Sunday, August 2, 2009

cruzbike malfunction, idea for another item in the kit

Disaster strikes!

I had put a coupla hours on the Cruzbike.

I was on the other side of town.
I was going uphill.
There was a fair bit of torque on the gears.
I tried switching down the gear, to increase my cadence.
Grind!!!
Somehow, the whole chain derailleur affair ended up in this jammed bunch.
No more pedal power.
Since I could not recall the initial layout of the parts, I could not begin to guess how to fix it.
I'll try to find some earlier pics for the details.

I wonder if these bikes are prone to this, or if my rebuild was not laid out properly.
There had been a bit of grinding on those gear changes earlier in the ride.

Product idea: A centrally located kickstand makes the most sense for a Cruzbike.
Some way to lock the front wheel straight would be nice too.
Anyway, the kit leaves an ugly empty bottom bracket on the original bike frame.
...
This is a PERFECT place to put the kickstand!
I'll be using a couple big washers, some smaller ones, and a fat bolt that spans the width.
I'll use these to attach a standard kickstand.

Once again, if Cruzbike would stop throwing all parts for all kits together, the savings could be applied to the nonstandard front steering tube *thingie* I needed to order aftermarket.
Plus the above suggested layout for the kickstand in the bottom bracket could be made much more slick in the kit.
I don't think this would cost more!
I had more redundant (and misleading/confusing) parts from the kit I received...

I'd really like to see an adaptor for the kit that allows the 'Superman' steering from their other bike.

I solicit feedback from other Cruzbike owners.

1 comment:

JIM PARKER, MD said...

Hi Dino,

There is already an active forum for cruzbike kit builders at cruzbike.com. If you post your questions about your kit project there, hundreds of talented people who have successfully built Cruzbikes may be able to assist you.