Classic & Vintage - C&V 'Bents

Anybody got a C&V recumbent?

I've always had a bit of interest..maybe more of a curiosity about recumbents...i've always wanted to try a tadpole style one. the 2 wheelers scare me a bit for some reason.

So anyone got pics of their C&V 'Bent?

I would love to see a few good pics of some old ones. I think Vanguard one of the bigger makers. I rode one around a parking lot once, it tok a bit getting used to but seemed like fun. if I lived out in the midwest or southwest I would certainly have one.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll299/sailorbenjamin/recumbent_cartoon_1914_lg.jpg

I can't find a decent pic of mine at the moment and I won't be getting it out of storage for a while. It was a homebuilt long wheelbase job that some kid did in a shop class. heavy as heck but a nice job overall. I've converted it from 3 speed with a coaster brake to 24 speeds with cantis. 8 of the speeds work and the cantis I converted it too aren't on the front yet (I was confident that I could weld the posts to the square stock that the rear triangle was made from but I'm thinking I might get a pro to do the front fork).
It took two chains linked together and when it gets swinging in the middle it jumps off the freewheel and tears out spokes. I need another tensioner in there.
I also had to buy tandem cables for the rear end. It's a loong bike.

I have a Counterpoint Presto, early 90's. Hard to put a date on it; components vary from mid 80's to early 90's. Suntour Barcon shifters, indexing with a 7 sp freewheel. It's not terribly light, but it's agile and quick, and it's comfortable to sit and pedal for hours and hours. I don't much like the hand position, though; you sit in the thing like you're driving a car, with your hands just below eye level; I really have to hold on to the bars or my hands will fall off. So on long rides, my hands get very tired. I haven't really made up my mind about whether I like it; in many ways it's too much like being in a car. But my neck doesn't get sore; that's nice.

I'll try to find some photos for you.

Some arm rests will help keep your hands on the wheel.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll299/sailorbenjamin/recumbent_cartoon_1914_lg.jpg

This is great, I've been thinking about this all day. 2 Raleigh 3speeds-$100 dollars on Craigslist ; a pair of ape-hanger handle bars $19.99 from eastcoast choppers; the seat pan and back from one one of the pnuematic chairs in the office- $0, some help welding ( or clamping) a BB above the rear wheel-one six pack; Cruising in a classic British Recumbent....priceless!

I've got one dead Raleigh and a welder!
Actually, I've read that rear wheel steering doesn't really work except on fork lifts but I think it's a good aesthetic theme to start with.

Ahhhh......You assumed they were both traveling in the same direction. :roflmao2: Admittedly, rear faced riding would pose a bit of a problem making the rear steering thing almost a non-issue.

I wonder, at speed, if rear-wheel steering was limited to only a few degrees if it would work, the turning radius would suffer but perhaps the rig could be managable on the street?

Ok, I read http://www.wannee.nl/hpv/abt/e-index.htm and have concluded that rear steering won't work in the classic sense. But the Raliegh would make a great base for a retro-style recumbent, wouldn't it! I'm thinking kinda Juels Vernish; black and nickle, perhaps a carbide lamp, cream Schwalbe's.

Sorry, didn't mean to hi-jack the thread...:o.....nope haven't seen any classic 'bents except a f-40 lighting that passes by my office now and then but you can't see the bike becasue he's got the spandex body fairing. It appears to be older; fadded and patched. I'll try to get a picture.

There's a guy with a full wrap-around fairing 'bent who i see every now and then on the road...its almost more of a velocar than anything else...looks like a little submarine with two wheels sticking out underneath. Its definitely Vintage, the fairing looks to be made of oilcloth or something like it

Ok, I confess ... I own 4 bents. A tadpole trike ( the most fun I
have ever had on a bike ) 2 long wheelbase Rans, and a EZ- 1.

No pain, no pressure points, no neck problems, and a hoot to
ride. One ride, and my wife was converted.


Johnnybee.

Zaphod - Here is what rolls down my street, he/she is a commuter from Merke in Rahway. The pic is from the F-40 site. I have to get motovated and chase him down one morning, if I can, he's really moving when he passes by.
150458

Okay, since the head honcho of all creation has asked for photos, I found a photo of my 'bent, complete with rider. I know, I know... but it's what I got. And it shows the rider position very well; as you see, I sit more or less as if I were driving a car.

Ben, I've thought about arm rests (among other things) but haven't figured it out. This bike has very twitchy steering, and I'd be leery of anything that impedes arm motion.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/2755983001_dec3f815d8_b.jpg

By the way, another problem I've found, with this 'bent and perhaps all, is that I cannot see the rear derailleur. I never thought about it before riding this bike, but as soon as I got on this bike I realized that when riding I habitually look at the derailleur to see what gear I'm in. Furthermore, you can't hear it very well either; so it's hard to tell what the gears are up to. More than any other bike, this one makes me want indexed gears, with a good visual indicator of what gear it's in.

Ok that looks really fun.


Zaphod - Here is what rolls down my street, he/she is a commuter from Merke in Rahway. The pic is from the F-40 site. I have to get motovated and chase him down one morning, if I can, he's really moving when he passes by.
150458

Andrew, that looks pretty much exactly like the one I've seen up this way in Riverdale, except i seem to remember the one I saw was a brown/tan lookin thing. Either that or seriously faded...the plastic fairing on the front looked a bit rickety.


How the heck do you stop on a two wheel 'bent like that one when you're all snugged in with a fairing and all that canvas around you?

How the heck do you stop on a two wheel 'bent like that one when you're all snugged in with a fairing and all that canvas around you?

It's got slits in the side to drop your legs out. I think body fairing is a spandex material. The one is see is a red/brown, tattered affair. In the winter, it's got a bubble like windscreen over the rider's head which completes the whole look.

Back to the Raleigh 'bent conversion for a moment. If you used a configuration like rhm's 'bent and a drop bar bike, couldn't a seat be placed over the original BB positon and a new BB attached ahead of and to the front forks to drive the front wheel? This would give the much sought after short drive train, front steering and if you kept the mudguards and full chaincase, it would look classic.... maybe.

This is just too cool.

150508

Oh yeah, that is sweet. Seen that one before...its a Steampunk themed 'bent....I would ride the heck outta that.

I have a blue Rans Stratus from 1990. I will try to find a pic. You may find more responses in the recumbents forum.

Calling Jeff Wills and Mark Stonich!

Mark once showed off here a Raleigh Sports converted to a short-wheelbase recumbent.

As for C&V, my neighbor has a 1st or 2nd generation Linear (mid-late 90s). It's rather similar to this one:

http://www.linearrecumbent.com/images/protoimage_02_lg.jpg

I have an early-generation TerraTrike, the one with the squirrelly underseat steering. 81 gears or something. Somewhere I have a photo of me and my tiny dog on that thing.

Probably /the/ classics are the Ryan (or Vanguard, now made by Longbikes) touring bike, the Lightning (P-38?) and the Easy Racers Tour Easy and Gold Rush Replica.


Edit: OK. THE C&V recumbent is the Mochet velocar:

http://www.cyclegenius.com/images/faure.jpg

Oh, yeah, and then there's the great C&V velomobile of the modern era, the Alligt Alleweder, made since the earlyish 1980s. Why, look who it is!

http://www.velomobiling.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=693&g2_serialNumber=4&g2_GALLERYSID=723665e4163b5c11e6415e4054379bc8

Oh man that white velocar with the flames is cool too!

the 2 wheelers scare me a bit for some reason.

You don't have far to fall.

A dapper-looking fellow rolled by on this the other day:

150817150818

From up close, it appears to be a very well made home-built, so perhaps not C&V. It certainly looks the part though.

It's definately a classic.