upgrading a Quest v2

[billyk]

With the help of @Robert Holler and the good people at Rose City Recumbent Cycles I made two upgrades that bring my 5-year-old Q559 v2 closer to a Q3 or QX100. More important to me, the changes go a long way towards reducing the major disadvantage of the earlier Quests: frame flex among the several joints of the front triangle.

I've commented here before on the frame flex, especially noticeable when pushing hard uphill (and even measured this, see the thread "Quest frame flex tested" Aug 2014).

First, I got a beefier boom and slider (diameter of the slider up from about 27mm to about 32mm). That alone made a big difference in the feel of the bike, reducing the measured flex by about 50%.

Then last week I got a rigid fork to replace the spring shock fork of the original Quest. I'd been resisting this, thinking that the bumpy streets I ride on need a shock. But it was pretty clear that the shock (and added joints) contributed to frame flex. So I spent a fun Saturday taking apart the front triangle and replacing it with the rigid fork of the QX100. (The brake cable run is different, so you need a new cable and housing, but the shifter braze-ons are identical).

Another big performance jump! Wow, the bike just seems so much stiffer and more responsive, more me in control and not fighting against a bendy set of connectors. It's also about a pound lighter, but the main thing is the rigidity of the whole front triangle.

Surprisingly, the ride is actually smoother without the front shock. I've made no changes to the tires (26x1.5), so this is hard to understand, but it's quite apparent on my regular commute where I've come to know every bump and pothole.

My Quest is now much like the new models, although I've kept the SRAM dual drive internal hub which is very convenient in the city traffic I mostly ride in.

By the way, the new fork results in exactly the same height as the old; instead of the inch or so of shock, you now have that amount of extra clearance above the tire. Plenty of room to put in a real fender.

An earlier upgrade (before these recent ones) was to replace the original spring shock with an air shock (see "A dramatic upgrade: Air shock for Quest" July 2015).

Each of these changes made a noticeable improvement. I highly recommend them to any owners of earlier Quests.

And definitely get your parts from Rose City Recumbent Cycles in Portland. Great people, deep knowledge of these bikes and a wonderful place to visit.

 

[castlerobber]

So I spent a fun Saturday taking apart the front triangle and replacing it with the rigid fork of the QX100. (The brake cable run is different, so you need a new cable and housing, but the shifter braze-ons are identical).

Thank you for the heads-up. I haven't installed my new fork yet.

 

[billyk]

Hi @castlerobber - Another thing to be careful of is that the joint between the fork and the chainstay (at the bottom of the fork) must be exactly lined up. My first try I simply installed the fork, then found that I had to redo it to get the chainstay to fit.

So there's some careful aligning to do, and it's not obvious which to do first:
a) The gaps in the boom-steerer clamp, steering tube and diatech clamp must be lined up so the clamp properly squeezes the steerer. That clamp is the only thing attaching the steerer to the fork. And the assembly must be pressed together so the conical Diatech clamp works right. But this has some tolerance as those gaps are fairly wide.
b) The joint between the fork and chainstay is very tight, rigid and must be precise. If you've tightened the fork/boom clamp first this one will probably be wrong.

This suggests doing the fork-chainstay joint (b) first, but then you have the whole front assembly to manipulate while trying to align (a) above, while applying downward pressure on the steerer for the Diatech clamp... needs more than 2 hands!
What I did was to do (a), then back off the clamp so I had some twist to work with, then did the fork-chainstay joint, then went back and tightened/adjusted the boom clamp.

If I was doing it again, I would have used a long pipe clamp between the top of the steerer and the fork crown while I did the fork-chainstay joint ...

Also note that the bushings in the fork-chainstay joint are nearly impossible to get out of the old fork. @Robert Holler knew this and gave me new bushings when I bought my fork. If you don't have those, I wouldn't bet on success.

And I made one comical mistake in not paying close enough attention to the derailleur while it was not attached. In the course of the above the chain got twisted and I admit it took me about 15 minutes to figure it out, including one install with a loop in the chain ... when the derailleur is folded up it's not obvious how the chain runs.

Billy K

 

[billyk]

And one more thing: where to clamp the bike to your stand while you do this work?

Usually you can clamp either the boom or the steerer tube to, say, change brake pads or adjust the derailleur. But with the front end apart, neither of those places are available for clamping.

I unclipped the rear brake cable, then gently clamped the frame just in front of the seat. Not ideal, but where else?

Robert says he does this work with the bike laying on the floor.

 

[bret]

First, I got a beefier boom and slider (diameter of the slider up from about 27mm to about 32mm).

How did you accomplish this? A purchase, or a fabrication?

 

[billyk]

How did you accomplish this? A purchase, or a fabrication?

I bought the new boom and slider from that wonderful bike shop Rose City Recumbents in Portland. I'm close enough to just show up there, but I bet you can get the parts by phone or email (@Robert Holler). Plus, you'll get good advice from him about any possible complications, and he will know if it will fit your bike (should fit any Quest, I think).

Note that to do this replacement you will have to pull the bottom bracket (fits into the lower end of the boom). So this would be a good opportunity to replace that, too, if it's showing signs of wear. Take the chain off the chainring and spin the pedals. Does it spin freely? Rotate the pedals while twisting. Does it have rough spots or feel gritty?