Friday, July 05, 2013

Cruzbike Maiden Voyage

Time for the maiden "shake-down" voyage
of my new Cruzbike Silvio 2.0.

This is a front wheel drive,
moving bottom bracket,
recumbent 700c machine,...

So, there is/will be a significant learning curve,
i.e. I'm not jumping on it and heading out
onto the roads with cars.

Headed out,...

To the car.

Rather sleek, mantis-like.

Nervous to actually go for it.

First mounting (not on the stable trainer),
in an empty parking-lot.

WHOA THERE !!!!! 

Minding the curb,...

It took a good 5-10 minutes before I could even get my feet
onto the pedals,... the procedure is to "Flintstone" with your
feet for a little while then to progress to

a controlled coast down a slight slope.

Finally, I started to get it and spent about 1 hour
Cruz-ing around the parking lots,...

Note, no clip-in's at this point.

I was wooobly,...

But steadily improved.

It took lots of concentration,...

Glamour shot.

The frame goes right along the body so it
basically looks like I'm floating between wheels.

"Zooom"

How arty,...

There I go again.

That is more than enough for now.

I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't feel
an overwhelming amount of "pedal steering."
I was concerned that this would be significant
but it wasn't. Even in my juvenile state of
proficiency, I was able to stomp on the
pedals and didn't swerve. I guess
that my unsteadiness might have
masked it,... >;-)

My maiden shake-down voyage was a success,
I learned, improved my skills and confidence,
and nothing (& no one) fell off.

It will take several more hours of closed
circuit practice before I venture
onto the roads.

Update - the position is comfortable, visibility is better than on
my TT bikes (i.e. very good), the headrest is great, it sits right
at the base of my skull, below my helmet, it is very comfortable.

2 comments:

mcat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tod said...

This is gorgeous!