Fifty Plus (50+) - Recumbent Riders

Rode the Muskatawa Trail here in Grand Rapids today. It's a 24 mile ribbon of asphalt between Grand Rapids and Muskegon MI. Nothing remarkable, but a nice ride.

Met and struck up a conversation with a 61 year old recumbent rider (I have to work on this shyness thing). Don't know the brand he was on, it had a clear plastic fairing on the front and looked fast standing still.

I gotta tell you I was intrigued. I have passed them on the roads and trails, but never ridden along next to one. It seemed pretty effortless to me. I thought my next bike might be a mountain, but now I am thinking about these recumbents. They look fun.

For some reason they were out in force today on this trail. I must have passed a dozen or so doing the 48 mile round trip. Do most of you recumbent guys just stick to that type or do you go back and forth between it and regular bikes?

Let's see, my touring bike, a hybrid, a recumbent and a mountain bike. Yeah, I think I can convince my wife 4 bikes isn't too many.

Uh huh.

It takes a while to build up the different muscles for the recumbent. I've got 1,550 miles to go. My first guess would be the guy you talked to was on an Easy Racer, as they love to put fairings on those.

I've put around 2400mi. on my recumbent since i went to the Dark Side 15 months ago. I've ridden my Novara Big Buzz, which I really like, very little since then. My single speed Cannondale hybrid gets ridden occasional short rides near home. Still ride upright with my wife on our tandem. Mostly 'bent these days.
You can ride twice as fast with the same effort on a recumbent.....seriously.......ha,ha,ha.

Recumbents are chick magnets. At least, that's what the shop owner who sells them told me. I have one on order... should be here sometime this month. I'll let you know how it works out. :D

. Yeah, I think I can convince my wife 4 bikes isn't too many.

Uh huh.

Tell her four is a lonely number. I'm sure she'll understand.

MM, you should go test ride one at your lbs. Then you'll understand. May the checkbook be with you.

Lots of riders seem to go back and forth between bents and uprights, and there is a wide variety of recumbent styles. The go-fast ones tend to be more expensive than corresponding uprights, since they are manufactured in smaller quantities. Have fun test riding some!

Recumbents are chick magnets. At least, that's what the shop owner who sells them told me. I have one on order... should be here sometime this month. I'll let you know how it works out. :D
You have a chick on order? Wow...do tell how that works out! :D

Let's see, my touring bike, a hybrid, a recumbent and a mountain bike. Yeah, I think I can convince my wife 4 bikes isn't too many.

Uh huh.Absolutely, positively do not test ride a recumbent unless you have enough cash or credit to buy one. I went just to "see" what was so great about one and left with it on the back of the Jeep. Now it's the only bike I own.

You have a chick on order? Wow...do tell how that works out! :D

No matter how many times I tell my friends that my wife was a mail-order bride, she never laughs. Some people have no sense of humor.

You have a chick on order? Wow...do tell how that works out! :D

It's easy! Just Order Online! (http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/)

http://image.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chicks-right.jpg

there is another thread over on the recumbent section that asks about 'still riding DF' so that would more completly answer your one question.
as you have seen for a lot of us, bent is the way to go if you want comfort.
peace

Are bents really real, or just a myth. I've seen them discussed on the forum but have never seen one in real life. Is it just some cruel joke? like Bulkhead Remover..

Just sayin.

Are bents really real, or just a myth. I've seen them discussed on the forum but have never seen one in real life. Is it just some cruel joke? like Bulkhead Remover..

Just sayin.

Google "recumbent" images and you will see lots of pics of bikes photoshopped to look like "recumbent" bikes.

After about 5 years exclusively bent, I've started riding my DF again, and after having a proper,professional fitting, i love it, again. I bought about 8 different recumbents and put at least a thousand miles on each. My favorite two wheeler, the RANS Stratus, sorry it gone now. I liked the trikes best and ended up with two that I love, one set for touring, the other is the ultimate in unfaired speed, the Windcheetah.

I started riding DF again for two reasons

I was loosing muscle tone in my upper body that the DF helped maintain, I've also taken up kayaking to help address this. With the bent, only the legs and lungs work.

Second, the new woman in my life is, at 6' too tall for the recumbent tandem, so I bought a CoMotion tandem. She was not too thrilled with the recumbent thing anyhow.

Google "recumbent" images and you will see lots of pics of bikes photoshopped to look like "recumbent" bikes.


The Recumbent Blog has a great gallery section. Beautiful photos.

http://www.recumbentblog.com/

Here's an example of the main reason that I ride a bent:

Last Thursday, I went out for a ride with no distance or destination in mind except to head out into the 23 mph headwind until I felt like turning around or ran out of time. I also planned on stopping for lunch along the way. Long story short, 57 miles later, I pulled back into the driveway and had never stopped. Never. It was just another easy, short, pain free spinning ride. I can't do that on an upright bike, even after 20+ years and 120,000 miles of riding them, but non-stop metrics are simple on a bent.

Here's a link to a bunch of my cycling pics, including a lot of recumbent photos:

http://imageevent.com/trsnrtr/cycling

MM, you should go test ride one at your lbs. Then you'll understand. May the checkbook be with you.
I was very interested in recumbent bicycles and when one appeared in the LBS I took a test ride. I guess I made a mistake during the test ride as I tried climbing a hill. This hill is moderately difficult for me and I can climb it on my touring bike loaded will full self support touring gear adding about 40 lbs. I could not climb that hill on that recumbent bike. The gearing was on the bike, which would have allowed me to easily climb it on a standard bike, but I simply could not do it. Before the test ride I had wanted a recumbent in the worst way as I was planning on spending some serious money on one but after trying one out I completely lost interest.

I was very interested in recumbent bicycles and when one appeared in the LBS I took a test ride. I guess I made a mistake during the test ride as I tried climbing a hill. This hill is moderately difficult for me and I can climb it on my touring bike loaded will full self support touring gear adding about 40 lbs. I could not climb that hill on that recumbent bike. The gearing was on the bike, which would have allowed me to easily climb it on a standard bike, but I simply could not do it. Before the test ride I had wanted a recumbent in the worst way as I was planning on spending some serious money on one but after trying one out I completely lost interest.

All recumbents are not created equal, far from it. Many shops continue to carry heavy and cumbersome bents that they think "old" folks want to buy. Today, there are 20# sleek machines out there that eat hills. It's sad, but true, that it's very hard to find a bent shop that carries a wide variety of bents for a person to try out.

If I would have only tried the bents that shops in my area stock, I would have come to the same conclusions as the poster above. Luckily, with the net, one can peruse sites like Bentrider Online and the Bacchetta Forums and recumbent.com and learn about the decent bents that are out there.

Cool. I could kick myself now. A few weeks ago I was driving from Atlanta to Colorado Springs. I stopped and rode part of the Katy Trail in MO. Went to the trailhead in Rocheport. There was a place there that rented bikes and recumbents. I wish now I had just rented one to try.

Thanks for the good info. I think I might start looking around.