Originally Posted by aikigreg
No, I ride heavily both df and recumbent. I'm also a bodybuilder and have massive treek trunk legs with lots of power. It's simply the less aerodynamic position of the DF on flats and downhills. The DF is significantly faster on uphills, but it's just not as fast anywhere else. It's also nowhere close to as much fun!
Just wish they were allowed in races with DF bikes.
So, you are a big guy? Big guys on DF bikes are slower due to the increased frontal area. I am a skinny guy with a low profile on my DF bike so that would explain why you would have such a speed increase going bent. There is a lot to the body type of riders and speed on a bike.
And riding on an Aero bar has so many variables like the flexability of the rider and how low the bar and how flat the riders back can get on the bike. Lance Armstrongs Aero position has a very low coefecient of drag for a DF machine. Most DF riders will never be able to duplicate that! So a recumbent puts your body in a very effecient Aero position.
We have a big guy in our DF group that cruses at 30mph on the flats. Everyone just drafts off of him!
He is a big fat dog on any hill!
Trying to get him on a fast recumbent!
MG