Frequently Asked Questions / FAQ

It has been found that the stretching properties of elastic can change due to different temperature and humidity. When it gets warmer and drier, it generally seems that your elastic becomes shorter, so you can usually loosen the elastic a bit by choosing a hole in the Snek for the elastic. Especially if you have a large Ø 250 or Ø 220 mm Snek, the elastic must be very tight, and it may be necessary to check the elastic tension and adjust it if necessary. Watch the instructional video fine tuning shock cord : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK3JSgvTBIk If your elastic is correctly set for Dutch conditions, it may be that you need to loosen it a bit in Spain; if your elastic is too tight, that can again be the reason for premature breakage of (the outer cover of) the elastic. If the black outer cover is damaged, you should replace the elastic as soon as possible, the tension on the elastic is then no longer sufficient. (carefully driving home is usually still possible with a broken cover) There are different types and brands of elastic; unfortunately, there is no universally applicable rule, you should just check from time to time whether the tension is still good.

When changing the front tire, indeed just loosen that M5 screw from the fender brackets; if you want to take the front wheel out, you should nearly unscrew the M8 bolt from the axle, then push the axle to the right out of the wheel. If it comes out 24 mm, you can take the wheel out while the brake caliper remains in place. If you want to remove the brake caliper, do so by loosening the 2 screws that go through the carbon (be careful with the thin rings in between, they need to go back to the same place during reassembly), as the brake caliper is adjusted with those other 2 bolts.

Before demounting mark the position and adjustment of the 11 mm hexagonal  eccentric part that is in the bearing. Than demount the bearing with the eccentric part. You can push out the eccentric part out of the old bearing and push it in the new one. The adjustment of the bearings on the 222 model is rather complicated: First when adjusting take notice that the bow sprit does not have a constant thickness ( due to sanding and polishing by hand before the hard chromium layer is applied) So you have to move the footslider all over the bow sprit and adjust the bearing so that it runs practically without play over the thickest point of the bow sprit. This means the 222 footslider will always have a bit of play on some or all positions on the bow sprit! It is better to have a bit too much play than to less play, that might damage the hard chromium layer. When mounting and adjusting the play please take note that the eccentric part is not only eccentric but also has a wobble of the axis. You can adjust the play in 2 positions and the wobble of the axis will let the bearing run on one side in one position but nice and flat over the whole bearing surface in the other position. So please mount it so that the bearing carries over the whole bearing surface. When it runs on one side that might damage the hard chromium layer.

Exchanging the front tire of your 209 is very simple: You only need to loosen the M5 bolt that holds your mudguard on the right side of the front axis and you can exchange (inner) tyre. You do not need to loosen the whole front axis.

If you want to demount the front wheel, loosen the M8 bolt that holds your front axle in the front fork and push the Axis out by pushing the loosened M8 bolt . If necessary temporarily screw in a longer m8 bolt to push out the front axis at least 25 mm. Than you can take out the front wheel without having to loosen the disk brake claw.

When you have a SON front hub you first heave to demount the disk brake claw with the 2 M6 bolts which have axis parallel to the front axis of the bike. Take care that you catch the filler washers ( shims) that will be between the brake claw and the front fork, when mounting they have yo be mounted on  the same spot! Than you loosen the plug of the electrical connection and you loosen the central m6 bolt that holds  the axle in place. Now you gently take out the front wheel to the right side, take care you do not damage the electrical plug.

Temporarily - or often even for a very long time - you can extend the lifespan of a dry bearing by spraying WD 40 on it, which penetrates through the seals into the bearing and thins the lubricant and rust deposits. Do not spray WD 40 on a new bearing as it will wash out the grease and shorten its lifespan. Disassembly of the bottom sled bearing: Insert the handle of a screwdriver or something similar between the switch button and the steering to keep the ring unlocked. Using a narrow 11 mm wrench, hold the eccentric (where one of the bearings is located on which the ring rotates) at the top and unscrew the M6 bolt that secures the left part to the right part of the foot sled. The bearing attached to the eccentric can then be removed outward with the ring. The latch housing is secured at the bottom with 2 M4 adjustment screws. Loosen the M4 in the right foot sled half by one turn. Use a 2mm hex key. Now you can dismantle the lower M6 bolt that holds the lower eccentric with the bearing using an 11 mm socket wrench; be aware of any spacers; these need to be returned to the same position later. Tap the eccentric out of the old bearing and place the new bearing on it, reassemble the eccentric with the bearing and spacers. Temporarily screw the M6 bolt at the top back into the foot sled and position the upper bearing as far away from the bow sprit as possible. After this, eliminate the play with the lower bearing and tighten the M6 bolt securely using the 11 mm socket wrench. After this, loosen the M6 bolt at the top and put the ring back on. With the eccentric where the bearing of the ring sits, you can adjust the play that the ring has on its 3 bearings; if it is correctly positioned (i.e., the ring rotates smoothly but without play on the 3 bearings), then tighten the M6 bolt securely. Simultaneously, the eccentric with the bearing that runs over the bow sprit must remain in positive alignment on the same axis, consider using a second 11 mm wrench. If necessary, you can still adjust any lateral play with the 3 eccentrics with the axes vertically on the left half of the foot sled, but this is probably not needed. The lower bearing endures the most moisture and brine, so it usually goes bad first; if you feel a lot of play in a bearing - or if the bearing makes noise when you turn it, you can replace it.

First, secure the cable to the sheave, feed it through the small hole so that the weight sits in the correct position in the sheave. Then feed the cable through the wedge housing, bring the end over the lower bow pulley and then feed it back until you reach the sheave again. After that, roll the cable tightly onto the sheave by allowing the sheave to freewheel; be careful that there are no kinks in the cable. If necessary, turn the cable in the wedge housing by pressing the switch and rotating the cable around its own axis. Once the cable is taut between the rear wheel (the roller should be standing still on its wheels) and the wedge housing, you can feed the other end through the sheave and secure it at the back. Next, bring the cable over the lower bow pulley while pulling that pulley backward.  Check if there is  enough tension on the cable; in the heaviest gear, the lever where the lower bow pulley sits should come almost up against the  bow sprit pipe. If necessary, you can release the cable from the bow pulley and adjust the nipple on the cable end at the back of the sheave to use more or less cable length.

This is likely due to the adjustment of the 2 control cables of the gear shift button.

The intention is for the Snek to be locked simultaneously with the unlocking of the footrest.

You should start by adjusting the control cable that goes to the footrest: When the footrest is in the rear position, if you push the gear shift button in just a little, the latch of the footrest should start to pull in. If it doesn’t do that yet, you can tighten it a bit; if it’s not fully in the teeth of the ring in that position, you should loosen the cable a bit. Then you adjust the control cable for the snek blocker; If you have the footrest in the forward position, slowly pull the footrest back while also slowly pushing the gear shift button. If you suddenly notice that the footrest is blocked and cannot go further, that is because the cable to the Snek blocker is too tight, so you need to loosen it a bit until this issue no longer occurs. The issue you describe indicates a cable that is too loose for the snek blocker; it is not yet locked when the ring is unlocked, so you need to tighten the control cable of the Snek blocker a bit.

Glad that it worked out with the elastic.

You are keeping a good lookout: when shifting to a heavier gear, you roll the yellow dyneema off the snek, the black elastic rolls onto the snek, and at the foot sled, the opposite happens simultaneously: you roll the yellow dyneema onto the ring, and the black elastic off the ring.

When downshifting to a lighter gear, that rolling and unrolling of both cables happens in the opposite direction.

Also, when I wind the elastic around the ring and secure it on the Snek, I rarely have the right hole for the elastic hook, usually, the elastic is still too loose after that first assembly. If you shift to the heaviest gear while stationary, you will roll all the elastic off the ring.

Then you can check the tension of the elastic: in the heaviest gear with the foot sled in the front position, all stretch should be pulled out of the elastic. If you play the elastic like a string on a guitar, you should hear a serious tone.

Probably the elastic is still too loose after the first assembly. If you then downshift again to the lightest gear, you automatically roll all the elastic fairly tight around the ring, probably tighter than if you just did it yourself by hand. If you are then in the lightest gear, with the yellow button on the ring somewhere at the bottom of the ring near the foot sled, you can probably hook the elastic hook one or a few holes further on the snek, which increases the tension on the elastic. Hold the elastic hook tightly – there is quite a bit of tension on the elastic, so you will need your strength!!!

Then shift back to the heaviest gear, check the tension again, and if necessary, shift back to the lightest gear to hook the elastic hook one hole further in. It is very normal if you have to repeat this 3 or 4 times before the elastic is nice and tight. Take your time for this; you will enjoy it later when that elastic is well-tensioned. If it is too loose, the cable could come off, and we don't want that.

You can find everything about adjusting the elastic in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK3JSgvTBIk.

The noise from the freewheel may indicate dry or slightly rusted freewheel bearings and/or wheel bearings. If the freewheel bearings become noisy, you can significantly extend their lifespan by spraying WD 40 into them. (sometimes for years...) If you lay the rowing bike on its left side (place something underneath to avoid damaging the bottle holder) then you can spray WD 40 or another thin oil between the rear axle and the opening in the sprocket. Then rotate the rear wheel and repeat this rotation a few times while the rowing bike is lying flat, let it sit for at least a few hours so the oil can penetrate inside. After this, the freewheel may make a bit more noise, but it should turn more freely. If this doesn't help, it’s time for new bearings, then send the entire rear wheel to Thijs ID to have the bearings checked and replaced. You will need various sizes of bushings to press the freewheel bearings in and out, which you can only do yourself if you have many of those bushings...

The noise from the freewheel may indicate dry or slightly rusted freewheel bearings and/or wheel bearings. If the freewheel bearings become noisy, you can significantly extend their lifespan by spraying WD 40 into them. (sometimes for years...) If you lay the rowing bike on its left side (place something underneath to avoid damaging the bottle holder) then you can spray WD 40 or another thin oil between the rear axle and the opening in the sprocket. Then rotate the rear wheel and repeat this rotation a few times while the rowing bike is lying flat, let it sit for at least a few hours so the oil can penetrate inside. After this, the freewheel may make a bit more noise, but it should turn more freely. If this doesn't help, it’s time for new bearings, then send the entire rear wheel to Thijs ID to have the bearings checked and replaced. You will need various sizes of bushings to press the freewheel bearings in and out, which you can only do yourself if you have many of those bushings...

The noise from the freewheel may indicate dry or slightly rusted freewheel bearings and/or wheel bearings. If the freewheel bearings become noisy, you can significantly extend their lifespan by spraying WD 40 into them. (sometimes for years...) If you lay the rowing bike on its left side (place something underneath to avoid damaging the bottle holder) then you can spray WD 40 or another thin oil between the rear axle and the opening in the sprocket. Then rotate the rear wheel and repeat this rotation a few times while the rowing bike is lying flat, let it sit for at least a few hours so the oil can penetrate inside. Then lay the bike on the other side and spray WD 40 between the rear axle and the centerlock ring, and also just behind the sprocket between the aluminum wheel hub and the aluminum freewheel housing, again give the wheel a good spin a few times and then the WD 40 will also penetrate into the left rear wheel bearing and the left freewheel bearing.

After this, the freewheel may make a bit more noise, but it should turn more freely. If this doesn't help, it’s time for new bearings, then send the entire rear wheel to Thijs ID to have the bearings checked and replaced. You will need various sizes of bushings to press the freewheel bearings in and out, which you can only do yourself if you have many of those bushings...

Try removing the seat from the chair and take a wet, sharp utility knife and/or sandpaper at the back to remove some material from the area where too much pressure is on you, where you have that chafing spot. You need to adjust the seat to fit your backside so that you can sled comfortably with minimal skin chafing. Additionally, over time, you will engage more strength from your back and arms so that you will, in total, push less off the chair, and some callus formation on your backside through training (i.e., just sledding) will help eliminate this issue. After adjusting the seat and practicing, you should no longer have any problems with this.

It may well have happened that you shifted while at a standstill?
That is fine in itself, but when you are facing uphill, the derailleur wants to roll backward. If you then press the shift button, the derailleur lock blocks the derailleur, and when the bike rolls backward on the hill, that derailleur lock gets stuck and doesn't come back when you let go of the shift button. If you then want to make the return stroke, it doesn't work because the derailleur is blocked.  You stretch the elastic by that return stroke, the yellow cable then becomes slack and can come out of the groove of the derailleur or end up above that roller where it doesn't belong...
The solution is very simple, if you shift at a standstill going uphill, you need to move the derailleur forward with your feet so that the derailleur lock can come back….
So the brake was not blocked, I suspect, but the derailleur, your wheel couldn't roll backward, but could roll forward I think…  can that be correct?
 
Heat  should be fine for the derailleur, only you  should better keep your seat out of the blazing sun, it can shrink and harden from it.
When you take it off the derailleur, grip it well under the seat at the Velcro, if it's very warm the glue of the Velcro can sometimes come loose from the seat.

That's unfortunate... but fairly easy to remedy. The 2 upper bearings around which the ring rotates are mounted on adjustable eccentrics.
 
Start by releasing tension from the elastic band and place a screwdriver or something similar between your shift knob and the steering wheel so that the latch of the ring stays in the unlocked position.
If you loosen one of the 2 upper bolts - which connect the left and right foot sled parts - you can take off one of those upper eccentrics with the bearing. First, note which bearing is on the same bolt and runs over the bow sprit so you can reattach it in the same position later, you will need 2 11 mm wrenches (and a 5 mm hex key) to complete this task. Both of those upper bearings should be turned as far down the steel bow sprit as possible. (for the THYS 209 as far up as possible)
Then lay the ring over the 2 still fixed ball bearings and loosely screw the eccentric back onto the bolt. After this, by twisting that eccentric, you will remove the play between the ring and the 3 bearings it runs over.  Make it so tight that the ring still turns smoothly over the 3 bearings. Pay attention to turn the eccentric in such a direction that it tends to turn to the right under load - thus getting stuck.
And check if one end of your arm travel cable is long enough to come between the ring and the ball bearing, that might be the cause of the derailment...
Then free the shift knob again and lay down the cables, let’s go again!
 
g roets

To adjust your shifting cables:
Start of with adjusting the front one on your lever, it runs to the bolt on the footslider;
With footslider in rear position when you push the shifter a little bit the bolt should react immediately; it is likely you will have to tighten this cable with the adjuster screw near the shifter. When you let go of the shifter button the bolt should lock the ring all the way.Than you check the rear shifting cable that goes to the Snek blocker:
Put the footslider in most forward position; than take the footslider backwards very slowly while at the same time you are very slowly pushing the right thumb shifter button. When you notice that the footslider locks, you cannot move it further backwards, that means that the rear shifting cable is to tight, you should loosen it. When the footslider ring is suddenly unwinding itself that means the rear shifting cable is too loose.
When the bike starts shifting correctly  ( yellow cable starts winding on the footslider ring) during this test the shifting commander cables are ok.

You shift on the rowing bike by pressing the clutch button (right thumb) while making (part of) a stroke or recovery stroke.
Shifting to a heavier gear:  press at the end of the stroke, when the foot sled is almost still, fully press the clutch button, now pull the foot sled back a bit towards you (recovery stroke) and release the clutch button again. The larger you make that recovery stroke, the further you shift up.
 
Shifting to a lighter gear:  This can also be done while stationary: First make a normal recovery stroke and press at the beginning of the stroke, when the foot sled is almost still, fully press the clutch button, now push the foot sled out a bit (make a shift stroke) and release the clutch button again. The larger you make that shift stroke, the further you shift back.
 
The principle is that you roll the drive cable off the snek (and roll it onto the foot sled) to shift to a heavier gear, and more drive cable juist rolls on the snek to switch to a lighter gear (on the larger diameter of the snek).
It is a wonderfully simple continuously variable transmission system, actually much simpler than derailleur shifting or gearboxes like in hub gears. There are very few parts to the whole system, and perhaps the best part is that you’re free from that bike chain. The resistance of the dyneema cord is much less than that of a chain, belt, or cardan system.
It does take some getting used to how this works but once you get the hang of it, it’s all super simple.
Strictly speaking, it’s not entirely stepless in terms of shifting levels, but it is in terms of drive moment.
Your elastic is wrapped around the ring 4.5 times (at the Ø 250 mm snek), the ring has 24 teeth, so you have approximately 108 gears/speeds; you won’t count those while riding, you do it by feel, a bit lighter or a bit heavier.

What works for everyone is to cut the proces in 3 parts,
 
1. First get used to the click pedals, exercise the clicking in and out of your feet while standing still. it is important that you always get your feet out of the pedals BEFORE (you stand still after) braking. You can adjust the spring force of the pedals with the allen key screw.
You could also mount the pedals on another bike temporarily  to get used to them ( right pedal has right thread, left pedal left thread)
 
2. Get used to the balance and steering of the rowingbike.
Best way to get used to it is to find a hill where you can roll the rowingbike of or have somebody to push you ( with one finger pushing forward, not holding the balance) while you are sitting on the rowingbike, your feet not yet clicked in.  In this way you feel very secure, your feet are hovering just above the ground. Now you can concentrate on the steering and the balance of the bike. It feels a bit different than other bikes, certainly at low speed as the steering damper wants to push your steering bar back in the straight position.
 Once you feel comfortable and can do curves to the right and the left click in one foot and repeat this exercise first without rowing, when that is Ok you do it with two feet clicked in.  Take your time for this balance exercise, get comfortable on the bike before you start rowing.
 
3. When you got used to the balance of the bike you can start to make the rowing movement. At the end of each stroke you have to pull back the footslider with your feet in beginning position to make the next stroke. Try to maintain tension on the blue armstroke cable, the steering bar wil follow the footslider.  You can start with one foot  make a few rounds and later on click in the second foot.
Make sure the blue armstroke cable has the right length, check this when you are standing still and have one foot clicked in. Now roll forward until your clicked in leg is fully straight and lay down with your back in the seat, now the steering bar may not touch your belly, it should be beween 5 and 15 cm distance between your belly and the steering bar. You can adjust the length of the blue armstrokecable by sliding the middle knot to wards you ( shorter) or the forward direction (longer)
During rowing try to maintain tension on the blue cable, also during the recovery stroke, it is easier to steer when there is tension on that cable.
 
Safety tip:
Always keep two hands on the steering bar during rowing, when you need to get one hand off the steering bar that should only be done when you are freewheeling at the end of the stroke so with straight legs and the steering bar close to you. In that position you have control over the steering also with one hand.  You may never take one hand of the steering bar during a stroke and row on with the other hand, The front wheel will steer and you will fall down, that is the worst case scenario, please prevent that!!
 
Please take your time to get used to the bike in these 3 steps, it is really worth it and will give you a lot of rowingbike pleasure :-)

Then the elastic has indeed turned around the ring one time too few.
 
The easiest way to do it is as follows in a few steps:
Leave half a turn of the yellow drive cable on the ring, the yellow knot is on top of the ring, you roll up all the yellow cable on the pulley until there is tension between the rear wheel and the ring.  The knot of the black elastic is now approximately at the bottom of the ring. If you have a large Ø 220 or 250 pulley, you need to wrap the elastic around the ring 4 times (with Ø 180 pulley 3 times), at FULL TENSION, counterclockwise. Then lay the elastic over the lower bow pulley from top to bottom and hook the hook of the elastic as far as possible into the Pulley groove directly next to the last winding of the yellow cable. The elastic is now temporarily on, the tension will not be sufficient at once. Shift to the heaviest gear at a standstill and check, with the foot sled in the front position, whether all the drive cable of the pulley is rolled up. There may still be up to 1 or 1.5 turns on the pulley, but not ± 5 turns, then you have turned the elastic around the ring one time too few. If you play the elastic like a bass guitar, you should hear a clear tone; it’s only right if all elasticity has been pulled out of the elastic in this heaviest gear position. This will not be the case yet. You need to downshift to the lightest gear to increase the tension. Now, during every shifting action you make to downshift, keep the elastic pressed down so that it winds tighter around the foot sled ring during the shift. This way, you will have a bit more elastic left in the lowest gear, making it easier to hook the elastic further into the pulley. Shift back to the heaviest gear to check the tension; usually, you need to do this action 2 or 3 times before the tension on the elastic is sufficient.
Good luck, kind regards

When you shorten the propulsion cable you must check if you can still reach the heaviest gear. You are in heaviest gear when there is no more  shock cord on the footslider ring, in that gear you should still be able to finish your stroke all the way with your footslider touching the front stopper.
 The danger is that after shortening the yellow cable the cable on the snek will be finished halfway the stroke when you pull at the largest force, then you can brake the (expensive) Snek and  will pull the knot of the yellow cable out of the snek.
When you check this ( when standing stil, not rowing), and it is the case that halfway the stroke you ran out of yellow cable on the snek then push the shift button and move the footslider forward until you touch the front stopper. Now you mark another hole for the shock cord on the footslider ring, the first one counterclockwise from the position were the shock cord now leaves the ring direction bow pulley.
Then you go back to the lightest gear, undo the shock cord and mount it in the hole on the ring that you have just marked.Now you start again mounting the shock cord,,check and make sur you have maximum tension in the heaviest gear, see video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK3JSgvTBIk&ab_channel=Rowingbike