19.03.2023 Got to get me a dropper seat post!

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 Sunday 19th 45F. Potentially bright but with high clouds making for quite a pretty sky. National fog warning with showers possible. A pleasantly warm 21C/70F upstairs. I don't really need my jumper.

 The Cambium saddle continues to irritate with its hardness. Despite my wearing my best bibs [padded racing shorts with braces] over flat seamed thermal longjohns. 

 I am almost tempted to fit a Brooks B17 leather saddle in its place. I have a dark brown B17 "Special" I bought years ago for the trike but never used it. I had tied the side flaps, with a shoe lace, on a broken in, Brooks leather saddle. This stopped it from sagging and ageing. So it never needed to be replaced!

 The Cambium is more curved than the leather saddle. Perhaps I ought to move my old leather saddle from the trike? It hasn't the rock hard feel of the unused dark brown saddle. The downside is the need of leather for protection from wet weather.

 I could never get on with the original, rubber Cambium C17 on my trike. Much too hard! The sharp nose of the B17 leather saddle will risk catching in my drooping shorts or even the bibs. As I struggle to regain the high saddle from a standstill.

 9.15. 9C/48F and bright, mottled overcast. After much online research, measurement and saddle height adjustment. I have ordered an XLC T010 dropper seat post. With a low, external cable control at the seat clamp. The rear suspension pivot point would have hampered longer seat posts. i.e. Those averaging 40cm or more. I found a seat post which allowed a full 100mm drop within a 350mm saddle pin length. The Moustache original [fixed] post is just over 300mm long x 31.6mm standard diameter. It hits a stop after insertion. Beyond which it will not go.

 The Moustache e-bike frame design does not readily lend itself to internal cable routing. At least not to the bottom of the seat post. The positions of the rear suspension pivoting point and motor housing would cause problems. A 100mm drop should provide all the drop I need for easy remounting from a stop. It will also allow far easier swinging of my leg over the saddle. 

 This dropper post gets excellent reviews online. Presumably in an MTB setting. For its modest price, simplicity of fitting and long term reliability. An MTB rider would tend to give the saddle pin a much harder time than I will. While probably adding flying mud, from a bare, knobbly rear tyre to the mix. The Moustache has proper mudguards.

 I may have mentioned this before: The trike has a 72cm distance between the bottom bracket centre and the flat saddle top. The Cambium on the Moustache feels better at 67cm. 5cm is about 2" in Ye Olde Money. If I adjust the Moustache saddle height to 72cm. Then I can no longer lift myself off the saddle. With my heel on the pedal at bottom dead centre. This must be to do with the seat post angle on each machine. 75º v 73º. I can't think of any other reason for the difference.

 A dropper post will allow me to adjust saddle height on the fly. Hopefully bring much needed comfort to contact points and my knees on a ride. I have the Cambium saddle as far back as possible in its clamps. Yesterday I spent a lot of time shifting myself back and forth on the saddle in search of increased comfort. Without much success. 

 My logic suggests that the curvature across the width should allow for variations in sit bone spacing. The problem lies with the rubber material being far too hard. Presumably to provide a reasonable lifetime in use. The Cambium is excellent for wet weather. Leather much less so without proper protection.

 Sitting on the Cambium this morning, without the padded shorts, is very unpleasant indeed! It feels as if my bony contact points are red raw! The unused, "hewn from solid granite," brown B17 is no better. While the well worn, B17, trike saddle readily deforms to thumb pressure. 

 I can still remember the pain of breaking in various, rock hard, Brooks saddles even after a decade! Lacing the side flaps avoided regular replacement. Though it did make the saddle feel harder at the time. 

 I just put the old saddle on the e-bike. A feather bed! No pain at all. I even re-tensioned it. The saddle was still comfortable. This was despite "the damage" the Cambium had done to me yesterday. I raised the old saddle to 69cm and it was perfect. No pain at all as I rode it up and down the drive with no battery. The saddle looks tipped up but isn't. I felt as if I could go for a ride without padded shorts. I might go for a 14 mile ride to do some shopping.

 While I had all the hex and Torx tools handy, I went around the-bike. Checking the tightness of various bolts. Both bolts on the rear brake caliper were very loose. The bike has only been ridden by me. So it didn't seem likely these bolts had ever been tightened properly. The right side [front] brake lever was the same. The lever could rotate around the handlebars as delivered. 

 13.50 It has reached 11C/52F. I have not bothered with lighting the stove today. Time for a test ride on the old Brooks saddle. 20km round trip to the shops. Averaging 26kph. I deliberately kept my cadence above 90. The system said only 82rpm. Must try harder! I used TOUR and SPORT modes quite a bit. A short blast of TURBO to overcome the local hill at 30kph. This hill has caused me decades of pain and breathlessness. Top speed was 47kph downhill but it would not go any faster. No matter how hard I pedaled! 

 The battery charge dropped from 100% to 76%. Not bad considering the higher assistance modes I used. A similar but 40km ride would have used 50%. Allowing for perhaps 50km before the battery dropped below 40%.

 The old Brooks saddle was set too low. I could feel my knees were too bent. Very comfortable to ride on though. No pain. It felt as if I was sitting in a shallow leather bowl compared to the convex, bone hard Cambium. The leather saddle also provided extra suspension. Smoothing out the bumps even further. I wish I had used it yesterday. Alas too late! The wisdom of perfect hindsight always has a phase delay.

My MTB expert sister has mailed me. To say she has the same dropper seat post as the one I have just ordered. She considers the dropper post vital to the enjoyment of her own bike. A further odd coincidence is that she also owns a Moustache MTB. It's handy having cycling proficient, family members to advise. 

 Despite a lifetime of road cycling the e-bike field and MTBs are all still relatively new to me. That said, I made an MTB back in the mid 1960s as a teenager. Front fork suspension, swinging arm rear suspension, wide tyres and low gears. For playing on the local gravel heaps. 

 I built my own recumbent LWB cycle in the 1980s too. I brazed the frame together on my wife's gas cooker from donor bike frames. Never to be forgiven!

  19.00 10C/50F. I have lit the stove. Though it is still 21C/70F upstairs. Dinner will not be Sunday dinner. No potatoes. Again! I had better use up the half jar of curry sauce.

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