Velokraft 2 issues
It has taken awhile, but I finally have the Velokraft 2 fully repaired, and tuned to ride. I unpacked the bike in early March and it is just this week ( August 14) that I've finally gotten it to where I want it.
This is really one very sweet recumbent low racer. This bike is fast, quiet, and very comfortable. An added bonus is that it is a good climber. I hate to start arguments between devotees of high racers and low racers. But, I believe I am a bit faster on the Velokraft 2 than I was on my Bacchetta Aero. This is a very individual thing and I suspect that some riders would prefer the high racer while others seem to adapt better to the low racer format. I tend to ride more confidently on a low racer. This is especially true on long fast descents were being lower to the ground seems to provide a sense of security. I also have found that riding this quasi-low racer is quite comfortable in traffic, even though I have to be constantly aware of my positioning relative to cars so that I am always visible.
I have my Velokraft 2 equipped and tuned just right now. I have, however, had to take a scenic route rather than an expressway to get to this point from the time that I unpacked the bike. This has been a rough road and I will describe the steps I've taken to bring this bike to where it achieves its full potential.
The original assembly of the Velokraft 2 went well. The only glitch was a bent rear derailer cage. The derailer was damaged during shipment. After I was able to get the bike tuned I spent a week riding and everything seemed to be working fine. The only problem was a very noisy drivetrain, including some annoying chain rub on the bottom of the Velokraft seat. I did some fine tuning including moving the Terracycle idler to the forward most of the three idler holes. During the first few weeks, however, despite my fiddling, I was not able to eliminate the noise in the drivetrain. For several weeks from about the middle of March until the end of April I had a bad case of the flu and did not get to ride very much. When I resumed riding in May I began to identify other problems with the bike.
On one long ride of about 75 miles I started to have severe shifting problems. I could not keep the front derailer properly shifted. The chain was rubbing on the inside of the chain rings and occasionally during steep climbs the chain ring would jump, without my touching the shift lever, from the middle chain ring to the large chain ring. I was also having trouble keeping up the rear derailer properly aligned. This strange front derailer behavior and general drivetrain problems plagued me for the next couple of weeks. I tried doing adjustments myself, but to no avail. I finally discovered that the front boom was cracked. This crack caused the front boom to flex as much as 4 or 5° off-center and was causing the shifting problems and the strange chain behavior on the chain rings.
The other problem was that my Rotor Cranks were not properly positioned. In order to achieve the appropriate chain line with the chain rings I needed to move the Rotor Crank over about 3 or 4 mm. Not wanting to take this job on myself, I took the bike into REI. They tried to making various adjustments and when they removed the Rotor Cranks the mechanic discovered that some of the threads on the main body of the Rotor Cranks were stripped. I'm not sure whether this thread damage occurred during assembly or when the mechanic attempted to remove the Rotor Cranks from the boom.
I reported the problems to Dana at BentUp Cycles. Dana has been very responsive in helping me work through all the problems. He has replaced the front boom under warranty. I have also sent the Rotor Cranks back to him for repair. The new boom arrived last week and it is now installed. I had Dana put in a FSA SLK crankset and will sell the Rotor Cranks after they are repaired. In the future, I may add Q-Rings. As I said, the bike is now set up the way I want and functioning very, very well. For the benefit of those who may consider buying a Velokraft 2 (or Velokraft High racer), here is a summation of my lessons learned:
- When you order the Velokraft make sure that it comes equipped with the latest iteration of the boom. This boom has gone through two or three changes in order to strengthen the side walls to prevent cracking. The new boom that I have installed seems very sturdy with no flex at all even during steep climbs.
- For some reason, getting a proper chain alignment with the chain rings was a problem for me. I have found that an Ultegra triple nine speed front derailer works better than a DurAce front derailer. The latter is designed for a 10 speed set up and has a narrower cage. The wider cage of the Ultegra (even though it is only very slightly wider) helps me fine tune my shifting much better thus preventing chain rub on the inside of the derailer cage.
- I changed over the Terracycle idler to the original Velokraft idler. The Terracycle over/under idler had the chain running too close to the bottom of the seat causing chain rub on the bottom of the seat when there was a lot of tension on the chain (when climbing). The Velokraft idler is much taller and is an under/under configuration keeping the chain well away from the bottom of the seat. The drivetrain now runs considerably quieter. 
- The Rotor Cranks did not seem to work particularly well on the Velokraft 2. Others may have a different experience, but I found it hard to line up the Rotor Cranks to get a straight on chain alignment with the chain rings. I also found that the inside of the Rotor Crank chain rings had guide pins that were very uneven causing the chain, when placed on the middle chain ring, to rub against the inside of a large chain ring sometimes catching on the irregular part of the guide pins and causing a chain hop. The FSA crankset seems much better built, installs in a fixed position, and produces a quieter and smoother shifting situation on the front derailer. As I said earlier, I may add Q-Rings at some later date. The combination of the cracked boom and Rotor Crank misalignment caused shifting problems. It is possible that replacing the boom and aligning the Rotor Cranks would have solved the problem without resorting to a new crankset.
- When I was installing the new boom, I inadvertently stripped the forward most built-in aluminum threads on the inside of the clamp that holds the boom in place. These threads are very delicate and, as I discovered, easily stripped. I was able to fix the problem by getting (from Dana)a longer bolt and a locknut to tighten down the front end of th clamp. It is important to treat all of the built-in threads very gingerly.
- The only shifting problem that I continue to have is that it requires too much effort to shift from the middle to the large chain ring. The cable line running through the frame has a very sharp bend as the cable rises to the front derailer. This sharp band produces too much friction on the cable. I had my bike mechanic remove the cable line from inside the frame and run it outside producing a bigger loop of the cable into the front derailer. This seems to help the situation somewhat, but I also have removed the Paul's Thumbies and installed SRAM Rocket grip shifters. The shifting to the large chain ring is still not perfect, but much better.
- - The Radical Low Racer Bags work very well on my Velokraft 2. These fit comfortably out of the way on the back of the Velokraft seat holding tools, spare tires, etc. as well as up to a 50 ounce bladder. They are also lightweight and seem very durable. You can see the Radical Bag set up on the accompanying pictures.
The Velokraft 2 is now set up beautifully and I'm very happy with it. It is the fastest bent I have owned, and well worth the effort that I've put into it.
