Well, it's not a particularly appetising subject on which to start my forum life but I need some advice from well established recumbenteers. After thousands of miles of cycling on 'regular' bikes I had a rush of blood to the head about six weeks ago and bought a cheap recumbent (a TW Bents). Now, having covered over 800 miles (I can't stay off the thing) I wonder why I never tried one years ago. They're brilliant and I honestly can't see me ever returning to the old type. My only problem is that after about half an hour of gentle cycling my shirt is pretty damp. My current seat is a fairly conventional type with a solid fibre glass or plastic back. It has a foam sponge pad covered in a black air tex material. I am aware of the mesh seats (I know Easy Racers do one called the Cool Back) but do they keep your back cool? What about all the other recumbent riders who don't have mesh seats? Do they carry a spare shirt around or just accept a sweaty back as an unfortunate downside of being so comfortable? I know that getting a bit sweaty is all part of the fun of cycling but on a conventional bike you do tend to dry out in the breeze as you go along. I am yet to try special 'technical' clothing with wicking properties but I am slightly sceptical of their extravagant claims. It never really gets particularly warm here in the UK so at least I can rely on a cool breeze (and more often torrential rain - which kind of overshadows my current problem) so I can't blame the weather. Any thoughts?

I have had a number of mesh-back seats through the years/bikes, and believe they do a pretty good job ref reducing "sweaty back syndrome." I still get very sweaty, but there is no pooling effect.

The technical clothing, whether designed for bikes or not, does a good job of wicking moisture and it dries much faster than cotton. They do much better than cotton at reducing the chill in colder weather once you do get a bit sweaty.

Sweaty back is just part of the experience for me. A mesh-backed seat helps some, and I suppose you could adapt one; but it might not work as well as what you've got. I don't know for sure about your current pad; but the most circulation you'll be able to get with a hardshell seat will be with a Ventisit pad. It's an open mesh, with almost no compressibility (just enough for shock absorption.)

My hardshells all have Zotefoam pads, which have almost no air circulation. It was 91F for last evening's ride, so yeah I got sweaty.

I have a mesh seat on my trike and have never noticed that my back gets any sweatier than when on my DF bikes. I recently did the entire Withlacoochi trail in Florida (mid-90s) and was rather comfortable. I was wearing a hi-tech T which worked well. Cotton would have been soaked in a very short period I would guess, even with the mesh seat.

A lot depends upon the humidity where you live. I'll bet it is really high most of the time in your part of GB. If you lived in the desert (Mojave here) you could soak your shirt until it was dripping and by the time you rode a few miles in the summer it would be completely dry, including the back. I do that frequently. All of my recumbents have mesh seats. I've ridden them in places where the humidity is closer to normal and not had my back get soaking wet but it will get damp. I avoided recumbents with hardshell seats because I read of people riding in a pool of sweat with hard seats.

I highly recommend wicking poly shirts as opposed to anything cotton. Lots of relatively inexpensive options for this in the States.

I sweat, I get wet, It cools me in the heat....
Odd, I never noticed sweating as a problem,, I always considered it Free Air conditioning,,

Carry an extra water bottle, a big one,,
Every now and then poor some all around your neck, front and back for a great cool down

Thanks for the advice. I've now had the opportunity to try a 'technical base layer' and found that it actually works quite well. Certainly an improvement on the old heavy cotton T shirt. Now that I've clocked nearly 1000 miles on my 'cheapie' first recumbent I am now looking at an HP Velotechnik Street Machine which has a radical seat design and the option of a mesh seat. I think that'll be my next step. Thanks again for the replies and advice.

Modern wicking shirts are geat and I found that $12 walmart wicking sport T's work just as well as $65 Bike Jerseys..

Beware of, 'Monkey Butt', long hours in some recumbent soft seats will show you why breathable Lycra/spandex bike shorts are also a good Investment..

For shorter rides, running shorts are plenty and very cool In hot weather...

I ride a fiberglass hardshell seat with a ventisit pad (comfort version). It is the least sweaty seat I have used, and it is far more comfortable than I expected.