Our starts were seriously ugly and I was a little wobbly trying to ride a straight line. We had been advised to move our shoe cleats back on our shoes so it took me waaaay too long to clip in my push off foot. I need to work a little on the handlebar ergonomics. Also, the people who say that you use different muscles on a recumbent - they're right. That's the only bad stuff so there's nothing there that a little more experience won't fix.

The good news is we're back riding together again. Frankly, I think that most of our struggles can be traced to anxiety about having been away from tandeming for too long. The best news is that we were able to fit the bike inside of our Honda Element by simply removing both (quick release) seats and the rear wheel. I'll probably also remove the front pedals for road trips.

DanRH 

We saw one yesterday on our ride. I'm actually intrigued. Detail please on the bike (including how much it set you back if you don't mind).

JanMM

I'm most interested in how the Screamer is on steep hills. (Up, I mean.)

zonatandem

Nice to see U-2 back in action!
Have ridden a couple bents years ago and it does take a bit different muscles to keep it moving!
Enjoy the ride TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Retro Grouch 

Our bike came from Angletech Cycles in Colorado. They build them to their own spec which includes the good stuff like 2-wheel Avid disc brakes and Phil Wood hubs and bottom brackets, independent coasting. The bike came shipped via Yellow-Roadway freight and was completely assembled and tuned except for installing the seats and bolting on the handlebar. I'd recommend Kelvin at Angletech to anybody interested in buying an upper end recumbent. Not cheap though.

Retro Grouch 

Mrs. Grouch and I have decided we need some additional flat road recumbent riding experience before we tackle any steep hills. If we're going to be slow I at least want to be able to hold a reasonably straight line. Frankly, we were never particularly fast up hills on our conventional Santana so I'm not expecting to fly up the same hills on a recumbent. Whatever the experience is, we'll manage it together the best way that we can. If that involves walking I won't like it but - ah well.

blamp28

I can chime in on the climbing. We bought a Screamer last may and logged about 1000 miles last season. Rcumbents in general and tandems more specifically are not known for climbing ability. We don't have mountains here in Michigan but we do ride in some hilly areas and the hills are a challenge. We have never walket one yet but there were a couple of 1/2 - 3/4 mile climbs (length) we have done that were pretty tough. I will say that the decents are a blast and probably where the Screamer gets it's name.

Leo H.

Although I'm not tandem experienced, I am 1 1/2 yrs recumbent experienced after riding a df for 6 months. Depending on how much saddle time you can put in, it might take you some months to become comfortable and confident in your new muscle skills, so don't expect big changes right away, but it's interesting and you will notice certain routes and times and your physical effort will progress. I've got 6% and 9% grades on my daily commute so it was no fun. I can't tell if it kept me from getting my 'bent muscles in shape sooner accelerated my conditioning involuntarily.

Could you share why you picked the bike you did? I have no preference, just curiousity.


Leo H.
Sun Valley, NV

Retro Grouch 

A lot of our reasoning wasn't very objective.

We have ridden tandems together for around 35 years and have gradually moved up to some pretty good equipment. We didn't think we would be happy taking too big of a step down. Also, we both felt that a lot of recumbent tandems are "clunky" looking and we didn't want that.

Looking around I saw pictures of a Rans Seavo. I didn't think it was "clunky-looking" at all. It wasn't too much heavier than the bike we were used to, and it came equipped with good components. Without riding it, I pretty much decided that was the bike that I wanted. There was also a time limit. We have a Door County, Ws bicycling vacation scheduled for June so we wanted to have the bike in our hands by April 1. We tried to make an appointment for a test ride in Stephens Point, Wisconsin; but that was a no-go during the winter months. Looking the other direction, we decided to make a President's Day road trip to the Rans factory in Hays, Kansas. Driving through a blizzard in Topeka we almost turned around but we pressed on to Hays and test ride day brought a 6 degree wind chill.

It didn't take very long for me to realize that a Seavo wasn't going to work for us. The 26" front wheel and high front seat and bottom bracket was just too hard for me to ride with no previous recumbent experience. We decided to test ride the Screamer which has a 20" front wheel, lower front seat and lower front bottom bracket. We found it wobbly to ride initially but at least we could get launched. When the wind chill is 6 it's hard to get motivated for a very long test ride.

We had decided to pay the extra money for the S&S take apart version to be sure that we could fit it inside our Honda Element. My wife had said she was willing to buy a larger car to fit the bike but she wasn't willing to buy a larger house to fit a larger car. Our Honda just barely fits our garage so S&S it was. As it turns out, Carl at Rans said he thought a Screamer would fit inside our car by just removing the seats and rear wheel and he was right. We could have saved the S&S up charge, but we have a daughter and grand children in Seattle so we might use it some time in the future.

We discussed purchasing the bike on the 500 mile drive home and ordered the bike from Angletech the very next day. Both Angletech and Hostel Shoppe offer the Screamer with their own component packages. I chose Angletech because their equipment package matched my opinions much more closely. I didn't know very much about Kelvin or Angletech at the time, but what limited feed back I got was all good. Overall, I've found Angletech's service to be outstanding and I would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Leo H.

Thanks for your thoughts. I can well imagine a brief 6 degree test ride. Your wife is certainly a hardy and gung ho person.

From what I've read, here and on BROL, I'd feel comfortable dealing with either Angletech or Hostel Shoppe. I'm a little confused though, if you went all that way to Kansas in that weather, couldn't you have ordered the bike through the factory? I'm also curious, aside from its looks, did you ever consider the RANS crank forward tandem, since you were at the factory?

Leo H.
Sun Valley, NV

Retro Grouch 

I assume that we could have bought the bike from the factory but that doesn't mean we could have taken it home that day. Our bike frame wasn't even painted until after we ordered it. Also, the Rans factory spec doesn't strike me as costing out very well compared to the Hostel Shoppe or Angletech offerings. The Hostel Shoppe version is cheaper than the factory bike, and the Angletech has significantly better components for only about $100.00 more.

We didn't consider a crank forward bike. Being honest with myself I'll say they just look too goofy and clunky to me. They remind me of something you'd buy from WalMart or Sears. Practically, I'd want to take a lot longer test ride for something that far out of the main stream. That's not going to happen when it's only 6 degrees out. They might be great but they'd have to demonstrate a significant performance advantage to overcome my prejudices.

Leo H.

I can see why you did what you did buying through a dealer. It's interesting, generally the assumption is that factory purchased is less expensive, but I understand that that's not set in stone.

I understand about the crank forward, that was why I was fishing for someone's ride report<g> I definitely understand not feeling that adventurous at 6 degrees F!

Leo H.
Sun Valley, NV

mchell

Congrats, Retro Grouch! Having owned a Screamer for almost 7 years now, we've never regretted the decision to switch from our DF Trek T200. Perhaps one day we will use the pricey S&S couplings, but not yet. The steering settles down with time (like after a half dozen rides) and once you've found the gears you are comfortable with, the bike is a joy. We ride in tough, hilly terrain and need our 48//36/24 chainrings and our 11-34 cassette on almost every ride. To open up the "cockpit", I reversed the steering tube 180 degrees and this made a world of difference to my comfort (captain). We now run Schwalbe Marathon Plus front and back as the Primo Comets, although much lighter, gave us two side wall failures. One was downhill on the front wheel. Not pretty! Mike

blamp28

Made the same changes to ours Mike. We did have tire problems but never at speed - thank God. It was enough to abandon the Comets in favor of the Marathon's.

Retro Grouch 

Well that's one less thing to worry about. Kelvin at Angletech asked me about how we use our bike and fitted Marathon's before the bike was delivered.

We took the bike out again yesterday and did some ergonomic adjustments that made the bike a little more comfortable. Once we get started we're a lot more stable but a few of our starts were still a little ugly. We'll get better.