Recumbent - Thinking about getting a Recumbent?

next summer my girlfriend our will be 1 yr old daughter and I are planning a 700+ mile bike trip from my parents to her parents. I heard these style of bikes are more comfortable and less stressful on the body the only thing i haven't heard about them is pulling ability both my girlfriend and I will be planning on pulling bike trailers one of them our daughter will be in and the other packed with camping equipment and I was going to be modding both trailers with a home made dynamos(to charge batteries lights and other needed electronics) the weight of each trailer would be between 50 and 100 lbs plus the extra drag of the dynamos. I was wondering if they could handle that kind of pulling and what style of recumbent would possibly be best?

Probably need to divulge a little more info...main thing is of course the "engines"...fitness level, experience...that kinda thing for starters I'm gonna guess. I for example know that I can pull that amount of weight on my soon to have tadpole trike w/out all the dynamo stuff...but, yet I also know I need some low gearing and a lot of saddle time pulling said load/trailer around my local hills before I set out on even an "overnighter"... just my .02c worth...

I have both a LongWheelBase and a CompactLongWheelBase bent and pull a utility trailer with loads up to 50 lbs quite a bit. I'd recommend a 11-34 or 11-36 rear cassette and changing out your "small chainwheel" to either a "24 or 26 tooth", (the stock is normally a 30 on a lot of bents). 100LBS. is a LOT of weight to pull, I'd PACK LITE as much as possible and keep the weight under 75lbs., jmho, ymmv

If you've never ridden a bent, then "dzrtcat" is right, get your bent/trailer, start off with "lighter loads" and start working on HILLS!!!! You will need to get your, "Bent Legs" up to full strength before a tour like your looking at! The "advantage" to a Recumbent TRIKE is that you don't have to "worry" about "stalling" on a steep up hill, if the slope is too steep, then you can just "rest" with a trike. Still the BEST thing to do is to get to a "Recumbent Dealer" with several different brands and "TEST RIDE" so you can find the "bent" that suits you the best!!!

All the major brands make good machines, the best bent for you is the one that, "feels right", then you can look into "towing" capabilities when testing. Have FUN with the search! :)

How about a setup like this?

http://recumbentblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/recumbent2_galluzzo.jpg

You could put your daughter in a child seat on the rear rack.

Personally I would feel more confident with the above pictured setup on this bike:

http://www.greenspeed.com.au/webimages/mod_images/gtt_main.jpg

I have never ridden a bent before in my life but as far as a standard bike goes before I started college I could do 100 or more miles a day, day after day in a row as far as my girlfriend I think she has to get her bike legs back in shape haven't done much but walk recently due to the pregnancy hence the dynamos I am planning on using 24VDC motors so we have the ability of a forward assist when needed and a break assist for safety . We are doing it more for fun and my car has seen better days I do like the sound of the tadpole style trike I did see those and thought they would be better. As far as the size of the load I will keep it as small as possible but with a 1 year old with us it will be generally heavier her weight and what she needs

The average stock trike has a gear inch range way too high for loaded touring. 24 GI is a bad number for hills. 16 is better. Somewhere around 12 GI should get you up the 12% slope that runs for six miles.

You might want to try some shorter trips to do Proof of Concept. A 700 mile debut tour with toddler sounds like An Adventure. Now add five days of straight rain.

Go over to BROL - Trikes and inquire. There are a number of experienced trike tour riders there. We just has an educational discussion on gear trains for hills a week or so back.

Trikes are so much more comfortable that DF bikes. No seat squirm, no bun breaks, etc. No creams or other attempts to make a bike seat comfortable.

The bents and trailers will work just fine. But------I would suggest dumping a lot of weight. Most people start out with way too much stuff. Consider dumping the heavy generator and go with a solar panel for instance also. Bottom line you can get there with a lot less weight than you are suggesting.

The average stock trike has a gear inch range way too high for loaded touring. 24 GI is a bad number for hills.

I don't see how you can state this as fact....perhaps you are in no shape to push a 24 up a grade on a loaded trike...that does not mean everyone is unable to do it....maybe you need to quit generalizing in your posts, eh??

I agree that a 24" gear is a little tall to use for dragging a 60 lb trailer up a long double-digit grade, but I also think that most trikes have lower low gears than that.

I don't see how you can state this as fact....perhaps you are in no shape to push a 24 up a grade on a loaded trike...that does not mean everyone is unable to do it....maybe you need to quit generalizing in your posts, eh??

Calm down. You must have direct experience to the contrary - tell us about it. Otherwise, your all hot air too.

FWIW, I think it would be hard too have too low a gear for loaded touring on trikes. 10 inches would not be out of line.

I have never ridden a bent before in my life

I'd suggest doing that first.

Calm down...

I don't recognize your authority on any part of my life whatsoever...steamer- my dog leaves a steamer on cold mornings......

I don't recognize your authority on any part of my life whatsoever...steamer- my dog leaves a steamer on cold mornings......

Calm way, way down before you break something important in your head. A long ride often helps.

Yes I would say most important thing is to get your "bent" legs in shape,way different muscles are used than in upright cycling.

As Retro suggested, find a bent somewhere for a test ride, maybe a LBS. As to comfort, they can be very comfortable. They do have a learning curve in some ways however. You will use a different set of muscle's for instance.

Actually, we use the same muscles on 'bents as on safety bikes - they're just used differently.

Is anyone else not alarmed at the choice to bring an infant along for a 700 miles journey? You should get married, not get a recumbent imho.

I pulled my 27-year-old son around the streets of Atlanta when he was small. He survived. Not sure how marital status figures into this discussion.