Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

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Aushiker
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Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Aushiker » Sun Jul 28, 2013 1:24 pm

I got a chance to have a bit of a play with my new to me Bacchetta Giro 20 with a Euromesh seat this morning. Everything is pretty well right to go and I hope to get commuting on it Tuesday (42 km each way) but I do have a couple of questions re the seat.

(1) First of all is there any easy way to estimate the seat angle? Currently the grenade pins are in the fifth hole from the top.

(2) Secondly I find once I sit on the bike and recline I tend to what to move slightly forward in the seat. Is this normal or should I be making adjustments? I feel I have the seat position pretty right for my legs as per the Bacchetta guide but maybe I need to do some tweaking here.

(3) I do find I want to lean my head back a bit so guessing a head rest is the way to go. I assume that the ADEM2 is the best option?

Thanks in advance
Andrew
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Rhubarb » Sun Jul 28, 2013 8:33 pm

Ha - bike fit on a recumbent is a whole new world hey :-)

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby John Lewis » Sun Jul 28, 2013 10:16 pm

Hi Andrew,
You may find it easier to start with the seat more upright at first and then recline it more as you become used to it.

I too find I tend to slide forward a bit in the Euromesh style seat. One idea was to do the old heels on the pedals with leg straight trick but add the thickness of a matchbox. That was about right on my TE clone.
Others have said that its better to be a bit short than the other way. Less problem than having to stretch too far. Shorter may ultimately give you more power to the pedals.
In the end its really a case of set and try, alter a bit and try again until you are happy.

Good luck with the new ride. Sorry I missed the post where you were coming down for the Munda Biddi Ride until after you'd left. Would have liked to catch up. I hope the ride went well.

John

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Baalzamon » Mon Jul 29, 2013 5:22 pm

Start more upright and recline it backwards as you get used to it. Suggest doing figure 8 turns in a carpark to get the handling down pat. Once you start to recline the seat angle backwards, you will find it will impact the lower part of the seat and you will need to adjust that as well until you are happy with it.
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Aushiker » Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:54 pm

John Lewis wrote:Hi Andrew,
You may find it easier to start with the seat more upright at first and then recline it more as you become used to it.

I too find I tend to slide forward a bit in the Euromesh style seat. One idea was to do the old heels on the pedals with leg straight trick but add the thickness of a matchbox. That was about right on my TE clone.
Others have said that its better to be a bit short than the other way. Less problem than having to stretch too far. Shorter may ultimately give you more power to the pedals.
In the end its really a case of set and try, alter a bit and try again until you are happy.

Good luck with the new ride. Sorry I missed the post where you were coming down for the Munda Biddi Ride until after you'd left. Would have liked to catch up. I hope the ride went well.
Thanks John. As it turned out I didn't have much time in Albany to catch-up anyway. The ride went okay other than the rain, cold and the brakes failing :)

Andrew
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Aushiker » Tue Jul 30, 2013 2:52 pm

I got to put a few more kilometres (26 kilometres) in this morning on a 60% commute to work (drove some of it and rode the rest). Lets say it was an interesting ride ... lots of wobbling, one very close to happening clip stack (really need to swap out the pedals), and couple of oh sugar moments when I need to start on a incline at traffic lights :)

I did have to play somewhat with the seating position, bringing it forward quite a bit and now it is probably too far forward. Should have brought a rubber mallet with me to make it easier to make smaller adjustments.

I did try and relax my grip but I did at times find myself tensing up in the shoulders/neck area, particularly on climbs. I suspect I am pulling on the bars. Other possible causes?

I also tend to push back in the seat when climbing. Is this normal?

Not 100% sure on the SRAM X9 Twist Grips. They change gears fine, just that I have twist them the "wrong way" for me. Maybe I will adapt to that or otherwise switch to trigger shifters.

I also think I might be reclining the seat a touch in the near future as it feels a touch too upright. Of course this may in part be because I have not got the seat in the sweat spot yet.

Mirrors: I have a Zefal Spy mirror on the left side and the Busch & Muller Cycle Star mirror that came with the bike on the right side. I think the Busch & Muller Cycle Star will be getting replaced with a second Spy Mirror.

All that said it was fun if a little scary ride at times.

Andrew
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby skyblot » Tue Jul 30, 2013 6:19 pm

Andrew,
What you are doing is just what you need, ride, adjust, ride, repeat as needed. The recumbent position is so different to conventional bikes it is hard to translate established wisdom across. Personally, I find a little less leg extension than on uprights is more comfortable, with the pedal cleats further back on the shoe. My seat back is around 30 degrees. Even after some time you will still be tweaking the position as muscles adjust

More upright is easier when first getting the hang of it.... I used to have to take a conscious deep breath and relax the shoulders and arms or I was all over the place.

It does get easier and more natural.

Cheers
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Baalzamon » Tue Jul 30, 2013 8:50 pm

When I had my Bachetta Giro for a few weeks. The few km's I put on it I took it down to my local shopping centre on Sunday when sunday trading wasn't happening! Did a few laps of the shopping centre and a few fig 8's until my foot started to go numb and I bailed
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Aushiker » Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:27 am

An update. Rode home last night and made some adjustments to the position of the handlebars ... pushed them further forward and that made a lot of difference. Also found myself getting used to the twist shifters ... only a few mistakes which surpised me.

Stuck to the bike paths mainly so a slow ride but confidence growing. Oh I did have to walk a short steep climb out of Scarborough Beach .... got held up behind a couple of peds at the bottom and then was in the wrong chain ring to finish the climb ... wobbling from one side of the path to the other is not really smart :oops:

Remembered last night I have an old trainer around here somewhere so will dig it out and use it try and fine tune my riding position.

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Aushiker » Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:13 pm

I got a chance to get out and take some photos of the new bike today ...

Image

Image

Image

Anyway I spent a bit of time today on my riding position following the advice at Bacchetta and at Easy Street Recumbents.

This is how I am currently positioned on the bike (video recorded in my "man cave" 8) ). Any comments most welcome.



I also took Stuart's advice and did a lot of figure 8 riding plus practicing stop/starts. All helped for sure.

Thanks
Andrew
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby }SkOrPn--7 » Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:13 pm

Really nice Andrew won't be long and you will forget the leaning curve zipping everywhere. Looks like you got it set-up nice the taping on the bars and stem to keep all the cables neat is really nice work you have done. I'm like you I hate grip shifters but lets hope they work out for you.

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby }SkOrPn--7 » Sat Aug 03, 2013 9:08 am

Andrew I can't remember if you mentioned this or I just over looked it. Did you order the frame with the larger X-Seam?

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Baalzamon » Sat Aug 03, 2013 1:30 pm

}SkOrPn--7 wrote:Andrew I can't remember if you mentioned this or I just over looked it. Did you order the frame with the larger X-Seam?

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Bought it 2nd hand
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Aushiker » Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:08 pm

}SkOrPn--7 wrote:Andrew I can't remember if you mentioned this or I just over looked it. Did you order the frame with the larger X-Seam?
My bike is a 2008 model and hence prior to the change in frame sizes. The previous owner who brought the bike new was 5'10" and I am the same or 5' 11" depending on the ruler :) so should be good from that perspective.

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Aushiker » Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:09 pm

}SkOrPn--7 wrote:Really nice Andrew won't be long and you will forget the leaning curve zipping everywhere. Looks like you got it set-up nice the taping on the bars and stem to keep all the cables neat is really nice work you have done.
Love to claim it as my work but came that way. I assume Flying Furniture did it.
I'm like you I hate grip shifters but lets hope they work out for you.
I have to say I am not excited by them but will give them a month or two before making a decision.

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Baalzamon » Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:17 pm

Well I had click shifters on my Bacchetta Giro. I had twist grips on my ICE trike and quicky replaced them with bar ends. I found when I was turning a corner, CLICK and before I knew it I was in the wrong gear...
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby }SkOrPn--7 » Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:20 pm

Baalzamon wrote:
}SkOrPn--7 wrote:Andrew I can't remember if you mentioned this or I just over looked it. Did you order the frame with the larger X-Seam?

Ricky
Bought it 2nd hand
Ah thanks BZ.

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby }SkOrPn--7 » Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:24 pm

Aushiker wrote:
}SkOrPn--7 wrote:Andrew I can't remember if you mentioned this or I just over looked it. Did you order the frame with the larger X-Seam?
My bike is a 2008 model and hence prior to the change in frame sizes. The previous owner who brought the bike new was 5'10" and I am the same or 5' 11" depending on the ruler :) so should be good from that perspective.

Andrew
Andrew for some reason I had in my mind you were well over 6 foot like me that's why I asked the question about frame X-Seam but since your not then the frame would be fine. I wasn't sure if you knew that they did larger frames for the taller folks.

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby }SkOrPn--7 » Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:33 pm

Aushiker wrote:
}SkOrPn--7 wrote:Really nice Andrew won't be long and you will forget the leaning curve zipping everywhere. Looks like you got it set-up nice the taping on the bars and stem to keep all the cables neat is really nice work you have done.
Love to claim it as my work but came that way. I assume Flying Furniture did it.
I'm like you I hate grip shifters but lets hope they work out for you.
I have to say I am not excited by them but will give them a month or two before making a decision.

Andrew
Ok no worries I must have mist the second hand part but even still nice work who ever did it. On the grip shifters issue people swear by them but I find them the worst things ever more so on a recumbent. With trigger shifters I can get the sweet spot for operation plus with trigger shifters no issue with braking and changing gears or just tapping the trigger to drop a gear when you have your hands full doing things. I can ring my bell and change gears plus brake all at the same time how the hell you do all that with grip shifters plus they feel terrible in the hand.

Ricky

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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby John Lewis » Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:56 pm

Nice machine you have there Andrew. Looks like a good win.
I'm not a lover of grip shifters. I like the bar ends on the trike. On the LWB they work well but are a tad awkward.
Still better than twistys though. I have never had trigger shifters but they sound like they would be very good from Ricky's comments.
Just keep on riding it and all of a sudden it will be second nature and you will wonder why you took so long to become bent. :mrgreen:
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby Aushiker » Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:36 pm

Thanks to Gizmo at Recumbent Riders International for some advice on solving my shoulder/neck issues I have used some Aortha EVA Very Low Density 3 mm Blue which I had on hand to fashion out two pieces for supporting my back. I have gone with 6 mm initially as that feels good on the trainer. I also reset the seat to 40 degrees which is where I had it initially and then dropped it 5 degrees to 35 degrees for testing this week. Will see how that goes and look to continue reclining it/adding support if necessary until the sweet spot is reached.

Also moved the seat forward 5 mm which fees okay on the trainer. Now I just need to do a 40 km ride to see how it pans out. Unfortunately I am off bushwalking tomorrow so it may be Tuesday's commute before I see how it works out.

As I have a Bacchetta Big Bag on the bike I used that to hold the pad for now. Will make it more permanent once I have it sorted.

Image

For anyone interested or experiencing similar problems I will update on how this works out.

Thanks
Andrew
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Re: Getting the seat position right - Bacchetta Giro 20

Postby william » Sat Aug 31, 2013 5:39 pm

Hi Andrew,
Some of the things I learnt that made a big difference albeit slowly was relaxing in the bike. A tense body will make things unstable and until I was doing it naturally I had to remind myself to relax.
Bent legs, that took more time than what I read about. For me I think it was a good 6 months but at that time I was getting a good 15% faster averages than before.
Aero is your key to higher averages too. Strength can come from different set ups. I once shortened my seat position feeling a bit more power but on a long Audax ride I suffered badly with torn achilles tendons. Changes should be small and progressive.
One of the good things about the seat is you can customise the tension to suit your back.
Above all, learn to find the benefits of the riding platform, Very rewarding.

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