Quote from Phantom Rider on Apr 13^th, 2014, 1:07pm:

 
Joe, even with your current high racer experience, still think your initial impression of a Cruzbike might not be the best. However, I think you would definitely have a steep learning curve with your current experience, and take to it fairly rapidly. I started feeling real good about the bike when I could get it to go in a straight line and cruise at decent speeds without much hand/arm input. Took, maybe, 40 to 50 miles of riding for that to happen. It gets better and better, as the miles add up. A couple of weeks ago when it was warm, and I felt extra strong, climbed a steep, short hill faster than I've ever climbed it on one of my other recumbents. Hope that's going to be a trend, and not a one-time event. I have to grind it out on steep, long hills, because its lowest gear combination is 34T/32T. The bike was designed for road bike double cranksets. Some owners have installed triples by grinding tabs off chainrings and installing BB shims to shift the crankset off-center to the right.

Ate a small breakfast at about 8:00 AM and headed for WRL, about 9:30 AM to test the new configuration. Rode counterclockwise to the Northeast corner of the lake to look for Kenny J. No Kenny, so headed back to Sunset Bay to adjust the bike's boom in about a 1/4". Headed out clockwise, feeling more power to the pedals as a result of the adjustment. Low energy, so I stop at the 7/11 for a big bottle of Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino and a bananna. Continued on to the West Lawther speedway. Waste of time, because my low energy persisted, and I was cruising at a very unimpressive 16 mph into a 10 mph headwind. Took the bike up to 28.4 mph on the run South of the Culture Center, but that was not impressive, because of the 10 mph tailwind. Rode a total of 16 miles. Will wait for a day when the Force is with me, and there is no headwind, before I conduct another test to see if raising the BB provides a perceptible speed increase. One thing I do notice about the bike is that it seems to climb better than my other bikes on WRL's short hills. Not too pleased with the 10-speed, 11T/32T cassette installed on the bike (too much cadence differential between cogs). May change to a 12T/27T, close-ratio cassette, like I have installed on my Musashi and Carbent. 

Quote from JimFPU on Jul 29^th, 2014, 8:16am:

 
You don't know how bummed out I was when I pulled the packaged extension out of my mail box and felt how heavy it was. The front triangle has a mind of its own when loading and unloading the bike from my van and handling it on the ground. It wants to swing around the head tube. The new, heavy extension just exaggerates the problem.
 
Today was a high energy day for me, so I might have been crowing about how fast a bike it is, if I had been riding it.  
 
Had to break down and install a water bottle/holder combo. It's a midget one, though.  
 
The only way the bike would ever have a surrey top on it would be if you got your hands on it. And, that's not gonna happen.  
 
 

Quote from CruzbikeChris on Jul 30^th, 2014, 6:13pm:

 
Chris, I'm afflicted with weight weenie disease, so I might be more sensitive to the extension's weight than you would be.    
 
IMO the extension makes the bike look better, because it positions the boom closer to horizontal.  
 
I have to slide into the seat, now, like I had to on my Baron low racer. May remove the water bottle and cage from the boom and move the handlebar towards the BB to open up the cockpit a little.
 
Tomorrow would have been a good day to test the bike's speed capability with the higher bottom bracket, but rain is forecast, so I'll be riding my mud bike (Musashi). Maybe I'll get a chance to do it next week.