I have left sided weakness and am not as comfortable with the XP as I believe I will be with the step thru, but... it won't arrive for a few weeks so I decided to build an attachment to rest my feet on between the back of the front tire and the pedals. I spent a couple of days making this and due to weather haven't been able to ride the bike with it yet. I intend this to be a temporary use item, mainly to get comfortable with the handling and balance. It's just an experiment. Anyway, here are some photos of it. Some of them came out blurry, but I believe you'll get the idea.
The pegs are much lower to the ground than the pedals, and since they're stationary I won't have any difficulty keeping my left foot on the peg, or taking it off to steady myself on left hand turns or returning the foot to the peg afterwards. The position keeps both knees at nearly right angles, more like a seated scooter. The front wheel barely clears both feet when the handlebars are turned, so it it may be too close to be practical. Hopefully I can transition between the pegs and the pedals. The clearance between my toes and the pegs when on the pedals is also quite tight.
If the initial test rides look promising I will need to add some sort of padding or covering to the wing nut on the 1/2" bolt that goes through the vertical "forks" and the top piece. I use velcro to insure the top piece stays against the hinge weld and thus sets the front to back position of the verical section the pegs are attached to.
Top piece holding velcro in place while epoxy sets up
Pic without top piece in place
Vertical section showing felt and cut out for cable under frame
Contact area of vertical section (15 degree angle to match frame)
Other end showing how pegs are attached prior to adding grip tape around the pipe. The rest of the pics are rather blurry, but show the completed assembly mounted on the bike.
Hard to see, but there are 2 braces going between the top part (just in front of the blue velcrow) and down to the vertical to keep the main section stationary and vertical.
Side view
Top view with wheel turned. Notice the need to add padding by knees
Another top view showing angled braces more clearly
Last pic showing bike with noseless saddle and it's suspension spring
That's it. The entire assembly is removable for transport. All comments welcome, especially if you have any suggestions.
The pegs are much lower to the ground than the pedals, and since they're stationary I won't have any difficulty keeping my left foot on the peg, or taking it off to steady myself on left hand turns or returning the foot to the peg afterwards. The position keeps both knees at nearly right angles, more like a seated scooter. The front wheel barely clears both feet when the handlebars are turned, so it it may be too close to be practical. Hopefully I can transition between the pegs and the pedals. The clearance between my toes and the pegs when on the pedals is also quite tight.
If the initial test rides look promising I will need to add some sort of padding or covering to the wing nut on the 1/2" bolt that goes through the vertical "forks" and the top piece. I use velcro to insure the top piece stays against the hinge weld and thus sets the front to back position of the verical section the pegs are attached to.
That's it. The entire assembly is removable for transport. All comments welcome, especially if you have any suggestions.
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