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kaiser":9o94rx5r said:
I have ridden Cleland/Highpath bikes for many years, and though I sometimes suffer from excruciating back pain riding a Cleland has never aggravate the pain in the way that other bikes can. On a correctly set up Cleland style bike, you are as upright as when you are walking and your back remains straight. On rough terrain you can stand bolt upright on the pedals and simply let the bike move around beneath you whilst your body remains upright. The whole technique of riding the bike is very different from your regular mountain bike and it is remarkably fast and efficient off-road. I also use a ThudBuster suspension seat post to improve comfort when sitting in the saddle.
Any bike with a short enough top tube can be converted to a Cleland' riding position by using a special type of stem that moves the handlebars up and back until your back becomes straight. You no longer need to put any weight on your arms and riders with wrist pain find this useful. Finally, you can dramatically reduce vibration through the use of wide inner-tubes that allow you to run the tyres at about half the PSI their makers recommend.
The tradition of riding bikes this way is very old and dates back to when the few roads that were paved, were cobbled.
For a futuristic, softly sprung bike with a more normal riding position look at this bike.
http://toptrail.co.uk/
It's a prototype from the Highpath stable. It does what you can achieve by standing upright on a high handlebar bike and letting the bike articulate underneath you. However the Toptrail uses a complicated series of interconnected mechanisms, that allow the bike to articulate whilst the rider remains seated.
thats some machine
