C y c l i s t R e c u m b e n t The RANS Fusion - Steve Briggs

website. I recommend it. Thanks again,Randy, for the tour.John RileyCUSTOM BACCHETTA AEROI recently purchased a Bacchetta Aerocustomized by Zach Kaplan Cycles (M5 seat,titanium rotor cranks, Shimano 600 brake inrear, and a bit of altered ... extended... gearing...with Shimano bar end shifters). Here ismy opinion of this bike so far:Positive: Exceptionally comfortable seatfor long rides (100+ miles). Noticeably betterthan that of the already legendary comfortableRANS and Gold Rush seats. Phenomenalhill-climbing performance. I was 50% to100% faster climbing hills EVEN though inthis test I was more out of shape than I wasmost of the time riding my Gold Rush, dueprobably to the lighter weight of the bike,and perhaps to the effect of the Rotor crank.And all this despite a more open pedal anglethan on the Gold Rush, which in theory mighthave made climbing more difficult for me.Very aerodynamic, though not as much so asa faired and body-socked Gold Rush or V2.I and many of my riding friends find thebike to be truly elegant in appearance. Not“geeky”, the way some of the LWB bikeswith fairings and body stockings appear tomany upright riders. The bike fits in well ina crowd of upright cyclists. The bike drewMANY compliments on how beautiful andelegant the bike appeared.Excellent stability at very low speeds,compared to the instability of a long wheelbase(LWB) bike (Gold Rush) at under 3.5mph. In this respect, the Aero handles morelike an upright bike, stable down towards aslow as 2.5 mph or less. Significantly easier totransport than a faired LWB bike.Negative: I would have liked the optionto use discs or even V-brakes. The side-pullbrakes provided dramatically weaker stoppingpower, when compared with the GoldRush with V-brakes that I am accustomedto riding. Iʼm in the process of having ZachKaplan install a Giro front fork and buildup a new front wheel for me, and add a discbrake to the front (using Avid mechanicaldisk brakes, which can use the same leversI already have). Another approach mightinvolve using V-brakes. This might result inlower overall weight. I just decided to go allout with a disc brake, for more reliable andsafe stopping in rain or when brakes need beapplied repeatedly during a descent.In theory, better side-pull brakes might improvebraking. I hear there is a set availableat the $400 price level, but since they require571 mm wheels, they will not work with the559mm wheels I am using. Note that theBacchetta poses some problems for upgradingits side-pull brakes because its front brakehas to be made in a mirror image (pull onother side) from most side-pull brakes. OneCAN mount the brake in back of the fork, notin front, but this poses other problems.The ride is slightly stiffer than on my GoldRush, but not unpleasantly so, even for a100-mile ride. This bike does not quite havethat “rock of Gibraltar” solid, steady feel atvery high (45 to 55 mph) speeds that I getwith a Gold Rush with fatter tires. Thereʼsreally nothing quite like a Gold Rush (or similarLWB bike) for feeling really, really stablegoing down a hill at 55 mph. But then, doingthat is a bit dangerous, it doesnʼt happen thatoften, and the Aero IS quite competent-feelingat moderately high (30 to 45 mph) speeds.The Gold Rush at high speed tends to WANT,by virtue of its design, to track straight aheadin a very stable fashion, whereas the Aerois designed for more precise handling, andrequires some (not too much) steering inputin those situations.Itʼs noticeably more awkward to start upthis bike after stopping in traffic comparedto with my Gold Rush. I would think this isa problem with all short wheelbase (SWB)bikes, especially those, like the Aero, thathave relatively high bottom brackets.Some may not be able to ride the Aero becauseof SWB numb-foot, a situation whereoneʼs feet get numb or even pained afterriding for 15, 30 or 50 miles (and/or upondoing higher power pedaling, as in climbingor racing). I was fortunate in that this did notseem to afflict me, or affected me only brieflyduring maximum climbing efforts.Overall, this is truly an OUTSTANDINGbike. I was surprised by how rapidly I fell inlove with it, given that Iʼd been a contentedrider of a Gold Rush for the last six or soyears, and had little experience on a shortwheelbase design. This seems likely tobecome my primary recreational road ridingbike in this period. I noticed that while lastyear there were just a few Bacchetta SWBson the Seattle to Portland ride (8,000 riders,50 to 150 recumbents) and very many EasyRacer LWBs, this year there were as many ormore Bacchettas as there were Easy Racers.As with ANY recumbent design, itʼs notperfect, and can be improved by some degreeof customization.Martin H. Goodman, MDHIGHRACER TOURHereʼs a data point you might be interestedin with regard to the cross-countrycapabilities of a highracer. I just finished aone-way, unsupported tour from Kalamazooto St. Louis on my Volae Club. The 470-miletrip took 3.5 days over a three-day holidayweekend. A good friend came with me forthe first two days, riding his Ryan Vanguard,but I finished solo. We were lightly loadedfor sure, just carrying some food, water, andclothing in addition to the usual tools, spares Subscribe toRecumbentCyclist NewsREAD ALL ABOUT IT! • Road Tests• News & Rumors• Critical Reviews• Adventure Stories• Technical Articles• Touring, Commuting, Sport RidingRCN is published SIX times per year__ $6 Single Copy via First Class Mail__ $30 One Year USA Sub (3rd class)__ $40 One year USA First Class Sub.__ $56 Two Year USA Sub (3rd class)__ $40 Canadian Airmail__ $55 International AirmailName: ____________________________Address:___________________________City:______________________________State:_______ Zip+4_________________Email/Tel.:_________________________Mail to: RCN, PO Box 2048 PortTownsend, WA 98368For faster service visit our website andorder via PayPal, www.recumbentcyclistnews.comSeptember/October 2005 25