Handling challenges with the S40

[rdl03]

I'm probably close to 1000km on my S40, and things are going much better. I still have two problems areas (and, since one lead to a fall and a scraped up leg), don't consider them exactly "trivial".
1. the main ride I do on a regular basis has about a dozen very sharp turns (90-135 degress). Most on them involve getting onto or off of one of several narrow (6 foot wide) bike/pedestrian bridges. It's a struggle every time. I slow way down. A majority of the time I'm fine, but every so often my leg and the handlebars get in each other's way. Is there something wrong with my setup, or is this just something Cruzbikes aren't designed for.
2. Coming to a stop. Part of the problem is that my Crankbros pedals are a little crabby to get out of (I have some "easy release cleats" that I will install.). Getting my feet out of the pedals, and weight forward enough to get my feet on the ground is a challenge (and led to a fall trying to do this at the end of a tight circle on grass). Other than resolving the "get foot out of pedal quickly issue", any other ideas about how to quickly get to a "stable and ready to come to a stop without being close to falling" problem?
Interestingly, there have been two significant (multi-week) gaps in my Cruzbike riding. Each time I came back to the bike feeling much more comfortable on the bike, as though some sort of neural skill integration happens during time off the bike.

 

[ratz]

Sharper than 90 degree is unclip situation, practice low speed very tight figure-8’s with your back up off the seat and you will Learn the boundaries and build the skills need to recover at the same time

Unclipping is yeah olde do it sooner. Unlike a road bike there is no penalty for unclipping early just let the legs dangle and coast. When you want to stand pull your knees toward your shoulders and you will roll forward in the seat and quickly be able to stand

When no one is looking also practice riding unclipped spread-eagle with your feet as high as you can manage. For some reason that does wonders for the mount and dismount skillz

 

[Frito Bandito]

1 thing you may check is the cleat tension in the pedals. I am using Shimano 105 SPD pedals and they have the option to tighten the clipping mechanism with a hex key (Allen wrench). Mine are set on the weakest setting making it easy to unclip.

With that said, there is an ascending switch back on my usual route, but it is wide enough so that I can just lean into the turn while pedaling without much hassle. If yours is more narrow then you might have to adjust your coasting in speeds and approach into the turn so that you won't have to pedal at the times your bars are in the way of your knees.

 

[celerator]

pedals are a little crabby to get out of

After having similar worries and a few falls - starting and stopping - , I replaced the clickies by magnetic pedals, and everybody riding our Cruzbike T50 feels much safer and comfortable now. There is no apparent change in performance; the usual speed is not very high, though.
The Magpeds are a bit expensive at >100€; various magnets for DIY solutions are readily available for little money.

 

[Beano]

When performing tight turns unclip the leg which you'll be turning into and just let your foot hang but not hit the floor. If you need power just use your other foot to put power through the crank but don't let the crank turn all the way through the dead spot, instead just before you get to the dead spot pull your foot back to the start of the power stroke, rinse and repeat until the turn is completed.

In terms of unclipping, just unclip a few seconds earlier, unclip your no dominant foot and let it hang, but not hit the floor, roll to a stop and your foot is already there to put down.

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[chicorider]

When performing tight turns unclip the leg which you'll be turning into and just let your foot hang but not hit the floor. If you need power just use your other foot to put power through the crank but don't let the crank turn all the way through the dead spot, instead just before you get to the dead spot pull your foot back to the start of the power stroke, rinse and repeat until the turn is completed.

In terms of unclipping, just unclip a few seconds earlier, unclip your no dominant foot and let it hang, but not hit the floor, roll to a stop and your foot is already there to put down.

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I do what @Beano does, except when I'm moving through tight and/or narrow turns I shift into an easy gear and use my still-clipped in foot to pedal full spins through the turn, rather than ratcheting the crank. It seems like both methods would work fine and is more a matter of preference.

 

[RobertM]

Two points to prefix my comment;
1. I ride a V2k, not an S40, so a more upright position.
2. I'm nothing like an expert, this is my first season, I've got about 3500 km on the bike.

With that said, I do have some experience with tight corner falls, I had one early in my learning experience. A tight left-right-left uphill chicane on an approximately two meter wide multi-use path. I've since negotiated the same corner countless times without incident.

What works for me (specifically in tight, low-speed corners) is a combination of:
1. Entering a tight corner with enough speed to coast through.
2. Being in the right gear to accelerate as I come out of the turn
3. Shifting my upper body on the seat to the outside of the turn as I enter.

This last point seems to be important for me. I stumbled on it almost by accident, but it for me it works. After some analysis, I've convinced myself that what's happening is, by shifting my weight to the outside of the turn, I need more bike lean for a given turn-radius/bike-speed combination.

In this context the important effect of that extra lean is increasing the effective turn angle of the front wheel with respect to the rear wheel on the ground for a given amount of applied steering lock at the handlebars.

What I'm trying to say is that, for a certain fixed amount of handlebar turn, as the angle of lean of the bike into the turn increases, the angle between the rolling path of the front wheel and rear wheel becomes sharper, and the resulting turn radius decreases, so at low speed, this lean gives me more clearance around my legs for a given turning radius.

Sorry for the verbiage, it works better with a diagram. Also this (shifting the upper body) is probably easier to do on the V2k with its more upright riding position. Also want to stress this only works for low-speed corners.

YMMV

BobM