Re: I've found a way to improve my shifting a.k.a. Ergonomics

["Andrew BW Colfelt" <abwc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 08:49:57 -0800
>From: GAK-WEE_LOW@domain.elided
>Subject: I've found a way to improve my shifting a.k.a. Ergonomics
>
>     Finally, figure it it out this week-end. All I did was to moved the
>     seat back one small notch and as if magic it felt perfect again.
>     Amazing. Now the left foot is in full control.
>
>     Ergonomics - it is that important. Comments ?

Absolutely!

My clutching has everything to do with seat position. If I get too close, I slip
the clutch too much between shifts, especially when winding-up through the
higher gears. If I get too far away, I lug, stall, or dump shifts; that's not
smooth.

The greatest thing about electrically adjustable seats is that you can really
finely tune your position, on the order of half-centimeters. Seat memory is,
therefore, a really GoodThing(tm).

After 45 days of fiddling, I've settled on a position that, at first blush,
seems incorrect. I'm actually a little bit too far away from the pedals, such
that when I fully depress the clutch my left hip pulls away from the seatback
slightly and I have to extend my toe to hit bottom. This position doesn't really
affect my right foot in any significant way, but what it does for my clutch foot
is important: when the clutch foot begins to let out the pedal, it reaches its
most natural, comfortable bottom-position just before the friction point.

In the next installment, read about experiments with the significance of
seat-bottom tilt-angle and extended thigh support, and how they relate to clutch
ergonomics...

__________________________________________________
Andrew BW Colfelt
E46 328i Sport
BMWCCA #161429

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