While I haven’t been on it in years, I decide to dust off the old Powerwing. I might start riding it again.
Rocket beams (not the classic beams) have a delamination problem between the polyurethane and aluminum sleeve.
Keeping the beam angle low seems to prevent delamination.
My carbon fiber seatpost was designed with a 14cm height above the beam, thus allowing a low beam angle, and preventing delamination.
A Cervelo saddle clamp was used, so the maximum width of the airfoil is the same as the top portion of a Cervelo seatpost.
The airfoil is wider toward the beam to wrap around it, but the seatpost keeps the airfoil shape until just above the beam.
The screws that create drag below the beam on a stock seatpost were moved inside the airfoil above the beam.
The slot closes when the post is tightend around the beam.
Mine,
Since this picture was taken I have replaced the bars with Vision bars:
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Your fit and setup look good. Maybe Chicanery will post pictures of his old Softride setup, or you can ask him to post pictures about how he routed his cables internally so you can get those knobs off the sides.
Hi Kathy,
Does that bike have a 650cc wheel-size? If so, I’d be interested as well. Looking for a bike for my daughter. She’s 5’2’-5’3"ish.
Thanks!
For those of you who are still riding Softrides, do any of you have a problem with “beam creak” The usual explanation for this phenomenon is that I’m not making perfect circles with my feet, and thus am rocking the beam, but this problem seems intermittent and when it is happening, even my best efforts to control my foot trajectory result in only a slight reduction in the problem. On other days, no noise at all, uphill, on the flats, or downhill. I am wondering if my beam or the bolts have a problem. Any ideas?
Full disclosure, I’m not a triathlete, just a 64 year old guy who likes cool technology and relief for lower back pain from many years of recreational running.
I’ve posted this picture before, but once again:
BTW, in anybody wants to make fun of the rotten barn in the background, I should tell you that I’ve torn it down and built a much better one since this picture was taken.
Beautiful - you may however want to check out some of the wind tunnel data when using the deep forks with the H3.
Great thought! Can you point to any of the testing? The theories are out there, and it would be great to see data. John Cobb and I discussed his testing of his Time Bandit fork with an H3 wheel. At the time, two years ago now, John said the Time Bandit was the fastest fork with an H3. Direct testing was performed on my bike, and the Time Bandit/H3 combo was faster than the stock Profile Design/H3 combo. Testing of wheel and fork combos is on my schedule for September. If you can think of a faster combo, what do you think the fastest fork might be?
For those of you who are still riding Softrides, do any of you have a problem with “beam creak” The usual explanation for this phenomenon is that I’m not making perfect circles with my feet, and thus am rocking the beam, but this problem seems intermittent and when it is happening, even my best efforts to control my foot trajectory result in only a slight reduction in the problem. On other days, no noise at all, uphill, on the flats, or downhill. I am wondering if my beam or the bolts have a problem. Any ideas?
Full disclosure, I’m not a triathlete, just a 64 year old guy who likes cool technology and relief for lower back pain from many years of recreational running.
I get it when transitioning from sitting to standing. Things I’ve found to help:
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Open up the front pivot, take out the plastic retainer, the nut, and the first bronze washer, then grease the heck out of it. Re-assemble.
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Grease up the area between the height-adjustment bracket and the aluminum inserts in the frame.
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Don’t have the seat holder bracket tightened WAY down onto the beam – for some reason it causes more motion of the beam pieces relative to each other, which then translates to more motion at the mounting attachments.
Hope that helps.
a freind of mine found one for me last week, just got it friday, will make it a rocket again, my nickname on the softride was “afterburner”
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OK, so I got one locally but I still need to do a bunch of tasks to set it up for my own use. The one I got has 7 speed with downtube shifting on the aerobars (if you guys know what I mean). 7 speed is not a deal breaker, but I want to move the shifters to the actual downtube, change the cranks (they have 180’s, I need 170’s). I’ll probably put some 25 or 28 mm rubber on the rims too, as the original owner has 19mm tires. Other than that, it is just waiting for a maiden voyage. Work in the evenings and some home reno items got in the way of starting out with this…plus a big 23 hour training week 4 weeks out from IM Tremblant. I should have more time now that I will imminently start tapering.
I hvae been riding and racing a PowerWing since 1998. BEST bike I have ever ridden. It solved my injured lower back issues and my legs are fresher for the run, especially after riding on the crappy roads! BTW, it is very aero, too! I will try to post pix later.
I get it when transitioning from sitting to standing. Things I’ve found to help:
-
Open up the front pivot, take out the plastic retainer, the nut, and the first bronze washer, then grease the heck out of it. Re-assemble.
-
Grease up the area between the height-adjustment bracket and the aluminum inserts in the frame.
-
Don’t have the seat holder bracket tightened WAY down onto the beam – for some reason it causes more motion of the beam pieces relative to each other, which then translates to more motion at the mounting attachments.
Hope that helps.
thanks for the input. Will give these a shot
I am 6’2" 250lbs and just bought a Softride Pro 700 from a friend of mine for a song. I really like how light it is and am intreagued by the design. I have been this weight for most of my life, down recently from 268lbs after training for my first half marathon this past January, so losing it is most likely not going to happen. Even when I got a stomach virus I only got to 220lbs. The weight limit on my syspension bar says 200lbs. I am wondering how dangerous it would be for me to ride this bike. I really want to use it to train and ride in my first Sprint Triathlon coming up on Sept 16, 2012. What are your thoughts on the safety issue with my weight on the bike? Thanks
I have absolutely no idea what ‘downtube shifting, but on the aerobars’ could possibly mean.
Sounds like a lovely bike, though.
You can run 9 of 10 speeds on a 7-speed freehub no problem. Just lose the biggest sprocket&spacer from a 10 speed cassette. If the wheelset is freewheel, well, things might get a little funky.
I have absolutely no idea what ‘downtube shifting, but on the aerobars’ could possibly mean.
Sounds like a lovely bike, though.
You can run 9 of 10 speeds on a 7-speed freehub no problem. Just lose the biggest sprocket&spacer from a 10 speed cassette. If the wheelset is freewheel, well, things might get a little funky.
You probably need 20 years of history to remember this: The Profile Swift Shift
i have a bike Business if you need parts let me know, give you a deal
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OK, so I looked into beam bikes about 3-4 months ago. Seems like unless you have $12K to burn your next option for new beam bikes (tri related) that would hold muster with ST’ers is…
both of these bikes are fabricated by :
Graeme Pearson, the Cycpro is the Ai5 model (newest) and not sure what the other one is, however Graeme makes both. Cycpro licenses design to Graeme to build. These look really nice, however they are not cheap. I think about $5K-$6K frame/fork depending on exchange rates. He is in New Zealand I think Check out his web site
Those are the exact shifters on the softride that I got. My big project aside from doing my taxes when I get home from IM Tremblant is to build out this Softride.