Zenetik Pro

Thoughts on riding the Alterra ....

2011-10-29T21:07:00.006+02:00

So far, I've taken the Alterra Road with the Alterra seat pan for a couple of rides (3 to be exact) but to be honest, I do not like it at all. The seat pan is way too small and reminds me of a regular racing saddle. It may be the shape of my butt, but I'm way more comfortable on the carbon Zenetik Pro's seat pan, so I changed it back today. Then took the Alterra Road for a road near the canal and felt much better on the wider seat pan.

The last couple of weeks the towing path besides the canal was closed due to work in progress : the old layer of asphalt is being replaced with a new layer. Most parts have been finished, so the potholes and most other irregularities have are now covered with a new layer. The weather has been very mild lately, which made it possible to still ride my bike with shorts and short sleeved jersey, nice ! But as you can see on the picture : autumn really has begun. Not bad, since I like the change of colors along the route ....

So, what are my thoughts so far on the Alterra Road ? I do not experience a lot of difference between the road bike's geometries, although it's obvious in some ways : there's no front wheel touch with your feet with the Alterra and it is much easier to ride the bike standing up. The biggest difference are the drop bars on the Alterra. Although these bars offer more hand positions than the straight handlebar I had on the Z Pro, I really have to wear padded gloves to prevent my hands from getting numb on some positions. It takes a while, sometimes half an hour or more, but than my fingers start to tingle so I know that it's time to change my hand position. I also notice that there's more weight on my shoulders, arms and hands with the drop bars, meaning that I'm leaning more forward on the Alterra than on the Z Pro. Is all this a problem ? Not yet. At least not such a problem yet that I'm considering installing the straight bars again. I really like the looks of the drop bars on the bike and I feel a little more on a "real" road bike when riding it. But for now, I'm still hanging on to my Alterra the way it is. Only future will tell ....

Another cycling holiday

2011-09-25T08:03:00.009+02:00

I just got back from another cycling holiday in the Netherlands. We rented a small cottage in Zutphen, in the provence of Gelderland. Last year I rode my velomobile up to there and found out that my velomobile was a bit too wide for some of the bicycle paths (like the ones in the National park the Veluwe). Also some of the paths of the bicycle route system are gravel paths running through forests, not ideal for velomobiles. So this year, I took my 700X with me, which turned out to be the perfect choice !

Weather was nice all week : mild temperatures with strong breezes earlier this week, but the second half turned out to be a real Indian Summer when the wind lay down. During day time I rode my 700X in shorts, short sleeve shirt and (SPD) sandals, only at night rides, it was a bit too chilly and I had to put on a jacket and bike shoes. Since my 700X has a good head light, it was the ideal bike to ride through the city at night.

Miles and miles of bicycle path near the river the Ijssel

Although I hade one pair of bib shorts with me just in case, I never needed it. There were days that I rode my bike for 60 + miles without any discomfort, in total I had a little over 300 miles on my bike computer from last week. Pictures I took during my bike trips can be found here

Changing the seat

2011-09-02T21:22:00.017+02:00

So far, I've ridden a little over 300 miles on my Alterra Road. On my second or third ride, the right part of my bottom got sore after the ride. But last week I did a 60-mile ride with no discomfort at all. When it comes to the handlebar, I change my hand positions a lot and I'm still searching for the perfect spot. On some positions, my hands start to get numb, defenitely not the way to go. Altogether, I'm pretty happy with my Alterra, but comfortwise it's no where near a recumbent. I do not want to get into putting extra padding to the seat or anything alike in order to get a more comfortable ride.

My friend Wijnandt and CF-pal is very satisfied with his Alterra seat on his DYNAMIK PRO, and since I have a spare Alterra seat I changed the seat today. First thing I noticed that there were 2 metal plates underneath the carbon seat pan of the Zenetik's seat. When using the Alterra plastic pan, it is impossible to use the largest of the metal plates since it is too big for the Alterra pan. So I only used the smalles metal plate to put the Alterra seat in place.

Useless piece of metal for the Alterra seat pan

First thing I noticed when sitting on the Alterra seat is the upward curve of the seat pan, which is more distinctive than the one on the Zenetik seat. I compared both seats before putting the Alterra pan on my bike, but both seat pans seem to have the same curving line at the back. Maybe it's because of the material that the Alterra seat pan feels different? I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm curious how the Alterra seat'll do in practice, I'm about to find out !

New bike in town ....

2011-07-01T16:50:00.016+02:00

After much consideration (and a lot of reading at the CF-forum) I decided to replace my Z Pro with an Alterra Road. I ordered a frame from Nanda Holz at Spincyclz.com and had my local bike shop transfer the parts from the Z Pros' frame to the Alterra. At least, that was the plan. I wanted a drop bar with STI shifters on the Alterra, but since that's not available in 9-speed anymore, I've had to have the 10-speed version installed, which also implied having a new set of cogs at the rear wheel and a new chain. Well, okay then. I took my Z Pro and the Alterra road frame to my bike shop last week and picked my Alterra up yesterday.

And .... wow ! Nice looking bike ! Just like the yellow of my Z Pro, the red of the Alterra looks kinda dull until the sun hits it, then the sparkling little things show up nicely :

First thing I checked was the space between the rear tire and the brake bridge. And yes : there is plenty of room ! Real nice !!!

I also had the original carbon seat transferred from the Z Pro, because there's no carbon seat pan (yet) for the Alterra line of bikes. I did order an Alterra seat with the Alterra frame but will stick to the Z Pros' seat for now, let's find out how it'll work out.

Riding home from the bike shop felt pretty weird, it has been more than 10 years since I last rode a bike with drop bars and it'll probably take some time to find a proper position on it. Riding the bike standing up is indeed much easier on the Alterra than it is on the Z Pro. I never rode my Z Pro standing up because it felt weird, on the Alterra it feels more natural so I think I'll be doing it whenever necessary.

I asked my local bike shop to double wrap the handlebars with tape for more comfort, since there seems to be more weight on my hands. I remember that when I used to put my Z Pro next to my 700X, both the handlebar and the seat were at same level. Not longer so : the Alterra Roads' seat is a bit higher and the handlebar a bit lower. I still can change the height of the seat, but not that of the handlebar, so I'm curious what it'll work out in time.

I had too many issues with my lower back on the Z Pro and that's what kept me from riding it. Let's hope that the Alterra geometry solves this issues, but since there's only one way to find out, I'm afraid I have to ride it. A lot .... Poor me, life's just too hard sometimes ;-)

And another holiday ....

2011-05-11T23:37:00.012+02:00

Just got back from a 6-day holiday. Last Friday my wife and I drove to la-Roche- en-Ardenne where we spent 3 days in a hotel. Last Monday we drove to Biersdorf- am-See in Germany, where we spent another 3 days. Since we took the car as our main means of transportation, I could take a bike with me. Since I did not want to stick to asphalt, I took my 700X.
It seems that summer already arrived early last week, sunshine all day and temperatures over 25°C. On my first ride on Friday, I reached the top of a local route. When I took the picture that is shown here, I suddenly realised that there was total silence in the midst of the forrest ! No cars, no motors, no airoplanes to be heard, just the birds singing in the trees and the wind touching the leaves. Amazing, these places are hard to find these days !

Although there are many mountain bike routes in La Roche, I stayed mainly on the roads. The 700X was no real mach for the rough MB-routes through the forests, especially not when going down. The routes were so rough with lots of big rocks and ruts from the trees that I only managed to ride downhill while braking most of the time. With lots of up -and downhills, I got more than my share of work out on the roads. Unfortunately, most of the roads were in no good condition, but that did not stop me from riding my bike.

When arriving in Biersdorf-Am-See, one could tell that you were in Germany only by the state of the roads. As usual, most of the roads were in excellent condition and showing only little damage of the past winter. I rode a new part of the Prümtalradweg around Bittburg and some parts of the Kylltalradweg and the Nimstalradweg. The Dorint hotel we spent are nights was located near a lake and with summer temperatures but no summer crowds, the location was as heavenly as in tourists brochures.

Not all was rosy though. In comparison with earlier holidays with the 700X I did not suffer from my butt. It did get very sweaty with these temperatures, but it never got uncomfortable. The only thing I noticed was my lower back. I never had issues with my back before, but lately when riding either my Z Pro or the 700X I noticed that my lower back started to hurt after a while. Especially when riding uphill. It might be that the forward reach is just a little too much for my back (and my age isn't probably helping either). It is true that I do not ride my CF-bikes as much as my recumbents, but the main idea is to ride a bike that is more comfortable than a regular bike. I'm considering ordering an Alterra Road frame and swap the components from the Z Pro. The Alterra has a different frame geometry, which might do the trick. Stay tuned to find out.

Finally riding the Bloesemroute

2011-04-08T21:25:00.006+02:00

Something I've always wanted to do but always managed to skip in one way or another is riding one of the famous Bloesemroutes ("route of the Blossoms") in the province of Limburg. Every year around this time most of the fruit trees start to bloom, giving the landscape beautiful colors to ride through. The province of Limburg is famous for its Knooppuntennetwerk, a very clever network of bicycle routes connected with numbered intersections. This allows the bicyclist to plan his route through these numbered knooppunten, all you have to do is to remember which number to ride to. Small numbered road signs in blue are placed all over these routes, making it easy to ride from one point to another. Boards with maps of the routes are placed at many intersections, so there is no need to bring a map by yourself.

Anwyay, last Friday a riding buddy and myself drove a car with our bikes to Borgloon, one of the many places where one can start to ride the Katarakt route, the most famous Bloesemroute.

The weather was ideal for biking : a mild breeze and lots of sun. Total distance of the planned route was around 75 km, but I think we took a wrong turn at some point and were close to our starting point after only 62 km. We still had the time, so we decided to ride another loop around Borgloon, making a total of 82 km. As expected, the scenery was beautiful with lots of sloping landscapes through fields of blooming fruit trees. Not too many other bikers yet, as it was on a working-day and still early April. A couple of weeks later and during the weekends, lots of people show up to ride their bikes over there, making some of the routes really crowded. Not so last Friday. We really had a good time and it made me long for more bike trips over there ....

My riding buddy near one of the boards near the route ....

Local discoveries ....

2011-03-30T07:10:00.004+02:00

It is said that sometimes one does not have to travel far to discover some nice places to ride. The day before yesterday I took my 700X for a ride since I did not want to stay on the asphalt. A cold has been taking my off the bike these last weeks, but the weather was so nice I just had to get out on a bike.

When riding towards Poppel, I discoverd 2 new bicycle paths that must have been constructed last year. The first one only almost 2 km, the other one a little bit longer and going all the way to the Netherlands. It was a nice surprise to find such improvements for bicycles so close to home ! Yesterday I rode the same bicycle paths again all the way up into the Netherlands, looking for as much of off road as I and the 700X could take. Allthough I did not plan to, I was on the bike for almost 4 hours (I did get lost a little, which is fine with me).This was my first long ride on a CF bike this year and I had a blast. After a couple of hours, I wished again that my 700X had a suspension fork, 'cause I really got shaken up, especially on those trails where horses had been riding. On the other hand, I really like the looks of the carbon fork ....

Leading all the way to abroad ....

Upgrading the 700X

2010-08-20T16:37:00.005+02:00

To make the 700X a more perfect holiday touring bike, it still needed a head light. It's not that I always ride at night while on holiday, but since we never leave home for holiday when the days are the longest, I want to able to ride my bike anytime anywhere.

So I ordered a Shimano DH-3D72 hub dynamo and put it together with a B&M IQ FLY headlight on the bike. The hub is on XT level so it should outlast the bike even without even noticing it's there. I had the IQ FLY headlight lying around in the garage but is a very good LED-head light with a start/stop function. I'll spend another holiday in Germany next month again and will be taking the 700X with me. Let's hope the weather'll be nice !

The French Adventure

2010-06-14T18:49:00.015+02:00

Like I wrote in my previous post, I spent the last week in the south of France near the small village le Barroux. Together with another couple, we've rented a small villa (with swimming pool !), from where all our bike rides started. I was the only one with a CF bike, the others rode regular road bikes.

Le Barroux, as seen from above ....

Before leaving for France, I had my Zenetik Pro checked by my bike shop. Smallest chainring in front was a 34 and largest cog in the rear was a 28, which would be enough to ride all the way to the top, according to Harry, the owner of the shop. Well, I was soon to find out !

We did a couple of local rides on the first 2 days, one of them a 112km ride all around the Mont Ventoux, riding through villages such as Bédoin, Malaucene, Sault and others. The scenery is really wonderful over there and although the French drive their cars like they're racing all the time, they never cut bicyclists off. Besides the regular tourists, there were a lot of bicyclists, 99% of them on road bikes, all attrackted by the famous mountain top ....

On Tuesday we decided to try to ride to the top. Since my buddy's wife is not a very good cyclist, we decided to start in Sault, which is the longest but not the steepest route to the top. Weather was good : sunny but cloudy, with a mild wind, not too hot. I stayed with my friends for about 15' but then left them behind, riding my own pace, which was a little bit faster then theirs (but only just a little bit). Riding up was pretty tough but doable, I'm not used to ride my bike uphill for such a long period of time (we have no mountains in my country). The higher I got, the colder and windier it became. When I reached the famous chalet Renard after 20 kms, I decided not to stop but to continue riding.

Me on my way up ....

Now every serious rider knows that the real climbing starts from that point on. It's only another 6 kms to the top, but the grades are really steep. Soon I was riding on my 34 x 26, which allowed me to keep my speed around 10 km/h. The wind became stronger and soon I had to switch to my lowest gear, 34 x 28. Speed had dropped to 6 km/h and I really had to work hard to keep it up to that. So yes, I did reach the top, but it was hard, really hard ! On top, it was so windy and cold that I immediately put on the extra clothing I had with me. Visibillity was almost nill and I did not even bother to ask someone to take a picture from me and my bike, I wanted to get down again ! However, I promised my wife to send her a text message by cell phone once I reached the top, but it took a while before I got any kind of connection over there. After that, it was only going downhill, which was a blast. Instaed of going back to Sault, I turned right to Bédoin at chalet Renard. This road was of better quality than the road to Sault and my speed was limited to 78 km/h because of a car in front of me.

So, was it a triumph using a CF bike going up Mont Ventoux ? Well, not really, I guess ... The bike performed well, no doubt about that. Handlebar set up turned out to be fine, even on 5 hour rides I never got uncomfortable hands, shoulders or neck. My butt never really got sore, but it got really hot from time to time, resulting in a seat cover and shorts that were completely wet from sweating. This was irritating, but never caused any kind of pain.

Gearing should have been lower, that's for sure. It would have been sufficient for a regular road bike (my friend never needed his 2 largest cogs riding up), but since I only have a 9 speed on my Z Pro, I cannot get any larger than a 28 cog in the rear. For next time, I might consider getting a 10-speed or have a triple crank in front. Or ride a regular road bike, if only that saddle .... right !

My friend rode up to the top again on Thursday, this time starting in Bédoin, but I did not accompany him, because I knew I wouldn't be able to ride that way up with the gearing I have.

Compared to a regular road bike, I think the Zenetik Pro is a little less efficient. Maybe the longer wheel base causes a little loss of power, I don't know. It's just a feeling that I got. I tried my friends' road bike for a short while and I got the impression that power coming from every pedal stroke was transmitted more directly to the rear wheel than on my Z Pro. But like I said : that was just an feeling. Maybe I should have tried that road bike to ride all the way to the top again to make a real comparison, so maybe next time ....

However, I do know that riding downhill with the Z Pro is a blast ! I'd lean on the bar ends with my elbows and the bike rolled downhill like a brick ! My friend never could keep up with me and the ones who could, were smashing their pedals like madmen (where I was only freewheeling). All in all, it was well worth the 11 hour ride to get there (le Barroux is almost 1050 kms from where I live). I rode a little over 400 kms with my Z Pro over there and was thankful that I had beefy tires on my bike, since not all roads are very smooth over there (Germany has far better roads to be riding on). And although I did bring an extra rear wheel in case I'd break any spokes, nothing happened .... I had a very good time, weather was excellent (only one night of rain) and I might consider going back in a couple of years. Will I still be taking my Z Pro next time ? I don't know, only time will tell ....

More pictures of my holiday can be seen here

The real works ....

2010-05-24T17:26:00.007+02:00

In just a couple of weeks I'm going to ride my Z Pro all the way up to the top of the Mont Ventoux in France -or at least I will TRY to ride all the way to the top. A friend of mine offered to share a little villa in a little town called le Barroux for one week, so we are staying pretty close to the famous mountain. Needless to say that these last weeks I spent on the Z Pro these last weeks, getting used to the riding position again after months of leaving it gather dust (yeah I know -I am deeply ashamed ....). I've bought a new set of butterfly bars to replace the regular bar on the Z Pro, but I did not find the right foam to go with it that is as thick and comfy as the one that's on my 700C. So it's back to the regular bar for now. It's okay as long as I do not ride more than 60 miles, after that my hands are really getting a bit sore. I might consider swapping bars, but can't really make up my mind. Not that I expect to be riding a lot of + 60 mile rides over there, but still .... Anyway, I still have a couple of weeks to make up my mind and to try to build up some strength (not that easy when you live in a country without mountains).

I did buy a new (and bigger) handlebar bag, so I can take a decent camera during my rides in the south of France with me. I'll also be taking an extra rear wheel, just in case. Lately I did not break any spokes in the rear wheel, but I will not take the risk once we'll be in the south of France, I want to keep riding once I'll be over there !

The new bag, bigger but not too big ....

Another CF holiday

2009-10-02T06:05:00.005+02:00

Yesterday, my wife and I just got back from spending anohter week in Kronenburg in Germany. This time, instead of taking the Z Pro with me, I took the 700X because I did not want my riding limited to road riding only. The day before we left home, I switched the regular handlebars of the 700X for the butterfly bars I tried on the Z Pro a while ago. To make sure I could keep riding, I put the regular handlebars in the car, just in case ....

We were very lucky with the weather again : although autumn had already started, we had mild late summer days. All of my riding was done with my new bike-sandals and short sleeved bike shirts, just to give you an idea. I did a total of almost 220 miles in 4 days, this was the first time I spent so many hours on a CF bike. More on that later.

Since I rode almost the complete Kylltal radweg earlier last week on my Z Pro, I did the other part between Lissendorf and Losheim ( I tried to find the source of the river Kyll, but couldn't find it). I was very glad that I had the 700X with me, for most part of this route is on gravel roads through the woods where it is impossible to ride a road bike. And a bit more challenging too since it's more uphill. On other trips, I rode the most part of the
Ahrtal Radweg and the Prümtall radweg. I really enjoyed these marked bicycle routes, for they take you to such beautiful places that you would miss if you stay on the main road. The 700X turned out to be the perfect bike to do so, since parts of the routes are on gravel and/or small dirt roads. This turned out to be no problem for the 700X, I even managed to leave another full suspended mountain biker in the dust on one of my trips (the fellow asked me to stop when I was waiting to cross the road to ask me all about my bike).

Somewhere near Alendorf

I learned a couple of things : the butterfly bars are staying on the 700X. I finally found out why they did not work earlier: I put them upside down on my Z Pro ! It's only when I put the bars on my 700X the day before we left that I payed attention to the prints on the handlebar, that I realized that I had them upside down on my Z Pro. On the 700X it provides plenty of hand positions, especially when you ride up and down all the time. The butterfly bars did not feel more comfortable (or less uncomfortable) than the straight bars, so I'm gonna leave them on the 700X for now.

The other thing I found out was that you can get a sore butt on a CF bike. Although I've ridden both my CF bikes for a couple of hours before (meaning 3 hours + riding), halfway during my ride on the 3rd day, I noticed that my butt began to feel uncomfortable. I always ride my CF bikes with spandex running shorts and never felt the need for padded bike shorts before, but this time I did. I can't quiet explain what caused it, but both my sitting bones did hurt after that 3rd day of riding. Is it the 2 bolts that keep the carbon pan in place that I'm starting to feel through the after a while ? Could be .... I'm considering to put a small piece of foam between the pans cover and the carbon pan to see whether this will eliminate the feel of the two bolts. And maybe try a bib short again. Only time will tell.

Another thing I learnt on my last rides is that front suspension is not a bad idea for a CF bike at all. I was convinced that since less weight is put on the handlebars of a CF bike compared to a regular bike, there is no need for suspension. Boy, was I wrong ! On several downhills I had to work very hard to keep the front of the 700X steady and keep the bike in line. In fact, I'm considering switching the carbon fork for a suspension fork (although I really like the carbon fork !). I'll have some homework to do now ;-)

Anyway, I really enjoyed my last bike holiday in Germany. It's not that far away from home (only a 2,5 hour car drive away from where I live), you have miles and miles of bike lanes and bike friendly roads to discover (this was probably the 13th time we spent around Kronenburg and I still managed to find new roads and trails) and, maybe most important of all : you are treated like an equal sharer of the road when riding in traffic (meaning that German drivers do not cut you off or put you in any kind of danger like they normally do elsewhere). You should really try to ride your bike in the Rheinland Pfalz region of Germany !

Panorama near Birgel

Riding the Kylltal-radweg

2009-09-23T07:24:00.018+02:00

Yesterday, 2 friends and I drove all the way to Germany to ride the Kylltal-radweg. This is a 115km long route which follows the river Kyll between Hallschlag and Trier. Since I don't have a compact recumbent and to be able to keep up with my friends who ride recumbents, I took the Z Pro. We loaded our bikes in my friends' van and drove to Lissendorf, where we started our ride.
The route is easy to follow, since it is signaled in both directions. The conditions were excellent : very nice weather for this time of year and very few bikers (this route is usually very crowded in July and August).
I had no problem keeping up with my friends, who did this route together a couple of years ago. When we had to go up, the Z Pro was easier to ride uphill and I always ended on top first. But my friends were always going down faster, keeping everything in balance ;-) Some of the climbs were pretty tough, but I managed to ride up all of them.

Having a picknick near Willsecker ...

The route is very bike-friendly : high quality bikelanes for the most part, only a few miles of gravel and only when you approach Trier, you have to ride between motorized traffic (the route enters Trier via the industrial zone). Needless to say we had a blast !
In Trier, we rode our bikes to the railway station. After checking the hour table, we bought tickets and waited for the train.

Checking the hour table at the railway station...

After 20 minutes the train arrived and we put ourselves and our bikes on board (you can take them by train for free !) and headed back to Lissenburg. The German trains have special wagons with a big bicycle logo on them where you can put your bikes. We were very suprised when at one of the stations, another biker stept on board and the railway controller summoned three passengers to sit elsewhere in order to park the bike inside. Amazing !!!

Riding back the easy way ....

A day at the races ....

2009-08-02T09:01:00.011+02:00

Although I do not race myself with any of my bikes, I do like to attend recumbent races once in a while. Yesterday there was a race in Peer and since the weather was nice, I decided to ride my Z Pro to the sports track. Since it is only 40 miles from where I live and the first race would start at 6 pm, I left home halfway the afternoon. My wife would be coming by car, bringing my camera and the bike rack. Although there was a mild head wind, I ended up in the charming centre of Peer around 5 pm, with plenty of time to make a stop at the local Leonidas to taste their icecream (which turned out to be excellent!). I arrived at the sports centre a little later and met some of my friends who were preparing their bikes to race.

Most of them already knew that I own 2 CF bikes but had never actually seen one before. So the Z Pro attracked some attention and those who rode it where suprised how well it handled. I couldn't resist riding trying the Z Pro on the track, but just when I was getting up to speed, it started to rain (and you know how I feel about riding in the rain). Ah well, better luck next time. Fortunately, it did not rain for long and the races could go on as planned. I took some pictures of the races, which you can find here

Jonathan in his Quest on the track ....

The tire experiment part II

2009-06-21T23:06:00.013+02:00

This morning I picked up my Z Pro at my bike shop (Harry, the shop owner being very busy and me having no time was the reason the bike stayed at the shop for such a long period). He took the Z Pro out of the back and proudly showed me his solution : a front brake calliper in combination with a adjusted pivot nut (hand filed oblique). According to Harry, it would be no use to hand file one of the calliper arms. It looked butt ugly, but I took the Z Pro home anyway.

Harry's solution : yuck !

Once I got home, I took everything off and attacked the old rear brake calliper with a hand file. It took me almost an hour to get rid of enough metal (had to file off a lot more than just 1mm) and when I put the brake back, the tire was still rubbing the center of the arms, at a point where you simply cannot remove anything without damaging the brakes. So, was Harry right after all ? No, he was not ! I took the adjusted pivot nut and placed it between the frame and the brake and voilà ! The oblique pivot nut lifts the brake arms just a little bit upward, enough to let the tire run free underneath.

This looks better !

Hardly but just enough space ....

Of course I had to take it for a spin after the modifications so I left for a 40 mile ride. I really was curious about the tires and it did not take long to feel the difference. The wider tires are way more comfortable ! Speed is the same, but comfortwise, it is a big improvement. They are staying on, that's for sure ! I only noticed that the rear brake has a little less power compared to before the switch, but I'm confident that I'm going to get that fixed to !

That's how I like it : beefy comfortable tires !

The tire experiment

2009-05-28T19:02:00.007+02:00

After reading a posting on the C.F. Forum about how comfortable riding on 28mm wide tires is compared to 23mm I ordered myself some wider tires from my local bike shop. Since I'm very satisfied with my Continental Grand Prix's, I ordered these in 28mm. I picked them up from my bike shop yesterday and swapped tires this afternoon.
There was absolutely no problem in the front : the front fork is wide enough to go with even wider tires. The back was another story .... Since 28mm tires are wider, they do not fit between the brake pads when fully inflated. That's no problem, just inflate the tires when the wheels are back in place. So far, so good. After inflating the tires properly, I put the bike back on it wheels and wanted to take it to the front of our house. It sure looked nice, those beefy tires on a road bike ( I do like beefy tires !) But the rear wheel did not move, it was blocked ! No, it wasn't the brake shoes, the rim was free. When I looked a bit closer, I noticed that the rear tire got stuck underneath the rear brake caliper, preventing it from moving at all ! Damn !!!

Plenty of space with the 23mm tire ...

but not so with the 28mm tire !

It is only a matter of maybe 1mm, but as you can see on the second picture, the tire really touches the inner rear brake caliper. I called my local bike shop and explained my problem. They told me that I could try the new Shimano 105 rear brake caliper, which is slightly different in shape and might just be different enough to have the wheel fit. Another solution was to try another brand of 28mm tire, or change them into 25mm tires. I'm gonna take my Z Pro to my bike shop to try out that new 105 brake caliper and let's hope that it will fit !!!

Weekend by the Sea

2009-05-12T18:29:00.018+02:00

Last Friday my wife and I left for Nieuwpoort, where a collegue of mine owns an appartment which is available for rent. Since I did not want to limit my bicycle riding to tarmac roads, I took the 700X with me this time.
As usual it was pretty windy near the beach, but that did not stop me from riding my bike. Since it was also my wife's birthday on Monday, I promised her not to leave her alone for more than 2,5 hours a day, which left both of us happy ;-)

The 700X turned out to be the perfect holiday bike, since you can ride it on pretty much every surface. There are several local bike routes on gravel going in all directions, so I always started with a head wind, fighting and struggling to keep my speed not too low and then turning around with a back wind, giving me speeds over 25 mph. Nice !

For the 3rd year in a row there's an art exhibit on the Belgian shore, called beaufort 03. Spread across the seaside cities, several pieces of art are exhibited on or nearby the beach. Now I don't consider myself an art-lover, but I don't mind seeing something nice now and then. I got myself a 03 Beaufort Bicycle Route flyer and went looking for some of the artistic constructions. Some of them really looked like crap to me, others were pretty nice. Anyway, it made it easier for me to decide where to ride my 700X to, since I planned everything in advance.

Some of them in plain wood ....

Others were pretty colorful ....

I even mangaged to ride my bike to France on Friday (Nieuwpoort is not that far from the French border). One thing I noticed immediately is that French car drivers are way more cautious then Belgian drivers ! Although there were no real bike lanes on the French roads, I never felt unsave. Vive la France !

Memorial near the church of Bray-les-Dunes

When returing from my bike ride on Saturday, I noticed that my headset had loosened. I do not carry large size wrenches with me, so I could only tighten the headset by hand. Since bike shops are closed on Sunday and Monday, there was no way to have the headset properly tightened before returning home. And I did not want to stay off the bike for another 2 days .... Luckily for me though, my local bike shop back home is open on Sunday from 10 'til 12 a.m. so I called them and explained my problem. They told me that I could keep riding my bike without a problem as long as I rode my bike on smooth surfaces and avoid riding over cobblestones etc. So thankfully I could keep riding my 700X for another 2 days without any problems. Tomorrow I'll ride my 700X to the bike shop to have the headset fixed.

New brake levers

2009-04-29T10:31:00.005+02:00

Although I still like the looks of the XT brake levers I originally put on my Z Pro, braking was never quite crisp. I could slow the bike down, but that was about it. Until now I never had to make an emergency stop during my rides, but still ..... So to have some more safety into my rides, I replaced them XT-levers with flat road bar levers. While surfing the internet I discovered that Shimano has the BL-R 550 specially designed for flat road bars and they do have them in black, so the choice was easily made !

Yesterday I rode the Z Pro to my bike shop (I do not have a compressor at home to remove the rubber grips) where I switched the brake levers -and I got called stupid by the bike shop owner for mixing V-brake levers with road calipers. When riding back home I immediately noticed the difference in brake power when I needed to stop. Now it is possible to lock up the rear wheel, something that could not be done with the XT-levers. And to be honest : I kinda like the simple looks of the new levers.

Simple but effective

At last .... alive again !

2009-04-16T02:33:00.004+02:00

I know, I know : I should be ashamed ! It's been almost a year since I last posted something on this blog .... And what's even worse : only today I took my Z Pro for a ride since almost a year too ! I can't explain why, but I did not ride my CF-bikes much last year. Most of my cycling has been done either with my Stratus XP or my velomobile. Don't know exactly why, but I just didn't feel like taking either the Z Pro or the 700X for a ride. And even then .... In the last three months, I did not even bother to ride the XP or my velomobile. Only used one of them for commuting and that was it. Could not bring myself to grab a bike and take it for a ride ... Of course, I did ride my old Beemer, but that's something completely different .... So anyway, today was THE day. It was a nice spring day with mild temperatures and since the forecast predicted a drop in temps and rain for tomorrow, I took the Z Pro out of its storage. Inflated the tires, checked the brakes and the chain and off I went. There was a mild breeze, so it was pretty tough to keep the speedometer above 19m/h but anyway, I really enjoyed myself ! Of all the bikes I own, the Z Pro is defenitely the most responsive one. This makes perfect sence, since it's the only bike that has a regular rear derailleur and cogs instead of an internal gear hub. And it's also the lightest, which is also nice to ride !

It took some time to get adjusted to the seat again, but that's only acceptable after not riding a CF seat for such a long period. So yes, I did feel my sitbones after I completed todays' 40 mile ride, but not that it hurt or felt uncomfortable in any way. And yes, I really did enjoy the ride and kept wondering why I didn't spent more time on the Z Pro before. Oh well ....

When I got home, I noticed that the rear tire needs to be replaced, for it has several worn spots as you can see in the picture below. Since it'll be raining all day tomorrow, I'll have plenty of time to replace the rear tire.

Time for replacement ....

Change of handlebar setup

2008-06-03T23:02:00.001+02:00

Lately there has been a couple of posts on the CF forum regarding the handlebar setup. Although I was pretty satisfied with the setup I had on my Z Pro, I noticed that for longer rides (meaning +60 mile rides) I was looking for alternate hand positions. I've read about and seen the add on whisker bar solution that Randy Schlitter put ons his handlebar, but I don't like the concept. When it comes to multiple hand positions, nothing beats an trekking or so called butterlfy handlebar. So I put one on my Z Pro. I switched my medium stem riser with the curved riser facing forward, but that was stretching it way too much. Turning the riser backwards was way too close, so off it went. I now use the butterfly handlebar in combination with the long stem riser and that seems to do the trick. The shifter and brake levers are positioned in the beginning of the handlebar, where they are supposed to be. When you ride with your hands near the shifters, the bike's very easy to control. When you're out of town and going for the long road, there's no need to keep your hands there and you've got plenty of options to put your hands. I even managed to rest my ellbows on the curves when riding into strong headwinds, which gives you a little aerodynamic benefit. I have not put many miles with this configuration yet, but if the weather'll be with me, I certainly will !

The new handlebar setup ...

Almost perfect angle for leaning your ellbows on ...

Helping out a fellow rider ....

2008-05-06T07:53:00.001+02:00

I had an early shift at work yesterday and since the weather was really nice, I took my Z Pro for a ride in the afternoon. There was a mild breeze, but blue skies all over and plenty of time (more or less anyway). I took a trip across the border with the Netherlands and really enjoyed the Z Pro: all the advantages of a regular road bike minus the discomfort of the saddle !
When I returned from my trip after 40 miles, I noticed a fellow biker who was walking his bike on the road close to home. I noticed that his rear tire was flat and asked him if I could help. Turned out he was Dutch and 10 miles from home without anything with him : no patches, no spare tire, no pump .... Since I always carry that stuff, I parked my bike and offered him my tire levers, my patches and my pump. As soon as I saw him trying to get his rear tire off the rim, I realized he'd never done that before. When I asked him, he admitted he had never done something like that before. Amazing .... Anyway, to make a long story short : I replaced his rear inner tube with my spare one, since his tube had multiple leaks. I let him do the pumping though, that was something he could do, right ;-) ? He thanked me for helping me out, told me his name and the place he lived and was on his way again. And I was home soon after that, feeling that I did my good deed for the day. Made me feel pretty good ....

War Memorial

2008-04-27T22:57:00.001+02:00

Spring finally arrived this weekend and since I was off from work today, I took my Z Pro for a spin this afternoon. First time I wore my shorts and my short sleeve bike shirt today, only a few white clouds in a blue sky and the sun. And a mild breeze, of course, which was pretty tough to ride against. I took off against the wind, as usual, and rode on the tow path near the canal until Dessel, where 2 main canals cross. Because the weather turned out to be so nice, a lot of bikers had the same idea. I crossed the border with the Netherlands to return via Postel. Now there's a bicycle path that runs straight through the forest over there near the border and halfway, there's a War Memorial. I've seen it a dozen of times, but never took the time to stop and see what's it all about. Until today. Turns out that in WW II, in the night of June 21-22 1944, a British airplane crashed over there. They put up the Memorial in September 2006 to remember the locals who risked their lives to rescue and hide the only survivor from the crash.

My ride was about 50 miles and average speed was almost 18 mph. If it wasn't for the wind, my average speed would've been higher, but that's only a lousy excuse, no ;-) ?

The War Memorial in Postel

Back on the road again ....

2008-04-23T15:47:00.001+02:00

Due to circumstances, I did not ride my Z Pro much these last months. In fact, since I returned from my short holiday in Germany last December, I did not ride it at all. Mostly because of the weather; winter was mild when it came to temperatures, but pretty wet. Only last week, the weather finally turned around and I took the Z Pro out of the garage. Only to find out that I should have cleaned the bike more appropriate ! There was a lot of rust everywhere : on the chain, most of the bolts, even the spokes, although they are black, show some sign of corrosion where they cross each other. Guess riding on the German roads when they were salted to prevent them from freezing, was not so good for my bike ! Anyway, I only have myself to blame for this negligence, so I tried to find some replacement stainless steel bolts. I went to almost every hardware store in the neighbourhood, only to find out that they were not available ! Gee .... Guess I'll have to look on the internet to find me some SS or aluminum replacement bolts. Why don't bikes come with SS or aluminum bolts when you buy them ??? Maybe that would make them too expensive, but still ...

My other CF bike, the 700X, is now exactly how I want it and is a blast to ride ! Shifting the Alfine hub is precise and very light. It is a bike you can ride anywhere, just as long as you keep cranking the pedals. Last week I took it to the local trail to test ride it and it went pretty well ! Only on tight corners, the length of the bike makes you realize that you're riding something different than a mountain bike. The other thing I'm still not used to when riding trails, is that you cannot clamp the saddle between your tights, like a regular bike. Still wasn't as fast as the others on their mountain bikes on the trail, but hey, give me a couple of more months and I'll keep up !

Not a pretty sight ....

New Cf bike : the 700X

2008-02-02T11:52:00.002+01:00

Today, I finally picked up my new 700X from my bike shop. Much later than planned, but I can hardly blame the bike shop for that. Reason is that Shimano could not deliver some of the products which according to them, should have been available already two years ago. Anyway, since I'm leaving for a short holiday starting tomorrow, I insisted that my bike should be ready to ride today, and it was. It's not 100% as I want it yet, but it comes close. Although 2 MARATHON CROSS tires were ordered from SCHWALBE, they only sent one. So the front tire is only temporary (I don't even know the brand). I ordered the ALFINE internal hub gear with the chain tensioner, but they only delivered the hub. So the chain is temporary tensioned by a 105 derailleur. Brake levers are DEORE LX instead of ALFINE, I wanted a hub dynamo in the front wheel, which I'm still waiting for .... But anyway, tomorrow after my night shift I'll ride my new bike to my holiday's destination (only about 60 miles from where I live) where I hope to testride it all week. To be continued !

ALMOST exactly as I want it ....

Short holiday in Germany

2007-12-21T18:41:00.001+01:00

Today one week ago my wife and I went to Kronenburg in Germany to spent a short holiday. Since my new 700X wasn't ready yet, I took my Z Pro with me. I'm quiet familiar with the region, I guess this was the 10th time we visited the area. So far all the bicycling I did over there was with my mountain bike, since there are miles and miles of trails to be discovered (and I know most of them by now). I was planning to take my mountain bike with me on this trip, so a couple of days before we left, I took my MB out of our garage and took it for a spin. It had exactly been 11 months since I last rode my MB so I just took it for a ride to see if everything was still okay. The bike was okay, but myself .... Oh boy, did I suffer during that ride !!!
My butt hurt, my hands and wrist were sore, my neck ached .... When I returned from my trip, I told my wife that no way I was going to ride that bike again !!! I put the MB back in the garage and that's were it's going to stay from now on ! Maybe some of you think I'm a baby, and maybe you're right, but I'd like to tell myself that I'm spoiled by riding recumbents and my Z Pro ;-) ! Anyway, when my 700X'll be ready, there will be plenty of time to ride dirt roads again !

Anyway, taking the Z Pro with me meant that I would only be riding on tarmac roads. No big deal eather, since most drivers are very polite towards bicyclists over there. During all my rides I never got cut off short or felt in any kind of danger when cars or trucks overhauled me. When arriving at the top of hills, they all stayed behind me and waited until the top before passing me leaving me plenty of room, something I can only wish for here in Belgium !!!

Just out of Duppach, going uphill again ....

After two weeks of rain, the weather was dry during our stay in Germany, but very cold ! I'm not a wuss when it comes to cold temperatures, but I could not stay longer that 3,5 hours on my bike. Temperatures never went over 20° F during daytime, with a mild, sometimes strong eastern wind, which always feels extra cold. On Saturday I managed to ride 45 miles but I was so cold afterwards, that I wasn't recovered on Sunday. When I rode again on Monday, I had less problems with the cold. I rode my Z Pro for a little over 180 miles during my stay and again enjoyed the CF concept in every ride : I never felt uncomfortable and the bike felt stable as a brick, even when going downhill at + 40mph. I even managed to ride the Z Pro on a gravel road, were the only worries I had was trying not to think of getting myself a flat tire. But the Z Pro handled just fine, no problems at all.

Riding the Z Pro on gravel never gave any problems (here somewhere between Stadkyll and Schönfeld )

New frame arrives ....

2007-12-04T20:15:00.002+01:00

It has been raining a lot lately, which means that I did not ride my Z Pro much. To be honest, the only riding these last weeks has been with my velomobile, which is used for commuting. Let's hope it'll start freezing soon ;-)
Last week I received an e-mail from Spincyclz to inform me that the 700X were ready to ship. So I ordered one immediately and yesterday, a small pick-up from Fedex delivered the frame. Is this fast service or what ?! Today, I took the frameset to my bike shop and discussed the hardware with Harry, the owner. I already decided on most of the parts, the only thing that's still in discussion is the kind of brakes. I know that I want disc brakes, but I prefer mechanical. Harry tried to convince me to use hydraulic brakes from Shimano, according to him they are the most reliable at this time and he did not receive any complaints about them so far. Since he could not tell me the exact prices for both types of brakes, but he will contact a couple of distributors tomorrow and let me know. We'll see tomorrow ....

New Crank Forward ....

2007-11-22T10:03:00.002+01:00

It has been rainy a lot lately, which means that I did not ride my Z Pro much. Only on a few occasions, the roads were dry enough to take a ride. I hope winter will finally kick in, so we'll have some really cold winter days ( I still prefer freezing temperatures over mild but humid days!). But anyway .... I just ordered the 700X frameset from Nanda Holz from spincyclz.com. I have been mailing him in the past and he offered me a fair price including shipping. The 700X will be built up by my local bike shop, which will be some kind of challenge for them. They've already know my Z Pro, but to actually build a CF bike up from the frame will be completely new for them. I've discusses the frame build up with them and agreed that the final decission on components will be made once the frame set arrives. Still have to figure out whether or not I want disc brakes or regular ones, hydraulic or mechanical, ....
The reason for ordering the 700X is exactly the same as why I decided to buy the Z Pro : to replace a bike I do not ride anymore. In this case it is my mountain bike. I used to ride a lot on trails, in forests etc. and I still love to do so, but lately I do not feel comfortable anymore on a regular bike. I have not touched my mountain bike since last year, and even then I took it on a short holiday, so .... The 700X will replace my mountain bike but will also be the bike I want to take with my on holidays. It'll the bike that can be ridden everywhere, and that is exactly what I'm planning to do ! Can hardly wait to get a ride on my new steed !!!

And another ride ....

2007-10-09T22:25:00.000+02:00

Although the weather forecast predicted rain today, this afternoon the sun broke through the grey clouds and brought some color to an all grey day. Since I was off from work, I took my Z Pro for another ride. It is a strange thing, but the more I ride this bike, the more I seem to like it ! I cannot explain why, but lately it is the bike I'd like to grab first whenever I feel like riding.
I still have my Stratus XP and my velomobile, but it's a total different ride on the Z Pro. Anyway, I enjoyed another 2-hour ride, crossing the border and riding most of the time in the Netherlands.

The fall colors are wonderful and just before I returned home, I noticed some small kind of mushrooms between the bicycle path and the forest. I took some time to take some pictures, before riding home. It's the small things that makes life beautiful sometimes !

Don't know what kind they are, but they looked cute !

Early autumn ride

2007-10-07T08:53:00.000+02:00

The last 5 weeks I had to take a course for work, which meant I was too busy to take a ride on my Z Pro. Luckily, last Friday was the last day and since I was off from work yesterday, I finally managed to take the Z Pro for a 2,5 hour ride. Weather conditions were almost excellent : clear blue skies with a breeze. Autumn has defenitely started, as could be seen by the beautiful colors of the trees and all the leaves on the ground. A lot of people were riding their bikes on the towpath near the canal, I'll bet it's gonna be more crowded today, because it's Sunday and weather conditions haven't changed. Too bad I have to go to work later this day ....

I finally found a small bag that I like ( more or less that is ) to attach to the Z Pro's handlebar. Most handlebar bags are too bulky for my liking, the one I found is originally a digital camera bag but it's still large enough to hold the essentials : a cell phone, a digital camera, tire levers, a spare inner tube and some patches ( I just realize right now that I forgot to include a multi tool, I'll put one in right after posting this ). I'm still not used to the position of it (behind the handlebar instead of in front of it), but since most CF-riders put it there, it's probably just a matter of time to get used to it.

After finishing my ride yesterday, my lower back told me that it's been a couple of weeks since I last rode my Z Pro. Not that I noticed some kind of pain, but my bakc told me that it wasn't used to the position anymore. Well, one more reason to ride my Z Pro some more !

And it's supposed to be weather proof too

New wheels

2007-09-08T10:18:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I picked up my new set of wheels. I wanted the wheels to be completely black(meaning black rims, black spokes and black hubs) because I think the black goes well with the yellow frame. It did not turn out that way, since the Shimano 105 hubs are no longer available in black. Rims are PRO R50 Classics and the hubs are Shimano 105. But the wheels do look nice, 36 spokes both in front and back and I'm pretty sure that they'll be much stronger than those crappy Shimano's WH-R500 and WH-R535 wheels I had before.

On my last few rides, I swapped the short stem riser for the medium riser. I wanted to see how much it influences the speed, since your upper body should be more erect with the medium riser. So far, it does not make much of a difference, I can ride the same speeds without putting in more effort. I'm gonna leave the medium riser for a while to see how things will work out ....

I'm still looking for a small (and good looking, if possible) handle bar bag. So far, all my rides have been without taking any tire levers, pump or spare inner tubes with me. I've probably been lucky so far that I never had any problems so far, but just in case, I want to have something to put it in. Just haven't found one that I like so far .....

Ready again to put in some miles !

Short holiday

2007-08-31T22:42:00.000+02:00

I just got back from a short week's holiday. Together with my wife I spent 5 days in Bareveld, a small town in the north of the Netherlands. Since it was only a short holiday and I had to take a bike with the car, the only bike that came into view was the Z Pro. Since I knew that Wijnandt, who owns a Rans' Cruz, lives less than 6 miles from this place, I sent him an e-mail letting him know I'd be there this week so we could meet. We met on Tuesday morning and it was very awkward to know that 2 out of the 4 CF bikes here in Europe were at one place at that time ! We switched bikes so I could try Wijnandt's Cruz while he tried my Z Pro. While both bikes are built up for completely different purposes, it was nice to ride another CF bike !
Wijnandt was so kind to invite me to his home, where he showed me his other bikes : he also owns a WAW velomobile, a Grasshopper from HP Velotechnik and a rowing bike .

Lots of nice sceneries near the canals (here in Oude Pekela)

During my first ride on Monday night, another spoke from my rear wheel broke (surprise, surprise !). Luckily, Wijnandt took me to a bike shop in his home town who replaced the spoke so I could keep riding my Z Pro. Until Tuesday afternoon that was, when another spoke broke ! I was so pissed that during my short holiday I broke 2 spokes in 2 days that I called my bike shop back home and ordered a very strong hand built wheel set. Funny thing though is that I kept riding with a broken spoke for the rest of the week without any significant problem. I could not use my back brake because I had to unlock it to keep my rear wheel running, but luckily the front brake worked okay.

On Thursday I rode my Z Pro to Memorial Center Camp Westerbork , which was only 26 miles from the place we stayed. This is a place were there used to be a camp during WWII. From 1942 to 1945 no less than 107.000 Jews stayed in this place waiting to be deported to Germany. Only 5.000 of them survived. We took a guided tour around the camp. It was really impressive, to say the least ....

Just a small part of the 102.000 rememberance stones representing the one who died ....

The Bornem Bike Deathride

2007-08-06T09:52:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I took part to the Bornem Bike Death Ride, an annual bike event organised in the provence Vlaams-Brabant. The reason for this name is that the 62,5 m ride has a hilly course (we have no mountains in my country), which makes it ideal to test your level of fitness. Although there's also a shorter more family friendly 22 m ride, most part of the riders show up for the 62,5 m ride on road bikes. In total, some 6.304 riders showed up this year.

Since it was the first time I participated and there was some kind of climbing involved, I decided to take my Z Pro to complete this ride.

I showed up at the registration line with my yellow Z Pro and wearing my SPD-sandals, which caused a lot of comments from the roadies. I think most of them considered me some kind of geek, seeing me on a bike they've never seen before and wearing sandals !

As soon as I started however, I passed everyone of them. I could easily maintain average speeds of +20 mph on the flats and especially on the climbs it was very easy to pass other riders. I only got passed once by 3 riders, but I overtook them on the first uphill. No one passed me after that !

At the first stop, several riders walked up to me to ask questions about the Z Pro like where I got it, did I make it myself (yeah, right !), does it ride easily, etc. Of course I answered all their questions patiently, referred to the Rans and CF website and even let some riders sit on my bike. I got the same questions at every stop and mostly the sarcasm they had at the start had turned into some kind of admiration (for the bike, that is ;-)

I finished the ride in 3h20" with an average speed of just above 19 mph, which is not bad at all, considering that I live in a very flat area.

The next time I'll take part of such an event with my Z Pro, I might take some small pieces of paper with the Rans and the CF website for further information !

The medal I got after finishing the ride

2007-07-09T07:59:00.001+02:00

I've ridden my Z Pro a little over 1500 miles now and still like it very much. The only thing that still bothers me is the breaking of spokes in my rear wheel. I lost count of the numbers so far, but it's getting to a point that I'm considering getting myself a new pair of wheels (that would be my third !). I'm certainly not overweight, I'm well within the Z Pro's weight limit, but still ....
Although my bicycle repair shop told me it's the wheels and not the bike that is causing all these breaking of spokes, I still have my doubts. According to them, all wheel sets that look fast and have a small number of spokes, are having the same problem. Gee, if so, why are there so many nice looking wheelsets being made ?
Yesterday I was riding my Z Pro and after 15' I heard that dreadful "ping" sound again coming from the back. And yup, another spoke gone. While I was halfway between home and my bicycle shop I decided to ride to the bike shop since I brought in my other rear wheel for a spoke replacement earlier this week. Unfortunately, they didn't fix it yet since they ran out of stock on the straight spokes for that model. But they replaced the broken spoke of my Shimano WH-R550 rear wheel in a couple of minutes, so I could continue riding. Guess I'll have to look for some stronger wheels, let's get surfing the internet ....

First metric century

2007-07-02T18:32:00.002+02:00

Did not ride my Z Pro much during the last week, mostly because of the weather. It did rain a lot and since I do not wanna ride my Z Pro in the rain .... right !
Last Saturday morning, just before finishing my night shift at work, I read in the newspaper that the WILLY IN'T VEN CLASSIC took place that day. This is an event that is organised every year with all kinds of bicycle rides, from short family-kiddy rides to longer rides for die-hard roadies, named after Willy In't Ven, a roadie who was pretty famous in Belgium in the '70's. While I was supposed to go to sleep after I got home, I just rode home with my velomobile, had a snack and somehting to drink, filled up 2 waterbottles, changed my velomobile for my Z PRo and headed towards Oud-Turnhout, the place where the rides started. I checked and payed the entrance fee and off I went. There was no rain for the time being, but it was pretty windy, and because I did not get any sleep, I decided to ride the 53 mile tour. The only thing you had to do was follow small road signs that were painted on the bicycle paths and roads and pay attention to traffic. There were supposed to be 2 stops where you could grab something to eat and/or to drink, but I guess I missed one for I only encountered one. Most riders on the tour I chose rode regular road bikes and were riding together in small groups. Although I was riding all by myself, only 9 riders passed by me (I tried to follow the first small group of three that overtook me half an hour after I started, but they were just a little too fast for me).
I remember that after riding the Z Pro a little over 2 hours, I was thinking that no way I would be doing the same thing on a regular road bike, especially not after a night shift ! Most other riders noticed that I rode a different bike, but no one made any remarks about it towards me. Maybe they were even sleepier than myself ;-)
When I got home, I had finished riding almost 66 miles. Only then I realized that I had just finished my first metric century on my Z Pro. Average speed was around 18,5mph, which I think was not bad at all, concidering the lack of sleep and the windy conditions. And surprise, surprise .... a couple of miles from home, another spoke from my rear wheel broke ! Luckily for me I managed to ride my bike home. Swapped wheels again when I got there, took a shower and stayed on the couch for the rest of the day. I did feel my lower back a bit, not that it hurted, but it made me aware that I hadn't ridden my CF bike much lately. Needless to say I slept like a rose Saturday night !

Handlebar woes

2007-05-18T07:10:00.002+02:00

A couple of weeks ago I ordered the deep V-bars from Rans to try out something new. I installed it with the short riser and took a couple of rides with it. I liked the position but found there's not enough room on the handlebar : I could hardly set up my shifters, brakes and grips on the straight parts of the handlebar. There was no more room for my bell and the bike computer. Also, putting bar ends on the V-bars simply looked ridiculous so the bar had to go.
I went back to the medium riser with a MB downhill bar. It's almost the same height as the V-bar set up but gives me plenty of room on the bar itself.
I have ridden a little over 1300 miles so far and still like the bike very much. I now have 2 wheelsets for my Z Pro, both from Shimano : the
WH-R550 in black and an older set (can't seem to find the number anymore, it has less spokes but really looks nice). When it comes to looks, I do prefer the older set of wheels, they really make the bike an eye catcher. Only issue with these wheels is that every couple of 100 miles, I break one spoke, mostly in the rear wheel. With these kind of wheels, when a spoke breakes, you can't ride anymore because the wheel's too out of true to continue riding. In order to keep riding while the wheel is back at the bike shop, I now have another set. Can't tell much difference in riding though, I'm not such a bike geek ;-)

The Z Pro with my favorite wheel set

Bottle cage holder part II

2007-04-28T06:53:00.001+02:00

Riding with the bottle cage holder installed on the top tube did not work for me, because it touches the inside of my legs. So I put the cage holder to the seat post. Since the holder has two rubber straps, the size of the seatpost is no problem. It is only possible to use regular size waterbottles, which do not touch my tail light, a larger bottle would. At least I can take an extra bottle on my rides now (I always drink too little anyway).

Bottle cage holder in a more traditional place

I also replaced my regular bar ends with so called anatomic bar ends and really like them. They are less fatigueing and their position allows my back to stretch a little less. Also the discomfort of my neck, which occurs only when I look back over my right shoulder, is a little less this way. Still haven't found the perfect cockpit, but I'm getting there ;-) !

The handlebar set-up as it is right now ....

Yesterday afternoon I took another ride with my collegues. We were only six this time and just like last week, I was riding in front most of the time. I'm still getting a lot of comments on my bike, but also a lot more questions about it.
We did a total of 50 miles with an average of 19mph, which was not bad at all, considering there was a mild breeze. Most of my collegues are really surprised that I can ride my "weird bike" at the same speed as they do on their regular road bikes. And I do have to admit : it is nice to hear that you have to slow down, because some are having trouble keeping up the pace. Last week I got the same request, so I guess I'm getting there ....

Adding a bottle cage holder

2007-04-19T19:32:00.001+02:00

Since the weather is getting better every week now (and since I'm not drinking enough anyway) I decided to add another bottle cage holder to my Z Pro. I do not like riding with a backpack on my back, so I found a rubber cage holder which easily straps to any kind of frame, no matter the size of the tubes. Only problem with the Z Pro is the finding the right place. Since the frame has some weird angles, there are not so many options. Forget the inside of the seat tube, there's no room to get a bottle in and out. The outside is possible, but cannot be reached while riding. So that leaves the top tube. I tried to put it on top of the tube, but than it is too wide for the inside of my legs. Only the inside of the tube is possible for me.

This is the position I'm going to test on my next rides

This position is possible but not practical at all

Changing the cockpit ....

2007-04-11T09:04:00.001+02:00

A couple of weeks ago, I replaced the original handlebar with a straight one. The position of my hands on the bar ends is much better now and since the bar is straight, I have to reach more forward. It only took a few rides to get used to the new position and my speed is getting up to a point where I was on my regular road bike. And at the end of last week, I finally managed to get an average speed of 31 km/h after riding my Z Pro for 1,5 hour (only mild winds that day, but still .... ), I'm getting there !
Last weekend, I changed the medium handlebar riser with the curved riser. This way, the handlebar is positioned both up and forward a little. I rode my bike only 3 times so far in this set-up, but I like it so far. The curved riser allows me to ride the bike standing up, which I couldn't do in the past. It's still a strange feeling, riding this bike standing on the pedals, I guess it's gonna take quiet a few miles before I'll feel comfortable doing so .... The day before yesterday, I did a 50 mile ride with a friend of mine, who rides a regular road bike. It was pretty windy that day and since he's still recovering from a hernia and is building up, I took the lead with my Z Pro all the time. After 40 minutes he asked me to slow down, because I was riding too fast. Felt good though ;-) !
Almost every Friday, my collegues ( a group of die-hard roadies) ride together in the afternoon. I haven't participated with my Z Pro yet, since my speed wasn't up to my likings (meaning : tooooo slow). But next Friday, I think I'll join them again. There'll be plenty of commentaries on my CF bike, but at least I won't be the slowest of the pack !

Trying out the short stem riser

2007-02-22T22:04:00.001+01:00

I received the short stem about 2 weeks ago and I immediately swapped the medium one with the new short one. As you can see on the pictures, it does make a difference ! While the cables certainly need adjusment, they never caused any problems. Since my wife had a week off from school, we spent some days on the seaside, so I took the Z Pro with me to try out this new combination.

the medium stem riser

the short stem riser

The lower position of the handlebars feels more natural to me. It's still not as aerodynamic as I would like it to be, but it's a start. I managed to do 3 rides with a total of 150 miles in the windy flat lands and I never got uncomfortable. However, I did found out that I'll never be as fast on a CF bike than I used to be on my regular road bike, mostly because of the position of the upper body. As soon as you have to ride against the wind, the body position of the CF bike slows you down, period. You can bend your upper body a bit forward, but it will not help much. To be honest, I tried all kinds of "aerodynamic" positions, only to find out that most of them create some discomfort and/or soreness in different body parts.
Personally, I do not think that anyone on a CF bike can be as fast as someone on a road bike, unless you ride in a pack. Does this bother me ? Not really, I've never been and never will be a speed freak and I prefer comfort over speed anytime.So when it comes to the Z Pro, I'm very happy to be able to ride this bike for over 3 hours and still not feel uncomfortable or sore afterwards !

Another thing I found out this week is that it is impossible for me to ride the bike standing up. Due to the shorter stem, my knees hit the handlebar when standing up. I don't know whether it really is necessary or not, but I can think of some conditions when you wanna ride your bike standing up. In order to do so, I need to try out something different, maybe go back to the medium riser or the curved riser and change the handlebar.

Miles and miles of open roads -and a lot of wind !

Riding time ....

2007-02-06T12:48:00.001+01:00

Due to the bad weather these last weeks, I did not ride my Z Pro much lately. Not that I did not want to, but it rained a lot and the few days that it did not, the roads stayed wet with a lot of debris. I only managed to take a ride or three, that's all :-(
Last Sunday, I took my bike to a friend of mine, who rides a regular road bike and got a hernia from riding it. I told him about my "wonderbike" so I passed by his place to show it to him. He only took a short ride on it, but couldn't feel comfy because he wasn't used to it. Anyway, while riding to his place and back, I realized that I was sitting way too low. I checked the seat post, but could not find any signs that it had slipped. I noticed that it was extended 'till the 3" mark (it is marked by inches, right ?), but that still did not mean anything because I never payed any attention to it before. Anyway, I extended the seat tube a little bit, rode a few miles, extended it some more, rode another few miles, etc. The seat tube is now stuck at the 7" mark, where my riding position feels comfortable. The only change I feel now is that I have to adjust the seat pan angle, for I tend to get a kind of recumbent butt after more than an hour on the saddle.
I still do not feel aerodynamic enough with the medium handle bar riser, so I ordered the short 3" riser to try a more bent forward position. Might not work out as I hope for, just as it did with the 7" curved riser, but I'm willing to try it out anyway. To be continued ....

Swapping the riser

2007-01-05T20:50:00.001+01:00

I received the curved riser I ordered yesterday and I put it on my bike this morning. Not only did the curved riser put the handle bars more forward, it also raised it a couple of inches (the curved riser is 2" taller than the 5" one that came with the frame set. When sitting on the bike, the only difference I noticed was this new height.
When taking the bike for a ride, I immeditely noticed that my upper body was more upright. It was pretty windy today and riding against the wind was harder than usual. Certainly not much of an improvent when it comes to aerodynamics. It just did not feel right, so I'm gonna put the straight riser back on tomorrow. I'm considering ordering the 3" riser, which would lower the handle bar, forcing the upper body to move down a bit, that should be a more aerodynamic position. Don't know if that'll be comfortable though, I guess I have to find out by trying ....

the original riser

the curved riser

Nightriding

2006-12-01T12:06:00.001+01:00

In contrary to my previous road bike, I do feel comfortable riding my Z Pro at night. However, visability is an important issue when riding in the dark. I've always been a fan of bright blinking tail lights. I've been using the CATEYE TL-LD600 for years now. Since the seat post of CF bikes is bigger than conventional ones, we had to think of something different to mount this tail light to the Z Pro. My friend came up with a very simple idea : he drilled a small hole just underneath the seat pan to attach the tail light holder :

After that, it's as easy as on a conventional seat post to put the tail light in its holder (or take it out, if necessary). The light is positioned just underneath the seat and very visable !

In front, I use 2 5-LED head lights from PRO. They both got a steady and a flashing mode and provide plenty of light :

All of my lights run on rechargeable batteries, which is the right way to run them, if you care about the envirement ;-).

First ride !

2006-11-27T07:24:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I finally made my first ride on the Z Pro. After almost 2 weeks of constant rain, skies were finally blue and even the sun was up, so in the late afternoon I took off for a ride.
I was comfortable on the bike from the very beginning : there was no adjusting time, at least not for me. Everything felt natural. The Z Pro felt as responsive as my Giant TCR, total weight of the bike should be around the same too, which is a very good thing. Personally I think the Z Pro is even a little more responsive than a regular racing bike, giving you more confidence when manouvering.One thing I noticed immediately when taking turns is that the Z Pro is as stable as a brick. Due to the longer wheel base, you can take sharp turns easily without any trouble. It sure is a blast to take turns at high speed on this bike !
The seat felt a little awkward in the beginning, but only took a couple of minutes to get used to. The nose of the seat points a little down and when you sit on the bike without riding it, it makes you slide off. This totally disappears when you start to pedal though, there's absolutely no sliding off forward. Although I did feel the edges of the seat pan with my upper legs, it never became an issue during my ride. The carbon is a little flexible, which is a big plus. Although I probably still need to find my sweet spot when it comes to adjusting the seat, I never had the urge to stop and change the angle of the seat during my ride. Everything felt just right and pretty comfortable. My bum did feel warm after a while, but not up to a point where it became a nuisance. It might have been caused by some friction but like I said : I just noticed it, nothing more. The seat is way more comfortable than any saddle I ever sat on, that's for sure !!!
What did trouble me though were the cracking sounds coming from the carbon seat. I never rode anything carbon before, so I don't know whether it's normal or not to produce some sound. When riding throuhg potholes or on rough spots, the seat sometimes produced loud cracking sounds. At one point during my ride, there was such a loud crack I was sure something was broken. So I stopped and checked the seat pan, but everything was stil okay. I don't know what causes these noises, since I'm well between the weight limitations for the bike, I don't think it's me. Sure would like to find out what causes the seat to be so noisy, 'cause it's a little bit irritating and does not make me feel very comfortable.
When it comes to the cockpit, only one thing was missing : bar ends. While the handle bars are pretty comfortable and natural, I missed the variety of putting my hands someplace else. I'm going to put the carbon handle bars from the Giant TCR on my Z Pro. This will alow me to vary my hand positions and look for an even more comfortable ride.
Speed. Hmm, can't say much about it yet. When I started to ride, I just woke up from a recovery sleep after a night shift at work. I know that I'm not that fast after I had a night shift and I don't really mind. I tried to maintain a speed of around 18 - 19 m/h on the Z Pro, which was a hard thing to do sometimes, especially since the wind was pretty strong yesterday. I expected that I'd be slower on the Z Pro than on my regular racing bike but now I think that in time, I'll be as fast on it. The Z Pro sure felt more responsive than my Giant TCR, making manouvering the bike very easy, even with the longer wheelbase. Even after only one ride, one thing is sure : I will not go back to a regular racing bike !!! The CF concept does work, thank God for Randy Schlitter ! He just developed another winning bike !

First pictures

2006-11-24T17:26:00.000+01:00

Finally picked up my Z Pro at my friend's place yesterday, but unfortunately, no weather conditions yet to take it for a spin. This afternoon, it stopped raining for an hour, so I took the bike outside to take some pictures. Did send some of the pictures to Alan's recumbentblog as an entry for his Recumbent Gallery.
Can't tell much about it yet, although it does not seem to weigh much more than my previous Giant TCR. I did sit on it once and felt like the nose of the seat pointed down too much, like I was likely to slide off. Gonna read more on the
CF forum to get the seat height and angle ride before I start to ride it. According to the weather forecast, Sunday should be a great day for riding a bike, can hardly wait until then !

my new and shiny Zenetik Pro

the cockpit

Waiting for my first ride

2006-11-13T10:02:00.000+01:00

I received a call from my friend last Saturday, saying that the bike was ready to be picked up. Unfortunately, it has been raining since last weekend, so I did not pick it up yet. Don't wanna ruin the bike by riding it in the rain -I'm a wussy, I know ;-) ! The weather should improve in the next days, so I'll pick it up as soon as possible.
He did take it for a short ride around the block and told me that it was not "his kind of bike", but he's a hardcore mountain biker. He also told me that the front wheel touches your feet while pedalling, so you have to be careful. Can't remember reading about this on the CF forum, but I might have missed that. Anyway, the next post on this blog will defenitely be about my first ride. To be continued !

My frame set

2006-11-04T12:39:00.000+01:00

The frame set I ordered, arrived yesterday. Felt like a little kid at Christmastime again when I unpacked the box. To my big surprise, the frame set was yellow ! I was convinced that the Z Pro only came in silver, so I did not mention any color when I ordered my frameset. Even when I received the confirmation mail of my order, there was no question about any color, so it felt a bit awkward to find a yellow metallic frame in the box. Thank God it's not that ugly yellow like the Z Tour (sorry, don't wanna offend any Z Tour owners out there !), it has little sparkles all over, which makes it kinda funny looking. If I'd live in the USA I would swap the frame set for the silver one, but I already had to pay FEDEX 273 $ when they delivered the box, so it's out of the question to send the frame back.
The biggest surprise however was that the frame set was incomplete : the riser stem was missing ! I checked all the wrapped papers and plastic inside the box at least three times, but no riser stem. and you'll need one to ride a CF bike, so guess I'll have to call RANS next monday and ask them to ship me the missing riser.

little sparkles underneath

Why ?

2006-11-04T11:57:00.000+01:00

Why would anyone order a different kind of bike without even trying it ? Well, just as in 1999, there was no possibility to try one out when I ordered my Stratus frame set back then. I did a lot (and a mean a lot !) of reading about that wonderful bike before I ordered it, and I haven't regretted it for a day ! It was (and still is) my most favorite touring bike. The same thing here with the CF concept : there are simply no CF bikes available here in Europe, so before ordering one, I did a lot of reading about it: mostly on the internet and some in publications (very limited, I know). But the main reason for going for it anyway was a ride on my road bike a couple of weeks ago : after riding almost for 2 hours, feeling uncomfortable almost all the time and having stared only right in front of the front wheel, I decided that that was my last ride on the road bike. Period. So I ordered myself a CF frame set. Why the Zenetik Pro ? Very simple : since the Z Pro is the only bike that accepts 700C wheels, I can swap the components from my road bike to the Z Pro.
What I'm expecting from the Zenetik Pro ? Well, most of all : more comfort and more fun. I'm not worried about the comfort part : anything will be better than a regular saddle ! So, I might be little slower (I'll propably be anyway, but I don't care) and it'll take some time to get adjusted to the new riding position, but hey : that sounds like some kind of challenge to me ! Why the heck not ???
I'll keep things posted on this blog. Feel free to comment anytime.