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PostPosted: Sun May 05, 2013 2:52 pm 
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Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:50 pm
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Location: Big Bear Lake&Claremont CA
1st has anyone successfully changed out they're pedals and had the change-out come out looking professional looking.

2nd Just like in bicycling cadence is the key to good constant speed, I'd like to hear others feedback on there on pedal motion my own is to keep the strokes short and roughly in the middle of its range not allowing the stroke to travel out to the stops at the ends of the travel.

3rd I've recently switched to a 170mm crankset on my commuter bike from a 180mm and have had a very noticable improvement in pedaling motion has anyone played with shaft length in either direction seemably my hip is less irritated by this change but because the Mirage drive just goes straight back & forth the efficency is very different so just roll'in thoughts throw the head.

Fastfish

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PostPosted: Sun May 05, 2013 3:43 pm 
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Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:17 pm
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Location: Auckland NZ
1st question: I did change pedals one one set of cranks - this was the older style with the screw in pedals and I changed because I couldn't at the time lay my hands on a replacement pedal in NZ.

The pedal I changed to was a double-sided thing called a sand pedal - designed for those cruiser bikes that you see round beaches - it looks OK and works OK but it is not as comfortable as the large pads of the standard Hobie pedals because your toes hang over the pedal (unless you have much daintier feet then mine) which is tiring over long distances.

The one big advantage of these pedals is that, being double sided, they make the pedal/crank assembly universally sided (i.e. not either right- or left-handed - or should that be "footed"). Now this may be a fine point for most Hobiers but I have broken 3 cranks to date and on long trips I like to carry a spare. When you buy one of the new cranks with the pedal hard-fixed to it you must buy either a left-footed or a right-footed one because of the orientation of the pedal - so to carry a spare of the new 'sided' crank assemblies you must carry two spares because you don't know which side is going to break. What I am planning to do is to replace my unsided crank/pedal assemblies with a pair of the new sided ones then carry a single unsided spare in each of my 2 kayaks so that I know that if a pedal or crank breaks I have a ready replacement for either crank inside the boat (N.B. to make the replacement you need to carry a suitable spanner and a 2mm allen key on your boat too to remove the bolt that holds the pedal in and the grub screw that holds the adjustment pin assembly onto the crank which you need to shift to the new crank).

2nd question: Longer strokes seem to me to be more effective but I stop short of bashing the fins into the hull at the end of each stroke (I have Adventure hulls). Over a long distance I tend to vary the strokes somewhat to help overcome fatigue.

3rd question. Personally I couldn't be bothered trying to alter the cranks - they seem perfectly OK to me as they are and it would be a complex-enough fix without risking the expense of having to reverse the change if the change didn't work out right.


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PostPosted: Mon May 06, 2013 4:04 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:59 am
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Fastfish wrote:
1st has anyone successfully changed out they're pedals and had the change-out come out looking professional looking. Answer: NO

2nd Just like in bicycling cadence is the key to good constant speed, I'd like to hear others feedback on there on pedal motion my own is to keep the strokes short and roughly in the middle of its range not allowing the stroke to travel out to the stops at the ends of the travel. Answer: i use about 2/3 of a stroke and never go full range and let the fins hit the yak. Althought in rought water and hight winds it sometimes happens trying to keep the power going.

3rd I've recently switched to a 170mm crankset on my commuter bike from a 180mm and have had a very noticable improvement in pedaling motion has anyone played with shaft length in either direction seemably my hip is less irritated by this change but because the Mirage drive just goes straight back & forth the efficency is very different so just roll'in thoughts throw the head. Answer: peddling a bicycle is a different movement to the mirage drive. Shortening the shaft length only shorten the distance your feet will travel for full movement. Does not change the direction of the motion. I believe in windy conditions you will see a reduction in power and then an much quicker fatigue time. but I am only quessing on this answer.

Good Luck. Let us know how it turns out if you experiment with some of the equipment.

One last thought. if you raise the seat height you will change the angle of the push on the drive and I have heard others on here say it improved their hip movement and reduced the hurt after the day was over.

Fastfish


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PostPosted: Mon May 06, 2013 4:12 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:27 pm
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Location: Tarpon Springs, Florida
Thinwater skinner - do you know of a good way to increase seat height on an Adventure? I've already doubled up the original seat pad with one of the icomfort (inflatable) ones.

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PostPosted: Tue May 07, 2013 12:36 pm 
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Diver_fcd wrote:
Thinwater skinner - do you know of a good way to increase seat height on an Adventure? I've already doubled up the original seat pad with one of the icomfort (inflatable) ones.


NO,, most of the raised post on here are for the PA.. Sorry about that. I know my wife sits on a boat cushion, but that is only about an extra 2 inches of height..


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PostPosted: Fri May 10, 2013 8:54 pm 
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Location: Australia
Look into the Skipper seat mod I came up with for AIs (same hull). Be warned though - I tested it on my Ai in adventure mode and although I was able to use it, stability is affected greatly.

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PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2013 4:05 pm 
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I installed a cushioned boat seat on my Outback and it worked great, surprisingly it was still super stable and i had no issues.


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