[python] Re: Climbing and test rides



Interesting with the seat height. Wonder if it is only the height visavi ground level that is interesting. Could it also have an effect how high the seat is placed in relation to wheel's center?


olaf


On Apr 15, 2005, at 6:55, Sam v. Herwaarden wrote:

So, why the extension in the first place? Well, in non-technical terms, I
envision the "balance" envelope as being a large "V" shape (when looking at
the bike from the front or rear) with the point touching the ground at the
tires. If the CoG is very low, the bike doesn't have to tip side to side
very much before the CoG is outside this "V", and you lose control and tip
over. I figured that if the CoG was raised, this would not only allow the
CoG to travel further before it got out of control, but the extra movement
distance would mean you could "feel" the tipping a little easier, and allow
the rider to make less precise corrections to regain balance. 

Yeah - this is the reason why a (normal) recumbent like a Condor is
much easier to ride in rough terrain than others.

How did the extension work? Like a charm! :) I was amazed at how much the
handling changed by raising the seat 2", while leaving everything else the
same. My friend who could already ride it, looked far smoother and he
commented on how much easier it was to keep control. He was practicing
figure 8's and doing very tight turns both with and without clipless pedals.
For me, while I couldn't ride or balance the python at all before, I found
that I could now ride a few feet balancing myself and I could actually
"feel" the balance of the bike now. This was in one ride that lasted under
2 minutes. Our other friend who could balance it a little bit before, but
still had big stability problems, and could now ride it too. We were all
very pleased and very excited at this "breakthrough". 

=0 That's amazing.

While lots of theoretical conversation, applications and math are fine from
an engineering standpoint, they don't do me much good, unfortunately. I
need plain information on a particular aspect of the bike, and exactly what
it does, good or bad. IE, I know that angles higher than about 68 degrees
make the front end feel "light" and too easy to steer(some don't like this,
others do). Now I also know that the higher the seat, the easier it is to
feel the balance point and learn to ride. I imagine there is a point where
the seat is now too high, and I also wonder what the BB to seat relation
does as far as control goes. On my python, I'm going to raise the seat
three inches and see if that has a further positive effect, which I think it
will. I'll try to experiment a little and see what it does when I get the
seat at 32 or 33cm. The seat position of the python is similar to that on
high racer recumbents, so, as long as a functional BB to seat measurement is
maintained, has anyone come across any good reasons to have a low python
aside from possible aerodynamic advantages? 

Well it seems to be really important to be able to touch the ground
easily, and it might make a difference when looking at that. But
actually I don't really know at what heights this starts to matter.
I'd guess somewhere around 35 cm.

Sam
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