nascarzeke

which bent is best for long distance touring with and without a trailer??

Dr.Deltron

A GREENSPEED!

A Burley trailer hooks right up! And no matter how heavy you load it down, you won't fall over at low speed!
I have 6 'bents and 2 are Greenspeeds. A GTX & a GTT. They are fabulous fun! I haul all 4 of my young kids on the tandem w/Burley.

aikigreg

I'd definately get a trike of some flavor, and my trike of choice would be the greenspeed x-5.

BigAlMN

I have ridden two long tours and also enjpy long commutes on my trike. I couldn't afford the cadillac so I went with the Olds. I have a Greenspeed clone, a Trimuter BigWheel. www.trimuter.com

I have put about 4,000 miles on mine; never hauled a Burley on a tour; have hauled my grandson in a Burley trailer for a fun spin. Hooks up like any Burley

If you are interested, let me know. I think that I will be selling it soon; get to the front of the line. PM would be a great way to communicate on this.

FlyingAnchor

Convince me. Said with a grin not a smart A$$ smirk.
I am saving my money to buy a recumbent to ride from Humboldt County Ca to Florida in the summer of 08. I teach so I have to be able to do this ride while off from school.
I was under the impression that the trike is a lot slower than a two wheel recumbent. I have been wanting a RANS Stratus XP or an F series. I keep changing my mind and I know I need to make a trip (five hours away) to ride a host of recumbents.
Steven

Dr.Deltron

Steven, you know I'm an "expert" about recumbents and I say get a Greenspeed, dammit!
They are built to conquere the Outback, so they are rugged!
3 wheels means no WOBBLING at low speeds.
And NO having to unclip/reclip into the pedals at lights/stop signs.
Trikes are COMFORTABLE!!!
Drivers seem to give trikes more room when they pass you. Maybe they think you are a wheelchair or something!
Heck, if you've got questions, I have ANSWERS!!

But if you really MUST have only 2 wheels, get a Challenge Hurricane!
I say this because, as you know, my first recumbent was a Hurri. And I still have it.
I bought it used and the story is that a guy brought it to the US from Europe. He rode it from somewhere on the East Coast to Monterey California. Sold it to the LBS and flew home. I got it with a rack and top mount bag, as well as some HUGE saddle bags. So the guy must have carried A LOT of stuff. I also had a B.O.B. trailer (the single wheel kind) on it for a couple of years and that worked great. So with the 3 bags AND a BOB trailer, there's almost no limit to what you could haul. 'Course if I was gonna haul THAT much stuff, I would add a Schlumph Mountain Drive.

Note; there is one on eBay as we speak!

SOooo...did that help any?

FlyingAnchor

Thanks Dr.
I'm not sure if you helped or not, I think in a couple of weeks I will have about 1/2 the money I need to get a $2,000 bike (selling some wood).
I don't mind the thought of riding a trike but I need to make this trip in about 75 days or so, most of June, all of July and start school in the end of August.
Plus I expect to use my recumbent for commuting about twice a week (20 miles one way)
I'm still keeping my options open, but hopefully keeping my big mouth shut when needed. Never want to cross the Dr.
See Ya.
Steven

BlazingPedals

The best bent for touring is usually the one you have. I've seen people successfully tour on everything from lowracers to EZ-Sports to trikes.

jeff-o

I'd suggest a trike (my preferred vehicle!) as well, but you can tour on pretty much anything that is of reasonable quality. Any bike can pull a trailer if it's one of the axle-mounted models. The key is to find one that you are comfortable riding. Good luck!

aikigreg

The OP said best for touring, not for speed. Besides, if you want speed, you still don't buy a LWB bent - you buy a lowracer or a p-38.

Dr.Deltron

Hence my suggestion of a Challenge Hurricane. UNloaded it's fast. But it CAN be loaded down for touring.

Doug5150

Firstly--keep in mind that people have done long-distance tours on every kind of recumbent there is.
....
I would say a LWB is best. The longer wheelbase means that the steering is stable, the seat is upright and the pedals are low, avoiding numb feet--which was my particular problem with a SWB.

"Numb feet" among recumbent riders is caused by poor circulation in the feet while riding; it's a tingling/stinging sensation much like when a limb "falls asleep". Sometimes there are other factors that can reduce or avoid it (shoes not fit well or laced too tight, clipless pedal position on the shoe, ect) but the main factor in if it occurs or not seems to be pedal height relative to the seat.

LWB's and CLWB's tend to have lower-set pedals, and riders seem to complain the least about it. Upright-bike riders of course have extermely-low pedals, and almost never complain about it.
Since I got the LWB I haven't had the problem at all--and I still use the same pedals/shoes on the LWB that I had on the SWB.

SWB's, lowracers and highracers all have higher-set pedals. "Performance"-style tadpole trikes tend to have higher pedals as well, because their seats are set very-low, and the cranks need ground clearance. Ideally you should test-ride a higher-pedal bent long enough to see if this may be a problem; riding with numb feet is not fun.

The Sun EZ-Tad is one tadpole trike with lower-set pedals--it isn't real expensive, but it is definitely not one of the lighter trikes. If you're worried about balancing you could also get a delta trike, like the Sun EZ-3--which doesn't require balancing, and that has a very low bottom bracket.

There's also some good Euro delta trikes (Hase for one) but they are not cheap. Most of the better-equipped trikes you find in the US are tadpoles.
~

coffeecat

My biggest concern with a trike is safety/visibility, followed by manoeuverability on tight trails. I wonder if I could reach the signal light switches at major intersections. The way people drive in Vancouver I would be afraid of becoming a speed bump.

BlazingPedals

I'm going to break with the tradition of everyone recommending 'their' bent model. I ride a lowracer and a SWB, and I would not be afraid of touring on either; but if I were going to get a bent with the express purpose of doing a long tour, I'd get a TourEasy. I'd go further and say it should be a TourEasy EX, and if you're not planning on having front panniers, it should have a front fairing. That's not to say anything bad about any other bents, but face it, TourEasys set the standard by which all other touring bents are judged. Why get a substitute? Get the real thing!

I hope I'm not excommunicated from the Church of Rans(tm) for this post!

Edit: Trikes are fine for putzying, but that slower speed also translates into requiring more power at a given speed to get from point A to point B. So it becomes a compromise - how much extra effort are you willing to expend per mile on a looooong trip, in order to have a bit more stability.

jeff-o

Yes, TourEasys are nice... They didn't get that name for nothing, after all!

In regards to lowracers and trikes being too short, this is a bit of a misconception. Of course you can always add a flag to make yourself more visible. But consider this, the lines on the street can be seen by cars, and they are much lower than a person on a trike!

Again I urge you to go out and try a few different models, including a SWB, a LWB, and a trike. No one model is perfect for everybody, but one may be perfect for you.

Shaman

I think that a comfort bike would be a LWB RANS or alike. Low pedals, precise steering, and, with a fairing, a pretty good scootin' machine for a cross country trek. If you average 50 miles a day, you'd be there in notime.

Personally, I couldn't tour 2-wheel'd. Although 50 miles a day would be just about right for me (maybe a bit more), hills would slow me way down and balancing a load on 2 wheels at a few MPH would have me all over the road. I'd take my Actionbent trike on a long tour with panniers. It might be a little more work but I would sure enjoy it a lot more. I'd probably also want a small fairing on it also. Even at 2 MPH, a trike can ride as straight as an arrow. Only hinderance I can see is those highways with the rumble strips which are harder to dodge with the wider track.

As for visibility? It all depends on how you dress up the machine. I have a flag and a nice bright triangle on the back of my trunk. People give me tons of room. Some even put a flag horizontal out the left side of the trike for greater visibility. Point is, you just have to be seen... It's not how tall you are.

Dr.Deltron

The OP's handle is nascarzeke.
I would have to say, based on that handle, that a
GREENSPEED would DEFINETLY be the WAY TO GO!!!

Closest thing to a Nascar that you can pedal!

And...NO...Ian Simms is NOT paying me to make these posts!

FlyingAnchor

So, big wheels or little wheels? Hm, what color is the best?
Good thread, I appreciate nazcarzeke starting this one and really want to see all the answers. The closer to my money goal the more excited I get.
Steven
PS I live about 40/50 miles from the mueller guy that makes fairings.

jeff-o

I definitely prefer a 26" wheel in the back and 20" wheels up front.

aikigreg

For wheels, depends on the bike. My fave trikes so far are the x5 and the catrike 700, so either combo is great. All other bents must be 26/20 for me. As for color - yellow is the fastest, although seeing as how my next bike will be silver, I may be changing my mind shortly

BlazingPedals

I think natural carbon is the fastest color, with yellow being second. Red is a distant third. You can be fast on other colors, but in that case it's all the rider, not the color!

aikigreg

well then, thank god the TiCa I'm buying will have a nice tidy chunk of carbon as well!!! I'm trying to figure out how trak makes the blue carbon bikes - my upright is a trek pilot and is a beautiful blue with the reflective carbon weave very obvious. I need to to learn how to do that and make my carbon yellow.

FlyingAnchor

So:
26/20; I have read about the 26/26 rans and the 26/20 but only the manufactures opinion/hyperbole.
Does the 26/26 really have an edge over the 26/20 on long hauls or is the difference only a minor/medium difference verses a large difference?
and yes I intend to try as many as I can.
Steven

Dr.Deltron

That is refered to as "Candy Apple" color my friend. One of my specialties BTW. Did quite a few of Craig Calfee's frames back in the day! Very cool effect.

trish maczia

did you get to compare the 20/26 to the 26/26? What was your opinion on best all-around?.... trish