Making a Softrider fit better - and more comfortable

[gannet]

Disclaimer - I've made these mods to fit me, 6'2'' 1.88 m tall, x-seam 47" (or 48") 1.2 m - and long in the body. Works well for me.

Starting with the big picture.

From the front, triple Rotor Q-Rings. Intended for my Silvio (or Vendetta if I can get one), but I've got them on here to try out. With only a couple of days riding they seem great.

Found a bidon cage with the right mounts so I could clamp it to the steering stem with ordinary hose clamps - much easier than reaching down behind. And the bidon has a cover, which was to keep the rear wheel muck off when it was behind the seat - not so necewssary now.

Seat base is flatter, much lower at the front.
Seat back has been lengthened, and laid back further - aiming to get a head rest but doesn't seem essential on hour long rides.
More later!
Steve w

 

[Charles.Plager]

Very nice, sir.  Well done!
*

Very nice, sir. Well done!

* What are the sizes of your Q rings? (And where did you get 'em?) I'll be very curious to hear what you think about them. I ride round rings, but I'm very tempted by the elliptical ones.

* You might do well with an Lay back seatpost as you can get support further up the seat back (something like this

Cheers,
Charles

 

[floridabike]

Curved Seat Post

Do you get any movement due to the extention and does it feel like you are getting more support for your back. I use a curved seat post and slide the seat back further so I get more benefit from the rear suspension on rough surfaces.

 

[gannet]

Charles

Charles,

It was a while ago, and I had googled up so many places - I would have to look it up, however I'm pretty sure it was:

http://www.probikeshop.com/road/drivetrain-chainsets-chainrings-c20.html#typeSearch=1&manId=172&page=1&order=asc&search=20

They also have a good range of Stronglight, a brand I've used a bit and like, good value and they have a fair range of shorter crank lengths which is handy for bents. It's actually a Stronglight crankset with 48 - 34 rings that are normally have on the softrider, instead of the too big Truvativ 52 - 39 that came standard. Much lighter too.

Another on the short list that I have used is Bike24. Wiggle now have some, but i don't think as big a range.

The Middleburn cranks and spider I got from chain reaction. I got this brand because they had a range of spiders that gave the right combination of BCD sizes to enable me to get a triple crankset of 52, 38, 27. Thinking this would give me a good wide range without having huge cogs on the cassette. I prefer to have a narrower range on the cassette to give smaller steps. My current cassette is 11-28, but I have an 11-26 (not fitted yet) to go with this chainring combination.
However, my brief testing suggests that I can pull a few gears higher with the oval rings so may not need such a small Granny - or maybe none at all? More time!

How do they go?
I had about a week off the bike with a flu, then I set about doing the mods on the bike, so I didn't do a back-to-back comparison. I thought they would feel a bit weird, but couldn't feel any difference at all with my pedalling. My performance seemed improved (a bit subjective) but I was certainly pulling higher gears. Was using the 52 tooth more than I expected.
If anything, there was an impression of smoothness, which is weird seeing that really comes down to things like wheel bearings, tyres etc. Perhaps the lower seat angle meant a change in wind flow past my ears, hence the change in sound levels?

Be sure to read this on John's blog if you want to try ovals.
http://cruzbike.com/adjusting-elliptical-or-ovoid-chainwheels

70 BBDC on the chainring side as suggested here certainly feels very good - to the point that I don't think I'll bother experimenting very much.

Will look at that seat stay, thanks.
steve w

 

[gannet]

Florida,

Florida,
Seat back does look a bit over extended or something, but felt okay on the couple of hours of riding that I've done so far. I note you have the bent seat stay like Charles suggested, where did you get that one? Or does it come with that later frame / frame kit ?
I'm getting more support for my back. That bit of a spacer means the seat back goes further up, of course. With the seat reclined quite a bit more I notice the much reduced weight directly down onto my backside, and more spread over my back. And I have a bony backside, it suffered over my years of DF bikes - but no more!

 

[gdid003@q.com]

Freerider handlebars on Softrider

I like the modifications you have done and I as well am a 6' plus person who needs the extra room.
What are the specifications on the stroker stem used to attach the handlebars on the down tube?