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 obtained it.
This seat is probably extra snug as a result of it could recline extra. It additionally ought to be extra aerodynamic. The principle 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 internal nerd was curious concerning the potential velocity benefit.
The seat on the left was the unique seat, referred to as the “recurve”. The one on the precise 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 difficulty on the Euromesh due to its form. The 2 are proven facet by facet with the usual incline.
You possibly can 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 velocity trial on considered 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 laborious on the seat again of the recurve when going quick, however on the Euromesh it felt like I’d waste some power sliding on the seat.
Skilled cyclists on typical 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 velocity 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 wished to strive, even when telescoped to the shortest size. I didn’t wish to reduce the stays as a result of that may make them unsuitable for the opposite seat. So I kludged collectively momentary stays utilizing dowels. If this had labored I may have made it extra official by shopping for some tubing. The “prototype” is proven beneath.
This place is much more aerodynamic however would take some getting used to comfort-wise. I attempted performing some brief sprints with it to check velocity, 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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