Originally Posted by
bobotech
On a totally unrelated and unhelpful note, I just want to say that I would be highly entertained by someone attempting to put drop bars on the OP's bike and riding it. Not for any practical reason, just because.
Quoting JFK: "...and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but because they are hard..."
Racing on the semi-recumbent Cheltenham-Pedersen:
Note that there is an enormous range of possible fore/aft rider positions, relative to the bottom bracket.
In general, the intensity of pedaling effort dictates the optimal "tilt" of the rider, since vigorous pedaling force counters the balance forces that normally cause a rider to fall foreward in the absence of the rider's arms
pushing foreward.
At the opposite (recumbent) extreme, and/or as the rider exerts maximal pedaling torque (during sprinting or steep climbing), the rider must
pull on the handlebars or rely on a sissy-bar pad or chair-type seat back.
(Shown below is the very rare time-trialing saddle on my Colian funnybike. Used for relatively short, all-out racing events, and as shown not properly adjusted for fore-aft or tilt)
