X-Seam measurement

[Elizabethsdad]

Checking out the Windcheetah currently for sale in the market place and the seller quotes X-Seam measurement which I have not heard of before. So I queried this and then checked my own and the seller rechecked his. We both have an x-seam of 42.5" but I am 6' with a 34" inside leg and the seller is 5'8" with a 28" inside leg. As he says he has it set up close to it's shortest setting I am hopeful that it will adjustto fit me but it does make you ask how reliable this x-seam measurement is. Of course this may all be accademic as I have yet to try and get the wife to let me go and look at it let alone buy it and am not hopeful here as the she recently asked me why i was looking at trikes on e-bay and said 'so long as you are just looking and not buying'.

[[XAP]Bob]

Second hand first trike is a trial. Resale value is good, so you are running a cheap hire.

That's how I justified mine.

[Elizabethsdad]

Asked the wife just now about going to see the Windcheetah in Aldershot with a view to buying it and she is convinced it is a bad idea as I will be run off the road and killed by the first white van man who gets behind me and wants to pass in a huury. All the responses about having greater road presence, three wheel stability and quite probably being faster than a normal bike just died before they could pass my lips in the face of such unreasoned animosity. I think my wife would be much happier if I drove a tank to work.

[jayjay]

I've been triking to work for just over a week.
Without exception, so far overtaking vehicles have given at least 4 feet clearance, even if it meant waiting to pass. (On my upright bike many give much less room, and some barge past regardless).
Two have stopped at parked vehicles to let me pass the other way.

The only negative point so far is seeing over long grass verges at road junctions. I had to look around them when I got to the end instead.

I hope you can find a reasonable way onto The Dark Side without marital stress.

[[XAP]Bob]

I have a year of each on the same route as a direct comparison.

5 police reportable incidents in year one (the last of which prompted me to cycle home that evening on the 'bent due to damage to the back wheel)

0 the next year (only one memorable smidsy)

[hercule]

My wife is far happier if I'm out on one of my trikes rather than an upwrong. Her own personal experience of altered driver behaviour does go a long way to help, of course.

OTOH, recumbent bikes are ALL WRONG despite arguments of hitting thing with feet rather than head...

[zoxed]

...We both have an x-seam of 42.5" but I am 6' with a 34" inside leg and the seller is 5'8" with a 28" inside leg...

I agree that X-seam is what counts on a recumbent. I guess you both used the same method for measuring the X-seam, but did you use the same method to determine inside leg ? I am never sure exactly how to measure this (e.g. for trousers): did you both measure from the floor to your 'sit bones' ? Did you both measure it yourself, which requires bending over which alters the measurement ? Or did a friend measure it ?

[ajs]

As a W’cheetah (W’C) owner and regular, year-round cycle-commuter aspects of the above thread strike a chord. I thought I might therefore add a few notes.



There are, probably, few compelling reasons to buy a W’C but plenty of good excuses. They’re elegant, technically interesting and, above all, good fun to ride. My essential (rather than recreational) annual cycling mileage is on a mix of machines (upright, recumbent, two wheels and three). Around 1.5-2K miles of this is by recumbent; enough to encounter a good range of weather and traffic.



I couldn’t justify a W’C on the grounds of its being a superior commuting machine. In the absence of significant traffic it is marginally quicker; I suspect by virtue of putting in extra effort to maximise the “fun factor”. It’s easy, however, to get bogged down in heavy traffic and there are circumstances where visibility to other road users is an issue. As others have said, being overtaken by traffic is not a problem but extra caution is needed in cluttered environments where visibility is generally poor for all; narrow suburban roads with parked cars and side roads, at night in the rain demand particular vigilance. However, remaining alert to the risks and acting on the presumption that one may not have been seen seems to have kept me out of harm’s way, so far (or is it luck!).



Over the last 15 months my recumbent riding has focussed more on my Raptobike Lowracer than on the W’C and the same observations apply. Both are equipped with mudguards, pannier rack and lights; without which their utility as commuting machines would be limited. I find the spray from the front wheels of a recumbent trike w/o mudguards particularly irritating.



On X-seam and W’C sizing, I bought my machine from its original purchaser. I assumed it was sized correctly for him and my X-seam is 45in compared to his 44in; despite our having different “physiques”. The limited adjustment for leg length on the W’C (cf. other trikes) is an issue but the nature of the W’C seat provides some compensation. Like them or loathe them, W’C seats are less anatomically shaped than those on some recumbents. There is, therefore, a less obvious fore and aft “seating position”. I’d estimate you could achieve +/- 2in “adjustment” without moving the seat on the frame just by shuffling up or down the seat. I’ve never moved my seat (but perhaps should, to check for frame corrosion under the “U-bolt”!).



Having ridden an ICE trike, albeit briefly, I’d say they are the more practical, versatile and comfortable option, than the W’C, for anyone “set” on owning a recumbent, tadpole trike. But, the W’C is not simply a human-powered conveyance, it’s a work of art; worth having just to look at!

[Elizabethsdad]

I was talking to my sister in law on the phone last night and I admitted to her that while there were some good reasons for commuting on the Windcheetah - the real reason was that it is a gorgeous machine that I would really enjoy riding. I had a Trice explorer many years ago which I sold because I hadn't been using it (I went thrugh a non-cycling dark age) and i had suffered a slipped disc so I thought at the time my days of clambering in and out of recumbent were over. But my back has been fine ever since and I miss my Trice explorer.

[Edwards]

How do you measure the X-seam?

[MuirSR]

There's an explanation on the Bacchetta website.

Now, my own question: how do Mark Colliton and John Schlitter pronounce Bacchetta — hard or soft ch; Backetta or Bashetta, or something else?