Maiden Voyage Aboard the SUB

April 15, 2018 Our regular Sunday ride was 28 miles down to Las Pulgas and back, so on this beautiful morning I rolled out of the shop on a new red SUB.
Comparisons to long stride models are not really fair for the SUB is its own animal. First, despite bearing the ElliptiGo name there’s not a single elliptical part on it– it truly is a stand up bicycle with a single round chainring and 8 gears changed with a Shimano Altus derailleur.
People generally do not stand up on their bicycles, especially not for 28 miles. But people generally aren’t serious about training and ElliptiGos always are. Like their long stride cousins the SUB is a training device, but focused on quad and calf muscles. If you watch the Tour de France you can pick out the sprinters: they’re the ones with the massive thighs earned through endless intervals out of the saddle. Every ride aboard the SUB is an endless interval without a saddle, so for ElliptiGo enthusiasts training for hills or sprints the SUB will deliver.
   Runners and non-cyclists will find no problem with the extra long pedals, but cyclists will prefer toe cages or straps. There are two dead spots at the bottom of every round chainring and competent road cyclists learn to spin the pedals, not just push ’em down. Spinning requires the balls of the feet be anchored to the pedals just above the spindle, hence cleated shoes, toe clips and straps, or clipless pedals and cycling shoes. The SUB’s extra long pedals are made for non-cyclists who, like most Americans, never get over pedaling with the arch of their foot. That deprives the rider of the natural lever between the ball of the foot and the ankle, and it’s that ankling that engages the calf and tibial muscles through the dead spots. Unanchored, the best a rider can do is scrape the foot backward with their hamstrings.
The 88-inch high gear is 20 inches lower than most road bikes, so fit SUBmariners will run out of gears– I spent 90% of this morning’s ride in high. But the 34-tooth cog in the back yields a 31-inch low gear, enough to get most riders up almost any hill.
Finally, one of the nicest things about the SUB is It’s A Bicycle. Which means gear, wheel, brake, pedal, even crank modifications are possible. It’s going to prove a great addition to ElliptiGo’s line up.