I was doing about 19 mph on my commute and passed a recumbent. The guy said hi as I passed, then he overtook me again. He flew by me faster than any roadie I've ever encountered. I tried to speed up and keep his pace, but there was no way. After a couple of miles, he just got farther and farther ahead. My hat's off to you recumbent guy. You are the fastest rider I've seen.

Take two riders of similiar strength and fitness, put one on a standard bike and one on a recumbent, and on the flats and downhill, the recumbent will win. The recumbent rider is pushing less air. Recumbents are less efficient clinbing hills, however.

I'm a recumbent rider and I've done what you say more than once, especially this time of year.

Yeah, you'll pass me on the uphill because the geometry of the bike doesn't let me get as much torque on the pedals as you can when you stand up, so I spin. Once we get to the top of the hill, though, I'm going to kick it into gear for exactly the same reasons. First, as Woodway pointed out, I've got the aerodynamic advantage, especially with my fairing. Second, because I do spin more than most DF riders, I'm going to be more efficient on the flats.

Further, I'll show you no mercy on the flats or downhill. I'm going to push it as hard and fast as I can. Why? Well, there's another hill coming up, you see, and I don't climb as well as I'd like...

Just yesterday I played tag with a DF rider for quite a while. He'd pass me on the climb, then I'd pass him, then he'd come back, etc. We had a sort of conversation going there for a while.

I have yet to encounter a bent with a fast engine. However, that being said I would love to own a racing bent just for the heck of it.
They definitely have a disadvantage climbing. That is a deal killer since I love to climb.

One year that I did the Smog-to-Surf Century in Riverside CA I got just blown past by a faired recumbent... The downhill section this happened on wasn't that long - and I was amazed at the speed. I caught up a bit later and chatted with him. He'd hit the bottom at 52mph. sitting a foot off the pavement that has to be an adrenaline rush.

How's this for some speed?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Whittingham

Do you think you were expending more effort because you were doing intervals (fast/slow/fast/slow) while he wasn't? Or maybe he was expending more effort because he was doing intervals (spin/hammer/spin/hammer) while you weren't?

I've never seen a recumbent rider except those people cruising along the beach paths.

how hard is it to balance those things?

I got pwned by a little old lady with a walker today... then I hopped on my bike and showed her what was what.

Dropped her good I did.



I have a few friends that ride bents at ludicrous speeds and one can even put up a good challenge on climbs (2 wheeled 'bent) but he is a freaking animal.

The friend with the cat trike has a Bionx and I was pretty blown away when I rode it... there is something about cruising effortlessly at 40 kmh and then firing up the assist to find yourself doing nearly 60 kmh.

Well, I ride by cadence, so I was pretty much maintaining. The variation was 70-80 on the climbs and 80-90 on the decent. From what I noticed, he was doing pretty much the same thing.

Not everyone races each other every time they ride.

It's a bicycle. How hard is it to balance a bicycle? It's a little different at first, but then it's like riding a bicycle.

The downhill experience is a lot like on a tandem; it's not hard to fly by most folks.

There's a guy I see occasionally on my commute that rides a trike pulling a trailer. Let me tell you, that thing just plain flies.... and it looks like it corners on rails. The Mini-Cooper of the bike world

-R

Recumbents are typically heavier than diamond framed bikes, have lower aerodynamic drag, and usually have lower power motors. With an equal motor, the results are quite predictable.

Have you ever tried drafting a recumbent? The one time I tried it, it didn't work so well. He was a faired, low rider heading into the wind, and was obviously more aerodynamic than I could get so I decided I would try to hitch a ride. He was just too low...

Of course, there are recumbents and there are RECUMBENTS. Some of the tail fairings have storage capabilities for the commuters among us.

Left to right:Zockra Kouign Amann Special with tail fairing, Velokraft NoCom (No Compromises), Challenge Jester low racer, Challenge Serian SL (SuperLight) highracer.

Climbing on bents is not the big deal that some people make it out to be. No, it's not as fast as a road bike, but it's fast enough that if you're any good at climbing, you'll still get past the vast majority of people on road bikes that you used to.

Find a hill. 'Bent guys will say otherwise, but my experience is they stink at going up real hills.

I rode a century earlier this month with real climbing. A few guys on bents would go screaming down the hills and in a couple min would be caught climbing back up. Eventually they were completely dropped in the hillier sections. Not that it was a race or anything.