Anyone got Clark Pads -and- the InMotion Seat?

[Tryptych]

I'm tempted to try the V11 Clark Pads (v2) but I won't like them if I can't use them with my InMotion Seat (which is awesome!).

Anyone got both? Is it possible to sit while the v2 Clark Pads are on?

 

[NickNonsense]

Do you have a 3D printer, there a few designs on Thingiverse now. One specific to the V11

[Tryptych]

22 hours ago, NickNonsense said:

Do you have a 3D printer, there a few designs on Thingiverse now. One specific to the V11

No. Designs of what? Pads?

[NickNonsense]

5 hours ago, Tryptych said:

No. Designs of what? Pads?

Yes pads you can print

[EUChristian]

Hey sir. I can give you an idea of the experience but I have the Marty seat. I can say the only noticeable difference in my mind would be the height - I may have two inches in height on you. 

I ride seated everywhere and have the newest version of the Clark Pads. My thoughts- again take it for what it's worth since you'll be slightly lower. 

The newest version of pads do not have holes for the screws they have two slots. So for me, I rotated them at an angle back towards me (the rider)  what I did was change the angle of the plane of the pads and brought it more vertical. Did this for two reasons - if you mount it normally in order to get a good acceleration you have to lean forward over the wheel, and two when riding standing I don't bend my legs to the angle that they demand. I'm lazy. So I rotated the pads back a bit and have them at an angle so the front leverage point is more vertical. With that being said...

With pads you are forced to ride seated in three foot placements.

The first is to have your feet wedged normally- very uncomfortable as you can imagine because your toes are down and the back of your foot is completely up off the pad (imagine being up on your tiptoes).  Very hard to pull your feet out if you need to. This is how I first rode. 

The second was duck feet. So my toe is not wedged but sitting farther away from the wheel itself on the outside edge of the foot plate and my knees are wide out to each side. Basically my feet are slightly wedged but instead of my feet lining up with the plates they come in at an angle...if that makes sense. Toes pointed in and wedged. This is how I ride normally. At first not 100% the most comfortable but much better than the first way...and now feels normal. Maneuverability is great and I can pull a foot out when necessary. For a rider never doing it I'd call it a somewhat awkward riding style but I'm used to it. 

The third way is putting your feet beyond the clark pads completely. I call this the luxury ride. Here the back only your foot sits on the front of your foot pad beyond the clark pads. Maneuverability sucks. Can't turn well and stopping becomes only body because you can't press on the back of the footrest. I used this for cruising going in straight line. It's a relaxed position - nothing wedged, nothing bent awkwardly, knees in front of you. However you cannot avoid anything at all well. You are along for the ride. 

Style 2 I am now used to with legs spread to sides and toes wedged. Allows me very good control. 

One issue with all of these - when you are sitting the clark pads leverage point will dig into the inside of your legs. I wear Leatt 3d pads so it's not too bad but I can feel it. 

With that being said I have to add padding to the saddle to ride standing well. I still wobble months later riding standing. The pads will bring you out further from the wheel itself so the top can easily flop left or right against the legs. In my opinion the saddle needs foam to bring it out to touching the legs again while standing and then I will have stability. 

What is nice is I now ride seated everywhere and I am quite good at it. 

Also I should mention transitioning seated to standing and vice versa. I have no problem doing this in position two. Does require me to move my feet when sitting to go to standing but takes only a second to do. Third way requires at least 3 seconds to take foot off of front of pedals and put them back in normal riding style. When standing to seated I sit first and as I'm sitting pull my feet out, rotated them in at the toes slightly, and wedge them. Done. 

I would say that the pads aren't perfect for riding seated but all of the pros of them outweighs the cons. You need something to lock you in when riding seated aggressively. No way I could ride like I do without pads. 

I hope this helps. Again you will be slightly lower so your experience might be a little different. 

Here is a pic of the angle I run the pads at. I adjusted so very little leaning forward is required for thrust. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by EUChristian

[Tryptych]

On 1/16/2021 at 8:17 AM, NickNonsense said:

Yes pads you can print

Hmm...  it might be time to drop some $$$ on a 3D printer instead of another set of pads. Are these the ones you were referring to? Have you tried them?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4690957

 

On 1/16/2021 at 11:47 AM, EUChristian said:

I would say that the pads aren't perfect for riding seated but all of the pros of them outweighs the cons. You need something to lock you in when riding seated aggressively. No way I could ride like I do without pads. 

Great post and pics thanks EUChristian.

Anyone else tried riding seated with Clark Pads?

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by Tryptych

[.....]

3 hours ago, Tryptych said:

Hmm...  it might be time to drop some $$$ on a 3D printer instead of another set of pads. Are these the ones you were referring to? Have you tried them?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4690957

 

Great post and pics thanks EUChristian.

Anyone else tried riding seated with Clark Pads?

 

if you snag a printer, be preapred for a lot of tweaking and learning, before you get reliable results. Its a fun ordeal and useful, but it damn sure aint plug and play. Quite an eye opener when you open a box with chinese crap that runs on antique code and its supposed to be capable of precise movements. Fun times, fun times! I printed some pads from flex tpu and they were VERY hard. I pu t some neoprene on them and still... very hard. Unless you have grand ideas for a printer, perhaps spending a few dollars on a slab of quality epdm and break out the wood working router and saw? If someone already makes exactly what you want, it may behoove you to just pay them and save the headache. Just giving you a heads up.If you are short on time or don't want to learn 3d printing crap, it may be a rude awakening.

Edited January 18, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[null]

Yes 3D printing takes a lot of attention with the result being a model grade object.
Plenty of uses for that, you can make fairly strong parts, its a great tool. Just dont expect perfect or complex objects to just pop out.
See it as a tool that needs work, and not a delivery system. If you dont want to tinker you might as well buy parts elsewhere of have them printed by some online 

[Jonesq]

I have Clark pads and the IM seat.

Seat is super comfy. The pads force me to keep my heels off the foot platforms and only the soles of my feet make contact.

I've never rode seated prior to this but the current foot positioning is not comfortable at all

[Rich Sam]

On 1/18/2021 at 1:49 AM, ShanesPlanet said:

if you snag a printer, be preapred for a lot of tweaking and learning, before you get reliable results. Its a fun ordeal and useful, but it damn sure aint plug and play. Quite an eye opener when you open a box with chinese crap that runs on antique code and its supposed to be capable of precise movements. Fun times, fun times! I printed some pads from flex tpu and they were VERY hard. I pu t some neoprene on them and still... very hard. Unless you have grand ideas for a printer, perhaps spending a few dollars on a slab of quality epdm and break out the wood working router and saw? If someone already makes exactly what you want, it may behoove you to just pay them and save the headache. Just giving you a heads up.If you are short on time or don't want to learn 3d printing crap, it may be a rude awakening.

Yes!  I dabbled with jumping into this hobby but decided against it.  Researched printers and ease of use, the irony of the hobby is that the lower end "Beginner" printers are the hardest to use requiring much more manual tweaks to projects and manual calibration of the units for accurate printing, while the much more expensive models that attract the more veteran users enjoy a much more "Auto-magical" hands off experience.

[EUChristian]

On 1/18/2021 at 10:00 AM, Jonesq said:

I have Clark pads and the IM seat.

Seat is super comfy. The pads force me to keep my heels off the foot platforms and only the soles of my feet make contact.

I've never rode seated prior to this but the current foot positioning is not comfortable at all

I just purchased the Inmotion pads last night to test vs the Clark pads. Without the hard circle part that keeps the top of your foot snug it should be better but unsure how the official pads are in terms of keeping you secure. I will let you know and whatever item doesn't work as well I'll sell on the private sales sub. 

I primary ride seating so that will dictate my response. 

 

[Jonesq]

1 hour ago, EUChristian said:

I just purchased the Inmotion pads last night to test vs the Clark pads. Without the hard circle part that keeps the top of your foot snug it should be better but unsure how the official pads are in terms of keeping you secure. I will let you know and whatever item doesn't work as well I'll sell on the private sales sub. 

I primary ride seating so that will dictate my response. 

 

I tried seated riding today and my opinion has completely changed.

With the hard insert in I was able to ride comfortably in virtually any position as long as: 1) knees are flared out and 2) feet are shifted out wider.

The knees flared out is for control and feet shifting is for comfort. Knees straight is horrible for me. Knees flared allowed for fairly aggressive cornering. Almost as fast as I can corner crouching. Which makes sense since it's a similar position. Deconceptualizing seated riding as crouched riding with an area to rest your butt made a world of difference for me!

Hex pedals likely helped too as they helped me feel more secure with my feet on the edges of the pedals.
 

[EUChristian]

1 hour ago, Jonesq said:

I tried seated riding today and my opinion has completely changed.

With the hard insert in I was able to ride comfortably in virtually any position as long as: 1) knees are flared out and 2) feet are shifted out wider.

The knees flared out is for control and feet shifting is for comfort. Knees straight is horrible for me. Knees flared allowed for fairly aggressive cornering. Almost as fast as I can corner crouching. Which makes sense since it's a similar position. Deconceptualizing seated riding as crouched riding with an area to rest your butt made a world of difference for me!

Hex pedals likely helped too as they helped me feel more secure with my feet on the edges of the pedals.
 

This is exactly how I ride. Flared and toes dug in!

[.....]

Are you guys riding seated with heels down? Its physically impossible for me to get my heels down. Its not lack of flexibility as Im very flexible. Its lack of room for long legs. Try as I may, when I sit, my knees are well above my hips and I cannot seem to force my heels down. Being so cramped has pretty much made my seat an item for looks. Maybe at 45mph itll act as a foil. lol

 

[EUChristian]

1 minute ago, ShanesPlanet said:

Are you guys riding seated with heels down? Its physically impossible for me to get my heels down. Its not lack of flexibility as Im very flexible. Its lack of room for long legs. Try as I may, when I sit, my knees are well above my hips and I cannot seem to force my heels down. Being so cramped has pretty much made my seat an item for looks. Maybe at 45mph itll act as a foil. lol

 

Our knees are out to the sides flared and the the feet out a bit away from the wheel with front toes in. Makes sense?  Once it clicked it was so much more fun for me. 

[.....]

yeah, i understand the posture you're using to get the knees out of the way. Not very ladylike tho Riding seated seems fairly similar to just riding and it was suprisingly no more difficult. What did surprise me was how uncomfortable it is. I'd have to stand to catch a break from seating or I'd get stuck and not be able to walk after a few miles. The difference in posture did leave me a little nervous, as there's no doubt a seated crash at speeds would fare much worse than standing. At least it sure seems that way when the knees and face are so damn close to pavement and so far in front of everything else. The word "superdork" comes to mind when I see it. I wonder what people who havent seen an euc, think when they see a seated rider? The seat IS nice for just sitting with feet on the ground tho. Looks cool too!

Edited January 20, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[EUChristian]

1 hour ago, ShanesPlanet said:

yeah, i understand the posture you're using to get the knees out of the way. Not very ladylike tho Riding seated seems fairly similar to just riding and it was suprisingly no more difficult. What did surprise me was how uncomfortable it is. I'd have to stand to catch a break from seating or I'd get stuck and not be able to walk after a few miles. The difference in posture did leave me a little nervous, as there's no doubt a seated crash at speeds would fare much worse than standing. At least it sure seems that way when the knees and face are so damn close to pavement and so far in front of everything else. The word "superdork" comes to mind when I see it. I wonder what people who havent seen an euc, think when they see a seated rider? The seat IS nice for just sitting with feet on the ground tho. Looks cool too!

So I do this thing when I'm in the mood where I hold my hands out in front of me and rev and steer as if I have invisible handlebars. I do this at night for the greatest effect on small town streets. They see this guy seated holding camouflaged invisible handlebars and it breaks their head. 

 

Try it...

Edited January 20, 2021 by EUChristian

[NickNonsense]

 I have a different perspective and ride stance them most here it seems. I love riding seated. I sit whenever I can now, my endurance is better seated then standing, feet still cramp up after a good few miles and I have been riding from the beginning of last year. Even taken my pads off as im not usually standing long enough to get the use if them anymore. 

My position seated is legs flared, heels up and pinch against the wheel and toes pointed out.

[Therap EUC]

On 1/19/2021 at 7:52 PM, EUChristian said:

So I do this thing when I'm in the mood where I hold my hands out in front of me and rev and steer as if I have invisible handlebars. I do this at night for the greatest effect on small town streets. They see this guy seated holding camouflaged invisible handlebars and it breaks their head. 

 

Try it...

I can totally picture this.  I'll do it as I pass all the outdoor bars in town. 

[Tawpie]

On 1/19/2021 at 6:31 PM, ShanesPlanet said:

I wonder what people who havent seen an euc, think when they see a seated rider

“Well I’ll be. Mable!!! There’s some damn fool riding a suitcase down Elm street! Ya don’t see that ever-day”