T50 Preferred Weight Distribution

[atr62]

Hi All,

I’m currently building up a T50 frameset I recently purchased. The build is going well, waiting on a few parts for a 2x11 drive configuration. I’ve been watching what YouTube videos I can find regarding T50 bike fitting, including those provided by Cruzbike. What I’m looking for is optimal seat position in reference to the bike fore/aft weight distribution. The videos posted on YouTube only show the earlier version of the T50 with the fixed seat mount, which places the seat far forward. The latest version of the T50 has an adjustable seat rail which allows the seat to be placed from near rear to near forward distance between the front and rear wheels, allowing seat placement in a location preferred by most recumbents (which favors 60/40 rear/front distribution). Now for my question. Since the T50 is front wheel drive, is the preferred wheel to wheel weight distribution opposite rear wheel drive recumbents or the same?

All the,

Angel

 

[celerator]

A physicist and T50 rider' s opinion: The best seat position is that which you feel most comfortable with, wrt. seat height, pedal height and pedal-seat distance etc. The bicycle's intrinsic driving behavior ist primarily determined by its geometry, and barely affected by the exact seat position within the permitted adjustment range.
Still: shifting the center of mass forward lets you fly over the handle bar more easily during a hard stop (front brake), but also lets you climb steeper hills. If you go through the numbers, you may find these physics aspects less relevant to your personal T50 - driving habits than the physical comfort.
Try it out and decide....

 

[CoolBreeze]

Still: shifting the center of mass forward lets you fly over the handle bar more easily during a hard stop

You’re not likely going to fly over the handle bar on a Cruzbike T50 no matter how hard you stop because of the recumbent position of your body. I believe the ideal position of the seat on a Cruzbike is to be as far forward on the frame as possible and still be comfortable. If your hips are closer to the steering axis, you will be better able to steer with your legs, and also have better traction on the drive wheel from bringing your weight forward.

 

[Xrad-T50]

I am testing ride position on my T50 in hopes of better control with steering. After a 1000 miles commuting I was hoping to deduce the force needed by my arms/shoulders used to counter the feet force on my peddles during starts and climbs. So, if I position the BB and cranks closer to the steering head and slide the seat back an equal amount to maintain my leg reach, will this help to achieve my goal? Currently the seat clamp is almost fully forward on the sliders. Results are pending, but I pose the question to the community and hoping to read other T50 riders ideas.

 

[billyk]

As the others said above, the best position is determined by your comfort sitting on the bike and pedaling for hours.

That said, there are two external-to-you considerations:
1) Front wheel traction. As you move back and unweight the front wheel, you’ll lose the ability to climb steeper hills. You can try leaning forward but in my experience a hill more than 12-15 degrees is unclimbable as my Q45 is set up. Wet or sandy/gravelly pavement makes this worse.
2) Going over the bars. Yeah it’s unlikely, but I’ve done a few “stoppies” that have come close. The EU standard is that the center of mass of bike+rider should be behind a line sloped 60 degrees up and back from the front tire ground contact point. That seems like a good rule of thumb.
This will be hard to determine exactly, but try having someone take a photo from the side of you on the bike, draw a 60 degree line on it, guesstimate.

 

[IyhelM]

I'd think that for better control, you should move your seat forward to lower the BB; in my experience, the lower the BB relatively to seat height, the easier it goes. Plus having the GC closer to the steering axis helps with short turns.

 

[celerator]

If your hips are closer to the steering axis

and you are dimensioned like me, then the insides of your (strong) legs might rub against the frame.
Moving the pedals outward through axis extensions didn't help.

 

[atr62]

Thank you all for your feedback. It’s been very helpful. Currently, I have the T50 attached to my Wahoo Core. I’m using the trainer and Zwift to dial in the seating position before trying it in the real world. I tried riding the T50 this past weekend, and I haven’t been this all at once terrified and excited since my very first time on a bike. It’s a handful. So let’s see how it goes once I get this bike fitted.