Road Cycling - Modern Road bike speed vs. Recumbent bike speed?

Spuds is my favorite recumbent rider so far.

"lounge chair with wheels"



http://www.roflcopter.com/roflcopter.gif

http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/

Those are some homemade velomobiles.

Spuds seems to know a lot about recumbents/racing for a guy eating PBJ's walking his duct-taped homemade recumbents up hills.


Spuds has a "colorful" profile if you read it. :D What is a velomobile?

Alltheway,
Here is a web site of my favorite velomobile builder.
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/

Some benters know how to incorporate garbage cans with recumbent testing.

Spuds :D

Actually on a road bike you have to lift up both legs (one after the other) on a recumbent you push and pull horizontally so you don't have to lift up your legs assuming you clip in.

Hmmm. I can see how the most powerful part of the stroke can be in a different direction, but it looks to me like your foot still has to somehow get to the top of a round crank. On a human powered machine you're either lifting it up or pushing it up with the other foot.

...Here is a web site of my favorite velomobile builder....

lol, those junk-mobiles rule

http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/MVC-004S.JPG
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/MVC-009S.JPG
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/2position_down.jpg
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/MVC-023S.JPG
mad max: beyond diamondframe

lol, those junk-mobiles rule

http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/MVC-004S.JPG

You'd have to be hercules to pedal that up a hill. :p

Took some ingenuity to pull that off using old bike parts though.

The only reason I have to show up at an Hpv race this summer, which will be all of them, is to confront you in person.Spuds had been ridiculing me for months now and I can't tell you what I'll do when I see him. I don't know yet but you can bet it won't be good. Thats all.


This is wonderful news lowracer1!!!
You will be racing with fellow recumbent racers in 2005!!!

Congratulations for stepping up to the challenge to race fellow recumbent youngsters riding the same human powered vehicles. I am very proud of you for making this decision.

Just remember that if you decide to damage someone's bicycle or automobile or harm them by using fisticuffs, a lead pipe, a baseball bat, a switchblade, a stun gun, an uzi, a machete or a long winded fart the end result will be time in jail time. When you go to jail you will no longer be able to ride a bicycle or a Tracx trainer.

The PBJs, zipties and duct tape party is on me Spuds McDoodle when you come to Indianapolis in a month from now.

Spuds McDoodle

http://www.lightningbikes.com/cyber.htm#At%20the%20Races%20Video

Wow...This has got be embarrasing. Struggling up a hill against a Recumbent. :(

How far up the racing ladder are these guys on recumbents allowed to go?


I'm guessing these are banned per UCI regulation.

There will be two entries (team) in this years RAAM it will be a team riding the Polish Velocraft V2/NoCom a carbon fiber LowRacer and a team riding the Bacchetta AERO a Ti framed HighRacer with CF seat and fork. Both these recumbents are considered current state of the art performance recumbents that are commerically available. Last year a team riding Lightening F40 recumbents lead the race until WV and they were caught by a road team. This year the Bacchetta team will include some riders from the Lightening team. The Velokraft and the Bacchetta bikes being lighter and of different design may well climb better and depending on the lead when they hit the eastern hills, which are quite steep, could ward off the road bikes. It remains to be seen. Gonna be interesting to follow. At least for me, since I know some of the riders.

I am a former USCF type who likes long hard rides with competitive friends (70/100+miles). As I aged the rides got shorter and shorter due to neck and left arm problems. To the point where I didn't ride more than 15 miles at a time. I got my first recumbent in 99' and have had many since. I can now do those metric/english centuries on a weekly basis and have no bodily pain other than what I get from pushing the limits of my legs, lungs and redlining my HM. I have a Bacchetta AERO for fast riding, and Bacchetta GIRO for commuting and touring. I also have an IRO Fixie/SS, 83' TREK 970 classic roadie, an 05' Raleigh MTB and a new road bike on order.
I can do my commute on a road bike or fixie/ss. Since it is 15 miles each way I can handle the neck and arm issues. Between 30/40 miles the neck acts up, but the arm pain is the real issue. I have a friend/rider who is among the best hand sugeons in the Balt/Wash area who says he can fix it and my insurance will pay for it. I decline, elective sugeury is not fer me.

While I am an advocate of recumbents, they are not for everybody. Depending on the model/design they can be very fast on flat to rolling terrain and downhills can leave brown spots in your skivvies. However, The recumbent loses ground to the modern road bike in climbing ability. It is a horserace up to about a 8/10% grade then as the grade increases the penalty the recumbent pays increases. The weight is a issue in climbing too since most performance recumbents average weight is in the low 20's. Until I went back and rode a road bike and MTB I thought the penalty was less than it really is. Some recumbenteers will insist that this is not true and for a time I was of that ilk. Since my re-acqaintance with traditional bikes I have come to the couclusions in this post. Granted this is my opinion.

Handling is different too. You have to allow more time to cross traffic, unloading over potholes is problematic there is more, but I think the positives it provides for this 55YO is worth it for the comfort and reasonable speeds I can do. Since the majority of my riding is in flatland I hardly notice.

www.velokraft.com
www.bacchettabikes.com

Variety is the spice of life, Never dis a mans ride he may well dust ya!

I know this is a very specfic kind of racing (vs. road, etc.), but I find this interesting (note the vehicle type code, none are UCI regulation but -1 is closest I think):

http://www.ihpva.org/hpva/hpvarech.html#index

(Probably was posted in this thread already, but I haven't read every reply, sorry)

Al

http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/

Those are some homemade velomobiles.


I feel like I've time-traveled to 1900....No wonder it was the bicycle-mechanic Wright brothers who invented the airplane!.....Go Spuds Go!.....You are my zany hero!!......Spuds are as American as apple pie!....

I think I would fall asleep riding a recumbent. Do any of them come with pillows?

Or maybe you could take one of those massage chairs from Brookstone and slap some wheels on it, that'd make a sweet recumbent. I mean, we might as well take the "comfort above all" ethos to it's logical conclusion.

I don't even consider a recumbent a bicycle anymore than I consider an "aquacycle" a bicycle.

http://www.islander-pontoon-boats.com/Images/hydro_bike_orig.jpg
hydro-bike

http://www.islander-pontoon-boats.com/Images/aquacycle_orig.jpg
aqua-cycle

http://www.geocities.com/rcgilmore3/runnertriple1.jpg
I forsee much therapy in this child's future

http://www.trisled.com.au/images/clcruz1.jpg
bicycle..?

Modern high end road bikes are weight about 15 to 17lbs. However, I do not see recumbent bikes are weighted even close to high end road bikes.

The long drive chain, the heavy chair and the long and oversized main tube are all increasing weight. I am starting to think that lighten a recumbent bike is nearly impossible.

Most people thought recumbent bike is faster since it is more aerodynamic but I think that it is already old school thought.

Moreover, riding a recumbent bike is not as efficient as a road bike because a rider need to lift up both leg, plus he cannot use his body weight to help pedalling when going uphill.

Sorry I won't bother then.

wow... back from the dead....

zombie thread alert

Why oh why would one bring this thread back?

Why oh why would one bring this thread back?

Noob did a search.

:lol:

I just want know what happened to the two stars of this thread. I think this little spat is pretty awesome.

Congrats to the newb who actually did what everyone yells at others to do all the time.

edit: back to life 5 yrs to the day!

Congrats to the newb who actually did what everyone yells at others to do all the time.

:facepalm:

Noob did a search.

:lol:damned if you do and damned if you don't

damned if you do and damned if you don't

You are supposed to search, and not reply.

You are supposed to search, and not reply.

as a newb, you're not nearly as on the lookout for necro threads. We're used to them now. If there's a thread where I don't recognize the posters, the date is the 1st thing I look at. Most of us have probably been fooled before.

lesson learned, hopefully.

Your theory is soooo wrong. A full carbon bent will blow away all but the strongest riders on a regular road bike. A guy in our group with a back problem got one and the bike only weighs something like 18 pounds. Makes me ill how fast the thing can go.

I just like Spud's attitude!! Way to go man. Life is to short to participate in a sport and not enjoy it!!


I'll wave at ya!!

Your theory is soooo wrong. A full carbon bent will blow away all but the strongest riders on a regular road bike. A guy in our group with a back problem got one and the bike only weighs something like 18 pounds. Makes me ill how fast the thing can go.

Until they have to go uphill...

Must be getting close to Easter.

Aerodynamics the recumbent definitely has the advantage.


But then I take a look at other things?

1. Small diameter tires.....increased rolling resistance
2. Biomechanics....don't know enough to comment except you can't stand during sprint to use your bodyweight as an advantage
3. Gearing? Probably need really big chainrings to make those 20" tires work. Dare I say 60-11?
4. Drivetrain efficiency.....can't be better than a road bike with all that chain

Not all recumbents have small wheels,you get more leverage by pushing harder against your site than is possible by standing and also by standing on your upright you're become less aerodynamic, gearing wise you can use a 3 speed hub and 7 gears on the back and still get a decent high gear even with an average sized chain wheel.

I am sad that another youngster is calling me names. Do you also laugh at me when you see me walking my recumbent up a hill?

I bet Johnny Schlitter will never laugh or say mean things to harmless old folks who have to ride and walk for exercise.

Next ride you better eat some salt. If you do not you will be cramping up and falling over and then someone like me Spuds McDoogle will have to help you to the emergency room.

Walking up hills and smelling the roses in the recumbent lifestyle.
Spuds

Obviously you have never ridden a recumbent,and just feel the need to critercise them because you don't like them,I can ride up 1 in 4 or 25% hills on my recumbent,you go slower than an upright but still manage to climb them,although it takes time for your legs to adapt to climbing on a recumbent especially if you're used to riding a conventional bicycle.

Obviously you have never ridden a recumbent,and just feel the need to critercise them because you don't like them,I can ride up 1 in 4 or 25% hills on my recumbent,you go slower than an upright but still manage to climb them,although it takes time for your legs to adapt to climbing on a recumbent especially if you're used to riding a conventional bicycle.

Just so you know, this thread is 5 years old and the people you are responding to are long gone.

Obviously you have never ridden a recumbent,and just feel the need to critercise them because you don't like them

That's hardly the impression I got from Spuds' posts; he's quite evidently a fan.

Surprised not to see Wittingham's speed records mentioned; he cracked 130km/h back in 2002.

I'd like to see someone on a faired upright come within a bull's roar...

Just so you know, this thread is 5 years old and the people you are responding to are long gone.

Sorry I didn't realise this article is five years old,I wasn't on the forum then and only recently came across it,I won't bother adding anything else to it.

Many thanks.

Karl.

I remember when this thread was new and active. It sucked five years ago, and it sucks now.

this is what happens if noobs use the search function...

shouldn't this be in the 37?

Why oh why would one bring this thread back?

Good question


Noob did a search.

:lol:

They get told to do that alot, I hear. ;)


I just want know what happened to the two stars of this thread. I think this little spat is pretty awesome.

Congrats to the newb who actually did what everyone yells at others to do all the time.

edit: back to life 5 yrs to the day!

OK.

I think this one can be put back in the ground.

Just think what will happen when cyclekarl finds out that Sheldon Brown passed away. He should get the memo in about 3 more years.

My stay at bf has been fairly short and already this argument between road bikes and recumbents has been played to death causing me real visual fatigued. There is a reason we have two seperate forums.

My stay at bf has been fairly short and already this argument between road bikes and recumbents has been played to death causing me real visual fatigued. There is a reason we have two seperate forums.

Just as long as you realize that this argument was played to death 5 years ago...