# Boom position



## ACW (10 Aug 2009)

Hi All
after reading as much as I could find about boom position am I right in saying that I should move the boom out until my knees stop hurting and back in until I can ride up hills fast. Sound about right?
Thanks
Andy


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## Bigtwin (10 Aug 2009)

Not sure how much small variations in boom are going to impact upon climbing speeds!

I find that mine are best with about the same degree of leg extension as my DD bike - about 15 degree of knee bend at bottom of stroke. An inch either way doesn't actually make a huge difference as I find I just sit a little differently to adjust.


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## Auntie Helen (10 Aug 2009)

I've found that boom position, once right, just feels 'right'. When I use my husband's Trice (his boom is about 10cm shorter than mine) I feel like my knees are round my ears and I'm all cramped.

I made the boom so that I can get my heel on the pedal with a straight leg (like a bicycle) and it's worked well for me.

I don't think you'll ever be able to ride up hills fast!


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## byegad (10 Aug 2009)

I find that the general rule for DFs (Sitting on the seat and put your heel on the pedal, you should just be able to lock your knee.) works sort of OK the main problem being that a recumbent seat isn't as positive in your ocation fore and aft. 

However in all three cases I set up a bent with that guide line I've shortened the boom by another 1 or 2 cms. Somehow this feels better and I climb faster. The other thing I've found is that I need to fit the cleats as far back as I can get them in the slots to avoid numb toes. I think the two are connected.


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## ACW (11 Aug 2009)

Hi
i find that as i move the boom out i seem to slide down the seat to compensate, but riding sitting further back feels better, less strain on the knees. Am I right in saying you don’t want to move the boom so far out that you have to stretch to pedal.
Thanks

Andy


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## squeaker (11 Aug 2009)

ACW said:


> Hi
> i find that as i move the boom out i seem to slide down the seat to compensate, but riding sitting further back feels better, less strain on the knees. Am I right in saying you don’t want to move the boom so far out that you have to stretch to pedal.


Yes! I use the conventional heel on pedal with straight leg method, with my bum firmly seated. I guess it depends upon the seat you are using, though, as IIRC some Burroughs seats are said to facilitate a range of locations 
HTH.


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## byegad (11 Aug 2009)

Yes a Windcheetah rider told me the same thing. TBH I move up and down the mesh seat on my QNT by a fair bit in the course of a ride. I also move around on my Kettwiesel seat, but not as much as it is more upright and so has less scope for creeping up and down the slope of the seat.


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## ACW (11 Aug 2009)

Thanks, Food for thought, i will try it a bit longer see if it feels better

Andy


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## byegad (11 Aug 2009)

I forgot to mention, in the course of setting up my new Kettwiesel last year I had the boom a bit too far out and suffered knee pain, outside of the joint. Moving it in by just under 1cm made all of the difference.


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## Andy in Sig (12 Aug 2009)

When I got my bent the bloke in the shop said that at full extension the knee needs to be tad more bent than for a normal bike. This certainly works for me. That said I did get slightly achy knees for the first few hundred kms but this was IMO due to my musculature adapting to a bent and also because I needed to learn to start moving in lower gears than on a normal bike.


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## zykling (12 Aug 2009)

squeaker said:


> Yes! I use the conventional heel on pedal with straight leg method, with my bum firmly seated. I guess it depends upon the seat you are using, though, as IIRC some Burroughs seats are said to facilitate a range of locations
> HTH.


Burrows


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## squeaker (13 Aug 2009)

zykling said:


> Burrows


Knew I should have checked....


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## ACW (23 Aug 2009)

Hi 
its getting better and better, reclined the seat and i now feel more locked in one position. less knee pain and i am now managing 17.9 mph average for a 20 mile ride definitely felt faster and more comfortable, think i have the boom position right now.

Cheers 

Andy


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## arallsopp (26 Aug 2009)

I had the boom set in the shop for both my bents, and have ridden them about 3k miles each in the last year. Little adjustments, 2mm at a time until perfect. 

On LEL, I pushed the boom out another inch in the dark, in the rain, without any kind of measure, because it bl00dy hurt if I didn't. Now its even better.

Other bike hurts though, so going to have to do the same. 

Possibly without the cycle over Cumbria bit.


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## byegad (26 Aug 2009)

I'm surprised you needed to adjust it so far if it was OK for 3k miles. I've found on all three of my 'bents that once set up, which took a few hundred miles to get everything just so, I am comfortable for any length of ride.


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## arallsopp (28 Aug 2009)

Me too. But it was exceptional circumstances to be fair (+400 miles in two days).


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