Old 01-11-10, 11:30 PM
  #5  
pmmpete
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Bikes: Optima "Orca"

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I own an Orca, and am very satisfied with it. I find the seating position very comfortable, the handling stable but nimble, and the rear suspension a major asset. At the end of a long day, nothing hurts. It's fast on the level and on downhills, and climbs fine. I bought it for loaded touring, so a couple of extra pounds of frame is insignificant. I like the 26" high racer format, as the big wheels handle rough roads well, and I only need to carry one size of spare tires and tubes.

The rear rack is great. I'm from Montana, where the weather changes occasionally and you can be a long distance from the next convenience store, so I'm always carrying at least one pannier. When carrying more gear, I put my rear panniers on the horizontal part of the rack, and my front panniers in front of them angled forward, which puts the panniers mostly behind the seat, and keeps a lot of the weight centered between the wheels. Then I start stacking gear on top of the rack. I like the beefy touring tires the Orca comes with. This spring I'm going to put mountain bike tires on it and do some backcountry touring on logging roads in Montana and Idaho, a long distance from the nearest town.

You say "it looks much stranger than other recumbents." I disagree. It seems like a pretty moderate design to me. The angle of the seat is adjustable, and the seat isn't nearly as reclined as most low racer recumbents. You ask, "Does it feel as strange as it looks?" I don't think it feels strange at all. Compared to the V-Rex you used to own, the seat is a little more reclined, the bottom bracket is a little higher, and it has a hard shell seat rather than a webbing seat. But if you buy the Orca, I suspect that you'll get used to it quickly and like it a lot.

I went from a Rans Stratus to a Orca, and found that my neck got tired from the more reclined seat position, so I added an ICE headrest. That was a great improvement. I probably lay my head on the headrest only about a third of the time, but being able to rest my neck occasionally makes the bike much more comfortable. I'm six feet (1.83 meters) tall, and the bike is a good size for me. I really don't know how tall you need to be in order for the bike to be easy to start and stop.

But the real question is, what kind of bike do you want, and what kind of biking do you do? If you ride with racers on smooth paved roads, you don't carry anything but a water bottle and a patch kit, and you want a bike which is as fast and light as possible, the Orca wouldn't be a good match. If you're more of a touring cyclist, you ride on roads with less than perfect surfaces, and you want to be able to carry some gear, the Orca could be an excellent choice.

Last edited by pmmpete; 01-12-10 at 11:35 PM.
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