Transition from Silvio to Vendetta

[Rick Youngblood]

Received my new Vendetta Frameset last week. Had to sell my other two recumbents that were collecting dust in the garage to finance the new build.

The setup is very similar to my Silvio, but with one level up on components.

I also purchase a CF comfort seat from Hostel shoppe and a BentUp aero bag.

I have about 84 miles on it now vs just under 3300 on the Silvio.

I was expecting a drastic difference going from about 27d on the Silvio to about 20d on the Vendetta, but to my surprise I did not feel like you do when you hop on a new bike - I was able to get on the Vendetta and ride as if I was on the Silvio or as if I've been riding the Vendetta all this time - everything works the same, stopping - starts, etc. What I noticed, however, was the front-end felt lighter and the steering felt quicker, but not scary quick. Pedal steer? I don't know what that is anymore or what it feels like, so that did not come to mind. The V to me feels a like the S, but just sportier.

The above is just my initial observation of the feel of the bike and nothing to do with performance. The only thing so far I can comment on about performance comparisons to the S is this: The V is much more aero and air-slippery. Anytime I came across a descent, be it even as little as 1% it would accelerate faster and I would hit higher top speeds too. This is of course all due to more recline. I haven't been able to ride hard yet, due to an unrelated to bike riding back injury. Bob (aka Ratz) has some good perforce comparisons.

So I truly love this bike, I'm in like with it to say the least and looking forward to getting back on the road and ride hard soon.

BTW, my wife is hoping Bob's not going to buy a new bike soon!!

here are a few pictures:

 

[Jeremy S]

Very nice! Did you spend some

Very nice! Did you spend some time with the stock seat or go straight to this one? Also did you sell your Silvio?

I should be jealous but I think the ride on a Vendetta would kill me on the roads around here, they're already jarring enough with the Silvio suspension.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Jeremy, I presumed that I

Jeremy, I presumed that I would have the same problem as Silvio, but I did try out the stock first, and found yes I had the same problem. I anticipated this.

No selling of the Silvio and will not sell it.

There are lots of roads around here that the Vendetta will not work on, but fortunately there are also lots of smooth fine chipseal and hwy grade asphalt roads and bike trails for the Vendetta. Having both of these bikes is a blessing. Most of the centuries in the area are also okay for the Vendetta.

I found that tires make a huge play on chipseal comfort too. The Metabike has a reputation for being a rough rider on anything not smooth, but I was able to calm it down quite a bit with fast low pressure supple tires, and not loosing performance on smooth asphalt.

 

[trplay]

Wow, seriously nice looking

Wow, seriously nice looking bike. The gearing makes it look like a vendetta on "roids". With that said the real interest for me is on performance, it's all about performance. It hasn't gone un-noticed other bloggers have claimed "easily 4-5 mph" faster over the Silvio. If I even thought I could gain that type of increase I would order one tomorrow.

 

[scabinetguy]

4-5 mph

trplay, Maybe 1 or 2 mph. closer to 1.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Trplay - Unfortunately, I

Trplay - Unfortunately, I can't comment much on how-much performance gain the V has over the S - but just maybe, you should order one tomorrow

.

So far I can definitely feel more aero, and more aero can translate to more speed, how much more, don't know, at least not yet (Bob does have some data). Down hill coasting is faster, I can tell you that so far. But for me it's not just about speed, it's more about efficiency, and so far with very minimal experience on the V, I believe it is no doubt more efficient!

The gearing is out there!

 

[ratz]

I am off at the rally, and I

I am off at the rally, and I need to redo the headset stack on the v when I get back. But so far Rick has nailed my experience; the bike is just more efficient. Door to Door Average Mph has been 1-2 mph faster. On segments I have given it a go; it's 3-4. But on average I go faster for less effort. I just got the Stages Power meter back from repair; I plan to ride more of late august and september on the V when I finish that I should have some comparative data. But as Rick noted; you can feel the difference; and I don't think it is phantom.

 

[Eric Winn]

Reminds me of

Reminds me of fthills Vendetta with that seat. Looks really good Rick.

-Eric

 

[Ivan]

That's a beautiful chainring!

That's a beautiful chainring! Is that all FSA? 54T or even bigger?

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Ivan, the crankset is FSA

Ivan, the crankset is FSA SL-K Light Compact double with carbon fiber 165mm arms, the rings are Q-rings 53/34. The widest part of the chainring is (I believe) comparable to something like a 56t, it look big in person too. These carbon fiber cranksets are really cheap on eBay right now.

 

[Lief]

The seat

Rick,
Beautiful.

Which seat exactly is that?
There are a lot listed on HostelShoppe

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Lie, it's the VOLAE -

Lie, it's the VOLAE - Hardshell Seat Carbon Comfort - SKU: 156882 - 3rd row from top, middle.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Here is a better shot. The

Here is a better shot. The Ventisit pad is borrowed off my Silvio until I get the correct fitting pad, it's too big.

 

[Greenspeed]

Just love the v2.0 frame.

Just love the v2.0 frame. Beautiful ride.

 

[LarryOz]

what about your headrest

Rick,
Your headrest looks very nice.
Does your head set on it, or only your neck?
You obviously choose something other than what came with the set, you must prefer it.
Where did you get it? type? price?
Thanks,
Larry

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Larry, the neck rest is Aero

Larry, the neck rest is Aero Don or ADEM they are $115-125. I replaced the pad with a Ventisit pad. I rest my neck on it. Take note, I also replaced the seat with a Hostel Shoppe carbon fiber comfort seat. Trplay mounted the ADEM neck rest to the Silvio stock seat, you can see it hear http://cruzbike.com/spring-here-lets-see-your-ride .

 

[Eric Winn]

I'd like to see your seat

I'd like to see your seat mounting technique details Rick. You bought the medium size. How tall are you?

-Eric

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Eric, I'm 5'8" with roughly

Eric, I'm 5'8" with roughly 41" x-seam. I could probably fit a large Hostel Shoppe seat too. I have a large CF on my Silvio.

I will post some pic's later today.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

I drilled 2 new holes on the



I drilled 2 new holes on the existing front "seat mount wings" to offset drilling through the new CF seats "hollow support ribs" which runs along the underside of the Hostel Shoppe VOLAE - Hardshell Seat Carbon Comfort . I purchased the medium - I'm 5'8" (formerly 5'9-3/4", which my x-seam reflects). I probably could have went with a Large.

In a dry fit, just sitting the seat on the bikes frame, the "hollow support ribs" sit on top of the "seat mount wings". That's why I decided to offset the bolts with newly drilled holes. I also think moving the holes closer to the frame gives a higher degree of support.

I purchase a hard dense rubber block off eBay (it's normally used by jewelers). It's extremely dense, but easy to work with using your normal array of garage tools - drill, saw, sander. It's also easily formed using sandpaper. I cut it, drilled 2 holes in, and then rounded the ends to follow the lines of the underside of the CF seat. This is what I mounted the front of the seat to. I cut it think enough so that the seat once mounted and bolted, the ribs will clear the "seat mount wings" by about an 1/8"-1/4"

For the seat back, I used a piece of dense plastic that I was able to cut and sand. Which is attached using a piece of 2" flat aluminum I picked up a Home Depot. I bent it using my vise to an L shape. The piece that's looks kind of silly, like a fender, holds the Aero-Bag about an 1" off the top of the rear tire. With bag weighted down and you hit a bump, it won't bounce down on the tire.

I apologize the bad closeup picks, hope they help. (I think the rear mounting has room for refinement, I would like to rethink it to use the dense rubber)

 

[Rick Youngblood]

So I took the V out on one of

So I took the V out on one of my rides with moderate road surfaces. Not the worst, far from it. The roads consisted of medium coarse to fine coarse chipseal, cracks, uneven surfaces, etc.

Every bike I've owned has been on these roads, Tour Easy, Metabike, Musashi, both Cruzbikes V & S.

To my supervise, and being prepared for eyeballs bouncing around in my skull, I was quite pleasantly please at how well the V rolled across this rough stuff. I was comfortable, and it was not bad at all, far from it. I know tires can make a big difference running at low pressure. I had my 25mm's at around 90psi. And perhaps the V's longer wheelbase helped too? But the ride was just not harsh like I expected, in fact much less so than the Metabike and Musashi, with Musashi being just plain harsh.

The Vendetta has really turned out to be my dream bike, I still love my S too, there still are those roads that no bike should be unless it's a Silvio!