Concept2 Forum

Yesterday at out rowing club we decided to combine two ergs, one behind the other, to make up a pair/double on slides.
Initially we followed the C2 instruction leaflet and placed the slides 47 cm apart for the front erg and the 3rd slide for the second erg 84cm behind those. The legs of the ergs were placed in the horizontal rails on the slides exactly as recommended on the C2 instruction leaflet.

After the first trial with this slide arrangement we came to the conclusion that the C2 recommended spacing between the slides is not suitable for two blokes over 6 foot. Although 47 cm may be fine for a single erg on slides it doesn't allow for enough rolling travel for each stroke when you piggy back another erg behind it. This is because the rear foot stand of the front erg has to be placed in the front horizontal rail of the second slide in order to accommodate the front foot stand of the second erg on the same slide.

In order to allow for sufficient rolling travel for a pair/double it was decided to increase the distance between the first pair of slides from 47cm to 80 cm. This made a lot of difference for the rolling mass of the two ergs giving us plenty of room around the front and back turns and hold the knees right down at the finish and layback just like you were sending the boat away at the end of the drive.

The question is just how much research was done by C2 to arrive at these slide spacing distances? They don't seem right so wer'e wondering how many people stick strictly to the recommended slide spacing distances?

Just set the ergs on the ground beside the slide slots while at rest, and that's the distance apart.

What manual or booklet are you referring to?

To me, the schematic at http://www.concept2.com/us/support/manu ... nstrux.pdf clearly shows 47 cm between the slides for a 1x setup, and 84 cm for both gaps in a 2x setup.

John Rupp wrote:Just set the ergs on the ground beside the slide slots while at rest, and that's the distance apart.

We occasionally set up chains of ergs on slides, but I don't think that anyone is anoraky enough to use tape measures . We just do as John says - put the front legs of the first ergo on a single slide and place the rear slide under the back leg, then add ergos and slides until we get to the end of the chain. Then I go down the line using judicious kicks to align all the slides. I finally push the "stroke" ergo to and fro to confirm that the spacing between all the sliders is correct.

We have had an "eight" by using the school assembly hall ... with a "cox" on a fixed seat, facing stroke. The kids loved it, but we more usually "race" two fours, side by side.

We get up to these bits of fun in winter, if the river is too high for rowing.

Cheers,
Dave.

Navhaz has it right- the diagram is correct, and should result in the same maximum range of movement for all setups, which is about 36". When setting up a pair, the spacing between both the 1st & 2nd and the 2nd & 3rd slides is 84 cm. After the ergs are on, I usually fine tune the whole setup by bumping the carriages to the front and back, making sure all carriages hit the end stops together. C2JonW

Thanks for that. 84 cm between 2nd and 3rd slides makes sense now and worked like a treat.
I used the same manual diagram that Nav posted. This diagram doesn't have a distance listed between the 1st and 2nd slide (84 cm only appears between the 2nd and 3rd slide) so I assumed it would remain at 47cm like that for a 1X.

Perhaps the manual can be updated by showing 84 cm for each gap between the slides instead of a blank space. I'm used to seeing more detail in manuals like that with all the IKEA furniture I've assembled over the years.

By the way. We are very pleased with the technical workout that the C2 2X on slides offers our club members. I hope that the new C2 dynamic erg also allows mutiple units to be joined together. I know that the other two dynamic erg manufacturers can be joined up so I would expect C2 to offer the same.