Kalgrm wrote:I had the seat fairly laid back to get it close to my bike's geometry. I suggested that you have the seat more upright than I would like while you're learning, so I'm not suprised that you feel like you're about to slide off.
I haven't moved it from where it was when it came out of the box ie, it's where Craig left it. I guess the question is, had he moved it upwards or not. Just looking at it, I reckon I could lower the seat no more than an inch, if that much, on it's support strut. Does that ring any bells? This is the hard part of setting things up over the internet - you're guessing and I don't have a flamin' clue.
I would suggest putting a wad of high-density foam between the shell and the cushion at the very front of the shell. That will give you a bit of a lip to help remove the feeling. (I'm pretty sure you won't slide off in actual fact: your legs will keep you pushed back into the seat.)
I'll see what I can do. If nothing else, everytime I hit a decent bump, I slide forwards and would like to stop that. Of course, experience may indeed lead me to ignore this movement. Do you move around on your seat much or do you tend to stay in one place? It's okay on the smooth, but as soon as I start hitting tree root humps or cross gutters, I move forward.
The trick of placing a wad of foam under the cushion can also offer extra lumbar support if placed on the sides in that region. Some riders do that to help them feel like they are snugly held in place.
I've no problems with side support. If anything, there's too much. The seat is a tad wider than my shoulder blades which isn't the best. At the moment, I feel I'm well supported but not willing to buy into the 'comfy chair' description - that may change as I learn to relax, my abdomen is still doing a lot of work. I also sweat like a beaut and this seat doesn't breathe. I'm already thinking that a wide, open weave seat might be a good modification later on.
I'm in two minds about the shifters too - the twist grip shifters are certainly living down to their reputation yet with my hands where they are, I'm not sure that I want to buy into other sorts of shifter. In any case, they are efficient enough for the moment. I can't move the bars forward as evidenced by a few taps on the left knee (only the left for some reason) by the brake lever. The big mod will be USS, but that's for muuuuch later.
I'm having trouble with the gears jumping at the back end again too. Either these are very stretchy gear cables (third adjustment in the nearly 70km I've done, but that's cool, I can adjust drs) or I've got other issues. There is stuff all tension in the chain and maybe that affects it on roughish roads ... and there's not much I can do about that as it's the spring in the rear dr that controls things. Is this where idlers and open chains have an advantage over the long, curved chain tubes?
Leg extension - do you aim for the same sort of leg extension that you do on a df bike? I ask because if so, I need to move the boom out a tad, but have also observed a number of bent videos where the riders did not extend their leg fully.
Leg effort is certainly very different to on an upright bike. There seems to be more force (as in pressure on the pedals) in the legs. My first reaction is to drop a gear, but that results in over revving very quickly. It's got the same cassette as I'm used to with the Jamis and Black Beast, so I'm pretty sure it's not large jumps in the ratios, but to maintain a reasonable cadence in the mid eighties, I seem to be applying a lot more pressure on the pedals than I do with the uprights. Maybe having to run the legs out in front of me rather than below me is producing sensations that I'm mis-understanding. I certainly don't have a problem with cadence and although my average cadence is lower than it usually is on a df bike, it's in line with the sort of casual riding I'm doing - as soon as I up the pace, the cadence comes up and when working on a hill or a fast, flat run, the cadence is right up where it needs to be. It just feels like I'm putting more pressure on the pedals.
Weird, weird, weird.
Best line of the day. Riding along the Torrens Linear Park, I had to pass a mother and her two kids on their bikes. As I cruised past the mother, I said "Learner on a weird bike", and was rewarded with a gale of laughter
Another run tomorrow, then I've got the lass again for a week.
Richard
I had a good bike ... so I fixed it