Final January I handled myself to a seventieth birthday current of a brand new seat for my recumbent. Sadly attributable to supply-chain points, it ended up back-ordered, and I simply received it.
This seat is doubtlessly extra snug as a result of it may recline extra. It additionally ought to be extra aerodynamic. The primary goal of the brand new seat is consolation, not aerodynamics, so I’ll get good use out of it. However being a retired engineer, my interior nerd was curious in regards to the potential pace benefit.
The seat on the left was the unique seat, known as the “recurve”. The one on the appropriate is named the “Euromesh”. There’s a restrict to reclining on the recurve as a result of it makes the entrance stick up too far and whack into the again of your legs. This isn’t a problem on the Euromesh due to its form. The 2 are proven facet by facet with the usual incline.
You may see there’s heaps extra room to decrease the Euromesh. I attempted out the brand new seat with it reclined a number of extra inches than the recurve. I did a pace trial on certainly one of my normal Strava routes, the Coyote Creek path to Bailey Ave and again. Surprisingly, I used to be a couple of minutes slower than my finest time. It felt like I couldn’t put out as a lot energy. I can push actually arduous on the seat again of the recurve when going quick, however on the Euromesh it felt like I’d waste some vitality sliding on the seat.
Skilled cyclists on standard bikes have additionally run right into a trade-off between being extra aero and the power to place out energy. However I hadn’t heard of this on recumbents. I do know that every one the pace information on recumbents are set on very reclined seats.
I’m cussed and wasn’t prepared to surrender. It turned out that the size of the stays holding up the seat within the again prevented reclining so far as I needed to attempt, even when telescoped to the shortest size. I didn’t wish to minimize the stays as a result of that might make them unsuitable for the opposite seat. So I kludged collectively momentary stays utilizing dowels. If this had labored I might have made it extra official by shopping for some tubing. The “prototype” is proven under.
This place is much more aerodynamic however would take some getting used to comfort-wise. I attempted doing a little quick sprints with it to check pace, and once more, surprisingly, it was not any quicker. However this additionally may need been as a result of pedaling felt extra awkward. This can be only a matter of getting used to the brand new place and adjusting my pedaling fashion.
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