I will probably get a bunch of push back on this, but the fact is there a huge amount of push back on the type of bike people ride. There needs to be diversity on the type of bike ridden when you consider the type of riding at hand. When it comes to DF bikes there is mainly on road and off road types. When it comes to off road mountain bike type of riding, the DF bike reins supreme. And the road bike for racing demands a light weight DF also.

How ever time has marched on, and the 1890 DF style frame has its limitations especially when it come to long distance cross country cycling especially. Those limitations are comfort and the position of they rider where it is quite uncomfortable to view their surrounding. It also includes people that just ride for exercise and enjoyment of cycling, and want comfort.

So it is time for cyclist everywhere to diversify and chose the right tool for the job at hand. Some simply wont admit that the best tool for comfort, and especially cross country riding is a recumbent bike or trike. Ten or twelve hour days riding simply demand a comfortable ride. Other consideration such as sight seeing and picture taking to record the trip lean to riding a trike. With 3 wheels the load is spread over 3 wheels, and it sits where you stop with out finding something to lean it against. The there is of course people with physical problems that absolutely dictate a recumbent, especially a recumbent trike.

Bottom line here it time the cycling community move into the 21st century and chose the BEST bike or trike for the ride at hand, and be willing to diversify to chose the most logical machine .

I am so glad that we have Mr. Rydabent to give us objective definitions for subjective terms.

And why isn't everyone wearing Earth shoes? Time for the ambulatory community to move into the 1970s.

Good post, I'm putting all my 1890 DF style bikes up for sale today!

If a DF bike is too demanding physically, a trike makes sense to me and due to arthritis in my back, hip and knees I may have to search other options in the future.

For now, I have learned to love climbing and a trike seems it is not built for that at least for me.

Lowering the BF bar yet again.

Diversify?

Do I need to diversify? Ok, I'm convinced.
Instead of just vintage European and UK bikes, vintage bikes from American frame builders will be included.

If riding vintage American roads, maybe the best tool for the job is a vintage American bike.
I now have the best tool.


all right, I made this post just to find another thread to show a classic bike made by a dedicated American builder.

My wife has strict instructions: if I ever bring a recumbent bike home, she is to kill me, return the 'bent for a refund, and then marry a more age-appropriate man.

What if your neighbor sneaks over and sets a trike on your front porch, and rings the door bell.

If the neighbor left his trike on my stoop, how would be get home?

Trying to lower the stiff necked resistance to modern alternatives in cycling.

The anti bent crowd reminds me of the sun deck charlies that set around the ski lodge dressed in $1000 of ski clothes, but are never seen on the slopes.

Walk next door.

Why do some people get so wound up about what other people ride?

As for "cross-country," my kid races a lightweight full-suspension 29er on single-track trails. Something tells me I wouldn't be able to convince him a recumbent trike would be an improvement.

Put him on it for 12 hours, and watch how funny he walks when he get off.

He frequently does ride that much, and walks perfectly fine, afterwords.

The trick is simply getting a bike that fits, not switching to a design completely incompatible with the type of riding he does.

If he lived in a state that was completely flat and needed to read something like a phone book for entertainment while riding, then sure, a recumbent might be more appropriate.

You want to talk about being functional: I'm all about not getting killed as job #1. I'll consider a recumbent if someone make one that puts me up where people on side streets can see me coming. Until then, no thanks.

In 35 years in Chicago I've never seen one on the street here, only on the bike-only trails. That says something meaningful about the universal betterness of bents.

Or something about the people that "live" in Chicago.

Have you considered that a large amount of the push-back you receive around here isn't actually anti-bent, but rather people who are tired of you pushing your religion on everyone completely unsolicited? It's like when someone rings your doorbell because they want to talk to you about Jesus Christ. Except those people go away when you immediately slam the door in their face, while with you the next time I open a kitchen cabinet I find you peaking out from behind a box of cereal explaining that you know if I just took the time to listen to you it would change my life.

Please keep you nose out of my garage.

I don't tell you what to do or ride.

There is a section for posts about 'bents.

They have, and recumbents aren't the answer. End of story. Bottom line. The fat lady has sung. In the books. Time expired. Finito.

Slamming the door in someone's face says a lot about your attitude. It suggests a closed mind to me. A lot like DF riders that have closed minds about bents and trikes.

Sounds like a closed mind that will simply not accept anything new. Reminds me of my father after watching an old science fiction movie Destination Moon. After watching it, he said "on one will EVER go to the moon"!!!!

BTW this whole thing reminds me of the "cyclists" that pronounced that derailers for more gears, click shifting, and disc brakes were stupid.