Silvio Servicing

John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
We are looking at how we can better help customers with servicing and maintaining their Silvio and I want to know what kind of experiences people have had with their Silvio at the local bike shop. What was the attitude, keen, or not keen, interested or disinterested? If you got service what was it like?

Would appreciate your comments and thoughts.
 

philsummers

New Member
I took mine in to have the Campy Record gear tuned up and to have a PowerTap hub laced on to the wheel. You would have thought they were working on an upright. I have never had so much positive response to a recumbent as this one has generated.

After looking at the Silvio for a few minutes he seemed very comfortable with the whole idea.
The head wrench is a great guy, always willing to learn about new bikes, parts and pieces! I had him install a set of Rotocranks on my T-Bone when they first came out.

Oddly enough this shop is a beach bike rental and sales shop. The "serious" shop in the area has never had a heart warming feeling for bents.
 

Lief

Guru Schmuru
John,
My primary LBS is nice and even kinda eager to hear about my experiences etc. They don't mind working on it at all, but they do complain about taking the wheels off (removing skewers) and they tend to fall back quite quickly on "I don't know" without thinking about the problem.
Case in point, right now I have a creaking/popping noise in my bottom bracket at starts or under heavy load (up hill). When I recreated it in the shop they listened to the bottom bracket and said it didn't sound like the bottom bracket but something else in the rest of "that crazy stuff" pointing to the carboyoke bottom bracket clamp etc.
While they may be right, undetermined at this point, they can be too quick to dismiss or too quick to not think about the standard problems in favor of "it must be something in that crazy stuff that I don't know about". They aren't really keen on thinking outside the box.

Other things:
They tend to ignore the placement of the dropout hanger on the rear derailer (set it up one way and then when/if they remove and re-install the wheel they let it pull forward and then the adjustment seems off.

Nobody there can ride the thing, therefore they can't road test any changes they make to the drive-train, new wheels, brake adjustments etc. That can lead to me having to come back to them 2-3 times for adjustments. I am, over time, just learning how to do it myself because it is just easier.

I have taken my bike to another local (to my office) shop when my rear derailer cable broke on the way to work. They are a boutique, hand-built frames, kinda shop with a lot of seniority in the Seattle area [cough]Davidson[cough] but I have found them to be snobbish about uprights and turn their noses up at recumbents (esp my previous bike).
When I retrieved my bike for the cable repair the owner helped me. I asked for "the recumbent with the broken derailer hanger". I misspoke. Derailer hanger just rolled off the tongue.
He retrieved my bike and inspected the derailer hanger closely for about 3 seconds, stood up and said "Yep, looks like a weak design."
When I explained I had misspoken and meant "the derailer cable" he just shrugged.

My regular LBS is more than willing to try things but I have to do a LOT of suggestion and like I said, I am just learning how to do most things myself.
I don't do hubs, wheels, or bottom bracket adjustments (yet) but I am going to do more and more of the rest of my own maintenance. Even though they are willing and mostly able, it really only extends to the owner and the head mechanic. The other guys only know mountain and BMX (that is the focus of the shop, to be fair) and don't really care to learn more than what I like about it, how comfy it is, etc. They don't really want to work on it and, likewise, I don't want them working on it. :)

That is all I can think of for now.

I REALLY wish that the (only) "local" bike shop that is recumbent oriented was worth a pile of rusty chains, but they aren't.
Down in Portland there is a great shop, Coventry Cycles. I would like to take my bike in there for an overhaul one day just to get their feedback.
 

John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
blief.z wrote: When I recreated it in the shop they listened to the bottom bracket and said it didn't sound like the bottom bracket but something else in the rest of "that crazy stuff" pointing to the carboyoke bottom bracket clamp etc.
While they may be right, undetermined at this point, they can be too quick to dismiss or too quick to not think about the standard problems in favor of "it must be something in that crazy stuff that I don't know about". They aren't really keen on thinking outside the box.
I feel that most things can either be diagnosed in this forum, or at least a series of tests to narrow it down.

For times that an experienced mechanic is required, finding one is of course the key. It is the openness to new ideas that defines a good mechanic. We will support any mechanic with technical advice about our products if asked to.
 

Drew

Active Member
My LBS with recumbents doesn't sell Cruzbike and they don't seem too interested in learning. The road bike shop proudly declared they don't work on "Frankenbikes". So I bought a set of bike tools and learned to do my own regular service/maintenance.

A forum to post technical questions and receive input from Cruzbike and other owners is all the support I require. Jobs requiring special tools (eg. facing the BB) need to go to the LBS. In those situations I take the component off the bike before visiting the LBS.

I watched Youtube Videos extensively about installing SRAM components and they were very helpful. If possible a Youtube video series showing how to assemble/adjust/maintain a Silvio would be a good addition to this site.
 

cycleguy

Active Member
Hello,

One small adjustment I needed to make the other day was on the rings that wrap around the BB. I noticed while on my trainer with the Silvio, that the BB shell was sliding back and forth in those rings. I tightened them up and it is much smoother now.

Harold
 

super slim

Zen MBB Master
John,
I did all the assembly of the Silvio, and the V1 Softrider my self, as the local Bike shops in Adelaide, South Australia, are very Double D oriented! AND when touring its better to know how to fix a problem yourself, especially if you are 500 km from a good?? bike shop in Tibet.

These Forums are VERY GOOD, with very high level of technical bike and riding technique support, AND riding general support.

I am servicing the Silvio for a 160 km Tour Down Under ride tomorrow (stage 4), and will try adjusting the position the steering stem on the headstem!

Thanks

Super Slim?
(put on 10 kgs over 3 months of being in the bush , camp food, 13 hr day, and NO BIKES)
 

cannondale

New Member
Where can I locate the serial number for my Silvio? I want to register the bike with the local PD and I need an identification number.
 

Drew

Active Member
On the seat pan there is a Certificate of Authenticity that should show a serial # starting with CBSV- ###. I think that is the only serial # on the bike.
 

Rebus Cannebus

New Member
John,

Nanda has done most of my maintenance. But this past year I decided to take it to the high-end LBS in town, in order to give the Silvio some exposure to the wrenches and visibility to the customers there. I've taken it in twice--both for routine adjustments/tune-ups--and to fix a bent chainring. AFAICT, the bike was treated like all the others they service. I never received any feedback about issues or problems, and the repairs/adjustments went fine. Nor did I detect any "attitude" about having to work on such an odd contraption. I think they figured out pretty quickly that they were dealing with mostly standard componentry. The first time I brought it in, a number of staff inspected the Silvio and seemed impressed. No anti-recumbent sentiment. Now what they said after I walked out the door may be another story. :D

The biggest problem seemed to be getting the Silvio to lean against the counter without having it fall over. No mean feat for the inexperienced!

Peter
 
Top