what is the normal pedalling frequency?

[patricklee]

Just bought the unit and started practicig it and found it is trick to start the quest against normal recumbent that I used to have and I am sure I would overcome this. I have developped a practice that I have to use one right hand to push the handlebar when I pedal with right leg and vice versa, this would creat a counter resistance not allowing the wheel to turn side. Is this a correct way of "counter resistance"?

I have to wear shoes with locks onto the pedal when I ride with my old recumbent otherwise the shoes could easiy fall off the pedal on high frequency of pedallig. would it be the same with Quest?

 

[John Tolhurst]

Pedal frequency is as per a

Pedal frequency is as per a normal bike, clipping the shoes to the pedals helps a lot, but not at first. Try to practice with the least amount of pressure on the bars as possible, open palms, till your body gets the idea.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Hi,
I don't have experience

Hi,

I don't have experience on any SWB recumbents other than my Sofrider, but my understanding is people tend to have a slightly slower cadence on MBB than on regular SWB bikes. I do find that my cadence has gotten higher the more used to the bike I am (I now average around 80 RPM). And clipping into the pedals I find helps A LOT with this.

The more used to riding you get, the less you'll find that your arms need to be involved (and some people like riding with no hands at all). For hills and sprints, you can still bring the arms back into it as you wish.

Cheers,
Charles

 

[Kim Tolhurst]

Hi, have you seen?

When the rolling practise happens and then the peddle roll peddle, pushing forward with arms, open palms as John says, the counter steer is balanced out with your legs. Later your arms become the power added function. =)

www.cruzbiking.com.au First Ride.

look well ahead and whistle.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Kim,
You never mentioned

Kim,

You never mentioned whistling before. Now I have to go back and start over...

Cheers,
Charles

 

[John Tolhurst]

@cplager: "I don't have

@cplager: "I don't have experience on any SWB recumbents other than my Sofrider, but my understanding is people tend to have a slightly slower cadence on MBB than on regular SWB bikes"

Ride your cruzbike as per a normal bike, the rules of thumb for SWB or any other rear wheel drive recumbent do not relate. Because the manner of engaging the body is more like a regular bike.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Hi John,
I don't think we're

Hi John,

I don't think we're disagreeing here. And this is particularly easy for me to do since I only have "regular" bike experience (ignoring my unicycle riding).

One last thing "I've heard on the street" (and sound reasonable but may not be): E-rings work better for those who mash (or ride at a lower cadence) than those who spin. This makes intuitive sense to me (and would make the e-ring a reasonable choice for MBB bikes). Your thoughts?

Cheers,
Charles

 

[John Tolhurst]

Hi Charles, 
in agreement,

Hi Charles,
in agreement, yes we are.

I don't have an insight into whether e-rings are better for mashers (riders with low cadence). But I can tell you that their success on bents is due to the effect of lowering the peak tension in the chain, which reduces the peak amount of flex in the frame. We don't have that problem either, but smoothing out the torque in theory would make the bike easier to ride, and after all, Maria Parker sets her records with them so I concluded they were a good think for our bikes and are ideally mated with the SRAM 3 x 9 on the Quest.