What did you do to your Cruzbike today?

[Rick Youngblood]

Aden headrest is no choise for me but I can order it from Thor or I can get Azub headrest easily.

There maybe other neck rests more available to you via your geo-area other than adem. ICE's newer sling mesh would be a great alternative. You may want to contact Greg at Thor to see what's more readily available to your side of the world. I made my own as did Jason. Good luck with your quest.

 

[RojoRacing]

Thank you. That is exactly what I needed to read. Now I have to decice if I will go cheap with glass fibre version or with carbon fibre. Other dilema is headrest. Aden headrest is no choise for me but I can order it from Thor or I can get Azub headrest easily.

I still need to do the write-up for my latest bike mods including the seat as well as two race reports, man I'm falling so far behind. I will say with Thor the carbon is totally worth it, the seat pan is a thing of beauty. The headrest I made myself from some scrap aluminum I had lying around the shop. The design is very similar to the ADEN but with a much simpler mounting method. The key to my current headrest success is in the Ventest padding I used on it.

 

[Robert O]

I don't have a Ventisit headrest pad, but I will give a hearty recommendation for the Ventisit comfort pad on the stock V20 seat. I rode all weekend in the sun and 80 degrees, but it was literally "no sweat" with respect to my back. I had a number of cyclists tell me, "that looks really comfortable" while looking at the seat pad.

 

[jond]

Thank you. That is exactly what I needed to read. Now I have to decice if I will go cheap with glass fibre version or with carbon fibre. Other dilema is headrest. Aden headrest is no choise for me but I can order it from Thor or I can get Azub headrest easily.

matej your power meter is new to you do not be alarmed. the average joe larry jon etc on any platform puts out around 3-4 watts per kg at best. this is the truth for most of us fun thrill seekers of speed. it is only the pros who generate 6 watts plus /kg for an hour.

the fact is the vendetta is so fast it lulls you into its easy speed and you relax and down goes your power. in fact you can go backwards quickly fitness wise on a vendetta. therefore it takes a conscious effort to maintain effort if you wish to even stand still or build. remember the speed effort equation is not linear and whilst 32 klm/hr is easy on the vendetta it is not on the DF. by the time you get up over 36klm/hr you need to make an effort on the vendetta and pull out your finger. matej your are young so pull out both your fingers aussie lingo for get off your ass find somewhere to ride fast and go faster.

rando all you like at 65% of your FTP.

i have exactly the same power on the DF the vendetta and the catrike 700 however it takes a few weeks to switch over platforms.

jason is spot on regarding the aero equation pedal efficiency comfort equation.

therefore make sure you exhaust all headrest options before you spend money making yourself less aero/fast. the designer of the bike knew what he was doing when he set the bike.

admittedly getting the headrest right can take a long long time. i had it right on the v2 but i am still fiddling about with the v20 despite copying the settings etc. did i mention i love to fiddle..............

 

[LarryOz]

The key to my current headrest success is in the Ventest padding I used on it.

Jason, how did you get the "extra" Ventist pad for your headrest?

 

[ratz]

Jason, how did you get the "extra" Ventist pad for your headrest?

Not sure what Jason did but

https://ventisit.nl/en/recumbent-bicycles#!/~/search/keywords=cruzbike&offset=0&sort=relevance

3rd item in the list is suppose to work. Cover with current sock.

 

[LarryOz]

https://ventisit.nl/en/recumbent-bicycles#!/~/search/keywords=cruzbike&offset=0&sort=relevance
3rd item in the list is suppose to work. Cover with current sock.

$16 for the ventist pad - a ittle steep, but expected!
But kind of incredible that they want $29 for shipping for this little piece of pad - I don't want it that bad!

 

[Rick Youngblood]

$16 for the ventist pad - a ittle steep, but expected!
But kind of incredible that they want $29 for shipping for this little piece of pad - I don't want it that bad!

Actually not a bad price considering, but yeah the shipping is steep, unless you were buying more than one or with a seat pad too. But to be honest, I paid twice for these little pads. They help with sweat and road bumps. I can't find it, but you can buy this type of material, but it's not really much cheaper from what I recall. BTW, Jason is using the pad in conjunction with his homemade headrest.

 

[ratz]

IF we can verify the correct one to fit; then we could do a bulk order or beg Robert to Stock them.

What we really need is someone with an unused traditional head rest: Pipe, Base Pad, Foam Pad, and Sock. Ship that to Ventisit, and they will make a custom replacement. Just have to ship it to them. They made the original seat pad from a traced drawing on paper for the seat. I spoke to them on the phone and they said; send the headrest and we'd be happy to make it.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

What we really need is someone with an unused traditional head rest: Pipe, Base Pad, Foam Pad, and Sock. Ship that to Ventisit, and they will make a custom replacement. Just have to ship it to them. They made the original seat pad from a traced drawing on paper for the seat. I spoke to them on the phone and they said; send the headrest and we'd be happy to make it.

Hey Bob, as it would happen, I have an unused stock headrest, go figure.

The only thing is, not sure what or if you would want it modified in any way. If it were me I would want it mounted to the hard closed cell foam pad as a base, with Velcro, that way the hard foam would give it a solid structure to be velcroed to. And then eliminate the sock. And decide wether you want it doubled like the roll I have or single thick. Doubled is approx 40mm and single (comfort thick) is approx 27mm. Stock open cell soft foam is approx 24. The hard closed foam base pad is approx 11.5mm.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

...but if Cruzbike has something up their sleeve for the headrest...would it all change?

 

[trplay]

I finally got around to making a Moose Pocket for the Vendetta. I had thought I would be able to use the same design as I used on the Silvio but found out the lower angle of the seat on the V causes the back of the pocket to touch the rear wheel. The objective was to make something that would allow you to Rando with the Vendetta without it losing its sleek look. I think this was achieved. Plenty of room to store any gear you might want. It places the gear between the wheels and low keeping a good CG. First trial run tomorrow.

 

[1happyreader]

Very stylish, thumbs up.

 

[jond]

making a Moose Pocket for the Vendetta.

truly excellent as per usual. well done. great concept extended to the V.

 

[SamP]

If you want to try making your own covers, a similar but not the same material from a US source. However, this won't save you money unless you can use the rest of the material, minimum order size is 54" x 1 yard.

This fabric is used on the interior of the US Army Improved Outer Tactical Vest (bullet-resistant body armor) to provide ventilation.

 

[RojoRacing]

$16 for the ventist pad - a ittle steep, but expected!
But kind of incredible that they want $29 for shipping for this little piece of pad - I don't want it that bad!

Yes shipping is a killer but not so much when you order a pad for the seat and one for the headrest like I did. An add note, I didn't go with the comfort thickness level ventist pad on the seat like 99% of people do. I think the pad I borrowed from Rick was the comfort thickness and it felt like I was floating around above the seat pan during crosswinds, it felt like I was slipping off the side. I chose the thinner standard thickness and I had zero hot spot or pain during the last 14hr double century I just did. The headrest roll only comes in one thickness.

Sounds like CruzBike needs to starting stocking the neck roll pad in addition to the seat pad so other CruzBike owners won't be put off by single item shipping charges. Or you can can organize a group order here.

 

[RojoRacing]

In the continued effort to delay my pending 2 race reports I give you the magnetic route sheet and elevation profile chart. There is actually an additional magnet just to the right of the Garmin for holding the top magnet of the sheet while you read it but the silicone was not dry enough to use it yet.

This is the route and profile for tomorrow's double century race which will also have its report delayed far longer then what's reasonable

 

[ratz]

Yes shipping is a killer but not so much when you order a pad for the seat and one for the headrest like I did. An add note, I didn't go with the comfort thickness level ventist pad on the seat like 99% of people do. I think the pad I borrowed from Rick was the comfort thickness and it felt like I was floating around above the seat pan during crosswinds, it felt like I was slipping off the side. I chose the thinner standard thickness and I had zero hot spot or pain during the last 14hr double century I just did. The headrest roll only comes in one thickness.

I like the thin one too; some how I wound up with a bunch of the thick ones and I need to swap those out.

 

[ratz]

In the continued effort to delay my pending 2 race reports I give you the magnetic route sheet and elevation profile chart. There is actually an additional magnet just to the right of the Garmin for holding the top magnet of the sheet while you read it but the silicone was not dry enough to use it yet.

This is the route and profile for tomorrow's double century race which will also have its report delayed far longer then what's reasonable

I've been thinking about using sugru to attached the mirrors to the bike with magnets then I could have two positions for the mirrors on the bars and move them on the fly as needed.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

An add note, I didn't go with the comfort thickness level ventist pad on the seat like 99% of people do. I think the pad I borrowed from Rick was the comfort thickness and it felt like I was floating around above the seat pan during crosswinds, it felt like I was slipping off the side. I chose the thinner standard thickness and I had zero hot spot or pain during the last 14hr double century I just did. The headrest roll only comes in one thickness.

This goes to show you that small subtle changes/differences/tweaks can pay out in big ways. And that we are not all the same. Changes like in handlebars, crank arm length, tires, wheels, seat pads, headrests, gearing, boom adjustment, etc, are worth exploring and tweaking. There is a wealth of info here on this forum...never give up in the quest to fine tune your bike.