Recumbent - off-road lowracer?

This might seem a bit odd, but to me it seems like a possibility. It seems to me like mountain bikers are in more danger as they have a higher CG. And of course the fastest land animal (cheetah) is the lowest to the ground. Maybe with the right tires, and taking into consideration that some things could not be done (ie jumping), could this work? Of course, at a moderate speed.:) Most people who own lowracers probably got them to race on the street, but maybe for a homebuilt this would be interesting to try out...

The Python looks like it is one such "off-road" lowracer, even if it does have speed limitations...

Dunno... A low recumbent bike has stability issues because low height gives a faster pendulum swing to swing you down into the ground. My 36" unicycle feels VERY stable laterally because it leans so slowly that it's easy to recover from. Front and back I have plenty of time to adjust too, but the size of the wheel counteracts that because it TAKES a long time to get a 36" steel wheel with thick 4-ply tires to react, with 126mm cranks.
Read an article on the RANS site the other day where they were testing one of their crank-forward bikes on a MTB ride. Seemed like it worked pretty well, though not quite at the level of the pure MTB's on the hardest terrain.. partly because of non-suspension forks, apparently. That would be a bit lower, and get the strain off of your wrists at least. I imagine that a full recumbent would have the kind of issues that inspired people to advise that I not try to ride one in winter - weaker control of CG from inability to suspend body mass independent from the bike, it seemed.

Azub makes an offroad bent, but a lowracer is purposefully about speed.

Maybe with the right tires, and taking into consideration that some things could not be done (ie jumping), could this work?

This is a Haluzak Traverse. It was a rental at my old shop.
I did try jumping it too!
Found that you had to land both wheels at the same time, rather than too much of the rear-wheel-lands-first concept.

Land on the rear wheel first and the rear suspension compresses. Front wheel touches down. Rear wheel UNsupends, pilot bails! Over the cranks!*



*As opposed to the old over-the-bars.

I didn't really mean lowracer in the formal sense, just a low to the ground bent like maybe a homebuilt. Would RWD vs. FWD make a difference as far as stability/safety?

You could build a recumbent that could handle non-technical off-road stuff. See the Haluzak above or put knobbies on a Rocket - but why do it when a DF does it so much better? I don't see a problem with MTBs being taller than bents - offroad is usually softer to land on than pavement.

for several reasons:

more comfort (I think)

faster on-road than a DF (aerodynamically speaking)

I do sort of go off road with a sun EZ Sport with 1.95 tires.As on foot trails and fire roads but it has its limits.As for comfort it is not as no suspension and you can`t stand on the peddles to relieve the bumps on the butt.

Wink

off-road vehicle of any kind usually require high ground clearance.. the more suspension travel you have available, the faster you are able to travel over uneven terrain, over logs or rock boulders..

Lowracer by definition is low to the ground for aerodynamic advantage when traveling at high speed..

Seems to me that you're defeating the purpose of each of their designated usage by combining the two to build an off-road vehicle.

A recumbent has much better 2WD potential than a DF - here's one from ZOX:







Off road doesn't always mean catching major air or any other cliche' MTB behavior....

there is so much body english involved in even xc mtbing. pedal weighting for traction, etc. I can't see how you could accomplish this on a bent when you are seated. Also, you can't stand on the pedals like a poster mentioned above so every single shot to the rear rim would be a shot in the lower back. you would definately need dual squish.

And then climbing? so much is involved on even semi technical climbs, weighting and unweighting, throwing or lurching the bike up ledges, etc.. And then descending

maybe for the nice gentle off road ride around the pond trail or something, but otherwise I can't see how it would work.

I am no bent expert though.

Very interesting, I guess front and rear wheel would have to be shifted at around the same time in order to keep the gearing in sync..

"maybe for the nice gentle off road ride around the pond trail or something, but otherwise I can't see how it would work. "

On the majority of the off-road bike trails in this area, it seems like the major obstacle is just a continual parade of roots that you go bouncing over. Pretty much anything with a suspension would work for 99% of the distance and about 90% of the trails.

Pretty much anything with a suspension would work for 99% of the distance and about 90% of the trails.

Not at the speed that lowracer recumbents are designed to be ridden..

Here's the link to the manufacturer review I mentioned. Not recumbent, but crank-forward/semi-recumbent does deal with at least -some- of the reasons mentioned (comfort, wrists, etc).
http://crankforward.com/BackRoadAdven.htm

When I lived just east of Tularosa, New Mexico (about 100 miles north of El Paso), I used to ride as much on dirt roads (and as little on pavement) as possible for lots of reasons. I never had the need to deal with "ledges" or any of the rest of that - just ruts, washouts, etc... that one sees on poorly maintained ranch roads, BLM roads, railroad maint. paths, military reservations, etc.... where the only serious obstacles are fences & gates. A serious off road 'bent would have made a killer ride back then. Suspension would have been nice. But I didn't have that on my early '80's 40lb MTB, either. I do have a lot of fond memories of disappearing for the day.

This morning as I return from a recumbent ride it starts rain [like full on]
so I head for home
take a short cut [single track full on mud] down hill
after coming off twice I'd have to say
"Recumbents are not for off road"
But if you want to keep picking yourself up out of the mud I say
"go for it and have fun"

let me clarify: by off-road, I don't mean anything too extreme like screaming downhill mountains or mud or anything like that. I just want a bike that is very comfortable for long stretches (ie 'bent) and that can take me a variety of places. Kind of like a car, except cleaner, healthier, etc. I would say I want this bike to go everywhere a good horse could go, and I wouldn't expect a horse to make it in the mud. I'm not interested in doing crazy stunts or even riding on insane terrain; perhaps I should've said "all-terrain lowracer".

I was also thinking of making a foam fairing or windsock that would be optional and would maybe keep in warmth in the winter as well as boost on-road speed.

My Sun EZ-Rider AX was built to be usable off-road. It has a heavy duty shock on the frame under the seat, disc brakes, Sun Single-Track wheels, and 20"x1.75" semi-knobby tires. It was in production circa 2004-2006, in your choice of high tensile steel (SX), cro-moly steel (CX), or aluminum (AX) frame.