Challenge Furai "heel strike"?

[arallsopp]

I am curious about the handling of the Furai. Here in Arizona, as I am sure where Wayne lives, we have a lot of hills to tackle. I REALLY want to give the hamster bars a try. They look really cool, and clearly are more aerodynamic. I have "heard" that one has to lean steer the bike more than turn it, is this true? How does she handle high downhill speeds (if you have any hills!), like around 40mph (I apologize I don't have the km conversion!)

I've descended bumpy twisty roads at a touch under 50mph, in the pack with uprights, immediately after breakfast having ridden through the night before. No problems detected, except for my sleep deprived eyes not being able to keep up. I have USS on my Furai, and can echo that you need to lean rather than steer if only to avoid heel strike. Besides which, it feels great to lean in too steep then power out. I can't get on with hamster bars on any of my bikes, but that's probably just me.

How twitchy/squirrly is the Furai? I am an experienced recumbent rider and can handle most bikes. I had a Rans Rocket when I first started riding. I am not a fan of tiller steering, but I did get used to it.

As above, I can't do tiller at all Just seems to be beyond my comprehension. That said I've got over 8000 miles on the Furai, and I've only ever had her get skippy twice. Once was in the rain onto a hard right turn (in your world, that'd be left). Oncoming traffic popped up and I grabbed the brakes which saw the rear slide away from me. Nothing bad, stayed upright. Bit breathless though. The other was when the USS linkage was loose, and I hit a raised bit of road running *almost* parallel to me. Close enough that the front wheel tracked it rather than me, which was a little disconcerting but again it all righted itself without issue.

I had a good chat with Robert at Terracycle yesterday. They have this idler problem licked. Now let's see if Paul at Challenge will respond and just automatically put these on all of their bikes. Most honestly, they are expensive bikes, and one should not have to upgrade the idlers. Let's see how it all pans out.

If you're spec'ing out a new bike, bear in mind that the replacement terracycle power side idler doesn't actually fit with the carbon seat (damn). The feeder solution works just as well though.

Andy.

 

[itself]

Andy,

Thanks! Great information. Darn, not good about the power side idler not working with a carbon seat. I am not sure I will have to worry about heels strike as much as I would put 155mm cranks on the bike.

Just curious, as I am looking at the pictures of the white Furai. They list the BB at around 28" high, yet it looks so level in the picture. I have a Ti Aero, my BB is 30" and the seat height is 23". According to the specs on the Furai, it would be almost the same seat to BB height relationship.

How does the BB feel on the Furai in relation to the seat?

Thanks!

Lisa

 

[arallsopp]

Just curious, as I am looking at the pictures of the white Furai. They list the BB at around 28" high, yet it looks so level in the picture. I have a Ti Aero, my BB is 30" and the seat height is 23". According to the specs on the Furai, it would be almost the same seat to BB height relationship.

How does the BB feel on the Furai in relation to the seat?

I'd guess it feels a little lower than on your Aero. If I had to put a measure on it (and I haven't) I'd say the BB is pretty much the same altitude as my hipbone, ie. with my leg extended horizontally directly forwards from the seat, it'd pass directly adjacent to the BB. As above, I haven't measured this at all, but it feels about level. High enough to 'lock' you into the bike, low enough to keep the blood moving. Perfect, for me.

I'll measure it if you fancy. Bear in mind the rear suspension will compress under load, so if those specs are given for an empty bike on a factory floor, you'll read about an inch lower for the seat.

Andy.

 

[Fleur]

Hi All,

I have also a Furai equiped with the SL2 package, on this site several pictures: Furai SL2

This is how it looks like.

Link to full size umage (12mpix): Furai SL2 VK2 tail full size

I have one remark about the "heel strike": there are two positions for mounting the carbon seat on the Furai = two big holes in the frame with a tube soldered in it.

The seat of the white Furai with USS, pictured earlier in this thread, is mounted on the rear hole. This position is for people with a relively long X-seam.

The front hole is used for people with short X seam.

If the seat is mounted using the front hole, it os moved forward and the boom can be extended more what reduces the risk of heel strike.

Another remark about the tires: as far as I know, from Schwalbe, only the Durano exists in ETRTO 520, they are 0.9" = 23mm wide. The Marathon Racer do not exist in ETRTO520. Schwalbe has no other tire in ETRTO520, other 24" tires like the Marathon are ETRTO507

 

[Riding in Circles]

Good morning all!

Just Lisa from the States. Burnette and I have been chatting as we are both interested in getting a Furai.

A bit off topic, I am curious about the handling of the Furai. Here in Arizona, as I am sure where Wayne lives, we have a lot of hills to tackle. I REALLY want to give the hamster bars a try. They look really cool, and clearly are more aerodynamic. I have "heard" that one has to lean steer the bike more than turn it, is this true? How does she handle high downhill speeds (if you have any hills!), like around 40mph (I apologize I don't have the km conversion!)

How twitchy/squirrly is the Furai? I am an experienced recumbent rider and can handle most bikes. I had a Rans Rocket when I first started riding. I am not a fan of tiller steering, but I did get used to it.

I had a good chat with Robert at Terracycle yesterday. They have this idler problem licked. Now let's see if Paul at Challenge will respond and just automatically put these on all of their bikes. Most honestly, they are expensive bikes, and one should not have to upgrade the idlers. Let's see how it all pans out.

Thanks for your help!

Cheers!

Lisa

You should get yourself a Catbike over there.

 

[itself]

I rode the Catbike Musashi and felt it had no spunk to it. It just didn't take off on a dime like my Ti Aero 24, and road more like a truck.

They need to lighten it up and change the handlebars out to a narrower tweener or hamsters. Just my two cents!

 

[Riding in Circles]

I have found it to be a very quick machine and good handling too. All it needed were some trigger shifters.

 

[PloddinPedro]

Terracycle purchased a Furai a couple years ago and have developed idler kits for it. They're just not quite ready with all the accompanying PR and instructions. They make two different versions. Both include return idlers, but one retains the original Challenge power side idler. This version provides a new, very stern chainkeeper mechanism to keep the chain under control at all times. This is usually the big complaint with that idler. They are actually selling the new keeper to Challenge now. The second version replaces the stock power side idler with a TerraCycle idler on a new floating mount.

Attached are photos of the version that retains the stock power side idler. This is mostly intended for things like the Mistral where the stock idler is integrated into the suspension pivot and it's too hard to replace it with anything else (see attachment id_FuraiSide5a.jpg, id_Furai_stockPowerClose.jpg).

Also attached are photos of the version that replaces all the idlers (see ip_furai3_lo.jpg, ip_furai4.jpg). The power side idler has about 12mm of float.

On both kits, the mid return idler is moved down on a special mount to get it below and out of the way of the power side chain. A small piece of floating chain tube is used to protect the fork where the power side chain goes by. Since the tube is made from a quiet plastic and attached via a special floating mount, it is very quiet. You basically can't hear it.

As above, they haven't announced these kits yet. They've been mechanically complete for a couple months now, but Pat's been too busy to do the instructions, the website, and a press release. They have already sold the chainkeepers to Challenge and a couple of kits to Fujin customers that didn't want to wait. I've asked for pricing to get the full kit to the UK.


Andy.

Hi. Thread resurrection. As a ‘bent newbie, I’m still on a steep learning curve. For my sins, I have just acquired a Furai 26 and need to replace the worn idlers. I found the TerraCycle stuff you describe at Icletta.com

I wonder if you did indeed go on to get these yourself and whether you can recommend them, or perhaps suggest any alternatives?

Loved the book by the way!

 

[GrasB]

TerraCycle stuff is the best I can find, though they are quite expensive. I use their idlers on all of my recumbents. The only difficulty can be working out which idler I want but if in doubt the guys at icletta should be able to advise you.

 

[arallsopp]

Hi. Thread resurrection. As a ‘bent newbie, I’m still on a steep learning curve. For my sins, I have just acquired a Furai 26 and need to replace the worn idlers. I found the TerraCycle stuff you describe at Icletta.com

I wonder if you did indeed go on to get these yourself and whether you can recommend them, or perhaps suggest any alternatives?

Loved the book by the way!

Howdo.

By the time I'd got myself in gear to actually get things sorted, David at Laidback had sourced a stock replacement and sent it down to me. I rather missed having a cleat back in view, but it sure kept a lot quieter for the following 10k miles. I've used Terracycle for other bikes in the stable, and they've always been very good in terms of helping me work out which bits I needed and the quality of the kit supplied. Thanks for reading

Andy.

 

[PloddinPedro]

Howdo.

By the time I'd got myself in gear to actually get things sorted, David at Laidback had sourced a stock replacement and sent it down to me. I rather missed having a cleat back in view, but it sure kept a lot quieter for the following 10k miles. I've used Terracycle for other bikes in the stable, and they've always been very good in terms of helping me work out which bits I needed and the quality of the kit supplied. Thanks for reading

Andy.

OK, thanks. I've decided to go for it and have ordered some TerraCycle stuff. So I guess I'll have to wait and see how I get on!