ORBIT

Imagine how slow these oldies with beards would be on a upright,if you managed to go past them.
No upright has come near the spped record of a recumbant,and remember they were only banned because upright called not out perform them in the speed stakes.
As for only oldies riding them,iv seen a cycle courier riding a recumbent,and he could really shift.
But this attitude is all part of the bad image of recumbents.
Youve said it your self in a way,to most people they are not cool or fashionable.
The power of fashion is far too strong,look at all the people that bought mountain bike for use on the road,when a road bike is far more suitable for road riding,they were bought for image.
The recumbent is not perfect i will grant you that,as they can be at a disadvantage in real heavy traffic,and when you ride one
you might as well be riding around naked with a chritmas tree on your head from the reactions you get.
But they are a far more superior design for ultimate comfort and speed than a upright.

ORBIT

In fact i will go a bit further.How many people by road bikes that cant fit mud guards for commuting?when a touring bike would be better(image again).
I would love to know how many cyclists have tried recumbants
only to stop riding them because of all the hassle they getwhen they go out.

Guest

I have no idea what the speed record is. It's likely similar to some of the designs they've used on motorcycles at the salt flats, low and aerodynamic. To be truthful, wouldn't care if it's twice as fast as my Titanium/Carbon ride. I am not looking for the comfort of my lounge chair when I am out road training. I am looking for agility and speed. They're not practical in tight situations, nor would I ever want to ride them down a busy road. That said, what's the benefit you get besides the barkalounger affect and being independent?

You might have seen such, and what a sight. Must have been a real independent type, riding for a long time...far in! In all my travels, I've not seen one used commercially, and we've used couriers in my business on both coasts.

I'll say it in more of a P&L view point... There are many extremely bright creative designers coming up with incredible products, that can be worthy. However, if the majority are not excited about the product (recumbents), they end up setting on the shelf and going by the way of the Edsel, and the Edsel was a neat auto. You can blame societies fashion, clique or team sense. It doesn't matter.

Here's evolution for you. Take a recumbent, strengthen frame, and add batteries, an extra wheel for balance, surround it with some plastic and VOLA... you have a Corbin Motors Sparrow EV.

Mtb's are like SUV's or many other products purchased and never really used in the manner the product is capable of or intended. I have way more technology then I'll ever need in my Fondriest bike, or my entertainment room. My wife has a mtb that never gets use to it's capability, yet she loves the comfort, I can go on. Mtb's are popular because their easier and more comfortable to ride for the average joe and one can configure the mtb for neighborhood touring, verses a high performance bike like mine or a recumbent that has limited appeal. SUV's actually replaced the old station-wagon and are very practical, in-spite of their climbing and off-road abilities.

I was speaking to the owner of the LBS a few weeks back about the 7 new recumbents he's flooring. He can't get anybody to even look at them...so, their going back to the mfg-er pretty soon.

Never liked riding around neked or with any type of brush on my head, don't know many that do. Course, there are those few posters here that pref neked riding. I wonder if they've crossed over too. :confused: Oh well... time will tell.

ORBIT

The speed record is 80 mph now thats going.On a recumbent you can also keep pedalling around corners.So they are great for fast corners.You can really lean over.Its the closest thing to flying.
But back to the main subject.ILL HAVE TO AGREE with you until
recumbents get a better image and may i say ,get much cheaper
people will see them as odd.
Have you ever tried a recumbent?

bentrox!

ORBIT, I no longer waste time trying to argue the merits of recumbents to others. We recumbent cyclists already suffer a comic reputation among some cyclists of being overly defensive, as though a lingering inferiority complex drove a desperate need to vindicate the superiority of our choice of ride by quoting speed records or extolling aerodynamic comparison charts. I've been guilty of this same behavior, and let me tell you, it makes no difference to point out any of these things when people will ride what they feel best about riding on. Many, like Garbear, will never choose to ride a recumbent for their own reasons. I ride one for my own and I'm content with that.

Having said that, however, cycletourist, I wasn't trying to bite your head off or anything. I just wanted to point out that people ride bents for other reasons than the one you mentioned. I ask at the risk of sounding defensive, wouldn't it be nice not to characterize all bent riders as incapable of riding any other kind of bike? Furthermore (alright, I'm guilty!) did those RAGBRAI and the MS150 bent riders you spoke to tell you they'd all much rather be riding an upright bike if they could find a comfortable one? In other words, is discomfort the sole reason they all ride bents? Maybe it is among the riders you spoke with, but it isn't for me, nor the other bent riders I ride with. Greater comfort is a benefit but it doesn't keep us from owning and riding other bikes. That's all I'm saying. I'll get down from my soapbax now.

Greg

Greg, I have to take exception to this ignorant statment. I know a lot of bent riders that are not ill, not nay sayers, and have fine backs. Have you ever even riden a recumbent?

Greg

No, I haven't tried one yet, but I look forward to it.

I am sorry if my statments offended you.

Greg

No problem buddy.

ORBIT

What a country i live in.
It amazes me the price some people have to pay because they dont fit into the" norm".Only today i read about a 11 year old boy
who was a talented ballet dancer.Some bullys found out at school
and crushed the bones in his feet.He now needs surgery which can not be done untill he is 16.His hope for the future is ruined.
They could not stand to see someone that had a different interest
than them ,and probably a brighter future,So what did they do? Destroy it.
Recumbent riders are also different and can be prone to this sort of abuse,and this is my main point about image.This boy did not fit in to the way of acting that the majority of boys should fit ,so he was attacked for having the wrong image.
I suppose the young thugs that did it will be sent on a holiday
which seems to be the way they deal with young thugs like this in England.
No wonder i have such a bad time in Birmingham when in our society it seems acceptable for the idiots to attack people in this way for doing something different.

Guest

Yes, and it's no different here in the US. What's sad about the human beast is that no matter the culture or continent, he's enabled by an abundance of fears. Among those fears, the biggest cuprits... fear of difference and fear of those who are smarter. What's that say about man?

You're right... But remember history tells us that those independent individuals that chose a different image or path, by nature, acknowledge the consequences of difference.

It bothers me when those choosing a different path, in the final analysis reach out for some form of broad brush acceptance or support from those choosing the mainstream, and for some reason think they deserve it...NOT! That just isn't going to happen with "man" as we know him.

Lets view this with a more positive approach... When I ride, I "choose" to seek out those with a similar riding style. I find the more common ground the easier it is to bridges social differences. Otherwise, there would be only one category in BikeForums.

PS... One can't preach independence, yet expect social co-dependence. :confused:

erik forsgren

I have never met any recumbentfan that fall into the category of naysayers or the category of bad backs. On the contrary. Most of the recumbent owners I know of are healthy intelligent people with qualified professions like civil engineers, teachers lawyers and so forth and practically none of them chose the recumbent because of a bad back. They simply chose the recumbent because it is better safer and more comfortable.

beatle bailey

that must just be a English problem, as here in the U.S.A., I have lots of people tell me that my bike is the greatest thing they've ever seen and want to know all about it.

ChiliDog

Recumbents have been around for a while. Check it out:

www.bicyclemuseum.com

I ride road, bent, and MTB. LOVE THEM ALL!

NuTz4BiKeZ

Dudes don't let the jealous types get you down.
I have been attacked in a public meeting by a woman, she started on about my bikes (a variety of homebuilt bents), the more she went on the more I laughed at her, man I thought she was going to pop a vein at one point.
The upshot of her rant is that apparantly I am considered to be the village idiot and bring ridicule and disrespect to the organisation I work for because of my choice of bikes.
You know what... I don't care. Most people I meet (even roadies) have no problem at all with my chosen bike types and damn they are just so much fun to ride.
I look forward to seeing this woman again as I have now built a tadpole trike and riding that should surely cause her to have a stroke.
In the mean time I will just get my pleasure riding past her place frequently, smiling like I normally do when riding.

Hang in there dude... what they think is none of your business anyhow.

NuTz

John Ben

This is how I acquired my recumbent. Myself and three friends were riding out in the mountains west of Las Vegas Nevada. We rode every weekend and we rode the best road bikes. We were in very good condition and were in training for an event in Atlanta Georgia. You may have heard about the bomb exploded at that event, years ago.
To continue;
We encountered a very fit and skillful individual who was riding a Linear recumbent and the race was on. None of us ever saw a recumbent and we did not know what is was.

We could not pass him on the hills, he tore away from us on the down hill runs and took the turns like like a race car, and waxed us on the flat straight highway. He waved good by as he left us in the dust. We do not know who he was.

Years later I saw a Linear recumbent for sale, out in Nevada, and I recalled how fast the recumbent was that we raced. I bought the recumbent, thinking I could ride fast,but I am not fast with it. And forget the hills!

I am fast with the road bike, but the recumbent is just a fun bike to ride. I ride them both.

Dchiefransom

Maybe people are upset because recumbent riders look soooooooo relaxed while riding. I haven't talked the wife into getting me one yet.

sbhikes

Oh my god what have I done? I just ordered a recumbent. I am a 39 year old woman with long flowing blond hair, living in Southern California, and a web designer (that's cool, isn't it?) Am I gonna turn into some sort of nerd? Did I make a terrible mistake?

I drove up to the factory where they make them in Lompoc, CA. On the way I saw the guy who makes them on his bike which was totally enclosed in some sort of fairing that was part fiberglass and part fabric. I wanted to test-ride a recumbent before I bought one, and this factory, where they make Lightening recumbents, was the closest place.

I don't know why I'm so attracted to them. They do look sort of geeky, but it looks like fun, too. I could barely ride the one I tried, but it was like being a kid again learning how to ride a bike all over again. I figure just learning how to ride it would be fun enough.

I ride a mountain bike to work for exercise and to break up the monotony of working all the time. The only reason I have a mountain bike is because my last nice sport-touring road bike was stolen and when I went to buy a replacement all they had in my price range were mountain bikes. So that's what I got.

I ride twice a week to work. It is fun, but I get really tired of these 22 year old mexican guys riding their bikes to their jobs in rich people's gardens. I come up to them on my creaky, squeaky MTB, they see me coming so they speed up, then they eventually slow down and here I come again, and it's round and round like that. I either want to blow by them on my recumbent so fast they don't know what happened, or I want to look so strange they don't play these silly games with me anymore.

As for the lycra crowd, I just want to laugh at them when they pass me. I'll be all laid back with my cup-holder I'm gonna install, and my diet 7-up and my cell phone or my laptop or whatever else I can do to make my ride to work look like an afternoon at the beach. I just wanna kick back in my chair and daydream through my commute to the Dilbert hell cube farm.

I just hope people aren't mean to me or laugh at me. I would have though people would be curious, not mean.

John Ben

I also live in Southern California and when I ride my recumbent no one ever has been rude. This is S. Cal and people are, so it seems more sophisticated. They will show no interest, not wanting to draw attention to themselves as uninformed, or if they do ask about the bike: How much? Is it hard to ride? Where can I buy one? Is it hand made? When I ride around my neighborhood or on our bike paths I hardly get a second glance. I think most people have seen them before. They are fun to ride, but there is a learning curve, so take it easy and do not get overconfident like I did.

bnet1

I have never had a bad experience while on my 'bent. As was previously pointed out Most people just ask questions, little kids point and say "wow, cool bike". I ride with a cycling club. At first they weren't sure I could keep up. Now I'm just one of the group having poven that I can easily "keep up". Last month I was invited to give a short talk about recumbents at the club meeting. Needless to say it was very well received. I have a Trek 1000 road bike which I've put many miles on. It has not been ridden since I got my recumbent. The 'bent is my bike of choice. I like the ride and I'm just as fast on it as I was on the road bike. I say keep riding those 'bents, to heck with what others say!

'bent Brian

Krispy

It sounds like people's receptiveness to recumbents depends partly on the area where you live. I haven't even bought my first bent yet and I'm already getting some negative reactions from people I'm talking to. What amazes me though is that most of the negative reactions have actually come from the LBS here!

I was in an LBS Saturday and the first words out of the salesman's mouth were "I hate recumbents!". When I asked him why, he acted shocked that anyone would question his reasoning. Once he pulled the dusty bent off the rack for me to test ride he disappeared. It was a slow afternoon and there were 3 salesmen with no customers just standing around. As I continued to look the bent over other customers started coming in. They were looking at $300.00 entry level bikes. Even though I was looking at a $3200.00 Lightning P-38 I still got no help from the salesmen. The shop mechanic is the one who finally came out and tried to answer my questions. It turns out the only reason they had the Lightning in stock was because the customer who special orderd it had returned it for some reason.

In another shop across town they had a little better attitude toward bents. The mechanic/salesman was pretty knowledgeable about the two brands of recumbents they sold. However, he wanted to know what kind of injuries I had that was forcing me to consider recumbents. He looked at me a little funny when I told him that although I had some injuries I was looking at recumbents more from the aspect of how enjoyable the ride is supposed to be and the fact that I would be able to see more scenery while riding due to the different seating position. He then replied "Well, the only customers I have who ride recumbents have injuries that keep them from riding bikes"

At the LBS where I've bought two bikes and referred numerous friends and where I've occasionally seen them stock a recumbent or two they actually laughed at me when I asked them about recumbents. Their reply was "your not serious are you?". When I told them yes they said "Well, we'll be more than happy to order one for you but were still going to make fun of you for riding it!"

The good news is I found an LBS that keeps at least a half dozen recumbents in stock at all times. Everyone there is just as entheusiastic about bents as they are df. Funny thing, they seem to sell more recumbents than all the other LBS.

John Ben

In my town of Oceanside, CA we have a bike shop that has a big selection of recumbents. Burleys, Easy racers, EZ Sports, Gold Rush, Sun, Bacchetta and more. They also sell trykes. They sell alot of recumbents and are very excited, explaining that 'recumbents are the wave of the future and will be big! " They are very helpful and friendly. They explain the benefits of recumbents and help the customer make the correct choice.

As usual S. California leads the way.

On my trips around this country in my RV I have noted some big differences in attitudes, in different states, and it is just not about bikes! In some states they will not give you the time of day, and in others they want to know about California when they see an out of state plate.

kf5nd

If bents are so fast, and hold all of the speed records, etc., why don't bents finish first or near the front at the local charity rides, which is the only place I see them? They don't show up for weekly training rides?

How come when I drive the sag for the local Century ride, it's always some bent riders getting ready to die at mile 90 ?

qmsdc15

"Why don't bents finish first at charity rides?" Competitive riders use bikes that are allowed in competition.

Training ride? Training rides are generally for riders training for competition, if you are training for a road race you will train on a road bike.

Trsnrtr

Obviously you've never been on a ride with one of these:

smurfy

Several years ago I wanted to get a recumbent but have since lost my desire for one. I have noticed that since recumbents have been getting relatively more popular thier riders have seemed to develop an attitude of superiority.

Many (but not all) 'bent riders look down on regular bike riders (in reality they're actually looking up since they are so low to the ground!) as inferior and won't talk to them. One dumbass with his nose high in the air even shooed us away on the bike path because me and another group of riders were too close to him (which we really weren't!). Screw you, jerk!