Sawtooth

Alright, I am all ears....
1. Why did you guys (or gals) make the move to recumbents?
2. Is there any speed/efficiency gain/loss?
3. How do you deal with the reduced visibility to motorists?
4. Do you miss anything about your traditional style rides?

Thanks

bnet1

My answers:
1. Comfort, the ability to ride a good distance and only have tired legs and not feel like I've been beat to a pulp.
2. Compared to my road bike:
a. slower up steep hills
b. equal to or slightly faster on the flats
c much faster down hills
d. faster into a head wind
3. Visibility not an issue. Motorists tend to actually give a wider berth in most cases.
4. I miss nothing about the road bike, other than when transporting you have to allow for more room for the 'bent.

Spuds McDoogle

1. I ride my vintage classic regular bicycles and my homebuilt recumbents. Why both you might ask. Heck they are fun. Ride and then walk up hills one day with my homebuilt recumbent, ride my Schwinn cruiser to the Family Dollar for duct tape the next. Golly it is fun to pedal any bicycle.

2. If you want to go fast you can ride an automobile or motorbike. With all the years I have been riding most any bike will be as fast as the persons ability to ride it. All you have to do is pedal. You might have to walk up a hill every now and then if you ride a heavy recumbent or regular bicycle. No shame in that.
(P.S. Watch out for some of the fellows here who tell stories about smoking roadies or how fast they go and climb on a recumbent. Those fellows are fibbing for their egos.)

3. Anyone in an automobile can see a fellow on the road on any bicycle IF they are paying attention. Use a mirror at all times. I got a mirror at Family Dollar for 50¢ and I duct taped it to my recumbent. I see all the traffic around me when I ride or walk up hills.

4. Nothing to miss. A bicycle is a bicycle. They all work the same. You sit on them and pedal and go. Anyone can ride or walk with them. You can eat a PBJ while riding any bicycle and you can ride slow and smell the roses on em.

Spuds

Gary Mc

One thing different about recumbents is the variety, much more than just weight and component quality.

If you are interested in speed, you have short wheel based models (some with dual 26 inch wheels), long wheel based models (especially with a fairing) and lowracer models. Recumbents are a bit heavier, which is a penalty going uphill. But, they are often more aerodynamic. A faired low racer currently holds the world speed record of 81 mph on a human powered vehicle.

https://www.wisil.recumbents.com/wisi...lenge-2004.htm

I ride a recumbent trike for comfort, meaning that I can ride farther and more often with less side affects. I like the trike for climbing and riding around town. Folks seem to notice me more but I still have to be careful coming out from behind a parked car.

The only thing missing was ease of public transportation, so I recently bought a Dahon Speed 8 folding bike that can be folded into a suitcase. I am trying to recondition myself to riding an upright. It is tough.

Regards,

Gary

BlazingPedals

1. I moved to recumbents after my hands hurt for a solid week after this one weeklong tour. I had already done all the 'standard' fixes of changing stems, bars, padded tape, and extra-padded gloves. Enough was enough, and decided that I rode enough miles to deserve a machine that didn't hurt to ride.
2. Net speed loss in the first year. The following year I started riding with the next faster group. Between conditioning my recumbent muscles, adding a front fairing, and acquiring a newer faster bent, I've picked up over 5 mph since my upright-riding days. Unfaired, my 'standard' short wheelbase bent is about the same aero and drivetrain efficiency as an upright, but with the added advantage of comfort. No pressure points, no craning my neck, no changing positions required. Just sit and pedal. And my lowracer is about the same efficiency as having my own 3-man paceline with me everywhere.
3. Reduced visibility is a myth. For whatever the reason, recumbents get more notice from drivers, not less. In heavy downtown traffic, it's good to ride one that puts your head above the hoods of the cagers, but that's just so you don't surprise anybody by suddenly appearing from behind a parked car.
4. The only thing I miss is the ability to stand on really steep hills. Hello, lower gears! Other than that - nothing.

Big Bad John

Sawtooth: In answer to your first question, I just made the switch to recumbents after a 21 year hiatus from conventional road bikes (used to ride/race a Ross Paragon and a Jim Redcay Ross Custom). I just picked up my new Sun EZ Sport CX (Cro-Mo frame) yesterday evening (03-17-05) after researching what it was I thought I needed and wanted from a recumbent bike. I added the rear rack and fenders to start with. I'm going to add under seat racks and panniers when I'm fit enough to tour, but I'm unsure about a fairing since I've pretty universally heard that there is not much, if any, of a benefit at cruising/touring at 15 mph or so. I've heard that unless you're maintaing a speed of about 20 mph or above, the aerodynamic benefits are negligible. The only counter to the areodynamic argument is that the faired bikes are supposed to be warmer to ride behind in cold weather and provide some protection from the elements. As far as the reason I switched, I just thought that they made an incredible amount of sense from an engineering perspective (yes, I'm an anal-retentive engineer gear-head). Plus, the idea of marching (riding) to a different drummer really appealed to me. I realize that many on this forum race recumbents, but probably not Long Wheel Base (LWB) bikes like I bought. I wanted something to cruise the neighborhood and commute on, and hopefully, do some short tours on later. I think my choice fit my needs. The biggest advantage I had was my local dealer here in the Jackson, MS metro area (Ride South Bikes and Boats - recumbent specialist), where I could look at and try several rigs before actually buying. Also, the EZ Sport allowed me to get into recumbents without breaking the bank so I wouldn't have to take a beating on selling it if I hated it.

As far as question two goes, I've only ridden about 10 miles on mine last night. The terrain here is pine trees, gentle rolling hills, with blacktop roads (some smooth...some horrible). I found that my particular bike is no champion climber on the hills, but I could manage to get up them fairly well if I stayed in a low gear and spin to the top, so the information on climbing that I've read proved to be true. The descent? WHOA! Christ Almighty this thing is like a LUGE compared to the older DF bikes I used to ride. It was a bit scary at first. In my neighborhood there is one shallow grade about 1/2 mile long and the bike just continued to accelerate to the point where I was feathering the brake to calm my nerves. As far as the flats, I think that given my overall poor condition at this time, I can maintain a considerably higher speed than I could on a DF bike simply due to the comfort factor. I do remember some rides way back in the day when I would have trouble with numb hands from all of the road shock and some numbness 'where you sit'. None of that with the Kool-Back seat on my bike. As far as overall efficiency/speed, I just don't know. I suspect that in my case if I can ride longer and more comfortably, I'll get into better shape and that will translate into better results (higher average speed, etc.). As far as the differences between the different configurations of recumbents vs. DF bikes, others here can answer that more scientfically than me.

As far as question three goes, visisbility isn't nearly as much of a problem with the Sun bikes as some of the other low racers, trikes, and even the Easy Racers models (Tour Easy, GRR, and Ti-Rush), since it sits up much higher and much more vertically. Of course, you pay the areodynamic penalty for the higher perch, but for what I wanted to do with my bike it really wasn't much of a consideration. I really believe that most people notice recumbents of any configuration more than a 'regular' DF bike simplly because, comparatively speaking, there are so few of them on the road compared to their DF brethren that they are just different enough to catch motorists attention. The only type I would really be concerned about would be the tadpole trike configuration because of their extremely low height, but a flag or two can solve that problem pretty effectively and safely. That takes care of automobiles seeing you, but you'll have to come up with some solutions with regard to YOUR visibility on the lower ride-height recumbents. My advice would simply be to ride well within your limits and 'drive defensively', as it were. It's much easier to ride well below your old DF limits until you're fully settled into and comfortable with how your particular recumbent rides and handles. In my case, I'm staying in the neighborhood until I'm absolutely SURE that I'm ready for the open road.

As far as your last question, my succinct answer is NO. I've really fallen hard for the recumbent experience and have no intention to go back to conventional bikes. For ME, that's the right answer, but may not be true for all folks. Some on here, I'm sure, only ride recumbents, others ride both conventional bikes and recumbents, others yet only ride DF bikes. I don't care what anyone ELSE rides. If you like your mount and are having FUN with it, disregard what others say. I'm having one heck of a lot of fun with this whole recumbent thing and I have no intention to curtail or stop that from happening based upon what OTHER people think.

My final advice to you Sawtooth is to really evaluate what you're going to do with a recumbent....commute, tour, race, recreational rides? I really believe that certain configurations do certain things better than others. That consideration should really narrow down your choices to a particular recumbent configuration. From there, get on as many of them as you can and try them out. If you can find a shop who'll rent one to you (maybe rent a used bike that's been traded in) for a weekend, you should be able to find a bike you'll really like both at first and over the long haul.

Sorry for the length of the post, I just wanted to share the experience of a cyclist who has had some experiece with DF, but just made the switch to recumbents. Good luck with whatever you decide to do and KEEP PEDALING no matter what you ride. Keeps the birthdays happening and the Grim Reaper away. BBJ

steveknight

Let’s see. A bent is harder to maneuver when you’re not riding it. The longer the wheel base the worse this is. It’s harder to get it in the right place to lock up because of the above.
It is harder to put in a bike stand depending on the model you have.
The front wheel usually does not get as much traction so you have to worry about the front wheel sliding out from under you this is worse the longer the wheel base is.
Roadies look down on you everyone else says cool bike (G)
You have a bigger choice of clothing. Right now I wear 85/15 poly cotton shirts and they work well. I have wicking underwear over my jeans. I don’t have to change close when I get to work or leave only my shoes.

steveknight

I really miss the acceleration I had on my DF bike. nto sure if that was just weight or what.

BlazingPedals

I didn't get the sense that Sawtooth was seriously thinking about getting one, just being curious. That's good, curiosity is a sign of an open mind. Face it, while there's a lot of info out there on bents,there's also a lot of disinformation and innuendo. It can be hard to separate the hype from the opinions of the 'guys in the trenches.' Most of us who ride bents really love them, whether or not we continute to ride uprights, too.

I may like going fast, and I've even been in a few races; but I'm still just a recreational rider, like most others on this list. Being a real racer requires more dedication than I have, and I salute anybody who's willing to do it.

Big Bad John

Amen Blazing Pedals. Given where I'm at in my life, time is an all-too-short commodity. I just don't have time to train seriously for racing. I wouldn't race anymore even if I did have the time. For me, I just want to get out and ride for health reasons...recreational rides, some commuting, some light touring...a chance to 'smell the roses'! It's all good, baby! BBJ

bentcruiser

Answers:

1. I moved to a recumbent because every part of my body was hurting on rides.
2. My speed is up from my hybrid that I used to have. But that took a lot of work to accomplish. But not being in pain, I ride much more.
3. It hasn't been a problem to me.
4. No. Well maybe the offroading, curb hopping ability. But nothing else.

lowracer1

My main reason was speed. Comfort secondary. Also, spuds is a troll that recently found bike forums. He's been kicked off every other bicycling forum on the web. It won't be long before he's gone from here as well, so please disregard anything he says.

Racing recumbents can be very fast with the right engine piloting them. I've got buddies who have done sub 4 hour centuries. My best has been 4:13 solo with a tailwind and 4:35 solo with a headwind the whole way. Some benters are happy to go slow and walk their bikes up hills. That is merely a reflection of the engine. They'd walk their uprights up the same hills. I ride a carbon lowracer . This is not a heavy bike. 19.8 lbs in stock form with hed3 rear wheel.

https://groups.msn.com/BicyclingForum...o&PhotoID=6996

Floyd

You could say I moved to recumbents a long time ago before they became popular. In the 70's when I was in college I saw a recumbent in a magazine and since I was a poor farm kid I took a peice of iron from the pile and made my own. It is as heavy as I am I think but I loved it. I sit only bout a foot from the ground between the wheels. Anyway more recently I bout a recumbent "Linear" and i love it cause it is comfortable and drives nice. Speed?? yea it will do as good as the other bikes I ride with. I find that I am not sitting that much lower than the other riders and so the visibility is not a problem. do I miss anything about the traditional style. It may take a few seconds more to dismount the recumbent but when you are comfortable getting off that means something too. Peace El Padre

geebee

"I have wicking underwear over my jeans. I don’t have to change close when I get to work or leave only my shoes."--AKA Superman?
I ride a trike which is one of the slightly slower recumbents, I find on a loop I am faster than my old mtb but slower than my old road bike. Regarding acceleration I can beat most cars to 25~30 kph from the lights so they accelerate pretty well. Hills are slow but the down hills, corners and flats make up for them.
If you are a speed freak consider a lowracer, I keep thinking of getting one but the trike has some big advantages and so I probaly stick with it.

abarnard

1. Neck injury, getting old (43)
2. I'm on the bike much more, and riding longer distances due to less pain, so there is a net gain in speed due to higher fitness levels. There's the obvious aerodynamic advantage also.
3. I think this is a myth, especially on a highracer.
4. Did alot of single track mountain biking back in the 80s, can't do that anymore. Other than that, no, don't miss the wedgie, back/neck pain, and numb hands.

JoelMW

1. Why did you guys (or gals) make the move to recumbents?

Went for the comfort. I was getting into long rides and wasn't feeling good after the ride.

2. Is there any speed/efficiency gain/loss?

It took a bit of time, and moving to another recumbent, but I can average faster now than I did before.

3. How do you deal with the reduced visibility to motorists?

Presently I am riding a hiracer. Even with the seat all of the way back I don't think that my head height is that much lower than someone on the drops or stretched out over a set of aero bars.

4. Do you miss anything about your traditional style rides?

I went partially back. Last fall I picked up a cyclocross bike so that I could ride through the winter as opposed to spending time on a trainer. I put a couple of hundred miles on the bike through just about everything a Minnesota winter has. I admit that after going back I have come to appreciate the advantages of an upright: quicker handling, smaller package, being able to stand for hills or stretching, being able to ride through nasty conditions (snow, sleet, mud, ice, etc) that I wouldn't on a recumbent. But, I haven't forgotten the disadvantages of uprights: lots of time bent over, pressure on the hands and shoulders (I have a 30 mile limit before the shoulders, neck and hands have had enough. Strangely enough, it's not the seat that ends a ride for me). Another downside for me is the height on an upright. I went down on the ice this winter and broke the back out of my helmet when my head hit the ground. On a recumbent I am pretty sure that would not have happened. But then, I wouldn't have been out in that kind of weather on a recumbent anyway.

So, I think they both have their places. If I want to get into the dirt, or worse, the cyclocross bike will come out. For that matter I am planning on trying some of the cyclocross races this fall. If I want to get out on the roads and do miles, the recumbent is what will go out.

Joel

aikigreg

I could echo what everyone has said here, but for the sake of hearing my own voice:

I got back into biking a couple years ago on a hybrid, bought because my mtn bike was just too painful. The hybrid, while still hurting my wrists and butt and shoulders, was much more comfortable but S-L-O-W. If I did 14MPH I was a happy camper.

So I thought I'd give a bent a try and have had it a whole week now. So from a newbie standpoint, let me tell you that mine IS slow uphill for the moment, but that is becuase I'm still learning how to ride. I was managing the steep grades fine. The downhills are SCARY. I literally passed a volkswagon at neighborhood speeds (he was doing about 25, I was doing 30.) I constantly have to brake downhill becuase I'm scared. I can't wait to get more comfortable with speed.

The only problem I have with motorists is that they continually want me to pull over so they can try my bike. The "cool factor" of a bent is through the roof. I hear that roadies laugh - we'll see when I do my first tour with the bent next weekend. Not that I care.

I don't miss anything about a traditional bike. I now have zero pain in my upper body and feel like I could ride forever. You can't imagine what it's like to get off a bike after a couple hours and still be fully capable of walking and not have joint/arse pain. I only wish I could use my bent in triathalons - that's the only reason I keep my regular bike around.

Find someone who has one near you and ride it for a day. You'll enjoy it.

Magilla Gorilla

Come on now John, 5 mph over a good DF bike on your Baron. Well You must not have rode a good DF bike lately. I ride both and a 5 mph speed advantage is plain hard to believe since I have experienced both types of bikes. Bents are faster but unfaired a DF is no slouch compared to a lowracer.
I would honestly say that my high zoot bent is at most 1.5 to maybe stretching it 2 mph faster than my DF bikes. That is still a lot but there john goes again running his mouth without the facts....
Just calling you on what you posted.

MG

lowracer1

You wasting your breath there. He's got you on the ignore list. You are getting put on mine as well.

I won't be posting too much more over here. Moving back over to bentrider where these morons have been banned from.

Slo Joe Recumbo

1. Bad Back and thought I'd have to give up cycling when a fellow club rider said:" Try a recumbent" My response: "Okay, what's a recumbent?" That was in the fall of '98. Bought a V-REX in the spring of '99. Now that I know the feeling of "no pain" if anyone asks why they should go recumbent I'd say that there are two major reasons: "The fun factor and virtually no pain."

2. Speed loss on steep or long hills. Some disagree, but I'm willing to bet it all you'd be slower overall on a very hilly course. I'm as fast or faster on rollers and flats. Tremendous efficiency into a headwind. I've often remarked to my huffing roadie friends: "What headwind?". The other "efficiency" area is that you're anywhere from 15% to 30% more efficient because of your aerodynamics. You simply do not feel as tired after a long ride such as a metric, century, or double century. After my first century I felt like asking: "Can we do another right now?" Never would have said that after a century on a DF. CLWB's or LWB's are not as maneuverable in city cycling conditions.

3. That's a myth. Recumbents are so different they get "noticed" and to this day (5 years later) cars still give me a wider berth, look, smile and wave.

4. Yup. Track stands. Bunny hopping. "Dancing" the bike when tunes are playing in my head. Ability to look over my shoulder. However, I now realize the added safety benefit of a mirror and won't leave home without one. Riding no hands for the fun of it. With a V-REX (20/26) I missed doing pacelines with my DF friends; all I could do was hang on the back as there's almost no draft off a 20/26. I now have a Bacchetta Strada and can do pace lines and DFer's can get a draft off me. I'm not fast but was able to pull a group of about 6 DFer's I hooked up with on a tour into a headwind doing 19 to 21 mph and got a bunch of thank you's because of the length of pull I was able to take. Couldn't have done that on the V-REX OR a DF.

As an afternote, I kept my DF saying to myself "I'll ride this now and then." Decided one day to ride it on a very hilly century. Took it for a test ride. Put it up for sale as soon as I got home from the test ride.

Spuds McDoogle

Sawtooth,
So you want to start riding a recumbent? If you can weld you can build your own recumbents like the ones Joe builds. https://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/

They are some of the most beautiful recumbent bicycles in the world and they did not cost Joe thousands of dollars to make. Joe will talk to you anytime and tell you what is fast and what is slow and what is a good recumbent and what is bad recumbent. Joe is an honest man and never posts make believe stories like some of the HPV pretend racers.

Spuds

aikigreg

Got back from my first long trip on my bent today. I am amazed at not only how fast I was going, but when I was done I had ZERO butt, back, and wrist pain. Usually I have to sit on the couch a couple hours and recover. Today I started doing chores. It felt like I rode maybe a mile instead of 20. You just can't beat that with a stick.

Magilla Gorilla

I see no real harm in Spuds posts dude. Your response to this is quite childish and of course the threats that are posted on the other thread is really childish. I must remind you that spuds has a black belt in the marshal arts and is quite able to defend himself if you two ever meet up.
And lowracers are not the only fast bikes out there. I have two over 40 DF buds that are faster than you on there DF bikes. But they actually race USCF masters and still are doing most impressive times in the 40k.
And to the sub 4. One was Frank Geyer, he sells Challenge highracers now and the other was Alan Arial who rides DF's most of the time now.
So neither of your "buds" seem to be into lowracers exclusivly of late man....

Mr Gorilla

Magilla Gorilla

And are'nt you going to threaten me before you leave dude?
I like internet threats. You know when your sitting in a bar you watch what you say but on the net? all bets are off. I would say that you are a childish little baby that can not have his little way here.

Mr. Gorilla to you

jrcln

Hi Guys,, You did a magnificent job,, I agree with almost every bit of what was said here. I will tell you what I miss from my ole DF. Agonizing pain and numbness in my wrists and hands if I rode more than twenty mins. I also really miss having to wear TWO pair of lycra padded shorts too, now ,,at most, its just one,,and there are no needs for pads at all. I also miss having to pay a chiropractor for straightening my back out. I also miss,,my callow youth, which was wasted spending time riding a DF. I also miss, riding at the very back of the group, due to a need for aerodynamic perfection. I also miss being nearly blown off the road by cars and trucks, since I get more room from them and because the aero profile is better on a sitdowner. I hope this helps.