Recumbent - Invisible wheel syndrome?
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PedalDog
11-16-02, 10:36 AM
Okay... I am an obsessive! I can't drive any more (brain injuries) and I got into cycling in a big way.
I've had eight or nine recumbents, bikes and trikes, and had no problems with them.
Recently though I have started to feel nervous when riding on anything other than a good road surface. I am scared of losing the front wheel and going on the floor!
Is this a new disease? Is it cureable?:confused:
it's funny you should say that... i was just riding my Bike E the other day home from class and the front wheel slid out from under me. this is how it went:
i needed to make a left turn, but i was going down a steep hill, meaning that i had to lean the bike hard AND the decline of the road gave me a smaller contact patch on my tire. my back tire had most of the weight over it, so that one held on. the front tire on the other hand didn't have enough weight over it. but this is the funny part, it didn't just fly out from under me, it was a steady sliding action. it gave me plenty of time to break and get my left foot down. had it been a patch of ice i'm sure i would have been pickin myself up off the concrete, but under normal conditions it went smoothly.
when i used to ride my mountain bike, i had the same thing happen with my back tire, i was leaning too far forward in the turn. but again, i could hear and feel the gradual slide, but it held on through the whole turn.
as far as a psychological aspect, i would say that is true. i used to be terrified to lean on my bike E, but i had to force myself to get over it. but as my first winter quickly approaches, i can feel the fear creaping up on me again.
what kind of tires do you ride on? i wonder if that can make a difference. i use the fat hookworms, bigger contact patch means a more tiring ride but much better grip. i hope this helps.
E...
PedalDog
11-18-02, 02:02 PM
Using Schwalbe Marathon tyres, they are normally excellent.
I didn't get the same feeling on any other recumbents in the past so I am wondering if I am just having a bad few days in my own head. I had been using the recumbent trike for a while recently and the change back may be causing me to freak a bit.
The bike is a HP Velotechnik Streetmachine GT and it is the best of all recumbents I've had and I know it is sooooo well engineered that there are no design faults now.