Recumbent - WOW! have you seen this? "Lance Armstrong shatters HPVA 1 hour record"

Gotcha! :p

....since you're here, what is a good (i.e. fast :o) 20" front tire for smooth pavement commuting?

my new 'bent (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=421845&page=2) comes with a Kenda 20x1.5 I've never heard of that brand, is it any good?

The 26" rear wheel will get a Continental sport contact (because I have 2 brand newies sitting here unused)

P.S. Sorry 'bot the Lance Armstrong thing :D

For smooth pavement something like Primo Comets or Schwalble Marathon Racers may suit you. Schwalbe Stelvio's are reputed to be fast but a bit fragile - I have never used them, so this is only hearsay.

my giro 20 has kenda kwest and their not too expensive and have more tread than my RANS Screamer's primo comets. I like the kenda's because I ride for relaxation and I like to corner sharply for the rush. Hard to do that on the screamer.

Schwalbe Stelvio's are reputed to be fast but a bit fragile - I have never used them, so this is only hearsay.

I've heard that too, but after putting almost 1900 miles on a pair of 26x1.1 Stelvios this spring, I am having exactly zero problems, and they're almost beginning to show appreciable wear. I use these tires for commuting, training and randonneuring, so they've been through the mill. Is it maybe just the 20-inchers that are problematic?

Admittedly, I tend to be easy on equipment (except for the ISIS bb that pooped out on me this past weekend during a 600k. I finished the ride, but the noise got to be a bit of a bother.)

As with anything, YMMV.

SP

Ugh. I dislike kendas. They always seem to ear out fast fast fast. For those tires you are either stuck with primos (kevlar version ONLY) or schwalbe. I've never had a problem with stelvios before at all.

Schwalbe Stelvio's are reputed to be fast but a bit fragile - I have never used them, so this is only hearsay.

Stelvios use to suffer from bulges and cord damage when used on bad roads, but that was several years ago, now. I use 406 Stelvios on the front of my Fujn and my Velokraft and get excellent mileage out of them.

I've got Stelvios on pretty much everything I ride now and the original Stelvios on my trike have almost 7000km on them and they're still good to go. No flats either.

There's two kind of Kendas. There's the low pressure and the high pressure. The high pressure ones will hold 100 lbs. of air. I don't use Kendas on my trike, but on my Easy Sport, the 20 inch one I had on the front never had a flat and had put on about 2700 miles on it and still had quite a bit of life left. However, the 26 one on the rear was a problem.