Anyone have an opinion on this?

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Elkhound

http://herrington-catalog.stores.yahoo.net/fs197.html

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old and new

Yes, ONE example,if all that's preventing you from riding at ALL is the seat and/or possition,it seems like it's worth a shot.Have you looked at recumbants lately? Most appear more unconventional than THAT bike. I've riden bikes on vacation that are different than I normally ride at home because they were available, the landscape warranted such a bike anyway. It's expensive, SO, alot of folkes have expensive -cool bikes they DON'T ride.Where do you think many members here at the forum get their bikes in the first place from ? That's one reason,neglected bikes. I spent close to that buying a folder for my wife,I use it,at least it gets used.At the risk of being over-dramatic I'll say: man ,it was so cool to read about the wheelchair guys competing and completing the Race Across America ,all eight men !! No direct comparison of course,only that THEY didn't think they looked funny. I don't either !

Sci-Fi

Well, it's halfway to a recumbent. That bike is a bit more crank forward than most and the seat backing/cushion will give you more torque. Different strokes for different folks...whatever makes one happy is ok with me.

Velo Dog

Looks like a fairly standard "pedals forward" (or whatever they're called) frame, like an Electra Townie...sort of halfway to a Bike E. I don't know how helpful that seat would be. The back looks gimmicky, you'd have all your weight on your butt all the time, and an "oversized seat" is not what an "athletic, aggressive" rider normally wants. Big squishy seats tend to feel comfortable on two-mile rides but a lot less so on two-hour rides, and they interfere with pedaling efficiency. The frame isn't very well triangulated, so unless it's quite heavy it could sag under a good-sized rider. They don't mention the components ("21-speed Shimano" could be anything, and there's no such thing as a "21-speed derailleur"), but I doubt they're "race proven." It's probably a low-line seven-speed setup from somebody's parts bin, and that makes the relatively high price seem suspect. Based on just what I can see in the ad, which admittedly isn't much, it looks to me like a $275 bike, not a $650 one.

SaddleUp

Looks like a pretty inefficient position. I wouldn't want to have my weight on my tail bone all the time. Ouch!

group105

I like how it says the kids lauged but "then I pulled ahead on the straightaways" on paved roads..."keeping up with their hight tech mountain bike on paved roads"....wow...if they want to compare speed I would have them go against a road bike....I think the outcome would be a lot different :)

Jagaer

Nah, I'm from what I've seen in my short time on the forum, most people on this forum on the weird herrington bike could keep up with 90% of people in the US that own road bikes.

(Remaining 10% likely use their bikes on a regular basis)

bikejack

Yeh, the position is wrong.

I have an old cruiser from the 60's that I used to ride around the park for hours with my kids when they were smaller.

That old cruiser has an upright position and is comfortable to ride, it achieves this by sticking to a simple design principle of keeping the hands below the hips which allows correct seat height and maintains proper hip rotation.

From the few pictures in the brochure the riders appear to be comprimising between both.

MediaCreations

That guy riding along the beach is going to screw up his knees unless he gets himself onto a bigger bike or at least raises that seat.

bbattle

Elkhound

When I saw the Herrington bike I had my doubts, but I couldn't articulate why. Thanks everyone for helping me to do so.

Kotts

Here's the crank forward site. (http://www.crankforward.com/)

The ride may be comfortable but inefficient. The Herrington bike is similar but priced a lot less. Given that no specs are given for the Herrington, I'd be very reluctant to buy one. The Herrington bike will probably fall apart after a few months of riding if you did anything other than go around the block.

http://www.crankforward.com/my%20bike/galleryimage/1howard%20gilbert.jpg

The Rans Crank Forward bikes are quite expensive for what you get spec-wise.

A few of things I notice from this photo:

Maybe it's an illusion or an artifact from the photo, but it looks like that rear tire is taking way too much of the load. It's close to getting a snakebite flat.
It seems like that seatpost needs to be further out (which would put more load on the rear wheel).
It looks like it wouldn't take much of a turn/avoidance maneuver to stick a pedal into the ground when the cranks are vertical.
There's almost no load on the front tire. How effective do you think the front brake (and therefore all the braking) is going to be?
Mentally take that position and rotate it forward, and tell me how it's different from a road bike?

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