rydabent

On another thread on this forum (safety) a member thot he needed to take a shot at me as a recumbent rider. Since bent riders are cyclist also why the animosity. There are any number of reasons why some of us prefer to ride bents. For some it is the only way they can continue to ride. The rest of us just prefer bents for the simple lack of pain.

Are DF riders intimidated by bents. Are they miffed that bents hold all the speed records. Those things are simply not enough for DF riders to dis bent riders. Cyclist have enough problems holding our own on the streets and hi ways. What I am saying we all need to stick together no matter what we ride.

Jeff Wills

Some people never grow up- they're stuck in high school "cliques". Anyone who's different has to be put down.

Around here there's some interchange and cooperation between upright and recumbent groups. Recumbents participate in the local time trials, and the recumbent events have no problems with upright riders:

Nermal

Maybe you should post this in the same forum to which you are responding.

XR2

The ties that bind us are seldom recognized. Don't worry it's not personal (most of the time) it's just the 'net and not worth the space between yer ears. There is a thread on a motorcycle forum I participate in where you'd think we'd share some views on safety and the venomous hate for bicyclists was quite a revelation to me. Now I know who I'd avoid riding with. The anonymity of a keyboard does something to some people. Not to mention times are hard giving many very short fuses these days and it takes little spark to light them off.

Ron Harry

When are they gonna allow recumbents on the 'tour de france'?

Monster Pete

Maybe it's something to do with how 'bents look so different from an upright, particularly as almost every part of the bicycle is strictly controlled in racing. It's kind of silly how they're sometimes seen to be 'not a real bicycle', no doubt due to being so different and sometimes faster than an upright. After all, anything with two wheels propelled by human power is a bicycle- recumbent, upright, pedalled, rowed, hand cranked etc.

It's probably the same line of thinking that assumes anything that costs less than £1000, or doesn't have a 50-speed drivetrain, or aero this-that-and-the-other or weighs more than 5kg isn't a real bicycle either. There's far too much snobbery around for something as simple as a bicycle.

Monster Pete

AFAIK, recumbents were banned from professional racing decades ago after someone blew away the competition riding one. Because everything is driven by racing, recumbent design fell behind and thus the technically inferior 'safety bicycle' became universal, and we are left with silly 'improvements' like cramming N+1 sprockets onto a rear wheel.

davestv

If you start looking for this you will see it everywhere. It's crazy how a percentage of us (humans) will denigrate members of other groups. You would think this ends in high school, but it doesn't. I'm sure we all do this to different levels, but I'm always surprised that some cyclists have trouble with other cyclists. In North America we are still a huge minority, you would think we could support each other.
I would just ignore the bad vibes, I'm sure the silent majority of bikers have no problem with recumbents

Mobile 155

There is cyber life and there is real life. In real life bent riders Diamond Frame riders get along pretty well. We will stop and have coffee together. Take nothing personal on the net.

Jeff Wills

Never. The Tour is:
1. a contest between athletes
2. highly dependent on team tactics
3. highly dependent on drafting
4. designed to cater to upright bicycles

All of that puts cyclists on recumbents at a disadvantage.

Recumbents race on an equal footing in ultramarathon events (RAAM, Furnace Creek 508, Race Across Oregon, etc.) and have had some success. It's enough that some good ultra riders are switching to recumbents with no loss in placing.

SlimRider

I think polka-dot recumbent cyclists are super awesome!

It's the striped ones I absolutely detest!

- Slim

Jeff Wills

Yeah, well... around here the recumbent folks wear Hawaiian shirts. So there.

Mobile 155

There were several fast bents at the 508. They don't climb well but decending and in the flats they fly. This CF bent was hard to see it was so low and sleek.

Jeff Wills

That's why recumbents and uprights tend not to mix well in group rides. The speed envelopes are radically different.

Riding the 508 on that very low, very stiff VeloKraft NoCom must have been tough. The road surfaces out there look murderous:
(From https://www.ohpv.org/events/albums/alex508-2008/ - a friend of mine.)

BarracksSi

OP: You think that cycling is serious. Fix that misconception and everything will be fine.

StephenH

In real life, it seems to be a non-issue. In the randonneuring club and in the Greater Dallas Bicyclists, we have recumbent riders and upright riders and they all get along fine and ride together.

JanMM

Faired and socked and Hawaiian-shirted recumbentists shouldn't be allowed on the road. Have they no shame? A public spectacle.

Mobile 155

The road to Kelso was a bit better this year, but we should have brought a cyclocross with at least 28s to smooth it our some.

We saw a bent flying past bad water but they almost stalled out on the climb out heading towards Shoshone. However on the back side their chase vehicle must have had a hard time keeping up.

My only problem with bents is cost and the ones I want are a pain to transport. still if I can get a good deal on a bent trike for around town it could become my replacement utility bike and maybe some short touring.

Jeff Wills

Yep- like I said, the speed envelope of recumbents is radically different from uprights (of course, the riders make a difference, too).

Bent-Up Cycles in North Hollywood is the place to go for 'bents in El Lay: https://www.bentupcycles.com/ . He's supplied a couple folks for Furnace Creek and RAAM, so there you go.

a1penguin

The Commuter and Hybrid forums seem pretty tame and welcoming. The Road forum is full of a bunch of egos. They like to make fun of lots of other road riders. Nothing wrong with recumbents; they are just different two wheeled beasts.

bkaapcke

The existence of a 'bent rider in the group questions the others choice to go DF. Religious people have the same reaction to an atheist in the group. bk

BarracksSi

They make fun of everybody. There's a few who both know what they're talking about and have the engine to back it up, (and know when to shut up about things they don't) but everyone else is fair game for sniping.

If anyone thinks that they can post in there and come out unscathed, they're mistaken. Or thin-skinned.

XR2

Generally I could care less what is thought of me I cannot understand why I must endure insults,personal attacks and general poor behavior just becuase it's the 'net? Lest I be accused of being thin skinned. I can be quite truculent when pushed and many would certainly pay dearly should they speak to me in person the way it's done online. Why does the anonymity of a keyboard give license to embrace your inner anal portal?

RaleighSport

Hey, I don't like you darn bent riders or your darn bent bikes... because I can't afford one that isn't a hack job It's the internet like has been said already, people like to talk from behind their nice anonymous computers.. >.> So best wishes to you OP!

Six jours

I'm the guy the OP is whining about, and I made fun of him because he's continually blathering on about the "superiority" of recumbents. His current angle is that anyone claiming to be comfortable on a DF is a liar, and for "proof" he tells us that because he was never comfortable on one it's impossible for anyone else to be.

For the record, I actually think recumbents are kind of neat. Years back, I managed a velodrome that hosted IHPVA events. Seeing fully-faired recumbents exceeding 60 MPH on 33 degree banking is a sight to see. The machines are pretty cool.

But the riders sometimes aren't. There seems to be a subset of 'bent riders with serious inferiority complexes. Most of us know the guy, I suspect. He's the fellow that manages to turn every discussion to the merits of recumbents and the evils of DFs: "Yeah, you're right, world hunger is a pressing problem. But did you guys know that studies show diamond-frame bikes cause infertility?!?"

Short version: I'm perfectly happy to talk tech with 'bent riders, but if you feel the need to build yourself up by trash talking DF bikes, then you have to expect a bit of fun-making.