Has anybody considered shortening their peddle drive?

If somebody has asked this before, my sincerest apologies.

I often think and feel like my legs are a bit too high when I peddle my kayak. I have a Revo 16 and sit very low to the water, I like this very much. I never raise the seat. I wonder if anybody has chopped the drive's shaft a little and made them shorter, therefore bringing their feet lower and making peddling more comfortable. Now, I do not mean bringing the shafts closer and is a common adjustment (or further away for taller people). I get why Hobie uses this height as most people paddle bathtubs now and sit much higher. Just wonder if this "trimming" has been done or contemplated.

Don't do it. If you reduce the length of your pedal arms, that will increase the effort required to move the fins, and reduce the efficiency of your drive.

A road bicycle is a very efficient machine. Take a look at some videos of road bike races, and compare the position of the bicyclists' legs and chest to your position when pedaling your Revolution. The bicyclists' position is partly to minimize wind resistance, but it is also chosen to take maximum advantage of a rider's muscular strength. If you adjust your kayak seat so you can adopt a similar position in your kayak, your pedaling will be more efficient. For example, your seat should be fairly upright, and your knees should come fairly close to your chest when you pedal. If you lay the back of your seat back so your chest is pointing up at the sky and is a long way from your thighs, your pedaling will be less efficient.

Beware of making your lowered heels drag on the floor near end of stroke; I used to make annoying squeaking on a wet deck. Actually I think you could experiment with low slung heel straps to lower without cutting. I think this was described here about 5 years ago as a big success even apart from lowering cg or whatever. I think the existing strap may have been removed so you don't end up snagged in an overturn.

As per PmmPete, it's about leverage. If you shorten the lever which in this case is the pedal arm, you increase the effort needed to push it in direct proportion to how much you shortened it.

The Hobie pedal drives are remarkably well engineered, and I am certain that in the development stage they would have considered what is the ideal length, to get the peddler in as comfortable position as possible while also a level of muscle power needed that the average user could do. It would be something of a trade off, one against the other.

I remember when my teenagers got their first cars, first thing they wanted to do was customize everything (lower the suspension etc etc..). I let them do some of their less crazy ideas, just to let them find out the hard way, and they did find out, that the manufacturer does not design things a certain way because they are stupid, but because they have put a lot of effort into research.

Having said all that, if you are a clever engineer you may be able to shorten them just to try it out, but the pedal drive is an expensive item, would pay to do it in such a way that it could be put back to original if you didn't like the change.

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2014 Hobie Outback set up for rod and longline fishing

I am pretty sure the pedal drive has been optimized to fit and work best for the most amount of people. Minor adjustments here and there would likely help somebody like me who is shorter than the average US/European male. But what has been said about leverage is very interesting and something I had not considered. Yes, the lower heel straps might be the solution. I think something about them can still be found online. As for the clearance in my heel - they're like six inches from touching the kayak so plenty of room to lower. Thanks for the food for thought guys.

Here is one thread about the love for heel straps https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=31555 and I will try a picture that is slow to to load:



My heel probably rubbed because I had pedal tilt maxed out. In your case, I guess you can drop a couple inches just before the ball of foot spins the pedal. Apparently recumbent bikes use heel straps

I "borrowed" Roadrunners heel strap idea back in 2010 and still use it toady.

Instead of the rubber strap, I had some left over, 1" wide, NRS tie down strap material, sized the length for my water shoe to fit comfortably on the pedal, used a solder iron to make the rectangular holes for attachment to the pedals. They have never come off the pedal pegs after all these years of use.

I used my propane torch to melt the end cuts to prevent fraying/unraveling of the nylon strap.

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR