A couple of questions from a newbie

[Chris L]

Word!

[Karla]

Until the penny dropped, I did, some how, manage to get the back of the knee oner the end of the handlebar  . Penny dropped very quickly

You've fallen off a RECUMBENT PENNY FARTHING?!  I didn't even know they made such monstrosities!

[simonp]

Chains are a bit of a PITA on 'bents due to the length, but keeping it lubed should help.  I once totalled the rear mech on a recumbent by walking it backwards and the chain jammed in the mech + sprockets and snapped the mech parallelogram in two.  I then had it converted to a singlespeed to complete the ride I was on, 50 miles over an undulating route.  It was actually automatic gearing, whenever I pedalled hard it went up a gear or two, so uphills required mashing the pedals to overcome this.

[cycleman]

ah the American star ordinary  the first semi recumbent 

[arallsopp]

I thought that 'chain stretch' was due  to the chain going round the corners (of the chain ring and sprockets) that wore the chain since any elongation isn't due to the links stretching but rather the links wearing deeper grooves in the rollers.

Yep. This tallies with my findings. The chain only really seems to get worn when its being folded around the rear sprockets or man handled by the front derailleur. Chain lines are more forgiving on a bent and you're far less likely to be mashing a big gear.

I found the grasshopper to be one of the most stable 'bents I'd ever ridden, with only its sister Streetmachine improving things. All subjective, of course.

Once accustomed to the riding style, I find I don't really steer that much at all. Certainly above 8mph, both SMGTe and Furai are very much 'lean to change direction (then) steer to put the bike back under you'.

[Kim]

I found the grasshopper to be one of the most stable 'bents I'd ever ridden, with only its sister Streetmachine improving things. All subjective, of course.

Not so good on slippery fords, thobut

Once accustomed to the riding style, I find I don't really steer that much at all. Certainly above 8mph, both SMGTe and Furai are very much 'lean to change direction (then) steer to put the bike back under you'.

I'm fairly sure the "lean to change direction" is in fact initiated by moving the bars.  How do you lean when you're lying on a seat^[1]?  (I've been thinking about this, and trying to see if the Streetmachine can be ridden no-hands - so far I've concluded that yes, but it'll go in a direction of its choosing, unless you sit up out of the seat so you can provide steering input by shifting your body around as you would when riding an upright no-hands, which feels incredibly unnatural and I keep bottling out.)

Of course I suppose there could be an entire steering technique that I've somehow missed out on...



_{[1] Not to say that you can't alter your weight distribution in the seat - I just don't think that's what I'm doing when steering.}

[Wendy]

In other words, the steering is just about the same as on a normal bike which also leans to turn.

[Kim]

In other words, the steering is just about the same as on a normal bike which also leans to turn.

Quite.

When I first rode the Streetmachine, my countersteer-to-initiate-a-lean instinct didn't transfer from uprights, and I naively steered it as you would a trike.  For a short time I was able to let the bike keep itself balanced, but it kept steering in the opposite direction to the one I wanted to go.

[arallsopp]

I'm fairly sure the "lean to change direction" is in fact initiated by moving the bars.  How do you lean when you're lying on a seat^[1]?  (I've been thinking about this, and trying to see if the Streetmachine can be ridden no-hands - so far I've concluded that yes, but it'll go in a direction of its choosing, unless you sit up out of the seat so you can provide steering input by shifting your body around as you would when riding an upright no-hands, which feels incredibly unnatural and I keep bottling out.)

Of course I suppose there could be an entire steering technique that I've somehow missed out on...

This is probably why I fall off constantly when I ride with a head rest.

Assuming my head is free to move around and correct things, I can keep the SMGTe rolling in a reasonably straight line without touching the bars, but once it starts to dip, it goes down real quick unless you grab the handles. Road surfaces are critical, and trying to pedal, well, that would just be silly

[Kim]

Ah!  Hmm.  I obviously need a heavier head...

[Wendy]

Hands-free cycling doesn't imply not-steering and only leaning.  It's still the same as a normal bike, roughly speaking.

[henshaw11]

>I'm fairly sure the "lean to change direction" is in fact initiated by moving the bars

Yup - it's called countersteering - the bar on the inside of the turn is pushed fwd, but it feels like you're pushing the thing into a lean. Same thing on motorcycles except that on a bike it's far more subtle...it was only when I realised this quite some years ago I stopped running wide on one particularly traffic island at the bottom of a hill (on the mtb) nearby.
On a motorcycle at some speed you actually give the bars a good old shove to get the thing turned on it's ear.

[Chris L]

Crikey! We slid from CSE to A level balancing in a few posts there.  Bringing us back to beginners with a bump, week 4 passed off with a long glow of cooolness cast across Wimbledon and Richmond Park yesterday evening.  I am very cool.  And all the kids on bikes from the Danebury estate say so.  Notable achievements include not falling off, managing to keep it above 5.5 mph up Broomfield Hill and overtaking two normal bikes along Parkside.

Two more questions:
Are hillstarts just practice, or do I need to wait till I've built up some big power before I try them in traffic?  (Walked up Wimbledon Hill last 'cos I got caught at the lights at the bottom and didn't think I'd make a reliable start.)
Where should the top of the seat sit on my back.  Had it about an inch above the top of the shoulder blades last night and felt I was straining with my neck bit.  I'd moved it up by about an inch-and-a-half from the previous week 'cos I'd felt like I was wriggling down a bit.  Is the tuning that fine?  Should it go much, much further down?  (The Grasshopper manual is a bit sketchy.)

Thanks again.

[Kim]

Two more questions:
Are hillstarts just practice, or do I need to wait till I've built up some big power before I try them in traffic?  (Walked up Wimbledon Hill last 'cos I got caught at the lights at the bottom and didn't think I'd make a reliable start.)

Practice, I say.  Unless you've stopped in a silly gear and/or on the wrong kind of chevron, at which point power becomes useful.  Practice includes learning never to stop in a silly gear or on the wrong kind of chevron.   Being stable at low speed is more important in traffic than being able to get up to a more stable speed quickly.

Where should the top of the seat sit on my back.  Had it about an inch above the top of the shoulder blades last night and felt I was straining with my neck bit.  I'd moved it up by about an inch-and-a-half from the previous week 'cos I'd felt like I was wriggling down a bit.  Is the tuning that fine?  Should it go much, much further down?  (The Grasshopper manual is a bit sketchy.)

I'm not very familiar with the newer HPV seats and their adjustment, but I'd say that "wriggling down" (and indeed feeling like your bum is halfway off the front edge of the seat) is fairly normal.  My position in the seat after say half an hour of riding is somewhat lower than when I first get on the bike.  I have things adjusted (specifically boom extension!) with this in mind.

[Tim]

Hillstarts - you'll need to counter-steer against the effect of pushing hard with your starting foot (rather than merely pushing gently in the manner fo starting on the flat). It's just like starting on the flat, but more so. So yes just practice/confidence like starting in traffic.

I find the placement of the seat is all about where the small of my back fits in and the associated lumber support. Your bum doesn't actually need much support (assuming that the pedals are approximately level with the leading edge of the seat, it'll need more support for a more upright seating position), and if you are suffering from tiredness of head/neck consider a neck support (small cushion that sits on a stalk from the top of the seat).

[Wendy]

This wasn't you by any chance?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/l1OsbdqwkRQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/l1OsbdqwkRQ&rel=1</a>

Some excellent practice you can do is to spend some time in the park doing slow speed cone slalom, making the frequency and amplitude higher bit by bit as you can handle it, then moving onto tight figure of 8s.  This should improve your hill starting well.  A couple of hours practice spread over several sessions should see a further large improvement in your balance.

[Chris L]

This wasn't you by any chance?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/l1OsbdqwkRQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/l1OsbdqwkRQ&rel=1</a>

...

No, not me.  I'm SW London and only out on my 'bent at weekends at the mo.

Ta for answers.  I'll do some modification to the seat length and try some stop/starts on some hills.

[rower40]

I found the grasshopper to be one of the most stable 'bents I'd ever ridden, with only its sister Streetmachine improving things. All subjective, of course.

Not so good on slippery fords, thobut

It still has that epic 'bent plus-point: it's so close to the ground water surface that one doesn't make too much thud splash when NOTHING HAPPENS.

[henshaw11]

I've got the same bodylink seat on my speedmachine - although more reclined than the grasshopper, I've got it set to the more upright end. If you feel that you're slipping down the seat, you can undo the qr at the lower end and lift that section of seat upwards - that helps a little...I think there's a more correct order of doing things in the later manuals.

Re height - if it's too low, you may fell a bit squashed up around the shoulders, too high and it might fell like there's not much support around the top of your shoulders (iirc, from trying both the med and large Challenge seats at one point).

Having a lumbar curve doesn't seem to come into it as such, I think the middle mount point is unadjustable and you're just moving top/bottom to suit length/slippage.


Hillstarts - IMO much as I mentioned earlier (#6 ?) - until you're used to the balance you (feel that you) need a good shove on the first stroke to get some momentum, but once you're used to the balance it's a lot more leisurely.