tiltmaniac
Zen MBB Master
Sadly, this won't be much of a ride report given the number of days spent. I'm just not that loquacious 
Raw data:
http://ridewithgps.com/users/479802
Filter on "East Coast Epic Tour", and you'll find 54 days worth of GPS traces.
Impressions:
The Silvio S30 did wonderfully on this trip, consistently getting me to the day's destination well before anyone else. It was particularly good on the flats, and on the rollers. That isn't to say it wasn't good on the hills, but they're just more of an equalizer, since the aero advantage just doesn't matter as much there.
.. And what do I mean by good on the rollers?
Well, on many rollers I'd find myself nearly effortlessly half a hill ahead with each hill ridden. The Silvio S30 did such a better job coasting and maintaining its energy that I'd get up to the top of the next hill with only a few pedal strokes whereas they folks on the regular bikes would be pedaling up 2/3rds of the hill.
There were a few days of biking-in-the-rain. The Silvio did fine in the rain. There was one little issue though, which (after searching) has been pointed out elsewhere. The hydroformed part of the frame collects water when it is raining. I'd guesstimate (from the size of the puddle when you upend the bike) that it was holding around 12 oz of water. The Cruzbike folks really need to put a weep-hole into the frame to prevent this for those of us who ride in the rain.
I was *way* *WAY* more comfortable than the regular diamond-frame riders.
My two outer fingers hurt at the end of most days. I need to redo my (bullhorn-style) bars to help prevent this by making tilting the bullhorns up more to relieve some stress on those fingers.
A cruddy road surface is *really* noticable. So, basically biking in any of the Carolinas, or most of Ga and FL was far slower than it'd be on a reasonable road surface. And by bad surface I mean something like "Dragon Scales," if you know what I mean.
After a while I couldn't tell when I was going up vs going flat vs going down except by how hard I felt I was pushing. There were a few times I thought I was going slightly downhill or flat and was actually going up a fair bit. I managed 17mph sustained on one of these hills, and didn't realize it 'till I crested and started going 22+. Oops
Other trip highlights:
A guy on a Bachetta high-racer past me as I was noodling along slowly (something I did often so I could be at least *somewhat* social with the others of the tour). He seemed to be pushing it. I had no problem whatsoever catching up and passing him.
A guy (without a helmet) on one of the bike trails along a river in Philly passed me and appeared to scoff at me.
I caught up to him, passed him, let him onto my rear wheel, and then slowly accelerated until he was a spec in the rear mirror. Satisfying.
I repeatedly hit 50+ mph going down hills, with a top speed of 54.5mph on this trip.
I had literally hundreds of people wave at me, stare at me, or shout "Nice Bike!" or equivalent. There were busses of schoolchildren who pasted their faces on the windows to get a better look at the bike as either I passed the busses, or they passed me.
One of the girls on the tour complained that normally everyone looked at her when she was biking with folks, but when I was riding with her *everyone* was looking at my bike and me instead. This was particularly hilarious to me.
A couple of us (counting me) accidentally got onto a (wet, not really technical) single track. I was able to ride most of it without dismounting (not counting needing to portage across a couple of streams), whereas my diamond-frame riding partner had to dismount three times.
Raw data:
http://ridewithgps.com/users/479802
Filter on "East Coast Epic Tour", and you'll find 54 days worth of GPS traces.
Impressions:
The Silvio S30 did wonderfully on this trip, consistently getting me to the day's destination well before anyone else. It was particularly good on the flats, and on the rollers. That isn't to say it wasn't good on the hills, but they're just more of an equalizer, since the aero advantage just doesn't matter as much there.
.. And what do I mean by good on the rollers?
Well, on many rollers I'd find myself nearly effortlessly half a hill ahead with each hill ridden. The Silvio S30 did such a better job coasting and maintaining its energy that I'd get up to the top of the next hill with only a few pedal strokes whereas they folks on the regular bikes would be pedaling up 2/3rds of the hill.
There were a few days of biking-in-the-rain. The Silvio did fine in the rain. There was one little issue though, which (after searching) has been pointed out elsewhere. The hydroformed part of the frame collects water when it is raining. I'd guesstimate (from the size of the puddle when you upend the bike) that it was holding around 12 oz of water. The Cruzbike folks really need to put a weep-hole into the frame to prevent this for those of us who ride in the rain.
I was *way* *WAY* more comfortable than the regular diamond-frame riders.
My two outer fingers hurt at the end of most days. I need to redo my (bullhorn-style) bars to help prevent this by making tilting the bullhorns up more to relieve some stress on those fingers.
A cruddy road surface is *really* noticable. So, basically biking in any of the Carolinas, or most of Ga and FL was far slower than it'd be on a reasonable road surface. And by bad surface I mean something like "Dragon Scales," if you know what I mean.
After a while I couldn't tell when I was going up vs going flat vs going down except by how hard I felt I was pushing. There were a few times I thought I was going slightly downhill or flat and was actually going up a fair bit. I managed 17mph sustained on one of these hills, and didn't realize it 'till I crested and started going 22+. Oops
Other trip highlights:
A guy on a Bachetta high-racer past me as I was noodling along slowly (something I did often so I could be at least *somewhat* social with the others of the tour). He seemed to be pushing it. I had no problem whatsoever catching up and passing him.
A guy (without a helmet) on one of the bike trails along a river in Philly passed me and appeared to scoff at me.
I caught up to him, passed him, let him onto my rear wheel, and then slowly accelerated until he was a spec in the rear mirror. Satisfying.
I repeatedly hit 50+ mph going down hills, with a top speed of 54.5mph on this trip.
I had literally hundreds of people wave at me, stare at me, or shout "Nice Bike!" or equivalent. There were busses of schoolchildren who pasted their faces on the windows to get a better look at the bike as either I passed the busses, or they passed me.
One of the girls on the tour complained that normally everyone looked at her when she was biking with folks, but when I was riding with her *everyone* was looking at my bike and me instead. This was particularly hilarious to me.
A couple of us (counting me) accidentally got onto a (wet, not really technical) single track. I was able to ride most of it without dismounting (not counting needing to portage across a couple of streams), whereas my diamond-frame riding partner had to dismount three times.
