In article <[email hidden]>,
Mark Hickey said:Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:Mark Hickey wrote:
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:>>> <http://www.challengebikes.com/images/picture.php?filename=images/fotos
>>> /nme/foto-001.jpg&size=500&type=2&quality=87>,
>>>
>>> <http://www.challengebikes.com/html/picturepopup.php?picture=images%2Ff
>>> otos%2Fnme%2Ffoto-011.jpg&quality=87&size=100%25&type=0&show_info_tags=
>>> 1&sort=1&repeat=&taal=en>,
>>>
>>> <http://www.challengebikes.com/images/picture.php?filename=images/fotos
>>> /nme/foto-012.jpg&size=500&type=2&quality=87>.
I suspect trying to keep your right knee away from the chain might
keep you awake... (or do 'bent riders like to ride with their knees
"John Wayne style"😉. ;-)
Having owner several lowracers and ridden a few more, contact between
the chain and the rider's leg will not be an issue, unless the rider
has very fat legs. In that case, he/she is not likely to be riding a
high performance bike.
I'm truly curious about this though - I know on my own wedgie bikes,
my knees pass within an inch or so of the top tube. If I assume that
I don't automatically go all bow-legged when riding a 'bent, I'd
assume that the when my knees passed across the upper chainline/pulley
on the 'bent in the photos above, that they'd be similarly close to
the bike's centerline (something around two inches / 5cm or less).
Clearly the chain is further from the bike's centerline than that - I
suspect that the tube itself is wider than that - add at least a
couple more inches for the idler pulley and chain, and I simply don't
see why I wouldn't be smacking some part of my leg on the drivetrain
regularly.
What am I missing?
I suspect there's two easy answers here:
1) despite what you may think, your knee never goes near the chain (or
that top idler pulley). It traces a circle within the triangle made by
the chain run, and that circle may not even cover the frame tube. Note
that the seat is really low: your leg definitely on a strongly upward
line. Indeed, this bike seems to have a high "bottom" bracket even by
lowracer standards. Hm...I checked a few, this seems fairly typical of
lowracer designs.
2) the Q factor could just be really bad, fixing all the clearance
problems.
I think a more serious concern is whether this vehicle (human powered)
might inspire more bad lowracer epic poems:
http://32go.us/pow/lowracer.htm
Please, no,
--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos
