Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
While modern recumbents are still heavy monstrosities compared to your standard road bike, they also have other, more fundamental problems, such as not being able to balance naturally (how many recumbent riders ride no-handed with control?), and not putting the human body in an efficient position for producing power (is there such thing as a recumbent sprinter?). Basically a recumbent throws away everything that is human about controlling a bicycle in favor of aerodynamics and/or lounge comfort.
I can ride my recumbent with no hands, no problem (it is true that it is easier to balance on a DF). There are many recumbents that are sub 10kg bikes, which not as light as light DF bikes, are still pretty light. And once accustomed to them, some can produce as much or more power on their recumbents as on their DF bikes.
But besides from that, you did o.k...
If you want to go faster, there are lots of things you can do. If you want to go fast, you go aero.