Recumbent - Regarding squirl's post below...rather than hijack the thread

I'm 57, I don't have a recumbent and split my rides between my Raleigh Competition and Waterford, with a Trek for the grocery/errand runs.

So today I spent some time on the Little Miami Trail near Cincinnati and my observations are as follows:

1. 4 bents with riders all around my age and all smiled waved and we greeted each other.
2. About 8 leisure riders and 6 were friendly.
3. 6 walkers, 4 friendly.
4. 4 Armstrong wannabes, none friendly.....I guess my lowly steel bikes don't measure up. :mad:

I greet every individual while riding and if they don't reciprocate...I could give a rat's #$$, but it's nice when they do.

I have noticed that as well. WHen I have been out those on "competition" bikes seem to have the "attitude". And myself, much like you, could give a RATS A** about it. I'll just remember that when they are sitting alongside the bike trail/road/wherever with a flat as I go cruising on by.....and WAVE!!!!!

I wouldn't worry about it. Sometimes people just don't respond. Some are ashamed to be seen out on a bike that's not steel.

I have noticed that as well. WHen I have been out those on "competition" bikes seem to have the "attitude". And myself, much like you, could give a RATS A** about it. I'll just remember that when they are sitting alongside the bike trail/road/wherever with a flat as I go cruising on by.....and WAVE!!!!!

Well, you are a better man than I.

My Waterford with Reynolds 853 steel and Raleigh with all 531 can't be as good as carbon. I would say most of them don't KNOW what they are. I don't lose any sleep over it. Just a sign of the times.

I won't wave when I go by.....:roflmao2:

I greet every individual while riding and if they don't reciprocate... but it's nice when they do.

This & squirls thread reminds me of a "study" I did a couple of years ago, when I had one main ride. It's an old English "10 speed", albeit with Campy & Phil components, but it has upwrong bars.

So for a few weeks, I made note of how many "competition" riders responded to my wave.
If I was riding with my hands on the grips, ie; upright, I got no responce AT ALL! :notamused:

But,
If I was riding with my elbows on the grips, all leaned over, 9 out of 10 would wave back. :p

WTF???
I'm the same guy on the same bike. Oh well, that's on them. I still wave at all cyclists.

Guess I picked up that habbit as a kid, driving around with my older sister who drove a VW bug.
ALL VW drivers always waved at other VW drivers. (I know, it was the '60's)

But it continued when I started driving a motorcycle in '76. Motorcyclists waved at other bikes.

ahh, the good ol' days. :thumb:

This & squirls thread reminds me of a "study" I did a couple of years ago, when I had one main ride. It's an old English "10 speed", albeit with Campy & Phil components, but it has upwrong bars.

So for a few weeks, I made note of how many "competition" riders responded to my wave.
If I was riding with my hands on the grips, ie; upright, I got no responce AT ALL! :notamused:

But,
If I was riding with my elbows on the grips, all leaned over, 9 out of 10 would wave back. :p

WTF???
I'm the same guy on the same bike. Oh well, that's on them. I still wave at all cyclists.

Guess I picked up that habbit as a kid, driving around with my older sister who drove a VW bug.
ALL VW drivers always waved at other VW drivers. (I know, it was the '60's)

But it continued when I started driving a motorcycle in '76. Motorcyclists waved at other bikes.

ahh, the good ol' days. :thumb:

My little experiment took place in the early Eighties.
I rode the shop's Japanese UJMs (motorcycles) for a living, wrenched on bikes in the evenings and on weekends and commuted to those jobs on my Brit. bike.

What I did, was to make sure to wave every motorized two-wheeled vehicle that I saw.
I made a special effort to wave to every Harley rider I saw... made every effort to do that.
That was fun: especially when one of two things happened:
they either waved back with most of their fingers hidden (I imagined they were soliciting for sexual favours!)
:lol:
or, they actually waved back, usually pretty enthusiastically!
:thumb:

People are pretty clannish....

I normally ride rail/trails. If there's not a lot of riders out there I'll wave at everyone. On those days everyone waves. It makes no difference what they ride. But when there's a lot of folks riding, well that's a different story. Those days bent riders always wave, I suspect cause we're in the minority. Older folks and young folks with families will wave. However, many don't wave I think cause there's just too many riders out there. On some days riding a 50 mile ride I'll meet between 200 and 400 riders. I just don't feel like waving to all of them.

I have a tadpole trike here in Sweden (Model Q-NT produced by Inspired Cycle Engineering out of England). With the responses I've had here with it, I'm surprised at the number of people who have had so much negative reaction with their 'bents. I've been waved down and question by guys of all ages. Even the hardcore road cyclists who look like they're training for a race will give me a thumbs up, wave, or at least a smile and nod.

Oh! Have to share also that I ended up cycling in the opposite direction as a bunch of racers a few weeks ago. There were actually 4 bent bikes participating. I thought that was just great to see them in the thick of the pack with the high end traditional racing bikes.

I have received nothing but positive comments.

The kids are the best. Many times, I've had them scream to me on the street about how cool/sic/awesome my bike is.

I had a scooter rider give me a thumbs up the other day. Most adults ask questions, which I find favorable, as well.

We don't have a lot of trails in my area, but I do use a 7 mile section of trail that slowly climbs out of the Illinois River valley frequently. After reading so many stories about "impolite" cyclists over the years, I decided about a year ago that I was going to say "hello" or "good morning" or something similar to everyone that I met or passed. Amazingly, I get about an equal number of non-responses from all groups whether they be cyclists, walkers, or bird watchers.

Despite pretty much being a lycra clad, speed oriented, type A person, I've noticed that it does make me feel better, though, so I'm going to hang in there until I convert every grumpy person that I meet on the trail. :D

That issue has been batted back and forth in the Road forum.

Years ago, when hiking, I found that down by the trailhead, you could say hello to people, and no one would even answer back. But when you got about 8 miles from the trailhead, everyone you met was your friend. I think a similar thing happens on the roads. Drive on a lonely road out in the sticks, and drivers wave to each other. Drive on a freeway, no one waves. It has to do with the number of people seen more than a judgment of those people. If you ride 5 miles, you don't see may people. If you ride 50 miles every day, you'll see a LOT of people.

A while back, I rode in the "Jackrabbit Stampede", which is one of the charity rides that bills itself as a race. As I was riding my cruiser along at 14 mph, the two lead riders on the longer route caught me going about 30. They did the "on your left" and "Thanks" as they passed. Later, some other fast-but-not-as-fast riders passed me, and didn't bother with the niceties. So it's really not an issue of being "serious" or good, just individual people doing whatever they do.

We get spontaneous smiles and waves wherever we go. I've never been quite sure why though.

I need to come ride that flevo with you sometime! Cool!

Anytime!

Up here in ND evrybody wves to each other, with the rare exception of the Lance wannabees. Even they are reasonalby friendly unless you suggest allowing bents to join in any races. Different story then,
But almost NEVER do you not get a wave from cars, or pickups or other bikers, and only on one occasion have I ever got a middle finger or any crap from a motor vehicle except once at the height of the gas prices from a young long haired tatooed redneck type in a fat tired lifted pickup! Only one time in 4 or 5 years isn't bad at all!
On group rides a couple times a week around here you'll always see a combination of road bikes, a few bents, the odd moutain bike and even the occasional single speed. All in one happy strung out group.
Steel, aluminum, carbon, titnium - all mixed and most people couldn't tell or care about the difference.
But everyone would definitely notice that FLEVO! WOW, I've never seen or heard of one before! I'll have to research it!

But everyone would definitely notice that FLEVO! WOW, I've never seen or heard of one before! I'll have to research it!

Bobkat - They haven't made any Flevo's in ten years or so. I'm not aware of any others in the US. I have more info on my blog. Link below my signature.

We get spontaneous smiles and waves wherever we go. I've never been quite sure why though.



My guess would be the kickstand... yeah, that's gotta be it!

Bobkat - They haven't made any Flevo's in ten years or so. I'm not aware of any others in the US. I have more info on my blog. Link below my signature.

Lighnting made a back to back tandem for a while. They still have a video of it on their website. That Flevo is a cool bike.

Inspired Cycle Engineering (ICE) made at least one back-to-back tandem trike that I know of as a custom. Not sure if they made more or if they still take custom orders like that since they've also moved into making bikes as well.

Here's my other one. It's a prototype Bill Cook at Barcroft made for racing. It's faster and alot easier to handle. My stoker and I are sold on back to back riding now.

I rode with Bill at a race this past spring and he raced the new design of that BTB tandem. It was a great little machine and those guys flew on it!