by Randy Swart
The Forerunner weighs about 80 pounds and came with off-road tires which were loud on pavement and had high rolling resistance. It cannot really be used off-road, since it has only one wheel driven and there is not enough traction for trail use. Long-legged riders push the seat back and end up sitting behind the rear axle, making the front end much too light. It will not climb very steep hills for this reason, since the too-light front end lifts up with each pedal stroke, and the single driven wheel then jerks the front toward the opposite side. Because of the light front end, it gets so squirrely above 30 MPH that you dare not take any bumpy curves, although scooting the seat forward on downhills distributes more weight on the front and improves stability. The single drum brake, which stops only one rear wheel, has inadequate stopping power no matter how it is adjusted. The bike (quike?) needs lower gears for hills, and higher gears for straightaways. It takes about 40 percent longer than my 2-wheeler to do my regular one hour exercise ride. The rider is down low, eyeball-to-eyeball with a Mazda Miata driver, and practically invisible in traffic.
Despite the drawbacks the Forerunner has been fun to ride. It's snazzy looking. The purple paint that helps to make it invisible is at least well done and glossy. The seat is comfy for about the first hour. People holler things: "Did you make that?" "How much did that cost?" and similar stuff. Some speculate about adding a motor. Putting a couple of orange flags on the Forerunner and wearing bright clothing to assist in visibility helps to further the whimsical nature of it, and you get smiles from many people as you go by. Under 30 MPH the additional stability means you don't have to worry about icy patches and wet leaves, although the single driven wheel is still a limitation on riding in snow, and the single braked wheel is too.
My first one had a number of problems. It came out of the box with screws and nuts loose all over the bike. The handlebar would not stay tight on the shaft, the brake dragged and grabbed, the steering column was bent to the left, the seat was bent backward on one side, the pedal bearings were tight, there was too little tension on the chain, the fenders banged and rattled, the rear axle creaked and squeaked, the gears popped and snapped, the off-road tires were loud and rode roughly, and the purple color was virtually invisible in twilight. I called the bike Calypso, due to the cacaphony of sounds it gave out at normal speed, making it sound like a full calypso band in action. For this I had paid $600.
Nordic Track volunteered to send me a new machine at their expense, which impressed me. Unfortunately, it arrived with an out-of-alignment frame and badly aligned steering. Again I found bolts and nuts loose in various places. So I swapped pieces and got one good machine out of it, putting together the old one with all the bad stuff and shipping it back. At the same time I put the steering column brace further back in the last set of holes provided for it, lowering the steering wheel and making riding more comfortable. To improve visibility I painted the whole bike neon orange, and added two flags with blinking lights at the top.
Sad. The tubing just tore apart, starting at a welding seam where it was probably overheated and crystallized. That tubing was stiffened by the weld, creating stresses in the more flexible tubing next to it, which failed. Needless to say, bike frames of decent quality don't do that!
I called Nordic Track and sent them the above photo. After several calls I reached someone who realized that painting a bike frame does not void the warranty. Then they very nicely shipped me a new one, my third. At that point I was still giving them good marks for customer service.
This one functioned reasonably well, except of course for constant problems with the brake, which would not stop me on a downhill despite frequent adjustments, sanding the leather brake pad and lots more attention. I also had to add a screen door spring to the chain tensioner to increase the tension in order to make the chain pull off of the bottom of the radial gear "chainwheel" and not get stuck there, winding up as the crank turned and pulling off late with a big bang.
I added more accessories to fit the Forerunner out for commuting. That included three blinkers on the back, a car light in the front, changing the tires for lighter ones with road tread, shimming the handlebar with aluminum beer can material so it would not loosen, removing the fenders, adding a bell, changing the pedals and installing toe clips, adding panniers behind the seat (not for heavy stuff, since it would unweight the front more), and adding a cyclecomputer. I feel the bike is now set up the way I want it, except that it badly needs a second brake. I also was thinking about replacing the inefficient radial gear drive eventually with conventional triple chainwheels and changing the freewheel from a single speed to a seven speed. I also would prefer to paint the frame orange again. But I didn't want to void my warranty, so held off on any modifications beyond the normal accessories and the chain tensioner.
Then in mid-1996 with 1181 miles on the odo, the Radial Gear gearing mechanism stripped all of its chainwheel teeth off. So I called Nordic Track and was informed this time that the bike is of course out of warranty, and they don't even make them any more, and there are no spare parts available because the factory in Taiwan where they were made has destroyed the moulds. They suggested that I take the Forerunner to a bike shop and have it converted to conventional gearing (at my expense, of course).
So there I was in the fall of 1996, about to convert the bike to a conventional triple crankset and a conventional rear freewheel, adding front and rear deraillers and Gripshift or some other type of shifters. It also needs a second brake, since any vehicle on the road with only one brake, controlled by only one wire, is an invitation to disaster. That will be expensive. Then I can probably look forward to the frame breaking again.
Problems: Making the plate to mount the front derailler required a lot of measuring and cutting of
aluminum stock. I used an old Rival aluminum griddle, about a quarter inch thick and very hard
tempered aluminum. Not ideal, but best thing I had in my junk box. There is too little chain
clearance below the seat to permit use of the big chainring and the big cog on the freewheel, even
though I held both to small sizes. (48 for the chainwheel and 26 for the freewheel. Not a biggy,
though, since you don't really need that combination. I added a thin plate to the frame under the
seat for the chain to rub on when I forget. The seam on the inside of the handlebars prevented
me from inserting the bar-end shifters until I ground it down. There is still too much friction
in the rear axle assembly, some of it from the brake and the rest from the cheap bearings.
On January 20, 1997 I took a ride and the front mounts for the seat broke. Just pulled free from the frame where they were welded. I tied it down with the spare inner tube and finished the ride. Added some cable ties to hold it while I figure out how to do a permanent fix. This piece of junk was not really meant to be ridden much!
My February rides were uneventful, and I began to work the kinks out of the front shifter. Finally got it working passably well in March, and was really enjoying the bike. The new clipless pedals are a vast improvement over toe clips. Then in late March the mount I had made for the front derailler snapped. It was hardened aluminum (cut out from an old Regal griddle), and though strong it was just too brittle. At least it got me through snow season. Made the new one in May, cut out of a tempered aluminum "hawk" made for masons to handle mortar. Then the rear seat mounts gave way, and the seat was entirely off! So now I am getting ready to braze the seat back on its mounts, hoping to do a better job than the original. For the moment, the bike is down yet again.
I finally have everything working well, and it really is a different bike. It's a kick to ride now. Wonder what will break next!
And the payoff: it rides fine. The patches improved the ride by making it firmer than before, and the carbon fiber is really rigid stuff. It should permit me to keep repairing the frame whenever it breaks, and it doesn't use heat to further crystallize the frame metal. Now it's time to look seriously at a second brake. . .
If you have experience with a Forerunner, please send me an email. Here are
messages from those who have so far.
Randy Swart
info@helmets.org
Frustrated owner of a busted and rebuilt Forerunner