The Big Question
How Do You Steer and Pedal at the Same Time?
One
of the most important features of any human powered vehicle is the
ability to crank hard and steer precisely at the same time. From the
very beginning, one of our most important measures of performance has
been the up-hill switchback turn. We want to be able to climb a
mountain, with all its tight turns, without having to take a hand off
the crank handles. It's easy to design a vehicle where you steer with
one hand and crank with the other, but that's not good enough.
The
use of the handlebars is obvious and simple enough. That's where the
brake levers are. For coasting downhill and for the most extreme
steering maneuvers grab the handlebars just like the downhill racers.
But speed and mobility come from maximizing the amount of time spent
pedaling.
So the answer
to the big question is: The sternum support (we like to call it the
steering wheel) pivots side to side and is connected to the steering
through a pair of cables. It works wonderfully. You have to try it to
believe it! The round padded steering wheel rotates on its axis. The
motion is smooth and intuitive. Rotate it to the side with your chest
and you turn that direction. You automatically lean into a turn. For
example, to turn right, you rotate the steering wheel to the right,
which moves your weight towards the inside of the turn... perfect