I thought about training wheels too! However, the anticipation turned out to be lots worse than the actuality! I thought my first recumbent experiences a year ago might ease your mental burden a bit.

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09-13-2006, 11:19 AM

My new(used) Linear MachIII

My new (used) Linear MachIII arrived a few days ago, have been having a blast riding it, and I must say it was really easy to get the hang of it. I spent the first hour or so in a big parking lot practicing starting/stopping with both feet, uphill and down. I've been riding every day since Sunday morning, until my legs let me know they've had enough for the day. Other than being a little more tired, nothing is protesting too much to the new kinaesthetic of linear riding. The MachIII is really a nice light bike. It accelerates very quickly, banks and slaloms in a most satisfying manner. At times I feel like I ought to be buckling my seatbelt.

I experienced my first Arty Johnson this morning while making a slow, tight turn on wet grass. I didn't realize the dew was so heavy! Front wheel just slid out.

It took me about 10 minutes to get my feet onto the pedals the first day and then about half an hour to get comfortable starting and stopping. Already, after only about 8 hours of riding I am very comfortable with manouvering, getting started from a standstill both up and down slope. Steering and balance are very sensitive and responsive. The bike is quite stable even at very slow speed, like a walking pace.

The brakes aren't the best, but they do stop the bike eventually. Also, the chainline is not optimal and I'm going to get an idler and get rid of the plastic tube, probably put a guard around the chainring and upper half of the top chain.

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11-11-2006, 11:23 AM

Starting/stopping

As I mentioned then, it didn't take very long to get the hang of starting and stopping, just doing it again and again in the relative safety of a nearby parking lot. I attribute this probably to the relatively low bottom bracket of the Mach III. In fact, I had first tried to push myself around by my feet, picking them up to coast a bit. But I found that the low seat position made this difficult to do and I was wobbling all over the place. I figured I needed a little more speed to balance the bike. So after about 5-10 minutes of flopping around, I just rolled a little, picked up my feet and started pedaling. That was all it took! I was riding smoothly and stably from then on. I cruised around the parking lot for nearly half an hour without stopping, just getting comfortable with steering and shifting. I've discovered since that the bike is very stable at low speeds. I can move along through a mixed use trail at a slow walking speed without wobbling.

Then I spent about half an hour practising stopping and starting. Contrary to what others have recommended, I looked at my feet when starting. This did not cause me any problems. Maybe it's a peripheral vision issue, I can see the road ahead even while looking at my foot. Also, I began positioning my starting pedal just shy of TDC, rather than just past as others have recommended. It gives another 3-4 inches of thrust which combined with a low gear enables the bike to roll far enough to get the other foot up and begin pedaling.

The next real challenge, which I am dealing with now, is learning to use my Powergrips. They came with the bike and I figured I might as well use them to learn the "push/pull" of pedaling before spending more money on "clipless" pedals and shoes. When starting, I get one foot or the other into the stirrup and positioned just shy of TDC. I get rolling and usually start pedaling without getting the second foot into the stirrup until after a few strokes and I'm moving along comfortably. The reason for this is that I am finding it rather difficult to get the second foot into the stirrup. This because the stirrup is hanging down from the underside of the pedal and I have to rotate the pedal to get the stirrup into postion to insert my foot. Sometimes this requires repeated tries until I get the foot into it. And, yes, I have to look at the second foot to get it into the stirrup. This sometimes causes instability if I let bike speed decrease too much. Once I've got both feet in the stirrups I'm good to go. I have to say, however awkward it has been to get that second foot into the Powergrip stirrup, it's getting easier and more natural to recover from a failed attempt and just pedal a time or two more before trying again. Yes, I've experienced my first flop caused by not getting a foot out of the stirrup in time for a stop! I just wasn't expecting to have to stop and simply waited too long.

I'd guess I have 50-60 hours and 500-600 miles on the bike so far. Aside from the few design problems associated with the drive train which I mentioned in my original post I've been enjoying the bike immensely and find it a very nice bike to ride. I'm a bit large for the bike and consequently had to position the seat almost all the way back, so most of my weight is on the rear wheel. One consequence of this has been repeated flats. I've just replaced the original Primo Comet with a Primo Comet Kevlar in the hopes the kevlar makes for a tougher tire. I understand that Schwalbe is coming out with a new tire with some super tough fiber in Jan or Feb of 2007 and I will probably go with that if the Comet Kevlar doesn't hold up better than the plain Comet.

One final thing. The bike has USS which at first I thought might be a problem getting used to, but that was not the case at all. It already seems like the most natural place to put my hands on the bars and I can't imagine going back to either the "chipmunk" or "superman" position for OSS. I also find the handlebars positioned well to lift my weight off the seat when going over a bump or when I just need to get the weight off my butt for a second.

Michael

FWIW, before I bought the Mach III I had riden a Sun EZ1 for about half an hour over at Cambie Cycles here in Vancouver back in June. Prior to that I had not ridden any bicycle for at least the past 5 years. Although in previous years I had ridden a DF extensively, I stilll have one hanging in the bicycle room of my apartment building. I'm 61.

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I've been riding my linear for the better part of a year now and loving every minute of it. It was the best investment in fitness I've ever made. Go for it! You won't regret it.

Michael