Most comfortable riding position?

[SenecaHighlander]

I've been searching threads and haven't found anything specific to this topic, so I hope I'm not being redundant by throwing it out there...

Since I'm trying to get away from constantly riding as "vigorously" as I normally do, I want a really comfortable ride that, of course, looks cool too. I still want to keep some of the extension in my pedalstroke, but most cruisers feel like I'm sitting on the top bar because the seats are way too far forward. They seem to require too much effort to pedal.

Going from a life of BMX bikes to cruisers, and not having many around I can try beyond a brief test run on a bike not set up properly, I have a few questions for the more experienced cruisers out there. What is actually the most comfortable cruising position? Standard cruiser... slightly pedal forward like the Electra Coasters and the Kustom Duece... more recumbent like the Townie and Ghost Rider... or really laid back like a stretch or limo?

I still want the cranks behind the front wheel, so I'm not interested in a full recumbent. I really love the Ghost Rider. It's a bit expensive, but I'm also thinking about saving for it if it rides like it looks.

Opinions?

 

[dogdart]

I find that I need a laid back seat post on all my cruisers . I like a nice upright seating position , wide bars , seat up so feet are flat on the ground , with a nice easy to pedal gear . But , that's me , opinions will vary

this bike has a 14" wide cushy seat , & is very comfortable

 

[deorman]

That's going to vary from rider to rider. I ride pretty conventional seating, just slightly behind the crank, at close to if not at full extension, with the bar at the same level or just slightly higher. The trick for me is finding a bar with the right amount (or lack of) pullback to fall somewhere in between bolt upright, which is lousy for tall gearing, speed, or climbing, and a racing crouch, which is great performance-wise, but getting to be more painful with each passing year. The set-up is within inches of the same whether on a cruiser or diamond frame, if it isn't close, I'm not likely to ride it much, if at all. :|

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

A "7" seat post :wink: Like dogdart posted

 

[Bendix]

i see a lot of cruisers set up 'clamp forward' so to speak. i find that feels just awful- so too the semi recumbent 'flat foot' bikes the other way. like deorman said, a cockpit close to my other bikes feels best. i guess that's one reason i prefer klunkers to actual retro cruisers. i also find crank length matters a LOT to me, if a bike has 165mm cranks like the stock ones on an old schwinn i swap them for 175's like my mtb and touring type bikes have, with the same saddle height.

 

[SenecaHighlander]

@ Dogdart... Nice bike!

 

[SenecaHighlander]

@ Deorman: Yes, "racing crouch," ...that's exactly what I mean. I've been riding like that for over 30 years, and I now have a "twitch" of twisting my neck around constantly, trying to relieve that tension, and it never goes away.

@ Bendix: I've been using 180's on my bmx bikes forever because I get great torque out of them when I'm trying to blast out of a gate or through an intersection. But I haven't blasted out of a gate for nearly twenty years, and I really don't need to do any more "blasting" anywhere, so I think 175's would feel better on a cruising vessel too...

My neighbor just put a set of those two-foot-high Nirve Super Apes on his old clunker (which also has a springer fork). He was going to get a layback, but believe it or not, those seatposts are actually pretty hard to find around here... (in California??)... I thought those bars would be way too high, but when I rode it, I fell in love with it! It put my hands just about shoulder level, and although I wouldn't mind the seat being a little bit further back, it was actually really comfortable. I'm thinking I may not have to worry about a "flat foot" geometric frame or a stretch. I'll just get a really cool cruiser frame, slap a layback on it with some apes, some 175's, and I should be good...

One dilemma.... springer or chopper forks???

Thanks for the input, guys....

8)