Long distances

[John]

Hi,

I have had my A-Bike for about two
weeks now and I love it!

I am used to its handling now
and it feels quite 'normal' to
ride now.

I commute to work on it each day,
about 2 miles, although I did do
a 30Km (18 mile) round-trip ride
on one day.

So it is possible to ride longer
distances, although this is not
what it was designed for.

John

[Garry]

Hi John

I'm quite amazed that you did a 30km trip on the A-Bike, congratulations!

I'd find the saddle too painful for that, but more importantly the too short seat post would seriously mess up my knees if I tried it. How tall are you?

Garry

[John]

Hi Garry,

I am about 6 foot tall.

Well, I have to admit that I replaced the seat and seatpost
with standard bike parts! I used a standard bicycle
seatpost of 25.4mm diameter, with a 'normal'
seat attached. This gave me the comfort and seat
height required to do the trip.

However, the seat did make the folded size alot bigger.
Since that trip, I have been using the original A-bike seat
for commuting to work (3Km),
but I still use the longer seatpost.
So now I have a good seat height as well as
the compact fold. But it does mean I have to drop
the seat height when folding to get the minimum
folded size.

I have a blog where you can see a photo of me on the
30Km trip:

http://a-bike-owner.blogspot.com/

There is not much info there yet, but I going to add more soon.

John

Hi John

I'm quite amazed that you did a 30km trip on the A-Bike, congratulations!

I'd find the saddle too painful for that, but more importantly the too short seat post would seriously mess up my knees if I tried it. How tall are you?

Garry

[Garry]

Hi John

I was wondering about changing the seat with standard parts, and I'm glad to hear it worked for you. I'm sure that will be very useful for all A-Bike owners.

I'm even more impressed that you did some of the 30km off-road! I'd love to use that photo on my news page if you don't mind. Please let me know

Garry

[John]

Hi Gary,

Sure, I'd be proud if you used my photo!

The A-Bike seatpost diameter is 25.4mm.
This diameter is available, from bike shops,
although not as common as it used to be.
I found one made of 6061-T6 Aluminuim,
(K-Alloy brand)
which is the same material the original A-Bike
seatpost is made from.

After doing the 30Km ride with new seatpost
and seat, I was very happy with it, but it did
affect the folded size. So I cut the head off the
new seatpost, and drilled a hole in it to fit the
original A-Bike seat. So now I have the original
seat but with a longer post.

One caveat - a longer seatpost will put more
stress on the bike. Your weight is also
more over the back wheel, making
unintentional wheelies more likely.
I also found that as you now reach
further down to the handlebars, it
would be better if the brake levers
could be adjusted to point more downwards.
This would however affect the folding....

So I think there are diminishing returns
on how high
you can really run the seat.
Since I normally use the bike for shorter
distances (2 - 5Km) I can live with
a less than optimal seat height
and the less comfortable A-Bike seat.

I have been looking around for other
seats. some conventional seats
have substantial cutaways at the
rear of the seat; also there are
'noseless' seats available, which could
work.

John I

Hi John

I was wondering about changing the seat with standard parts, and I'm glad to hear it worked for you. I'm sure that will be very useful for all A-Bike owners.

I'm even more impressed that you did some of the 30km off-road! I'd love to use that photo on my news page if you don't mind. Please let me know

Garry

[Izzard]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I've spotted this saddle on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0065015307

It looks like it has a spring in the post and suspension on the saddle base too - apart from the lack of folding I think it might be a nice replacement if the A-bike saddle is too unconfortable (and fairly cheap, too).

I've emailed the seller to ask if it will fit the A-bike.

[Guest]

You already drive a very long distance everyday.

[Weakling]

The guy I link to Lars Viebke :
http://www.viebke.nu/vikcyklar/a-bike/sadel/

He wrote in Swedish a review of the A-bike.
He didn't like the saddle either so he bought
a "standard" Velo saddle for women and added a
quick release bolt that allowed him to make it folding.

It will make a-bike a bit bigger when folded but
not dramatically bigger.

He has advanced trikes on his homepage.
Composite glassfiber.

Edit in correction.