Recumbent Fit

This client had specific needs and some general worries. Due to an accident years ago, an upright bike was out of the question. Leg length and mobility of the left leg was an issue that needed to be solved. Slipping off on flat platform pedals was an every day occurrence and dangerous for any rider. This three wheeled recumbent was the best choice for comfort, power generation and for long distance rides. As with all clients, we got to work using the fit axioms as the starting point and then adjusting according to the the limits of the body.

The first step was to choose the right pedal. Ideally I would fit everyone on Time RXS road pedals, with their cafe cleats. These are very adjustable on their own, take Lemond wedges very easily and have a very walkable cleat. This client wanted to be able to walk around in the shoes and due to mobility issues, the TIME RXS were out of the question. I recommended the Crank Brothers Acid and Specialized BG Tahoe MTB Shoe. These pedals have 4 sided entry for easy engagement, are a simple spring-clamp mechanism and the shoes have an excellent walking tread with pontoons on the sole to work as an interface with the pedal. These pontoons, rest perfectly on the wide body plates of the pedals (that afford lots of forgiveness when clipping in and help with power communication). These pedals do not have left and right cleat adjustment and I would be limited by the number of shims I could insert as I needed to keep the cleats from interfering with walking.

Pedals on, adjustments were made and success! Power generation increased, there was no chance of slipping of the pedals while riding and the entry system proved to be easy. I adjusted for a leg length difference by adjusting cleat placement on each shoe and adding shims. The cleat clamping mechanism chewed up the front part of the shim, but the stack and cant were not affected.

As this is a recumbent, measurements are not exactly like a road or time trial bike, but we shortened the distance from the middle of the gel saddle (very comfortable by the way) to the BB to reduce the amount of reaching that the client was doing in order to compensate for range of motion issues. Ideal knee angle on a time trial bike is 145-150 degrees and we were able to achieve 128 degrees, with a smooth pedal stroke. The pedal stroke was made more efficient as well by aligning the knee and ankle as much as possible. Once again a pedal system with left-right adjustable cleats would have been ideal so that I can more easily place the knee over the ankle, but as walk-ability was key, the Crankbrothers pedal system were the best choice.