I was wondering. 162" puts it halfway between the two 2-person sailboats I used to race.

Isn't 48" about right for a short wheelbase recumbent where the front wheel is under your knees? I took Prof. David Wilson's short wheel base 'bent for a quick spin almost 50 years ago. My bike racing days. That bike was a fun ride! Felt quick and steered well enough to this racer that I don't have memories of anything that caught my attention. Just a good bike that did exactly what it was asked. Sat on a similar short wheelbase Vision decades later at a bike show in Seattle. Rode it on the stand. Just a stand so no idea how the bike felt to balance and steer but again the fit and concept felt right to me. Seems too bad from my perspective that those short wheelbase 'bents with the under the knee handlebars never took off. It's a very natural seating position, low, stable, getting started is easy. Aero and speed rate a slightly better than an upright. Not extreme or as fast as it can be, but a very workable combo. I used to encounter Prof. Wilson on his commute home from MIT as I was headed out for afternoon sessions and ride a while with him. I could leave him in the dust easily but I was a 25 yo racer at the top of my game and he was a middle aged prof. But slowing to ride with him was no burden at all. With not light commuter wheels, that bike was no dog. (And I was riding club race ready tubulars on my good bike.)

Since then I've ridden a largish wheel 'bent where my position was quite laid back and high. Yes, I could learn to start that bike and ride it fast but it wasn't easy and I'm not sure I would ever feel as confident as I do on so many diamond frame bikes. Fastest bike I've ever ridden but it won't happen again. Maybe I'll go to a long wheelbase bent as I lose balance but relearning the basics of navigating tight spaces on a bike so much longer doesn't appeal to me and I suspect adds up to at least one 'learning' crash .

Or more likely - I'll just keep riding these diamond things of varying WBs that I love so much. The bike of my avatar is so perfect I would change nothing if I had to start all over again. (I hope the builder kept good notes. If this got destroyed by a car I'd just call him and say "make me another".) The road bike he built me first is another except it has the glitch of high speed wobble. Not an issue at all when I got it when I was 17 years younger, stronger and more confident but an issue now. Too bad because the rest of its handling is simply sublime. Weight distribution over the wheels is as good as it gets under this body. And my Pro Miyata - early '80s racer. Early '80s tire widths. And handling that is again, sublime but as a pure racer. Best descender I've ever ridden (probably). (I'll never test it at the speeds I went on my Fuji Pro in the '70s. Smuggler's Notch without touching the brakes? Nah!)