Introducing the family to the Q

castlerobber

Zen MBB Master
Last time I went to my hometown to visit family, I took the Q451 along to show them. None of them had ever seen a recumbent of any sort up close, much less heard of Cruzbikes, so they didn't know it was "hard to ride."

My brother, after a couple of "whoa" moments, was able to start off without help, and ride down the driveway in a more-or-less straight line. Since he's ridden motorcycles for years, he understood immediately when I said "drop your outside shoulder when you turn," and was able to circle around.

BC on Q451.jpg

He'd stop riding for a few minutes to catch his breath and talk. Then he'd look back at the Q, grin, and say, "Here, hold my phone." And off he'd go for another attempt.

Then his grown daughter came over. She's 4'10", so I had to set the TFT at about the 2-mark to make it fit. She took off like she'd been riding for weeks! Up and down the driveway, threading the Q down the 3' gap between her dad's car and the edge of the driveway, turning with relative ease, even riding up the steep 40-yard hill at the end of the driveway without having to walk.

Nanner on Q451 crop.jpg
(Yes, her hair is magenta...this week.)

They were both amazed at how comfortable the Q is, and how much fun it is to ride.


My teenaged son caught on to riding the Q with equal ease last summer, when I first bought it. So when I got my Silvio 1.5 back from having the long-cage RD installed last week, we went to a large, freshly-paved parking lot where he could try the Silvio out. He was a bit dubious about the higher bottom bracket at first. Once he completed the first lap, though, he swooped by me, hollered "You're not getting this back!", and rode off in great delight.

D on S1_5.jpg

My son is just as pleased as I am with the upside-down-and-backward drop bars. He said he feels a lot more in control of the handling than he does on the Q.

Now to convince my daughter to give the Q a try.
 

Suz

Well-Known Member
This is awesome. Willingness is the first step.
I had to laugh at the LBS kid who put my fenders on the Silvio. He asked if he could ride it - he looked pretty confident, tough and responsible. But I had to laugh when he came back walking the bike and told me it was too scary. He actually got on and rode like he knew what he was doing for the first 10 feet. :p

Kudos to your family.
 
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