I just spent some time looking at the road forum. Man do they get wound up about Bikes Direct. Anyone know why?

The best I have been able to figure is some Fred out there is smoking them with a 1,500 dollar BD bike while they are riding one they bought for 6,000.

Definitely an insensitive clod!

If you really want to get them wound up, just tell them you are passing roadies on a recumbent....

Yep...'cause "telling them" is a lot easier than actually doing it.*




* FWIW, in the last 10 years, and 40,000+ miles of road cycling, during which I've participated in numerous large centuries, group rides, and tours, I have never once been passed by a 'bent. Not uphill, not downhill, and not on the flats.

I'm not saying it could never happen - presumably there are some fast 'bent riders out there. But, I've not seen 'em in California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, or France. The fast ones must be exceedingly rare.

Those recumbent bikers must know to stay away from you!

SSP is the MAN!

I know that this is sort of a steriotype but an unusually large number (Tom can give you some official name for this form of statistics.. ) of roadies that I encounter drive up to the LBS in giggadollar SUV's and look like they would be golfers in any other life.

While they appear to be perfect physical specimens, tapering from huge legs to much smaller points at the top, they do not seem adept at relatively minor mechanical adjustments. One pictures a formula one driver, with 2 fashon models and an unbrella girl on each elbow, disdanefully waving a hand toward a hord of lesser beings polishing and adjusting his steed and saying "If they give me a proper car I will drive it to victory!"



We're going to hear about this one folks!

What's this "we" stuff, Lone Ranger?

I certainly don't mean to imply that this is so for the members of this forum who choose to ride upon asphault. I ment those "others".

The use of Bottecchia and Motobecane brands bothers me, for personal reasons.

I had (and still have) a campy Bottecchia from the 70's and my wife had a Motobecane (hers was stolen). We rode everywhere together on those bikes.

Otherwise, I think Bikes Direct offers some of the best deals around. I just wish they had acquired other brands.

Bikes Direct: I think the complaint is the way they represent the product. An old respected brand gets bought out & becomes their store brand, which they label as "Ultegra" or something similar even though it might only have one or two parts on it that are the advertised level. I have no idea whether or not the accusation is true, but that's the gist of what I hear there.

Recumbents: I just like going fast. I got my first 'bent for comfort, but I got the second one for speed. It's comfortable, too.

See? Even the 50+ roadies bristle at that idea. FYI, that was a joke, a reference to a thread in the recumbent forum that got roadies stirred up.

But yes, I do it a lot more often than I tell it.

BD seems to be using brand names from defunct manufacturers - Windsor, for example.

I've seen a BD Motobecane up close. Ugly welds. The owner said the bike was mechanically sound, but there was a defective wheel he had to replace - from what I've heard a common complaint with BD bikes.

I got a BD Motobecane SL and it was an amazing deal. The welds are "raw" that is not sanded and painted smoothly like trek, but those in the know tell me they are perfectly good.
My bike weighed about 16 pounds without pedals.
It came with American Classic 420 Wheels
It has Ultegra brifters and a had a really unconfortable saddle.
$ 1300

I figure it really would have been over 2 grand anywhere else.

But yeah, I wish it just said "BIKESDIRECT.COM" instead of Motobecane on the tubes...

They were fine to deal with. I'm buying a Kestrel frame through them even as I type.

What it's like to be BlazingPedals:

movie

Best guess, we were doing 28-30 mph on this flat stretch. Even when we got to the climbs, nobody was catching us.

Well that just makes me skeptical. They are soooo much faster downhill. Part of the reason I don't like to ride bents in a group is the yo yo effect of blowing by everybody on the descents. It seems too dangerous to me overtaking roadies who are down in their tuck and presuming nobody could be coming up from behind so they pay no attention.

Also they regularly get accused of starting shill posts just to keep their name/product out there. If it is true it may be a brilliant marketing idea that no doubt someone will get a govenment grant to study. Some have been know to buy their Dura Ace bikes to strip for the groupset and then dump the frame on scambay, usually for very few dollars.

The "shill" marketing concept works. Do a Google Groups search under the name "Joyce Hatto." The "Hatto hoax" was aided by shill posters for Concert Artists, the label that issued the pirated CDs.

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

I've heard that too, but none of the bents I've passed on climbs has ever re-passed me on a downhill.

I suspect that they may be faster on long straight downhills, but when you throw in the curves and switchbacks that are common in big mountain descents, I'm not so sure that their aerodynamic advantages outweigh the handling advantages of uprights. An upright allows me to stand on the outside pedal (getting center of gravity down low), and also push the bike over hard into a corner...those dynamic techniques are not, AFAIK, possible on a 'bent.

FWIW, my Colorado riding buddies call me "Il Falco", because I go downhill like a falcon and none of them can keep up with me on "their" roads . It's a good thing too, because my Colorado friends all live at 8-9000 feet elevation and I have a hard time keeping up on the climbs when we get above 10,000 feet or so!

I would say that video pretty much says it all. I mean I am sure most of those people were riding recreational but you can tell a few tried to keep up and didn't have a chance.

Was this the Indiana Hilly Hundred? I've heard mention of another but I think it's the Horrible Hilly Hundred or something like that.

How was the video mounted? The images weren't shaking like some I've seen.

We have a couple bents that join us on club rides and they have no problem passing us on flats and hills. They do have some problems keeping up on the hills.

You just have to find the right bentrider on the right recumbent.

'bent riders were the inventors and perfectors of the "poser pass".

You pedalled your brains out during that clip, then pulled over to the side and puked your guts out whilst the wedgies flew by you, snearing as they went.

Seen it too many times before.

Drat - you mean that Mrs G and I on the tandem didn't invent that? No matter, I'm sure we've perfected it