On Thursday, July 30, 2015, F— M—- wrote:
Do you have a recommendation for a flag for the Quest? I am feeling more confident and would like to venture out on the road.
Also I find the padding of the seat is not the greatest. Any suggestions? I have made a pad out of an old Yoga mat which has helped greatly.
– FM
Hi F—,
Flag: I’m assuming you mean a safety flag and not, like, an American flag?
If you mean a safety flag, I personally don’t ride with a flag, so I can’t suggest a solution that I believe in. And I rarely sell flags except to trike riders, where it seems there is more clearly a safety advantage.
If you mean a country flag, I suggest the stars and stripes, man!
My own approach, if I’m looking to be noticed on the road, instead of a flag I wear a high-viz lime green helmet (Bell and Lazer make models) and usually high-viz clothing — a shirt or a highway worker’s high-viz safety vest/jacket and/or a high-viz “Buff” neck gaiter. (Check out these high-viz reflective buffs.) For high-viz gear, here’s a link, though I don’t know these guys.
Seat padding.
It seems that different riders have different experiences with the seat padding on the Quest (and other recumbents). For me, the standard padding is fine but I know others have wanted something firmer or thicker.
Yours is actually one of the better solutions I’ve heard because the yoga mat is probably closed-core foam rubber, which should be durable. I’d maybe glue the old yoga mat together permanently and then cut it to shape, or search on-line for closed core foam sleeping pads that I could cut to shape. Here’s a pad made by Alps Mountaineering. Alps generally makes good stuff. If I was to do it properly, I’d also buy some velcro and attach it to the seat. I have one customer who likes using computer packing foam under the back of his seat. There’s no “official” solution for this one from Cruzbike.
Recently, a customer sent me this helpful note regarding the seat foam:
Robert,
Maybe helpful info concerning your blog entry:
“Cruzbike Quest: Flag? Seat Padding?”
On the Cruzbike forum at
“Silvio 2 seat”
http://www.cruzbike.com/forum/threads/silvio-2-seat.7380/
There is a strong recommendation down near the bottom for Wondergel https://wondergel.com/ for about $100 – $130.
I added my 2 cents, $40 actually, for a wheelchair foam cushion, cut to fit, which works OK for me. Much better than the extreme torture, my experience anyway, of the standard Silvio seat cushion.
I got the wheelchair foam cushion from Robert Jacobson Surgical Pharmacy, across the street from Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, NY. A medical supply company like this has a wider selection than a regular pharmacy.
A Google search or Amazon search will show a lot to choose from too. I suppose that any one would do. There are a lot of gel cushions to avoid, because one needs to cut to a smaller diameter.
Regards,
Jim L—
Have fun and stay healthy,
Robert
————
Robert Matson
New York City Recumbent Supply
The Innovation Works, Inc.
copyright 2015 Robert Matson
