It has taken a long time.

[xpc316e]

Last year I bought a used Radius C4 LWB USS 'bent and ever since then I have been fettling it in an attempt to get it to fit me and feel right. I have had to cut and shut the handlebars in quite a few ways, but yesterday I welded up an extension to the seat mount. It means that I sit about an inch higher and it has changed the whole feel of the bike. It used to be comfy, but now it just feels right. I cannot wait to get out on it now that the lighter evenings are here. I am so glad that I persevered with all my hacksawing and welding.

Have you had to make many changes to your machine to make it right for you?

 

[arallsopp]

I'm still battling with my new one. For me, fettling with the bike after the first few months is analogous to sitting in my car and moving the electronic lumbar support. Suddenly, I'm aware that something that once was, is not. And then I spend forever after shunting it back and forth only to discover I will always be aware of it, and that its position is perhaps not quite right.

There are so many parameters available in bents. Once the bars are about right, the boom technically correct, and the cleats fairly intuitive, I tend to let muscle memory learn the rest.

Is probably very bad technique. But everything else just leads me to spend entire rides thinking 'should that be 3mm further / nearer / higher / wider / taller / longer / deeper, etc...'

 

[Andy in Sig]

There's a bike firm in Germany called Patria which makes uprights. The clever thing is that their dealers have a sort of jig on which you sit and things are adjusted until everything feels just right and then the measurements are read off and the frame ordered. (I'm sure somebody in the UK must do that to.) I wonder if anybody does it for recumbents.

 

[Amanda P]

My Bentech needed a fair bit of fettling.

The seat was far too wide, so I cut that down.

It's taken me a while to get the boom just right - the "heel on the pedal, leg straight" thing doesn't seem quite right on a 'bent.

My handlebars have also been through several incarnations, and I still have improvements in mind.

When you build the bike yourself, though, you have to expect never to be satisified!

 

[Auntie Helen]

My husband's had his trike for six months and he's still adjusting the boom length to try to stop his knees aching. It just doesn't seem to work for him, partly I think because one of his legs is longer than the other. I got my boom right within a week and it's been brilliant ever since.

 

[byegad]

Helen, if his legs are very different then Highpath engineering, based in Wales, I think, could be the answer with one crank shortened by the appropriate amount.

 

[Auntie Helen]

His legs are only slightly different. I think, actually, it's perhaps a little more to do with not doing enough cycling to build up strength. He seems to be OK on his mountain bike (although doesn't go far on that one either).

 

[xpc316e]

everything else just leads me to spend entire rides thinking 'should that be 3mm further / nearer / higher / wider / taller / longer / deeper, etc...'

I am glad that I am not the only perfectionist in the world - sometimes it's a heavy cross to bear.

 

[Andy in Sig]

My Bentech needed a fair bit of fettling.

The seat was far too wide, so I cut that down.

It's taken me a while to get the boom just right - the "heel on the pedal, leg straight" thing doesn't seem quite right on a 'bent.

My handlebars have also been through several incarnations, and I still have improvements in mind.

When you build the bike yourself, though, you have to expect never to be satisified!

When I got my Street Machine the dealer (also a SM rider) told me that for bents the leg has to be a little bit more bent (too many bents in this sentence) when the leg is fully extended than is the case with uprights. I've found that to be very good advice, at least for me.

 

[byegad]

I agree with Andy, my booms, after a lot of trial and error, are a bit shorter than 'heel on the pedal and leg straight'.

 

[PaulM]

I Disagree

I agree with Andy, my booms, after a lot of trial and error, are a bit shorter than 'heel on the pedal and leg straight'.

I disagree, I've read the opposite, and found the opposite to be true. On recumbents you can have the pedals a bit further away, afterall there isn't the same problem of reaching the ground from the saddle.

 

[bicyclos]

In my case I built my bent around my build. My build is 6' with long legs and shortish body. To tell you the truth its the most comfortable bike I have ever owned. There is some fantastic recumbents / bikes available today, I would love to have the cash available to purchase something exotic and engineered, but then again I have gone bespoke. The leg length I set on my bike is just off straight without stretching which works for me.

 

[byegad]

As both my booms are attached to trikes I don't need to reach the ground. I found I ended up with my Azub-4 boom on the short side too. This had no effect on my ability to reach the ground, it was just more comfortable.
For me a good way of setting up a 'bent is to set the boom using the heel and straight leg method then move the boom in by a centimetre or two. As a first fit this is a good starting point for me. I've just moved my Kettwiesel boom in an extra centimetre after 1300miles and am noticing an improvement. So that's a full inch and more shorter than heel and straight knee would indicate.

Others may differ but it's true for me that I prefer (and am faster with) a more bent leg than I would ride on a DF, where the heel and straight knee method is almost spot on for me, my last four DFs were set this way and only one required a minor tweak after initial set up.

 

[Andy in Sig]

You can afford the straight leg with an upright because if you need a bit of extra force on the pedal (difficult to add extra force with the leg fully extended) all you have to do is rise off the saddle but there is virtually no way you can provide extra force to a fully extended leg on a recumbent. You do however have that option if your leg is slightly bent. The distance to the ground is IMO simply not a factor when determining leg length on a recumbent.

 

[byegad]

You may well have put your finger on it Andy. I certainly climb better with a slightly shorter boom.