erik forsgren

After having commuted on a df for several years I came to the conclusion that a df is not very comfortable. First of all I wanted a bike on which I could sit more upright. For the rest I was concerned about falling over the handlebars. Then all of a sudden surfing on the net I discouvered a bike that looked like a crossing between a fence and an armchair. It was a long wheelbase bike that ressembled the Linear bike. From that moment I realized that there were other types of bikes than those of a common diamondframe type. As I had fallen over the handlebars more than three times I decided to get a safer bike, an "armchairbike". I chose a Marco Polo from Radius. This happened three years ago and I have never been disappointed never looked back. Tell me your story!

pcrx

I started on a mountain bike over a decade ago, but just like the crazy SUV drivers and their "off road" cars, my MTB rarely if ever saw anything but pavement around town. This very soon became uncomfortable and I simply stopped riding except in rare circumstances. Flash forward to this year - my back is about shot and I tried to "get into" riding again for exercise and riding with my kids who are now old enough to ride alson and in a trailer. BUT - it was even more uncomfortable than before on the same MTB.

I decided to look at my local shop for a more comfortable bike. He had a Sun EZ Rider on hand - I oogled at it but passed it off and didn't give it a thought - and rather tested and set my sights on a Raleigh comfort bike. Then my cousin (who rides a Vision 'bent) taunted me a bit for the choice of a "granny bike" and simply suggested I try out a 'bent before I decide. Couldn't hurt to try, right?

I tried the Sun and was very impressed. Had that "stupid grin" after the test ride. Over the next month I was able to try out several SWB, LWB and CLWB bikes from Sun, Burley, Rans, Baccetta, a Cannondale, and a few others. I learned a LOT about what I liked and didn't like about different seating positions, handlebar shapes, etc. and testing them all was the best thing I did to help myself! Also reading and posting HERE helped a lot. I owe a LOT of thanks to people on this board for providing info and advice, wether it was in threads I started or ones I searched for - THANK YOU!

I liked the LWB rides the most at this time for casual riding, and my local shop offered me an EZ Rider for $650 with a fairing and some other goodies. It's a tank and heavier than others but with my MTB trade its only around $350 out of my pocket to get into 'bent riding - not bad - and in reality right now I have a hard time justifying more than this to myself or the Hammer (wife)

With such an economical entry into the Sun (which to me is more of a "Towncar ride") I can start to save money now to get a SWB bike as my "Ferrari ride" a lot sooner than later. That way I will have 2 - as I am sure over time my wife will want a 'bent as well!

Magilla Gorilla

Let me tell you why I got a 'bent.
There was a guy by the name of Ralph Koser of WISIL fame and homebulider who kicked my butt on long invitational century rides on any one of his recumbent creations at over 20 years my senior. My buds blew him off but this got my attention. His sugestion for a newbe benter? A Toureasy. So I bought one and the rest is history for me and recumbents. I will never go back to exclusive DF riding. Sorry, to dam slow! I have moved into the short wheel based Bacchetta Aero unfaired. A fine machine and very fast and practicle for open roads. Some prefer lowracers for pure speed. I Prefer practicality over pure speed and Bacchetta and Easyracers builds the best High and low BB bikes on the market. Trikes? I have my opinions on those but will keep them to myself.

Magilla the real Magilla

BigAlMN

I joined the ranks of the 'bent kingdom' when my son signed our family up for RAGBRAI this past year. I thought that that family vacation sounded like a great idea - so I strted the training regimen on a pre-existing DF that had been hanging in my garage for the past 3 years. I quickly was reminded why it was hanging in the garage - sore butt was the minor issue. More importantly, was the sore shoulders and wrists/hands. Si I started my recumbent search and like so many others found lots of great advise from many posters on this and BROL.

I ended up choosing a trike and found this the perfect solution. I even enjoyed the full tour of RAGBRAI with my family. That is a great family vacation, food fest, and way to enjoy cycling again.

megaman

I started riding again, about 8 years ago. Bought a hybrid to ride the local rail/trails. Well, it wasn't long before my hands started going numb, so I put on a different handlebar. Well, that didn't work, so I just shook my hands every few miles. My saddle became uncomfortable and I bought a gel saddle cover. Well that lasted a couple of months. And pretty soon every so often I would buy a new saddle to help the issue. Some were better than others, but overall, I was still uncomfortable.
One day in a bike shop in Lanesboro, MN I noticed a bent. They rented them, so I decided to take one for a ride. It was a Bike E. It was slow, but fun to ride. My wrist and rear didn't hurt. Hmmm. I said. There must be something to these things.
I rented bents from a few places, but couldn't find one I was "one" with.
Then one day my LBS guy said he had something in that he thought I might be looking for. He didn't have any to rent per se, but he let me rent his wife's EZ Sport.
Yes! Just what I was looking for. I bought the first one he sold and the rest is pure pleasure.

OldShacker

At first I was rather reluctant, but once I got my Sun EZ Sport CX for my commute of 12.5 miles one way and most of it all bike path. Plus I commute everyday. Well now I am hooked. I geared mine for street and now I wonder why I took so long to get one. Over 500 plus miles on it and each day is a wonder. I feel great and see more.

aikigreg

Eh, I just thought it was cool.

ppc

Why did I get a recumbent? because uprights are a pain in the butt... literally.

I can commute on any bike, but if I want to go far on an upright, I have to (1) oil my undercarriage generously with thick antibacterial cream (2) don chamois shorts and (3) stop 10 minutes every 10 km, or every 20/25km if I get off the saddle often. If I fail to do any one of these things, I immediately get skin rash and sores, and I have to stop riding for at least a full week. That's not counting mild lower back pains, even after finally finding the best saddle for me (I bought about 20 before I could find one).

I was tired of this, and I wanted to travel far, which was a dicey proposition at best for me, with potential skin problems on the road. One day I popped at my LBS, saw a BikeE, test-rode it on the parking lot, and bought it on the spot. I knew this was what I needed! Little did I know other recumbents existed, but nevertheless, I outfitted it for touring and went. Later, I discovered the BikeE seat is too upright for me, and still puts too much weight on by butt, so I had to stop every 50km for a few minutes to relieve my case of recumbutt. I also had to be careful not to wear underwear with seams, but still it was much better than with the mountain bike, and I certainly didn't feel like I had been beaten up with a baseball bat after a ride.

I got me an Optima Condor recently, primarily because it's a solid steel frame, and because I wanted suspensions. As it turns out, the much more laid back seat is exactly what I needed. Now I can go and go and go until my legs cry for mercy, which seems to be about 150km at the moment, and not worry about anything else. I might get me a headrest later, perhaps, because my neck feels tense, but that's about it.

If I have one piece of advice to give to people who want to switch to bents for whatever reasons, it's this: don't do like I did. Don't buy on a whim. Do you research well, define precisely the features you want in your future bent, narrow down your choices to 2 or 3, then befriend people who own these bikes and go ride each one for 50km without stopping. Unlike uprights, which are fairly versatile (i.e. they're more or less all equally painful in the long run, regardless of the geometry), bents should fit you perfectly. It only takes one little mismatch between you and the bike to turn you away from bents. They're not all equal, and not all right for you. That's why there are so many models to choose from, and that's why you should find the one that's exactly right for you.

PALux

I have a Cannondale T2000, a Specialized Crossroads and a Specialized FSR Enduro Comp mountain bike. I have about 21,000 miles on them since returning to riding in ’99. I was suffering from sever hand pain even on my 5 mile commutes. I started looking at recumbents.

On May 9th I gave myself a Tour Easy for my birthday after trying several different ones. On May 14th I rode my Cannondale for my last long ride and parked it in the garage with 13,300 miles on the computer. It won’t be 4 years old until November. Since then I have put 1,710 miles on the Tour Easy both commuting and club rides.

I just finished 180 miles this weekend on a ride around Puget Sound, the RAPSODY, not a recumbent friendly ride. No hand pain, legs are a little rubbery this morning but butt has no pain. I won’t look back.

Phil

gew0419

I'm a DF rider...I commute to work. 4 miles each way, 5 days a week? I'm almost 50 years old and still love riding. Why should I change to "bent"? Seems like a lot of money!!!

N_C

I got tired of feeling so beat up after a long ride. On a recumbent that never happens. I did a ride called Onabike a couple of weeks ago. 62 miles long, with 9 miles of hills & a headwind no matter which direction we were going because the wind shifted. Almost everyone on a wedgie looked so exhausted & beat up but those of us on 'bents could have ridden another 40 or 50 miles if the route had gone that far. We all felt pretty great.

ppc

4 miles is doable with almost any bike, in almost any clothes :-) I commute with a nondescript department store upright, or with a Brompton if I have to take the train. Frankly, uprights are safer and nimbler than bents in heavy traffic.

To commute 4 miles, you don't need a bent. You might want one for the coolness factor, but you certainly don't need one. However, for long distances, if you are forced to stop for reasons other than fatigue in your legs, you should reconsider bents.

N_C

Wedgies being more nimble then recumbents, maybe.

But wedgies being safer then 'bents is nothing more then a myth. Both can & have been equally as safe or as dangerous as the other in traffic.

ppc

I think it really depends on the model of recumbent. A high CLWB is pretty safe and nimble in town. But there's one single thing that'll always be harder to do on any bent, and that's looking behind you. A rear-view mirror is no match for the efficient quick look behind over the shoulder you can do on an upright, and in traffic you need to be accutely aware of your environment, and turn your head right and left all the time. For that reason, I think fast NYC courier-style riding on a bent just isn't safe. Of course, following the flow of traffic and nicely keeping on your right is just fine on any bike :-)

N_C

Do you own & ride a recumbent? I'm not talking about if you have test ridden one, even for a day or so. I mean do you own & ride one on a regular basis? If you don't then you do not know what you're talking about. And you won't know until you do own & ride one of these great riding machines.

I beg to differ on the myth of looking over your shoulder vs. using a mirror. When I had a wedgie & never used a mirror, never had to, I looked over my shoulder or under my arm. On a recumbent you can look over your shoulder, just not as easily. So I replaced that with the mirrors I use. Both as far as I am concerned are equally efficient.

BTW I have been riding my Vision R40 for 4 years now. I wouldn't go back to a wedgie if you paid me to.

ppc

I own and ride two recumbents, as well as two upright bikes. I clock thousands of miles every year on my bikes.


You generalize based on your experience with your Vision. As I said, it all depends on what bent you ride. Looking at the R40 seat, I know you're able to turn your head around more easily, because you're more upright than I am on my Optima Condor. I can turn my head okay on my BikeE too, but I guarantee you I strain my neck pretty hard on the Condor to look behind.

The mirrors do a reasonable job, but I don't feel as safe as when I look directly. In dense traffic on my upright, when fast riding is dicey and require concentration, I look more behind and sideways than forward. I'm litterally a monkey on the bike, turning from right to left to see what's around me. I can't do that on a bent and I truly miss the extra awareness of my surroundings. I surmise that, like many riders, you think you look around a lot, but you actually rely on your sense of hearing to know what's around you. Have you ever switched lane or pulled out of a parking lot only to find a (quiet) cyclist coming from behind swerving to avoid you? That's a dead giveaway.

Anyway, bents aren't a panacea. They don't hold the key to universal cycling salvation. True, given all the different models of bents that exist, there may be a 90% overlap between what a bent is good at and what a wedgie is good at, but there's 10% that only bents can do (chiefly speed and long distance comfort) and 10% that only wedgies can do (mountain biking, folding bikes and, I think, fast city riding). Bikes are tools, I prefer using the right tool for the job, that's all :-)

gew0419

those are all good points, but my biggest reason for not getting a bent is the price. I can't see that they are worth that much more than a DF. Help me out with this. Why are they $1000 and up?

ppc

Simple: because they're not made by the hundreds of thousands in China at $3 a frame, they're made in small series, therefore they don't benefit from mass production cost reductions. Besides, uprights too can be expensive: look at the price of a Nicolai frame and tell me if you still think DFs are cheap :-)

The only kind of recumbent that's made in sufficient numbers to become somewhat cheaper is the CLWB, entry-level semi-recumbent design. That's why they're usually sub-1000 in price. Otherwise, since serious bents must be a perfect fit for each individual rider, they're usually offered in many variations of frames, seats, wheel sizes and steering systems, and therefore made only in batches of 10 by the many manufacturers out there.

gew0419

[QUOTE=ppc]Simple: because they're not made by the hundreds of thousands in China at $3 a frame, they're made in small series, therefore they don't benefit from mass production cost reductions. Besides, uprights too can be expensive: look at the price of a Nicolai frame and tell me if you still think DFs are cheap :-)

I guess that's my problem, I would never look at a Nicolai or any other bike with a fancy name for that matter.
I've been riding some kind of Schwinn for most of my life. I've owned 6 bikes in my life and 4 of them were Schwinns. So price has always been an issue for me...I'm a cheap bastard...what can I say.

BlazingPedals

If you're comparing entry-level bents to entry-level uprights, you'll say the bents are more expensive. If you're comparing $2K bikes in both categories, then the prices and componentry are a lot closer.

ppc

If you're cheap, then I guess your options are:

- the Cruzbike kit (https://www.cruzbike.com/)
- a second-hand bent (beware though, good bents tend to stay with their owners and don't get traded much. When they are, they hold their values quite well)
- DIY
- Stealing :-)

Generally speaking, I tend to be cheap too, but I noticed long ago that I'm never very happy with cheap bikes. Good quality bikes come at a price, and to me good bikes are usually worth the extra cash. I think the real problem is you don't really want a bent in the first place. I say go ride one and see if you get excited about it. If you are, it might suddenly appear worth the expense.

sbhikes

I got a recumbent because I was curious about them. I like to try new things and they looked fun. Some new thing to master. So I bought one.

I do have fun and continue to ride them because they are fun. I ride a lot more than I used to. I have never ridden 50 miles in one day in my life, but I did just the other day.

Recently I have ridden a trike that fit me pretty well. Now THAT is FUN! I've never had so much fun. I might have to get one.

megaman

Yeah, me too. It was a short but very sweet ride. I felt myself grinning from ear to ear! Still do just thinking about that ride.
Pricey little things they are though. Now I'll be checking those things out on some longer test rides. If I'm going to spend that much, it's gotta be "the one".

Dchiefransom

Diane, how does your Lightning descend at high speed with a 16" front wheel? Is it fairly stable? Have you had it above 40 mph on downhills?

AAAAARGHHHHH !!!! I was thinking about using my half of the tax return next year for a 'bent. I've been intrigued with them for a while now. I was checking out the Lightning website, and the Thunderbolt looks like a very sturdy ride. I checked out the Phantom, and it was also nice. Then I looked for a dealer, and Summit Bicycles is one. I called the one in Los Gatos, and they only keep one in stock. It's a Phantom, and their demo model, but would go out the door for $1,000. I can't wait to go test ride that baby !!!!!