Recumbent - Trying out SWB Commuting

I've been into recumbents since late '07, not really a very long time. I started with a new Sun EZ Sport which I purchased from a very reputable dealer in South Central NY State. I wanted to be sure I was on the right sized bike to start my recumbent learning curve and I believe that has proven to have been the right decision.

The following summer I purchased a used Volae Tour to both experience the SWB factor and to potentially use as an errand/commuter. It has been a very fine bike though I've only taken pleasure rides with it so far. Last month I purchased a used Tour Easy and have now realised that I'm a LWB guy. All my pleasure riding is done on either one or the other of my LWB machines.

For the past umpteen years I've been commuting on an old Trek 820 Mountain bike and, still am...at least until this morning anyway. I rode the Volae into work this morning. I figure I owe it to myself to at least try to use the SWB for commuting and errands. I'm not sure how this is going to work as there is somewhat of a learning curve here. My Trek is equiped with a metal crate bolted to the rear rack...I just throw my knapsack in and away I go. The Volae has a Seat-back messenger style bag which has way less volume. I'm thinking I may bolt a crate to the rear rack on the Volae for the convenience.

The Volae seat is detachable with quick release skewers which is great as I don't relish riding a wet sponge home on rainy days. I brought the seat indoors with me today (too much putzing around at 04:30 in the A.M. I think), though another option could be to incorporate some sort of patio chair cover into my lock down routine out at the bike rack and leave the seat out on the bike.

As you can see, I've got a lot to work through yet. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Why not try panniers if you have a rack? I use Delta Compact panniers for commuting.
Taking your seat with you when you get to work is a great theft-deterrent tactic.

You have too many bicycles. There's no reason to have more than two. That way, you can still commute to work if your main commuting bike gets a flat tire. That way, if your friend comes to visit for the weekend, he/she can join you in a bike ride.

I use panniers on my SWBs for commuting. A trash bag over the seat on rainy days is also a quick and easy solution.

I ride my Giro 20 as my daily commuter, 18 miles each way. I've got an Aero trunk that hangs off the seat. Lots of room for everything I need, and much I do not.

I gave up on the wet seat problem after I forgot to cover it one too many times. Now I carry a towel in my trunk and slap it over the seat when it's wet. Not elegant, but effective.

I don't have any real advice specific to commuting by recumbent. If you've been riding a DF for as long as it seems, then you've already got all the routes down, know what you'll need to carry, etc. There's nothing really special about the 'bent, other than the fact that your rear won't hurt at the end of the ride.

I've only ever owned SWB bents and have been commuting by bent for 4 years. I have no problems riding a SWB in traffic. I used the tailbox that was on my first bent for putting my backpack in, the rear seat bag on my Rans and then panniers on the rack on my current bent. The panniers seam to work well and I can take all I need that way.

I like the taking the seat indoors with you. It's both a theft deterrent and way to keep the seat dry. I just park my bent outside with my helmet on the seat and hope that it doesn't rain all day. I can park my bent in a safe place where it is highly unlikely to ever be stolen even though it sits outside.

Well, the first day went poorly. The riding was fine, it always is. The fussing about at the bike rack was a major deterent though.

First issue is the seatback bag. It's just too small.

Second issue is the removal and installation of the seat. It's accomplished with two quick release skewers but it takes me all of two hands to allign the seat. With no kickstand on the bike I need a third or fourth hand to hold the bike while re-installing the seat. The bike is somewhat low making it difficult to see to allign the seat, and the seatback bag obstructs my view.

Third issue is my visibility to passing motorists. I currently only have one Planet Bike Super Flash light mounted to the rear of the bike. I had numerous close encounters with motorists on the way home, closer than I experience on the Mountain bike which I have three rear lights mounted to.

So here's the plan......

1.) Change out my rear rack and retrofit it to accept an old set of panniers I have in the basement. The rack I have on now is garbage. I'll use the panniers until I can find a plastic milk crate to use as a base to fashion a tailbox for easy stowage.

2.) Find a cover for the bike, preferably a grill cover (or something similar) with securing loops at the bottom that I can run a security cable through. This will allow me to leave the seat attached to the bike elliminating the fussing at the rack. (Backup plan would be to find a way to mount a kickstand to steady the bike while I fuss with attaching the seat. As much as I like the idea of removing the seat from the parked bike to keep it dry and as a theft deterrent, it's a pain in the neck putting it back onto the bike for an old codger like me with a bothersome back, poor eyesight, and only two hands.)

3.) Add more lights. I've got plenty of aluminum tubing laying around. I'll mount a piece accross the rear of the rack and put a couple of tail lights on it. Once I get a tailbox fashioned I can do all sorts of things around light mounting.

The Rack, panniers, and lights are the first order of business and must be dealt with before commuting with the Volae again. Any other changes can occur later if I so choose, with the seat concerns being a high priority.

One positive note: rear vision with the Volae is fantastic. I have a Mirror Cycle mirror mounted to the handle bar and it's the best set up of all my bikes by far. Seeing behind me is no issue what so ever.

For now I'm back on the Mountain Bike for commuting but only until I get the Volae squared away, then it's going to be a great season.

Thanks everybody for all the great insights you've offered so far.

Second issue is the removal and installation of the seat. It's accomplished with two quick release skewers but it takes me all of two hands to allign the seat. With no kickstand on the bike I need a third or fourth hand to hold the bike while re-installing the seat. The bike is somewhat low making it difficult to see to allign the seat, and the seatback bag obstructs my view. .

The Hostel Shoppe has a kickstand for the Volae bikes: http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=1005338632

The Hostel Shoppe has a kickstand for the Volae bikes: http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=1005338632

Thank you. I may eventually go that route....but in the meantime....

As luck would have it I found curb-side, a metal milk crate on my way home the other day. It fits on my rack and once I've finished painting it flat black I'll be mounting and attaching some lights and a safety triangle. It'll solve my lighting issues by providing plenty of light mount opportunities. It'll solve my seat installation issues by giving me a robust, high part of my bike to lean against a rack for stablizing my bike hands-free while fussing with aligning and fastening the seat and by eliminating the need for the seat-back bag.

I'll let you all know how it works out.

O.K. ! Tomorrow's the big day! Providing the weather is not hurricane-like I'll be riding my (improved?) Volae in to work.

I think I've addressed all of my issues.

I found an old metal Milk-Crate along the curb. I painted it black and mounted it onto my rear rack using 10" mending plates and 2" bolts & nuts. I can just drop my knapsack right into the crate and my "Luggage" issues are history. I won't need the seatback bag any more.

Onto the back of the milk crate I mounted two more Planet Bike Superflash tail lights. I found that I can put my high-vis safety vest around my knapsack and I also mounted an orange flag to the crate. Hopefully, visibility from behind is no longer an issue.

Nashbar just had a sweet sale and offered Blackburn Quad headlights for $19.99 (I assume it's "old stock" close out stuff). That's what I've been using on my Trek, not very good to see with but very visible for drivers to see me. I bought two, one is for my daughter. Visibility from oncoming traffic is now covered.

The seatback bag I was using had water bottle pockets. Since I will not be using it I mounted two bottle cages onto the seat stays using trusty old hose-clamps with some inner-tube wrap to protect the paint.

The plan is to remove the seat when I get to work. The crate will provide a solid surface for leaning the bike against something to help facilitate the removal and installation of the seat.

Here's a couple of pics....

Here's the entire rig...
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_1936.jpg

the rear light show, I used old steel tubing to attach the tail light mounts to...
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_1933.jpg

putting the front mast to good use holding my "U"-lock and a reflector...
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_1930.jpg

the cockpit, the blackburn headlight is now interchangeable with my mountain bike as are the tail lights...
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_1929.jpg

the rack with milk crate, notice the water bottle cages on the seat stays...
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_1931.jpg

where would we be without hose-clamps?
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_1934.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_1935.jpg

I'll let you all know how this works for me.

O.K. ! Tomorrow's the big day! Providing the weather is not hurricane-like I'll be riding my (improved?) Volae in to work.

I think I've addressed all of my issues.

I found an old metal Milk-Crate along the curb. I painted it black and mounted it onto my rear rack using 10" mending plates and 2" bolts & nuts. I can just drop my knapsack right into the crate and my "Luggage" issues are history. I won't need the seatback bag any more.

Onto the back of the milk crate I mounted two more Planet Bike Superflash tail lights. I found that I can put my high-vis safety vest around my knapsack and I also mounted an orange flag to the crate. Hopefully, visibility from behind is no longer an issue.

Nashbar just had a sweet sale and offered Blackburn Quad headlights for $19.99 (I assume it's "old stock" close out stuff). That's what I've been using on my Trek, not very good to see with but very visible for drivers to see me. I bought two, one is for my daughter. Visibility from oncoming traffic is now covered.

The seatback bag I was using had water bottle pockets. Since I will not be using it I mounted two bottle cages onto the seat stays using trusty old hose-clamps with some inner-tube wrap to protect the paint.

The plan is to remove the seat when I get to work. The crate will provide a solid surface for leaning the bike against something to help facilitate the removal and installation of the seat.

Here's a couple of pics....

Here's the entire rig...
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_1936.jpg

I'll let you all know how this works for me.

Nice looking mods.

Why not panniers to keep the load down low and to avoid extra weight of the 'functional', 'utilitarian' basket?
Should be no problem mounting SuperFlashes on the seat frame.

Why not panniers to keep the load down low and to avoid extra weight of the 'functional', 'utilitarian' basket?
Should be no problem mounting SuperFlashes on the seat frame.

Actually the seat frame is pretty well wraped with seat material.

I really like being able to just drop stuff into the basket and using the vest in the basket works really well. I will sacrifice the advantages of keeping the weight lower, for now at least, as I only live 5 miles from the job. It takes a lot more weight than I care to carry to offset the wide load on the seat anyway, if you know what I'm trying to say.

The ride into work went nicely today though I did brake the plastic Kryptonite "U" lock carrier on the first pot hole I hit. No bother to just swoop back, scoop up the lock and toss it into the basket along side my knapsack. The seat removal was effortless with the bike leaning securely against the end of the bike rack propped up by the milk crate. If re-installation goes as smoothly (and I expect that it will as the removal of the seatback bag greatly improves the visibility of the QR's), this might just work out as nicely as my Mountain bike does.

Thanks for the great tips.

I just saw your comments over in 50+ and had to laugh. It sounds like you're having fun and might be a permanent convert to the bent side if you can work out your parking issues. You've gone for more safety features than I have on my ride and I'm a year-rounder.

Oh, and when I overhear snide comments, or when someone tells me I'm crazy to ride a contraption like that, I just ask them how many calories they burn outside their Basal Metabolic Rate in a day. My answer (between 1,700 and 2,200 depending on weather) usually shuts them up.

It works!!!!!!

The seat installation was a breeze. Life is so much easier when you can see what you're fiddling with. The basket works perfectly....no fuss, no worry, no fasteners to mess with. The rack seems sturdy enough for the load.

The cockpit was a little crowded but that was due to clothing issues. The wind was 20+mph with a driving rain all the way home. I was wearing jeans with rain pants and a light denim jacket with a rain coat (it was only 40F when I left for work in the morning). I'll be in shorts for the rest of the season.

The bike is setup perfectly now.

My only remaining issue is learning to handle the bike. I've only got about 300 miles on it since I picked it up so I am still learning the quirks that accompany a SWB. I'm certainly physically comfortable. I'm mobile and visible and I'm as safe from traffic on the Volae as I am on the Trek. With a little more experience I'll also be as relaxed on the Volae as I am on my other bikes. Learning to become a proficient SWB recumbent handler is a skill set that I'm looking foreward on practicing. It's going to be a great Summer! :)