Short cranks and high cadence feasible on Silvio?

[spanky]

Hi,

I'm a recumbent rider from New Zealand (not exactly the spiritual homeland of recumbent riding). This is my first ever post on this board, and may it be one of many.

I currently ride a RANS Stratus XP, my third recumbent, which I love dearly, though for last couple of years I've been toying with the idea of getting something more competitive.

After watching the Silvio-related videos up on YouTube and reading the BROL review, I must say I'm impressed and deeply intrigued. This might be my new bike. It seems to solve a lot of problems I've encountered on other bikes, and solve them in an inspired way.

I wonder however if my riding style is suitable for the Silvio. I use shortened cranks, around 155 mm (I have a lovely set of shortened Ultegras in the garage just waiting to be to fertilized with a touch of obsession and grown into a new bike), and tend to ride at a highish cadence (about 110 cycles/min) with a fairly even pressure through each crank rotation, something which is easier to do well when your cranks are short. I really like this style of riding, and don't think I would ever consider going back to longer cranks on a recumbent -- they're just too uncomfortable for me.

Does anyone out there use short cranks and/or high cadence on a Silvio? Is this a bike which responds favourably to this type of power input? Or is it difficult for the upper body to compensate for such a pedalling style?

I look forward to any replies,

Best, John

 

[Doug Burton]

Hi John, and welcome!

Our Sofrider and Freerider are shipped with 160mm cranks, and our newer designs use 155mm.

Most Silvios use 170mm cranks because they're common for road component groups.

We are developing a new record Silvio for Maria which we will use, in part, for crank length development. I have 152, 155, 160, 165, 170 and 175mm cranks to do that testing with.

I think Mark B. has been know to turn a few RPM's, perhaps he will weigh in on the question.


Glad to have you, please post away!

Best,

Doug

 

[John Tolhurst]

ABSOLUTELY

Happy New Year.

 

[spanky]

Thanks for your replies. This is one thing I love about the bent world: ask a few questions and the developers themselves are happy to answer them. You can really sense the genuine enthusiasm they have for their bikes.

I've noticed that a couple of owners have Silvios in alternative colours. Maria has that very nice yellow one, and someone else a white one. How could I go about getting a non-standard colour?

 

[John Tolhurst]

I think luck was the key. I made a couple in white to compare against the black before settling on white and one in yellow which I did simple to make it a special bike for Maria. So unless you were there at the start its black all the way baby. Until you guys rattle enough cages so we can increase our sales and production volumes.

 

[spanky]

Further questions:

1. When you move the cranks aftwards, is there a corresponding shift back of the handlebars, or are the two tubes independent of each other?

2. I really dislike STI shifters. I'd quite like if possible to use barend shifters on thumbies on a MTB width handlebar of some sort. Probably I'll use a Bacchetta bar, maybe flipped around to increase the reach if necessary. Has anybody successfully tried this? Would this likely compromise the handling of the bike?

3. I notice the Silvio is all sold out. Will the next production run be in a different colour?

 

[John Tolhurst]

Silvio will remain black, its a colour which works with lots of various themed components.

Instead of STI, the SRAM double tap may be a lot more to your liking. Silvio will come standard with flared drop bars and we stongly recommend you adopt the package as supplied before branching off into other configurations. I did see one person head into a unique handlebar configuration from the start and was disappointed for him when he sold the bike, as he'd not really discovered it, despite having even owned one. :?

You can adjust the reach for the arms as well as the legs.