Pitch of the monorail

Maintenance, accessories, operation. Anything to do with making your erg work.
SaBhava
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Pitch of the monorail

Post by SaBhava » November 12th, 2012, 5:41 am

Hi,
this may seem like a strange question: Does anyone know the approx. pitch of the monorail?

I can only set up my Model D in the basement or in the garden, where the floor/ground is not level. As I was trying to level out the erg I noticed that on the ad the monorail actually doesn't look level but slopes towards the flywheel.

Don't really want to use a tube level to set up the erg in the garden but it would be interesting if the monorail slopes or not?

Cheers,
SB
Age 48; Height: 1,86 m; Weight: 90 kg. Rowing on C2 Model D since 21th of March 2012
PB: 500 m = 1:39.3 | 1k = 3:24.6 | 2k = 7:07.9 | 30 min 7.672 m | 10k = 38:30.2

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Citroen
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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by Citroen » November 12th, 2012, 6:16 am

It slopes down at about 4 degrees.

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c2jonw
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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by c2jonw » November 12th, 2012, 4:20 pm

It varies a bit from one machine to another but it's designed to be about 1 degree down towards the flywheel. C2JonW
72 year old grandpa living in Waterbury Center, Vermont, USA
Concept2 employee 1980-2018! and what a long, strange trip it's been......

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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by Bob S. » November 12th, 2012, 4:23 pm

c2jonw wrote:It varies a bit from one machine to another but it's designed to be about 1 degree down towards the flywheel. C2JonW
??? Jon, do you mean from one model to another or actually differences between machines of the same model?

Bob S.

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c2jonw
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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by c2jonw » November 13th, 2012, 11:30 am

OK, history time- Model A and B were designed with a 3/4" height difference between the front and rear legs, which supported the 5' long monorail. This makes .72 degrees. When we designed the model C (which is virtually the same frame as the D and E) we decided to go for a little more slope, approximately 1" height difference over 48" of the rail, or 1.2 degrees. C2JonW
72 year old grandpa living in Waterbury Center, Vermont, USA
Concept2 employee 1980-2018! and what a long, strange trip it's been......

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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by SaBhava » November 14th, 2012, 12:02 pm

Hi C2JonW,

thanks a lot for the answer. So one's bum is sliding uphill!

I will ask my son who is in 9th grade to calculate the differences in height between front and rear leg as I forgot all about that Greek dude Pythagoras (and don't really care to relive the horrors of high school math).

Cheers,
SB
Age 48; Height: 1,86 m; Weight: 90 kg. Rowing on C2 Model D since 21th of March 2012
PB: 500 m = 1:39.3 | 1k = 3:24.6 | 2k = 7:07.9 | 30 min 7.672 m | 10k = 38:30.2

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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by Big Calm » November 20th, 2012, 8:59 pm

What about the Dynamic?

As the height at the front is adjustable what is the ideal slope to aim for?

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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by Bob S. » November 20th, 2012, 10:14 pm

Big Calm wrote:What about the Dynamic?

As the height at the front is adjustable what is the ideal slope to aim for?
The directions for setting up the dynamic cover that - but it ain't easy. Someone has to check that the seat is moving equal distances from the normal position - i.e. the place where the seat settles when it is not in use. I gave up on that myself and just set it to where it felt right to me.

Bob S.

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c2jonw
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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by c2jonw » November 21st, 2012, 12:42 pm

From the Dynamic manual:

Setting the Level of the Dynamic Indoor Rower
The Dynamic Indoor Rower should be approximately level for the moving components to work properly.
Use the front foot leveling screws to fine tune the level as follows:
Have a friend watch you row:
• If the seat tends to stretch the bungee more to the front of the machine than the rear while rowing, raise
the front of the Dynamic Indoor Rower by turning both front foot leveling screws clockwise several turns.
• If the seat tends to stretch the bungee more to the rear of the machine than the front while rowing, lower
the front of the Dynamic Indoor Rower by turning both front foot leveling screws counter-clockwise several
turns.

C2JonW
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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by Bob S. » November 21st, 2012, 3:59 pm

c2jonw wrote:From the Dynamic manual:

Setting the Level of the Dynamic Indoor Rower
The Dynamic Indoor Rower should be approximately level for the moving components to work properly.
Use the front foot leveling screws to fine tune the level as follows:
Have a friend watch you row:
• If the seat tends to stretch the bungee more to the front of the machine than the rear while rowing, raise
the front of the Dynamic Indoor Rower by turning both front foot leveling screws clockwise several turns.
• If the seat tends to stretch the bungee more to the rear of the machine than the front while rowing, lower
the front of the Dynamic Indoor Rower by turning both front foot leveling screws counter-clockwise several
turns.

C2JonW
A closeup video might help with that. If it could be viewed frame by frame, the movement could be measured more exactly than by eyeballing it.

Bob S.

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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by domino66 » February 9th, 2013, 2:54 pm

just bumping this thread instead of creating a new one b/c I think my Q is related: I just assembled my new CS2 D, and the seat, when no one's sitting on it, slides at a slow but steady pace toward the flywheel and only comes to rest at the front-most position. Is this *correct*? Or is the monorail supposed to be level such that the seat should not slide at all when no one's sitting on it?

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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by PaulH » February 9th, 2013, 3:21 pm

What you're seeing is entirely normal - as mentioned above there's supposed to be a slight slope, and depending on the exact machine that's generally enough to let the seat roll on its own (slowly, as you mention).

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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by HornetMaX » May 10th, 2024, 4:58 pm

c2jonw wrote:
November 13th, 2012, 11:30 am
OK, history time- Model A and B were designed with a 3/4" height difference between the front and rear legs, which supported the 5' long monorail. This makes .72 degrees. When we designed the model C (which is virtually the same frame as the D and E) we decided to go for a little more slope, approximately 1" height difference over 48" of the rail, or 1.2 degrees. C2JonW
Necroposting like hell but hey ...

My garage has a light slope so I was trying to correct accordingly (well, actually I rowed for like 10 months pitching too much forward and now realized that).

The fact the monorail is by default not supposed to be horizontal is annoying: if it was supposed to be horizontal, a simple spirit level (bubble level) temporarily put on the monorail would allow to compensate for slopes.

On my RowErg std legs (that should be identical to a model D AFAIK)I just measured the height of the monorail at its end-points (where the plasticky bits starts) and the length in-between: 27.8cm front, 30.7cm rear, 120.0cm in-between. This is roughly 1.38 degrees, so a small bit more than what c2jonw said.

Now, in order to compensate for my garage slope, I'll likely buy a protractor (something like this: https://www.kstools.com/en/products/han ... 1011737044), try to get anything between 1 and 2 degrees from horizontal and call it a day.
1973, 173cm (5'8"), LW, started rowing Sep 2021 (after 10 years of being a couch potato), c2 log
RowErg PBs:
Image

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Ombrax
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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by Ombrax » May 10th, 2024, 8:55 pm

HornetMaX wrote:
May 10th, 2024, 4:58 pm
Now, in order to compensate for my garage slope, I'll likely buy a protractor (something like this: https://www.kstools.com/en/products/han ... 1011737044), try to get anything between 1 and 2 degrees from horizontal and call it a day.
Unless you're going to use the tool relatively often for other things, I wouldn't spend that much money.

I'd just adjust one end or the other, depending on what you need, so that (assuming a clean rail and rollers and good seat bearings) the seat, once released from a full stop, will either slowly drift to the flywheel, or will sit in place until a very gentle tap sends it on it's way to the "front."

IMO that's close enough.

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Re: Pitch of the monorail

Post by HornetMaX » May 11th, 2024, 4:02 am

Ombrax wrote:
May 10th, 2024, 8:55 pm
HornetMaX wrote:
May 10th, 2024, 4:58 pm
Now, in order to compensate for my garage slope, I'll likely buy a protractor (something like this: https://www.kstools.com/en/products/han ... 1011737044), try to get anything between 1 and 2 degrees from horizontal and call it a day.
Unless you're going to use the tool relatively often for other things, I wouldn't spend that much money.

I'd just adjust one end or the other, depending on what you need, so that (assuming a clean rail and rollers and good seat bearings) the seat, once released from a full stop, will either slowly drift to the flywheel, or will sit in place until a very gentle tap sends it on it's way to the "front."

IMO that's close enough.
Indeed it's probably not worth the money, also because with some measurements (with the rower "flat" on my sloped floor and with the rower with an horizontal rail, doable with a spirit level) I can do some trig and calculate how much I need to lift the front to compensate for the floor (turns out, it's 16mm).

But now I need to verify that, so I'll buy the tool anyway :lol:
1973, 173cm (5'8"), LW, started rowing Sep 2021 (after 10 years of being a couch potato), c2 log
RowErg PBs:
Image

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