I am not into recumbents and really don't care for tandems but to each his own. Maybe if I could grow a decent beard...

I have one recumbent, 3 diamond frames and a chopper. Each term describes a different kind of bike. Its stupid to think that one style is normal and needs only the sobriquet of bicycle. Used to be that the penny-farthing was what was meant by the term bicycle. That's why we now call them ordinaries. But there are other bicycle conformations, mixtes, step-throughs, tandems, foldies. They are all bicycles.

I don't know where the snobbery comes from, insecurity or perhaps jealousy I guess. There is no such thing as innocent ridicule. It's bullying plain and clear. Making up silly terms like recumbulators makes the speaker look ridiculous, as though the command of English has failed them, and an inability to spell recumbent amplifies this.

It's the recumbent rider who rides with head held up high, literally. Our heads are attached to our spinal cord at the bottom of the skull. A diamond frame bike warps the rider, either forcing them to hang their head, staring at a spot on the road like a prisoner, or contorting their neck to see forwards. If that was the only way to do things, we should have been born with our spinal columns attached to our heads at the back, like a monkey or a lizard.

I enjoy all my bikes. My recumbent does the long commute chores and the utility bike brings home the groceries and the others are fun to ride.

+1. I mean no offense, but I think some people are just too thin-skinned. Fundamentalists of any stripe, be they Christian or Muslim, are good cases in point of just how unconstructive it is to be too thin-skinned. I think there's too much possibility of misunderstanding seeing just the written word; you don't hear the intended inflections, see the grin and the body language. Usually the poster doesn't intend to give offense, but the reader interprets it as offense.

My favorite example of this is on the tandem list. I pilot a tandem, but I have a problem with tandemistas calling single-bikes "half-bikes." I don't know why this drives me up the wall, perhaps it just shows disrespect to what is actually the default bicycle, but I would imagine that people who ride bents would feel the same way re references to their bikes, so I can certainly empathize.

So having got that out of the way, the reason I would never ride a bent (unless my back got to the point that it was a bent or nothing) is because bents are ridden in a supine position, the position of submission in the animal world. On the other hand, I ride my upright in a very dominiant prone position. Me, I'd rather look like I'm at the top of the food chain. No offense!

L.

Given your logic statement, shouldn't you be riding a hybrid?

I probably should, I wave at nobody!

L.

You may want to revisit your word choice here. "Prone" means lying flat on one's belly. Nothing dominant at all about having your ass up in the air.

As for bikes, prone bikes look like this

An interesting weekend in the 50+ forum. Everybody go for a ride.

You are likely right, but "prone" is the only opposite of "supine" I could think of. Perhaps "pronated" would have been better? The Latin "pronatus" refers to a bending forward position, which is what I was looking for, like a lion in the process of devouring a gazelle. Or a cyclist aggressively sprinting or climbing...

But you all are also right, I detect some thin-skinnedness here! Especially as evidenced by the remarks regarding the "prone" position, which I choose to take as good-natured ribbing, although it could also be interpreted as disparaging, were I thin-skinned or easily bullied.

L.

Hybrids should never be taken seriously! (Ducking head from flying high bars.)

Be a duck and let it roll off your back. It's just too hard to resist poking a little fun at people who are so easily offended. Who shives a git whether people talk nice about your choice of bike type?

How does the rider see where he's going?

Took me a little while to find... Ingroup Bias and Outgroup Hate

https://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...5/ai_58549254/

So they don't have to hate on us, but it does make them feel better about themselves

Then there's Out-group homogeneity bias
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-group_homogeneity_bias

surprising we hear that 'bent riders are all bearded and pot-bellied?

I don't know about the pot-bellied thing but I suppose it might be more likely since a lot of recumbent riders say they went to that style vehicle because of back problems in the normal riding position and people with fat bellies are going to be at higher risk for back problems.

But the beard thing is funny. I was listing to a TwoJohns podcast and they mentioned the beard thing and I decided to pay attention enough to check it out. On that day's ride across the golden gate bridge and to tiburon and back I came across 5 recumbents and...5 beards! I couldn't believe it!

He gets neck ache after a couple of minutes- and loses 3mph top speed from sticking his head into the airflow.

Interesting thread. I've noticed it relects my experience out in the streets quite well in that .....

*Most Recumbent riders seem to own and enjoy various styles of bikes.
*The most vocal dissenters of any bike styles usually only have ever owned and/or operated one style.
*The over all majority of cyclists don't give a hoot what anyone else is riding.


Some trivial info...
Yes, I sport a beard. My wife rides Recumbent and does not sport a beard. Most recumbent riders I come in contact with don't wear beards. In fact, the recumbent group I occasionally ride to breakfast with consists of seven core members. One of them wears a beard (two when I ride with them). Just thought I'd add that little bit of unimportant nonsense.

Any women in that group?

Looks like he is using mirrors or some kind of viewer. They tried the mirrors in the Race across America on regular (diamond frame, upwrong, wedgie) bikes.

A lot of the so-called 'recumbent bashing' is just teasing/joking. Anyone who is well experienced knows they are a viable type of bike.

Darn hippies!

This says it all. Turn down the sensitivity knob and enjoy riding whatever type of bike makes you happy.

+1. This group is at its best when its members recognize that it's all just teasing/joking. Man, you try teasing/joking in some of the other groups and some of them get really upset! I would hope that people over 50 would have reached a point of maturity where they just laugh at things or are slow to jump to unwarranted conclusions.

One funny example is tandem stokers on the tandem list. Just about all of them are really, really thin-skinned. Don't ever get into a discussion with them about Tandem Rule #1: "The stoker never makes mistakes," which they always try to interpret or rephrase as "The stoker is always right." Whaaa? And they have the temerity to call my fixie a "half-bike." Grrrrr. But I can't complain, because I'm also a tandemista, although not a stoker. But I call them "singles." I guess with bents, you have to refer to them as "uprights." Semantics is such a wasp's nest of trouble!

Concerning beards: I once read in some English cycling magazine that guys who rode "barrows" (full-size trikes) all had beards and a serious expression. So bent riders are not alone! Sorry if anyone is offended, you're all cool!

L.

I like diamond frame bikes to ride, but frankly find them boring to look at. It becomes a Form Following Function effect to me, take the wheels bars, and seats off and they all look alike. I find (even being a man) that the Step Through frames interest me. There are dozens and dozens of different designs with step through's not even counting the old Cross Frame/Girder Frame designs (the Mixte being one of the best known).

I really enjoy Recumbent and Folding bikes as well, because of the unique way the frame builder/ Designer approaches the various compromises in the designs. Want to talk about being part of an "out group" try being a Man that enjoys riding Step Through frames around some of these people who don't believe that anything other than the latest Diamond Frame is a bicycle...

Edit... I meant to ad Old Cruiser Bikes to my list of liked bikes as well.

I apologize for being beardless on a 'bent.

Got a good start on an aerobelly this past Thursday/Turkey Day. Xmas feasts will also help that effort.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear this.

Negative. To allow Safety Bikes alone to use the "bicycle" tag implies the others aren't bicycles, an attitude borne out by your description of them as "oddly oriented things;" and I'm not willing to let that one go. "Recumbents" and "uprights" are genres, which each contain many varieties. I usually go beyond the most basic labels to call they by calling them "hybrids," "mountain bikes," "short wheelbases," "hiracers," "tadpole trikes," etc.

BTW - "recumbulators" and "recumbants?" Maybe we're talking about different things. I used to ride a roadie; but now I ride a recumbent, which makes me a recumbenteur, or (Americanized) recumbenteer.