The Fretboard Cycling Club

drofluf

Did a rare (for me) outdoors ride yesterday. Only 25k and despite doing 100k a week on Zwift over the winter it wiped me out today. Seems real hills are harder than virtual ones. Who’d have thought it!

Suppose being on a singlespeed didn’t help....

stimpsonslostson

I've been away from the forum for a while... I bought this in September. 
It's been amazing fun during lockdown & I've really enjoyed the quiet roads. Now that the "stay home" and "stay local" restrictions are easing I'm looking forward to doing longer rides.

Teetonetal

stimpsonslostson said:

I've been away from the forum for a while... I bought this in September. 
It's been amazing fun during lockdown & I've really enjoyed the quiet roads. Now that the "stay home" and "stay local" restrictions are easing I'm looking forward to doing longer rides.

What is that? Never seen one before.

Jaycee

Not seen one for years .... Recumbent Bike.....  where your flagpole? lol

stimpsonslostson

@Teetonetal It's a Crystal Orbit recumbent bike. It's rather like sitting on a sofa while zooming along. 
Very fast on the flats due to lower wind resistance, REALLY fast on the downhills but a bit slower on the climbs as you can't stand up and "mash" the pedals. 

I got it as I've broken both my wrists in the past & get completely numb hands if I ride a "normal" bike for more than an hour or so. That's not an issue with this. It's much more comfortable for my back too. 

The only downsides I've discovered are, as Jaycee suggests, low visibility as I'm closer to the ground. Busses and trucks are a bit more intimidating. This is mitigated by the fact that everyone who sees it is fascinated so they give it a wide berth. I've been stopped by the police 3 times so far simply because they wanted a closer look, one of them had a go (& promptly fell off as there's a bit of a learning curve)! 
The other is when cycling in the rain/snow/hail (Scottish summer weather) your face is upwards, great for admiring the view, but you can't hunch up to escape the rain on your face. 

They don't pop up for sale very often & I just got lucky to find one. 

Teetonetal

stimpsonslostson said:

@Teetonetal It's a Crystal Orbit recumbent bike. It's rather like sitting on a sofa while zooming along. 
Very fast on the flats due to lower wind resistance, REALLY fast on the downhills but a bit slower on the climbs as you can't stand up and "mash" the pedals. 

I got it as I've broken both my wrists in the past & get completely numb hands if I ride a "normal" bike for more than an hour or so. That's not an issue with this. It's much more comfortable for my back too. 

The only downsides I've discovered are, as Jaycee suggests, low visibility as I'm closer to the ground. Busses and trucks are a bit more intimidating. This is mitigated by the fact that everyone who sees it is fascinated so they give it a wide berth. I've been stopped by the police 3 times so far simply because they wanted a closer look, one of them had a go (& promptly fell off as there's a bit of a learning curve)! 
The other is when cycling in the rain/snow/hail (Scottish summer weather) your face is upwards, great for admiring the view, but you can't hunch up to escape the rain on your face. 

They don't pop up for sale very often & I just got lucky to find one. 

@stimpsonslostson Thanks for that - very interesting and a new one to me, so I can imagine that you generates a bit of a buzz when out and about! 

m_c

That looks like quite an upright recumbent.

If you want crazy, have a look at the three wheelers, and the hand/arm cycle ones. I timed a sportive last year, and a couple disabled guys done it on them, and managed to beat some of the able bodied entrants over the 80km route.

stimpsonslostson

m_c said:

That looks like quite an upright recumbent.

If you want crazy, have a look at the three wheelers, and the hand/arm cycle ones. I timed a sportive last year, and a couple disabled guys done it on them, and managed to beat some of the able bodied entrants over the 80km route.

Mine is relatively "normal" I saw someone on a fully recumbent low-rider recently. I say "saw", it flashed past me. It looked great and simultaneously terrifying!

I had a front-wheel drive FlevoBike for a couple of months, THAT was brilliant fun to try, but quite a learning curve! I sold it as I realised I didn't think that I would be able to ever ride it on the roads. 

Jaycee

I would love to try one, with a low center of gravity it looks very stable in  the video

stimpsonslostson

Jaycee said:

I would love to try one, with a low center of gravity it looks very stable in  the video

That one is incredibly tricky to learn to ride. It steers from the middle, so every pedal stroke pushes it off course- you have to learn to ride REALLY smoothly or you'll wobble. It took me (a cycle commuter for 25 years) a week to be able to ride it reliably. 
I fell off repeatedly in the learning process and lost LOTS of skin when I THOUGHT I'd mastered it. Cruising down a closed road at work I clipped a pothole, squeezed the brakes, but the bike wasn't straight... so it jack-knifed and spat me off. 

I offered £10 for anyone who could ride it from one end of the carpark to the other. 15 people tried. I still have the £10 in my wallet. 

Jaycee

stimpsonslostson said:

Jaycee said:

I would love to try one, with a low center of gravity it looks very stable in  the video

That one is incredibly tricky to learn to ride. It steers from the middle, so every pedal stroke pushes it off course- you have to learn to ride REALLY smoothly or you'll wobble. It took me (a cycle commuter for 25 years) a week to be able to ride it reliably. 
I fell off repeatedly in the learning process and lost LOTS of skin when I THOUGHT I'd mastered it. Cruising down a closed road at work I clipped a pothole, squeezed the brakes, but the bike wasn't straight... so it jack-knifed and spat me off. 

I offered £10 for anyone who could ride it from one end of the carpark to the other. 15 people tried. I still have the £10 in my wallet. 

I accept, ....... I am now able to fall off my bike in slow motion.....

TTBZ

What do you guys reckon a 2011 Cannondale CAAD8 would be worth used? It's in pretty good condition for its age as I don't put loads of miles in, probably had about 3-4000 total which is nothing compared to a lot of roadies! Thinking about selling mine to help fund a spin bike for the garage - wife wants one and 99% of the time I just use my bike on the rollers, a spin bike would probably be better for me too! Keep the MTB for proper fun rides.

drofluf

No idea what it’s worth but I’d be more inclined to get a smart trainer than a spin bike. You can use your CAAD on it and still have it to use outside. I switched to a smart trainer and coupled with Zwift found it far more motivating than using a “dumb” trainer. 

TTBZ

I like the idea of Zwift but as my wife doesn't have or want her own bike (and is too small for mine) it feels like a much bigger expense to get that and the smart trainer too. 

littlegreenman

Spring clean, new cassette, chain and bearings in the hubs. Should get at least 1 extra watt! haha

Brio

My singlespeed has no cassette, no chain and new wheels so pretty sweet on the watt front, not so good on very long or steep hills. Can’t win them all. 
it did get a clean on Sunday morning though. Only ruined by having to throw myself into a roundabout to avoid a blind motorist trying to wipe me out.

drofluf

Brio said:

My singlespeed has no cassette, no chain and new wheels so pretty sweet on the watt front, not so good on very long or steep hills. Can’t win them all. 
it did get a clean on Sunday morning though. Only ruined by having to throw myself into a roundabout to avoid a blind motorist trying to wipe me out.

No chain? Ideal if you’re buying a house, less good on a bike I’d have thought  

Teetonetal

Brio suniaid:

My singlespeed has no cassette, no chain and new wheels so pretty sweet on the watt front, not so good on very long or steep hills. Can’t win them all. 
it did get a clean on Sunday morning though. Only ruined by having to throw myself into a roundabout to avoid a blind motorist trying to wipe me out.

Unicycle?

Brio

Belt drive. See p1 of this thread.

jonnyburgo

Just done a big double climb, Blaze Hill then on to Pym Chair, Pym Chair is a killer as much on the upper body and arms as the legs, a proper long steep grind. arms and legs were all of a tremble when I got to the top. 4 fig rolls and a glug of water were very welcome.