I’ve been pondering this, wondering if there was a reasonably straightforward way to modify one of my bikes so that it could still be ridden somewhat normally while seated but also be workable for extended pedaling while standing.
At this point I’ve parked that experiment and with keep things as they are. The bike with the taller frame which is more adapted to higher bars and more standing is currently a single speed and I just don’t want to change that.
So, I can just pick a hilly route if I want to do a whole lot of standing. 😊
With the higher bars, I can also interrupt long periods of riding in the saddle with periods of standing and pedaling up to speed and then coasting, just for a bit of variety of motion. High swept back bars work well for this because I can stand straight up when I coast, which is also a lot of fun.
At a minimum, bigger gears would be needed to keep reasonable resistance on flat terrain. If I try to ride standing on level terrain, the SS gearing of 71 gear inches is simply way too low and I quickly reach a cadence that is fine for seated riding but uncomfortable while standing. Also, if I stand up on regular pedals for long enough my feet will get tired. Thirdly, I’d probably need shorter cranks to reduce knee strain.
There are stand up bikes that use circular pedaling but typically cut the crank length to about 150mm for a total range or step of about 300mm or 12”. That helps reduce stress on the knees.
There are also stand up bikes with elliptical (ElliptiGO for example) and teardrop (Cyclete) motions. There is also at least one that tries to incorporate the arm motions of an elliptical trainer but I suspect would be a very cumbersome machine on my trail rides.
It is an interesting type of machine and might give a really useful variation of weight bearing exercise in cycling form, so it’s something I’m going to keep looking into.
Otto
Last edited by ofajen; 10-03-20 at 09:35 PM.