BlazingPedals

I attended the rally a few years ago. Yes, I saw people wearing cutoffs and T-shirts, but as with any large group the attire runs the gamut. Since the Buycycling crowd is into looks, having the author concentrate on the casual attire of some bent riders only reinforced to the readership that bent riders were a bunch of weirdo hippy freaks (or some other undesireable epitath.) I see the reverse situation here, with some people feeling particularly virtuous because they *don't* wear cycling-specific clothing. Whatever! That crowd exists in the DF world too, believe it or not!

Olebiker

I rode a little with Larry Varney (what a nice guy) on the Old Kentucky Home Tour a few years ago. I believe he was riding a Cattrike and seemed to be having an awfully good time. I am thinking that a trike is the only way I am ever going to get my wife back on a bike of any sort.

magellan

Say what you will about the article, as a former road biker and current mountain biker it has gotten me to take a very serious look at the "bent world".

bentrox!

I perused the article briefly at the local Borders Books and had to check the cover to make sure I hadn't accidently picked up an issue of Rolling Stone.

bentrox!

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bentrox!

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bentrox!

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Magilla Gorilla

Right on John.

Very well said. I think that the whole point of this article was to make fun of 'bent riders.
So what! Like you said there are plenty of DF folks that don't buy into the BuyCycling culture. They used to call them I believe Retro Groutches.
Now it looks like 'bent riders are the new wierdo's on the scean.
I would invite you to check out the Single speed phnomonom that is happining all over America amoung the young. No money for Buycycling culture and machines.
I guess high end recumbents that I ride would qualify.....
Bicycling Mag is a rag worthy of the outhouse....

MG

sbhikes

I did not think the article was so terribly negative. It really seemed to reinforce what I have noticed among bent riders which is that they simply like to have a good time and don't care too much about all the rest of it.

And of course they don't get all dressed up like DF riders. Those cycling togs for racers are padded up and have pockets on the back of your shirt and all kinds of specially designed stuff that doesn't quite work on a recumbent. They aren't made for recumbent riding so you wear what works instead.

And about that rubber ducky, you don't even know the story behind it so why are you so judgmental? I went to BROL last year. Lugged my bike from California to New York which I thought was a long way. When I arrived, a man from Australia had lugged a little stuffed kangaroo for me all the way from Oz. Now that's a long way to come! So naturally I put the 'roo on my bike.

The recumbent rallies are a bunch of people who sometimes know each other virtually, sometimes meeting for the first time, sometimes coming from far and wide. It's not a fashion show or a contest. It's a chance to make friends and have a good time and see bikes all in one place that you never can see all in one place any other way.

Besides, if you had read an article about recumbent riders gathered at a rally and all the people there were model-perfect, dressed in only the finest bicycle haute couture and standing around talking about weight weenie stuff would you have believed one single word of it?

bobkat

I tend to agree with most everybody both on the article in Bicycling magazine, and the magazine itself. I subscribed to it as the kid next door was selling subscriptions to benfit the school, but after a few issues I realize that it really does cater to the glitzy carbon fiber type roadies and mountain bikers and also has literally every second page as an advertisement for some expensive bike or gadget. Don't think I'll subscribe next year. Not much to that magazine. I do subscribe to all the bent magazines!

blknwhtfoto

What bent magazines are there?

CruiserBob

Sorry for this self promotion (I publish RCN), but here is the list of recumbent magazines

Recumbent Cyclist News (RCN) - - published since 1990 (print)
https://www.recumbentcyclistnews.com
https://recumbentcyclist.blogspot.com

Recumbent and Tandem Rider (print)
https://www.rtrmag.com/

Velo Vision (print)
https://www.velovision.co.uk/

Bentrideronline.com (Internet)
https://www.bentrideronline.com

bobkat

Sorry - I was away on rides and didn't get to repley till now.
RCN is excellent! Love it! - great reviews and advice on stuff. Their website is great, too.

Bentrideronline is good, too. Lots of discussion and good information

ERRC (Easy Rider's ???? Recument club???) That's an excellent magazine too! Lots of news reports about recumbent happenings, reviews of bikes, and lots of "miniarticles" reports and opinions by readers. Chock full of interesting stuff and info. ERRC Magazine PO Box 1688 North Plains, Or 97133-1688
or ERRCMagazine@hotmail.com

I don't know anything about Velovision or Recumbent and Tandem Rider. I'll have to look into these.