I rolled my X-Stream for the first time Saturday around the neighborhood.   I purchased the bike from Plano Cycling and it arrived with a few issues from the RANS factory.  Their was a misunderstanding about the seat offerings and the wheels where mismatched.  But PCF made me happy and worked with RANS to resolve these issues.
 
You guys are correct, the hoagie seat is really nice and of a large size that fits within acceptable parameters.  Im tall (6'2") and physically between the large and XL large carbon hard-shell seat so the Hoagie seat would be perfect for me if it ws just a tad larger.  Im going to try it without  the filter pad to see if the seat by istself would be comfortable enough without the pad for racing situations.  My butt feels like it want to side off the front of the seat, but its just an illusion.  
 
The visibility of the seat height is good.  But I plan on getting ALL the seat recline I can squeeze out of her.  I like alot of recline to distribute more weight from my butt to my back.  So Im looking at swapping out the inverted V handlebars for a curly ram high racer handlebars.  This is my first bike with superman style handlebars instead of hamster style handle bars.  I like the format.  You can really pull back and pound on the pedals.  I haven't been up a steep hill yet but I can see how the super-man format makes the XStream a good climber.  Just pull back on the handlebars and climb!  
 
The frame is noticeably stiffer than the Baron.  while pounding my 200mm cranks I noticed much less frame flex with the XStream then the Baron,  This is a huge compliment to the X-Stream because the Baron is legendary for its stiffness.    Frame stiffness is very good, Because stiff equals more power from the pedals to the wheels.   But stiffness also means it transfers the road vibrations more.  I had the Stevio tires pumped up to the max pressure of 145psi.  It added up to a weird vibe, not an issue, just new to me.  The long wheel base and the Hoagie seat compensated for the road vibrations.  I havnt been on a long ride yet to say how much vibration comes up the tiller to the handlebars.
 
I was going to really pound on it at white rock today but I forgot my front wheel.  So I have no opinion yet on its high-speed handling and feel.  A bikes areo features dont really shine until it Rolling fast.  My Baron was super slippery and liked to go fast. She had dual 650c RevX carbon blade wheels, aero fork, and layed back 18deg seat.  I could roll it at bursts upto 30-35 mph on Whiterock lakes flat west side.  So Im looking forward to seeing what the XStream can do at high speeds.
 
Finally the Baccetta Brain Box does not fit on the RANS hoagie seat.  So Im still exploring my seat bag options.  I was able to mount up my Fast-Back bags from the Baron.  These will keep me happy until further notice.
 
Looking forward to Riding with YALL soon.

Quote from MrOverdressed on Feb 23^rd, 2009, 12:43am:

 
Hooray!!!  
 
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Don't bother trying it without the pad... the tubes comprising the frame will dig into your shoulder blades and kidneys.  Too much road vibration transfer!!!  We experienced this with the "Zephyr" seat up in Kansas, and we weren't that reclined.
 
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I'm not sure you'll like that -- you'll get massive knee interference in turns, simply due to tiller.  And even with that, the riser may still bring the crossbar up higher than you like in your field of vision at max recline.
 
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Spin, Terry, SPIN...     During the long 1st half climbing sections of the TTTT course, I climbed better if I concentrated on a smooth spin technique, rather than "pulling and pounding".  It's the stiffness and power transfer that makes it a good climber.  Same thing when I go up Loving Hill at WRLake.
 
 
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You'll probably feel it more in your feet (through the pedals) than your hands.  I used Dr.Scholl's pads in my shoes.  What're you using 145 psi for, anyway????  As lightly loaded as the front end probably is on this bike (70/30?), you should probably at least drop the pressure in your front tire some...
 
Hey, whatever works for you, just happy that you're finally on the bike!!!!  Got pics?  

The long frame will eliminate most of the road vibration.  Believe me, I have the most sensitive feet on the planet, it seems.  A good pair of shoes and that large frame takes care of almost all of it.
 
You might or might not want or even need that much recline.  Same for the handlebars.  This is NOT a lowracer.  You definitely need enough recline, though.
 
Please ride the bike a few monthe before you decide.  It is the way it is for a reason, and changing stuff means more downtime off the bike.  If you're going to do something big with it this year you need all the saddle time you can get!

Stevios at 145? I thought the max was 120??

Quote from mleuck on Feb 24^th, 2009, 2:02am:

 
 
They are - he's trying t blow them up so he doesn't actually have to ride!  

Mark, I use 559s on my Stratus XP, and like the Stelvios...  what've you got, I might well want them!!!
 
PB

Im really enjoying the X-Stream.  Its safe for now.  If it was in danger no doubt one of YALL would take it home and rescue it like a lost puppy in the human society.    
 
The Hoagie seat is not perfect, but I going to ride it a long time to see if I can get used to it.   The reason I feel like Im sliding down on the hoagie seat is my sholders are trying to align to the upper bend in the seat that is in the middle of my back.  At the same time my but wants to push back and align to the Lower Bend.
 
The X-Stream can accomindate both tire sizes.  It comes with the 650C  (571mm) rims. With the brake shoes on both wheels  near the top of their adjustment range, so I know that the X-STream frame will take the 26" (559mm) rims.   By adjusting the brake shoes down toward the bottom of their adjustment range you could run a 559 wheel.   The baron was also adjustable to accomindate both wheels sizes.   I ran both sizes on the Baron and I didnt like having to re-adjust the brake shoes up/down when switching rim sizes so Im going to try and stick it out on the X-Stream with 650c wheels.
 
From poking around on the web I noticed that their is a much greater selection of sizes available for the 559mm rims from the 1.1 stevios to the big apple tires.  Where the 650c has a better selction of racing specific tires in the 19mm to 23mm range.  The only bigger 650c tire I know of is the 28mm Terry Tellus which is being discontinued (I hope to get one for the back whell).   I wish their was a 650c-25mm tire that would fit on the front wheel of the X-Stream.

Hey, Bud -
   There's a chance that the seat on the Proto might work better for Terry, because Randy said that they closed the angle of the bends in a little bit on the production model...  It may be worth checking into, and since Rose is somewhat shorter in stature, the increased bend of the newer seat might work better for her, and the lesser for Terry.