Putting the Ickr into Quickr.
The snow is here and so is the Quickr.
Time to back up here and stop being cute. The goal of this project here was obviously to go Quicker and it's really a three goal project. We have hit mile stone number 1 just in time for the snow.
Goal 1: Make the Quest a little lighter for pulling the trailer next season. The kids are not getting lighter and they will both be in the trailer again next year. The internal hub is great but it's heavy and the stock wheels aren't going to set any coast down records.
Goal 2. Get the last of the Quest frames into service because the boy will be big enough to ride one next year. So I need another frame in road condition.
Goal 3. Setup a trainer for both Mrs Ratz and I so we can be quicker in spring right out of the gate.
So where are we in the project?
I received the quote from the powder coating shop and it was pretty darn good for an 11 piece project at $400. The orange pieces of the Q1 frame will be emerald green with gloss and fleck; and the black pieces (sans seat post; and top slider) will be star-dust black (red and gold flecks in the black). I forgot to have the bash guard done might half to do that later. Parts will be back in about 2 weeks. Work included the baking off of the old paint; sanding and filling the gashes in the aluminum, powder coasting (base + clear). I still have to come up with some sort of decals for the Q1 post coating. Any ideas out there?
So with the Q1 at the coating ship it was time to move on to making the Q2 a touch lighter and potentially more nimble. It should be noted the Q1 is being re-coated because its paint job was destroyed. The Q2 on the other had is in great condition.
The first step was to swap a key part from the Q1 and the Q2. The Q1 shipped with a front derailleur so its boom has an advantage that the 2 and the 3 don't. It has a braze-on, on the under side of the boom for a cable pulley. I think it is a shame that has been dropped from the current frames; as bikes age they often get retooled and that braze-on really adds option.
So the Q2 boom went to the powder coating shop and the Q1 boom has found a home on the Q2 frame.
Next up was pulling almost all the the components from the Q2. The Q2's wheels, brakes; and controls will all go on to the Q1 frame when it returnes. The disc bakes braze-ons will need a little filing to make the BB5's fit, but otherwise everything will transfer nicely. Pictures of the final Q1 will follow ones it's back and re-assembled.
So next up on the Q2 was to mount the double chainring on the frame. This is a 50/34 made from the SRAM rings that came off the Silvio's compact double. I ran at 52/36 on the Silvio, but you can't buy that combo so the 50/34 rings have been in a drawer since last spring. They mounted nicely on to the existing crank arms. In this case, the crank arms and bottom bracket are spares I ordered last spring to repair these Q1's. They are stock Cruzbike parts. For a simple square taper unit, the new bottom bracket is quite good. While the one I removed was really dragging from age, the fresh one spins and spins and spins.
I had to stop and make an adjustment to my parts at this point. I had mistakenly purchased the X5 front derailleur. I didn't check the spec closely. While it was not listed anywhere (other than deep inside the user manual) the X5 can only handle at 42 max chain ring. So a quick drive to the bike shopped produced a Braze-on SRAM Rival Front Derailleur. Fortunately the Q1 had an excellent aluminum front derailleur bracket which I re-used and saved a few bucks on the derailleur style. The clamp on model is 30$ more.
As a note here; the original Q1 and I assume the Softriders must have a special long cage front derailleur. The ones we got used had been upgrade to Shimano components, with a standard derailleur. The boom can't be made shorter than Position 4 with a normal cage length derailleur or the chain will rub on the cage due to the angle of attack on the chain. That caught me off guard; but this bike will only be set in the range of 6-8 so we'll be all good. Something to consider though if a short person where to do this.
Also of importance is the special boom clamp recovered from the Q1. Notice the cable stop for the front derailleur that is hanging down from the clamp. This allows the boom to move without the derailleur coming out of tune. Very important for Goal #3 of this project.
Lastly at the bottom is the X5 rear derailleur. I really like the way the MTB cable routing lines up on this nice little derailleur, versus a road unit. The x5 cage is a tad long for the 451 wheels. I adjusted for this by making the chain about 3 links shorter than normal; that was enough to move the arm to a more forward position and not so close to the ground. I still have full shifting range.
At this point we are using the original wheels from the Q1; in spring I'll have a nice pair of Velocity rims built; using Hope Evo hubs. That will drop a some weight and make the bike roll and roll and roll. I had similar wheels built for the Catrike700 and the difference with those MTB hubs is amazing. But that will be several months out. At this point, for setup and tuning the components, the Q1 wheels are fine.
Next up was the shifters. I went with the XX twist shifters. The Original Q had twist shifters so I decided to stay with that versus trying to use triggers or thumbies. I read some review for the XX's and decided that I liked the reports that they shifted as quick and reliably as the highend brifters. Since I will eventually be pulling a heavy trailer with this bike while trying to keep up with Mrs Ratz; I wanted smooth shifting. Lessor shifters would have been fine, but I really like these, they are the one splurge on the project. A nice touch is the outer silver clamp which ensures these grips won't slide off the bars like the stock Dual drive ones always seem to do.
I've used the stock avid break levers; These are the ones from the Q2 frame. I will have to get new ones for the Q1 frame; the Q1 had really old Tektro ones that had seen far better days. Since I had to have brake levers on first, before mounting the XX's; there are the ones that got used adding them later would have been a pain. We don't actually need brakes for this phase of the project; but I didn't think I would want to pull the shifters later. The final build is going to get Mechanical TRP Spyres or Cable pull hydralic TRP Hy/Rd, I might go hydro just because with the tailer, kids, cargo and me, this baby will have a rolling weight close to 350-380 pounds.
But for now; no brakes are needed.
So here's the resulting drive train; up in the bike stand so that I can tune it up. The Gear inches on this setup is 24.6 - 92.0, I can get that down to 21.5 with a wipfli cassette or 19.1 with an MTB 36T cassette. I picked the X5 because it could handle that many teeth but sill work within the diameter of the 451 wheel. As it is this compares favorably to the DD stock gear inches of 23.6-94.9
Ok and finally we get to the first milestone of this project. We are in the process of getting 12-14 inches of snow as I compose this post, so it's just in time. (Notice the plastic on the windows (yeah I know I need to shrink it, ran out of tape))
I present to you the Quickr. Cruzbike Quest + Wahoo Kickr
?Indoor trainer for the winter. Adjustable so that both I and Mrs Ratz can ride it. The seat angle is currently 45 degrees but we can adjust that to match the Silvios seat angle; by moving the seat or raising the kickr. We'll probably adjust the seat; for the longer winter. Raising the Kickr would put unwelcome abnormal strain on the front fork at an oblique angle.
The next step is to learn to use the Kickr. Out of the box it's darn slick. I'll post some photos of the software in action once I get it figured out and working well.
I envision this Q2 frame living on this training all winter. During the summer it will spend week days in this configuration for rainy day training and fitness. (We had very little rain during the day this last year; that's abnormal, we usually loose 1/5 of our days to rain minimum. ) On the weekends when we do the full family rides she'll come off this rig and get a front wheel that's compatible and properly geared for pulling the trailer.
Next Milestone will be the Q1 frame back from the shop; and reassembled (in complete stealth, for Daughter's Christmas Present); She knows about the above; but not where the other parts went, nor what I'm up to. I should have the parts back after Thanksgiving. Once assembled I'll get that posted. If it turns out as good as our last rehab the result should be pleasant.
Also need to find a bracket to mount an ipad on the handle bars for running the training software.
Till next time...
