Maria and I live in a very flat part of North Carolina and seldom get a chance to ride up steep hills. Last week Maria's family held a reunion at Hungry Mother State Park-  a very hilly part of Virginia. I brought a Sofrider (16-speed) and a Quest 559 (27 speed).  Our cabin was located atop a pretty steep hill and I got a chance to ascend and descend this hill a few times a day for the four days we were there. I'm not a surveyor and I don't have any fancy equipment to measure grades.

We are working on a TT bike, I made the odd post on that already in our forum.

When I designed the Silvio I restrained myself to the rear half and got it done ok in a few months, I used a sofrider front end. This time I'll do the same thing on the rear for the new TT bike and just hook it up to a Silvio front end. Doing the new rear should be not too difficult from here as I have a production drawing. (Although to be fair to oneself, I started drawing this kind of bike a long time ago and there have been many attempts and re-attempts!)

Saratoga County, New York, Saturday 11th July, 2009. After stopping a little before the 12-hour mark with 211 miles, Maria Parker riding a Cruzbike Silvio not only set the recumbent 12-hour course record for women, but went farther than any previous female road biker had ever done in the annual Saratoga long distance event.

The event covers 32-miles of rolling hills along the Hudson River in northeastern Saratoga County, including Bacon Hill, a 10% grade for 3/4 miles that must be climbed every 32 mile lap. 

Early Origins

Elliptical chainwheels or elliptical chainrings, or ovoid rings or whatever you like to call them have been in and out of vogue every decade or so for more than a 100 years. [1,2] They come into vogue because of the logic of taking advantage of the extra leverage the crank has half way through the stroke and they go out of vogue because they just don't catch on. Results are inconsistent between riders and machines.

In setting the gearing for the Cruzbike Sofrider and Freerider we analysed the solution using the Gain Ratio method developed by Sheldon Brown. The Gain Ratio is simply the distance travelled by the bike divided by the distance travelled by the pedal. If you want to calculate the Gain Ratios of a bike you are familiar with, Sheldon Brown kindly provided this online calculator.

I just finished a 37 mile ride with many steep climbs in 95* heat in the high desert country of Oregon.  After the ride, I have never felt better.  The Silvio is the key.  It is an amazing bike and I am so pleased that I purchased it because without it I would not be riding now because of back and shoulder problems.
I can write this up in detail if you would like.  In any case, I wanted you to know how happy I am.
Thanks so very much to all of you Cruz bike folks.  I would be happy to help you in any way that I can.
Sincerely satisfied,

 No more excuses. Buy a Silvio frame set and we'll provide all the components that you need.

Please see our catalog & pricing pages for a current list of component bundles available. If you have something special in mind in terms of specific components for your Silvio, we may be able to special order them for you. Send a detailed list to us at sales@cruzbike.com, and we'll send you the best price currently available.  

 

The Silvio front suspension is adjusted by pressurizing the front shockabsorber with air using the KindShock pump, supplied with the bike. The pump attaches to the Schrader valve on the rear of the fork bridge immediately below the steering housing and the rubber boot on the shockabsorber.