# Schlitter Encore review



## arallsopp (24 Jun 2015)

Evening all.

So, as I sit here in the dark, I realise I'm probably overdue a review of the Schlitter Encore that's recently joined my stable. Well, before we get going on that, there's a few things I need to disclose that might colour the value of this post.

Firstly, Dave McCraw I ain't. Although a fairly accomplished 'bentrider, my exposure is limited and I'll likely not be comparing like for like. I don't have his experience or knowledge, so my apologies.

Next, when I say 'limited', what I mean is since switching exclusively to 'bents in late 2008, I've logged somewhere north of 50,000 miles on a variety of bents, mostly dutch, all with suspension, none with 700c wheels, no high racers, mostly balloon shod, and with rubber that disregards rolling resistance and weight in favour of avoiding spontaneous anaerobics. I have just over a thousand miles of over seat steered experience, but its all on a bike that's considerably longer and at least 25 kgs heavier than the encore.

All in, the Encore has a lot of firsts for me. So, with all relevant disclosures out of the way, what can I share?

*Purchase:*
If you're considering your first 'bent, you should know that buying a recumbent doesn't really fit into today's 'on demand' retail experience. Its very rare that the bike you're buying will exist before you purchase it, and the whole industry is plagued by an 'actuation lag' that can keep your investment firmly in the ethereal for at least a couple of months after ordering. If you're accustomed to walking into a store, handing over some cash and wheeling out on your shiny new steed, this can be a bit of a bind. Similarly, more often than not you'll get to curate the components:- handpicking derailleurs, bottom brackets, brakes, hoses and crank sets as the answers to an ever expanding list of questions slowly come in. What works on uprights won't necessarily work the same when the chain is 3 times as long, the derailleur post an unusual size, the crank arms shorter, the power train deviated by jockey wheels and pivots, the brake levers upside down, the gear levers inverted, and both at least two metres from the rear hub... I've developed a technique that blends bike shop style RRPs with a hopeful guarantee of fit, and the occasional 'too good not to try' bargain from close out sales of online retailers. Either way, I tend to ratio about 50% spare parts after any build.

In this regard, Schlitter seems no different from any other boutique manufacturer. Yes, the Encore gets the supreme attention to detail that you'd hope for on a tiny production run. Yes, each Encore is individually tailored to match its owner. Yes, each Encore is beautifully finished and smartly thought out. But when you commission a bike like this, what you gain in quality you lose in speed of delivery. Against a conservative delivery estimate, mine was probably still 2 months late.

That's two months spent wondering 'will X work with Y' regards shifters and derailleurs, cassettes and chainrings, hoses and brakes and... well, you get my point. Comms were excellent throughout and I cannot fault Julien or the Schlitter team for their ceaseless attention in providing updates or answering my increasingly nonsensical questions.

*Score here, neutral.* It is worth the wait, and that is strong praise 

*Set up*
Here's where the Encore shines. There is no standard Schlitter. The frame you commission is built to fit you, and even after it arrives you can interchangeably use 130 or 135 dropouts, 26", 29", 650b/c or 700c wheels, 23mm skinnies or 42mm knobblies, discs or callipers, mudguards, conventional racks, seat packs, or whatever you can stuff in your pocket. With a second set of wheels and judicious sprocket choices, you can have your fast road bike double as your commuting tourer. Per my opening comments, I've already got commuters covered, so saw my virgin 700c as a chance to go fast. That meant speccing an ultralight racing seat (under 20 degrees) and a lot of shopping. With so many choices ahead of me it made sense to me to begin narrowing the choices by setting a few components in stone.

First up were the wheels. I've long hankered after a truly pretty wheelset (too much utility in my world) and being freed of unusual sizing constraints I was able to choose something that met all of my needs. That meant:
- black/white/red colour combination to match the frame (coordinated bikes go faster)
- deep rims (envy brought about by too many sightings in town).
- disc rotors (I'm too accustomed to the stopping power of BB7s to want to try callipers).

These compulsions cut through the potential option paralysis, and I ended up with a pair of disc specific FFWDs which are shockingly light. I paired them with a set of Schwalbe Durano Plus Etapes (hesitating briefly over the yellow decals) as I'm not yet quite ready to go full on weight weenie when it comes to durable rubber. Next up was the drivetrain. The measurements I gave the builder assumed 165mm cranks, and the SRAM Red Exogram GXP 53/39 offered me a decent top end without compromising on weight, stiffness or (the all important) colour palette. Bar end shifters give me resilience and simplicity, and the standard recumbent pairing of mountain range cassette (SRAM PG1070 11-36) with a long cage rear derailleur afforded me geriatric compatible climbing. That pretty much enforced my choice of front derailleurs, and stopping briefly to fit a braze on adapter to bring the Encore's native 28.6mm band-on post mount into range, the SRAM red brought me home.

Sheldon says the gear inches are 28.5 to 126.6, the gain ratios 2.2 to 9.7, the speeds 5.1mph at 60rpm and 45.2 at 120. At the point when all of this arrived, I'd not yet received the frame, so Sheldon's word (as ever) was all I had to go on.

I'd recently fitted a hydraulic front brake on my commuter, and loved the feel so looked to recreate that front and back with the Encore. This was probably a mistake, to be honest, as when the frame arrived I realised it meant unpicking the carefully threaded internal cable runs, dismantling the brand new hydros, and fitting new 2 metre hoses. I also couldn't find a fork to go with the desired 140mm front, so ended up with a 160.


Finally getting the chance to sit on a part assembled bike, I soon found the flip side of the boundless variability. The open cockpit allows considerable adjustment of bar angle, height, and reach. The seat can be moved fore and aft by about 5 inches, the front lip up and down a couple of inches, the shoulders by more like nine. Although the frames are sized individually to match each rider, there's no marking telling you where anything goes, and you can't help wondering whether the millimetre perfect boom length and careful front/rear weight distribution has been realised in one's approximation of placement.

For me, micro adjustments to bike setup have a close parallel in the lumbar support dial of my first car. Previously utterly ignored, I once stumbled across the adjustment whilst sat at lights, and since touching it have always been conscious that its not quite right. I find an inherent danger of dissatisfaction in constantly tweaking things, and after an initial bedding in period tend to just leave my body to get used to it. If you're a tweaker you'll have a lifetime of fun ahead of you. If you have unusual proportions, worry that you're too short for a high-racer, or too tall for a stick-bike, I'm pretty sure the Encore has got you covered.

*Score here: Brilliant.* Non suspension aside, you're only limited by the depth of your pockets.

*The ride*
For the first month of ownership, domestic and business obligations meant the furthest I travelled on her was back and forth to my local bike shop. Given that's less than a mile, I didn't really get the chance to stretch her legs. Last weekend, I finally got the opportunity to give her a decent run, taking in a 4 hour dash through Kent lanes to bag our first 100km. All caveats aside, how did she fare?

*Bad stuff first:*
Well, I certainly noticed the absence of suspension, getting a buzz in my hands and back from the chipseal. That's to be expected from high pressure skinnies and a super rigid frame, so no minus marks here. I've not set her up as a tourer, and I got buzzed no worse than I'd expect. Suspension and big rubber has spoilt me here, I feel.

She's twitchy at low speed and prone to wandering off her line, though that is more likely to be my inexperience rather than an innate fault in the bike. The route gave me ample opportunity to test the handling, performing a prolonged negative descent at below 5mph, and an adrenalin fuelling downhill at close to 40mph. I ran out of bravery before I ran out of gear inches. I suspect moving the seat forward a touch would help with the balance, but all in there's nothing there that experience won't conquer.

Forward visibility through the J-bars is not anything like as good as the out of sight/out of way undersea steering that I'm used to, but still works in most circumstances. It was a touch frightening being tucked in behind my buddy, as there wasn't really opportunity for me to see the floor between his rear wheel and mine, and his body blocked the view of the road ahead. Again, this is probably just a case of getting used to things, and learning where to position myself. Its much better than my other OSS bike in this regard.

The bar reach as I'd estimated it was probably a little long. The 'superman' style riding position is more tiring to me than the USS I'm used to, and I should probably bring it back in a few inches to see if that improves things.

*Now the good stuff:*
She's more social than the StreetMachine (the drivetrain hasn't yet developed all the purrs and clicks and clanks of my normal ride) and brings my head much closer to the ears of my roadie friend. I'm not worried about being 'high enough to see' as none of my bikes are really low and most drivers can see paint markings on the road.

She's more generous than the Furai. There's no chain/wheel/pedal interference, and although both run north of 110psi, the Encore feels much faster. She turns sharper than the Seiran, and you can feel far more of the power get transferred to the road than either of the Challenge frames allow.

Her spin up speed is close to ridiculous. My ride buddy is much more accomplished, far fitter and considerably stronger than I, and yet, I don't feel I held him back at all. On the flat or (even better) a slight descent, she'd ramp up to speeds I would not have thought attainable for the effort I'm currently capable of. And once she's there (and believe me, just resting a foot on the pedal will summon the horizon and chuck it under your wheels) she seems content to stay that way. I was never really conscious of pushing on the flat. Just a fly eating grin, and the occasional grunt from my buddy. If I ever get back to fit, she is going to trouble an awful lot of roadies.

I'll report back in when I've had the chance to take her out again. For now, I have to suspect I'm the only thing holding this bike back.

*Score for ride: Excellent.* I specced her as a fast day bike, and she most certainly is.


Details: As built, 11.34 kgs ready to ride, mostly towards the front. I'll look to add another 70g to that in a pair of bottle cages mounted to the seat back, as I suspect this will become my long distance ride of choice.

And now, pics!


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## FrankCrank (24 Jun 2015)

....that should be hanging up on your living room wall, hope you're not tempted to ride it and get it dirty


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## Falco Frank (24 Jun 2015)

Well measured and excellent write-up. What a bike of beauty though, probably the most graceful machine I've ever seen - period.

You have just convinced me not to try superman bars however and persevere with getting my USS setup correct.

I'm curious as to how your bike compares on climbs to your other recumbents?


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## ianrauk (24 Jun 2015)

arallsopp said:


> Her spin up speed is close to ridiculous. My ride buddy is much more accomplished, far fitter and considerably stronger than I, and yet, I don't feel I held him back at all. On the flat or (even better) a slight descent, she'd ramp up to speeds I would not have thought attainable for the effort I'm currently capable of. And once she's there (and believe me, just resting a foot on the pedal will summon the horizon and chuck it under your wheels) she seems content to stay that way. I was never really conscious of pushing on the flat. Just a fly eating grin, and the occasional grunt from my buddy. If I ever get back to fit, she is going to trouble an awful lot of roadies.



I really can't agree on any of those things you say about your riding buddy. As for holding your ride buddy back, I can honestly say that if anything your ride buddy was holding you back. To see the way the bike just flew downhill at a rate of knots with such ease was akin to watching a graceful bird of prey swooping along the ground chasing it's prey fast disappearing into the distance whilst this humble upright rider could only gawp in awe and try hang on to your tail feathers. We did some big (14%) climbs and some quite technical descents but the Schlitter took it all in it's stride. A few more miles under your belt and you will both be flying. You will break all your PB's on it, no doubt.

After having a feel, sit upon and fondle of the machine I can say that not only does it look a million dollars, the craftmanship is also second to none. The set up and changeability of the handlebars is simple but a work of genius. I was also staggered at how light the Schlitter is.

A machine of speed and beauty. Just like a bird of prey.


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## Scoosh (24 Jun 2015)

Another excellent write-up from CC's favourite 'bent author !  

Is this the 'bent that can climb with the DFs - leaving them all for dead on the flats and descents ? 
Is this to be your audax bike ? 
Can you add racks to make it the ultimate high-speed tourer as well ?  EDIT: Read the spec - YES !

I'm also intrigued by the spacing between the chain where the drive and return cross each other. Given that there is little, if any, horizontal spacing between the runs of the chain, is there any sign (or concern) about chain interference at the cross-over points (the tips of the diamond with the idler in the middle) ?

Please, please give me negative responses ... or I could be seriously  ! 


EDIT: THIS LINK COMES WITH A WEALTH WARNING !


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## StuAff (24 Jun 2015)

Jolly good read. Even more than previously, looking forward to seeing your new fastest bike* in person. 

*Bike in the literal two wheeled-sense. When the white one gets rolling again that will still be faster in certain circumstances of course


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## arallsopp (24 Jun 2015)

Falco Frank said:


> I'm curious as to how your bike compares on climbs to your other recumbents?



Climbing (for me) requires a combination of gearing, balance, rider strength, frame stiffness, and weight management, and probably in that order. In terms of things the bike has an input to (gearing, balance, stiffness, weight) it definitely has wins in stiffness and weight. I'm not experienced enough to give a good measure on balance, and gearing is a personal choice. Muddying the waters, the things I have input to (balance, strength, weight) are considerably worse than the baseline of my glory days, so its hard to go like for like. I may pitch it up a hill I regularly tackle on my commute one night, and see what comes out. No means to measure wattage, but I suppose time elapsed, or maybe a 'frustration index' will give some sort of indication. Of course, its entirely possible that it'll be faster _and_ more frustrating, if only because I know it'll climb faster than I can push it. There'll be a lot of fun in finding out whether I ever catch up to her.

@ianrauk is right, btw. I expect to get my PBs on this one, and rather suspect I'll get them before I'm actually back on form. Sometimes, it is about the bike 



Scoosh said:


> I'm [...] intrigued by the spacing between the chain where the drive and return cross each other. Given that there is little, if any, horizontal spacing between the runs of the chain, is there any sign (or concern) about chain interference at the cross-over points (the tips of the diamond with the idler in the middle) ?
> Please, please give me negative responses ... or I could be seriously  !



OK. Tell you what, I'll give you two responses and you can pick according to the needs of budget and integrity.



Spoiler: Option 1: wallet safe



There's a massive watt chomping power sapping quick link snagging chain rub that eats away at your soul every time you put any power in. The fact that the boom is massively bendy only aggravates it and make the ride unbearable as the whole thing wobbles around between your legs like some indecent prosthesis. This is, of course, totally untrue.






Spoiler: Option 2: Honesty is the best policy



What the photo doesn't really show is that the chain is routed via a pair of idlers, one tucked behind the other. From memory there's about 7mm of clearance between the chain runs, and I've never seem them collide, even when fumbling a gear change. Sorry.


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## andytheflyer (24 Jun 2015)

A thing of beauty. Wow! I'll give up, now..............


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## tfg71 (24 Jun 2015)

that's a cracking machine you have there.
I love the name it makes me smile ( due to my mad sense of humour)


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## Scoosh (24 Jun 2015)

I'm in trouble now ...  

Mind you, I have a wonderful wife  who usually says something like "Well go and get it, if you want it", thereby leaving the decision completely up to me ...    ...


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## arallsopp (24 Jun 2015)

Scoosh said:


> I have a wonderful wife  who usually says something like "Well go and get it, if you want it"...



Oh Lordy. You're in trouble there.


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## neil earley (24 Jun 2015)

Nice write up and review , certainly is a looker and is going to be one fast machine. Good luck with your roadie destroying rides and I am sure you will see a few of them in your mirror as you sail past them


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## Alf (2 Aug 2015)

I'm a bit late, but a very nice review. Can I also ask a question please? I have just started building my Encore and am similarly impressed so far although it's not quite ready for a road test yet. The thing that's mystifying me is the top of the steerer where the bars fit. There are two concentric tubes: the inner one has the headset tightener cap and the outer one has the clamp for the bars at the top. That leaves the outer tube open at the top and sealed at the bottom by the tightener cap. So as soon as it rains I will get 100mm of tube filling with water. Should there be another cap to seal the outer one or have I got something else wrong?
Thanks for any pointers!
Alf


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## arallsopp (2 Aug 2015)

Alf said:


> There are two concentric tubes: the inner one has the headset tightener cap and the outer one has the clamp for the bars at the top. That leaves the outer tube open at the top and sealed at the bottom by the tightener cap.



That's how mine is, I think.


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## Alf (2 Aug 2015)

So what stops it filling with water?


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## arallsopp (2 Aug 2015)

Alf said:


> So what stops it filling with water?



In my case, the sum cost of the parts I've put on her 

I'd not actually thought about it, tbh. If it becomes a problem, I'll think about fashioning a cover. Possibly just a plastic disk.


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## arallsopp (5 Aug 2015)

There's an emerging discussion around the Encore over at bentrider, if you're interested, @Alf


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## Alf (5 Aug 2015)

Thanks for that! Will keep up with that thread. 
I have had limited time working on mine so it is still in progress. I had something of a shock when fitting the chainset and front derailleur: I have got used to a Shimano 105 triple and a 12-27 cassette which gives nice close gear changes and a low gear for the odd 20% hill (one or two around here). I had an unused FSA triple (52 39 30) so I fitted that and promptly found that the mech hit the frame in a position that would not get near the inner ring. I eventually found that (probably) this chainset needed spacers on the BB cups. I fitted 5mm worth of spacers which has brought the inner ring into roughly the right position but will have to wait until I have the cables and chain fitted before I know whether it works or not. 
I would be disappointed to have to buy a new chainset and cassette if the triple doesn't work. The Schlitter website does not imply any restrictions like this. I suppose most of the US buyers have bought complete bikes with doubles but there is one picture on that thread which looks like a triple chainset. Will follow that up if my problem persists.
Alf


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## Sailorsi (31 Aug 2015)

Great review, I have been looking at the Encore or similar high racer recumbent. Thanks for the honest comments. It looks fantastic and I bet rides even better! Please keep us posted. Regards.


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