Anyone over 60 switch to a bent?
#26
Senior Member
Originally Posted by cheeseflavor
General questions for anyone on a recumbent, and just because I'm curious about them...
1) Are they as fast as a road bike?
2) How are they on hills?
3) What about visibility, both from your perspective and from the perspective of drivers? They seem to be a lot lower.
1) Are they as fast as a road bike?
2) How are they on hills?
3) What about visibility, both from your perspective and from the perspective of drivers? They seem to be a lot lower.
1) Depending on the bike, speeds range from 'comparable to a hybrid or city bike' to breathtakingly fast.
2) Generally slower on middle- or small-ring hills. Face it, you can't stand. OTOH the fast models don't lose speed as quickly at the bottom of a hill, so if the hill's short you can blast over the top and waste the uprights.
3) I ride mostly in rural conditions, and have had no problems with them seeing me on my lowracer. In the 'bad' column, I sometimes have trouble seeing over the grass at rural intersections, so I have to slow more while my upright-riding buddies just blast through. (My taller, 'standard' SWB recumbent is similar to a road bike in speed and has no problems with vision or visibility, in any environment.)
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Pennsltucky
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Bikes: BikeE AT--Gary Fisher DF
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I switched to bents back when I was 55. Now I'm 60. I commute 18 miles round trip everyday. Last year I broke my femur and as a result have lost a lot of power in the leg. I added an electric power assist, and I'm right back up and running even better than before.
Some bents are lower than others. If this is a concern, choose one that has a higher seat. Most of them put you at the same eye level as a motorist. I've never found "visibility" to be a problem, in fact they give you a wider berth, just because of the "weird" perception they have of a recumbent bike on the road. Hills are different. You can't stand up, so you just spin in a lower gear. Since you can't stand up, you can put a lot more pressure on the knees, so care must be taken at first not to use too high a gear to go uphill. With the right rider, a bent can be a very fast vehicle. All human powered land speed records are held by recumbent bikes.
Some bents are lower than others. If this is a concern, choose one that has a higher seat. Most of them put you at the same eye level as a motorist. I've never found "visibility" to be a problem, in fact they give you a wider berth, just because of the "weird" perception they have of a recumbent bike on the road. Hills are different. You can't stand up, so you just spin in a lower gear. Since you can't stand up, you can put a lot more pressure on the knees, so care must be taken at first not to use too high a gear to go uphill. With the right rider, a bent can be a very fast vehicle. All human powered land speed records are held by recumbent bikes.
#28
Badger Biker
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Just turned 61 and still riding my Cannondale Saeco CAD3, my Fuji Touring, and my Co-Motion Co-Pilot. Who needs a bent?
#29
horizontally adapted
Join Date: Jan 2001
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Originally Posted by ctyler
Just turned 61 and still riding my Cannondale Saeco CAD3, my Fuji Touring, and my Co-Motion Co-Pilot. Who needs a bent?
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