Originally Posted by BlazingPedals
(Post 15652307)
What I do to promote recumbents and break the stereotypes: I ride everyone else's wheels off! :eek:
Although doing this does get boring after a while, not to mention I tend to run out of bikes... Ha! Now that's targeted marketing ! :thumb: |
I don't own or ride one, but them lawn chair bikes are cool with me. I service a few from time to time. Now as to making them look good... that may be asking too much unless the pilot is a very pretty young lady.
/K |
Originally Posted by ksisler
(Post 15653629)
I don't own or ride one, but them lawn chair bikes are cool with me. I service a few from time to time. Now as to making them look good... that may be asking too much unless the pilot is a very pretty young lady.
/K |
Originally Posted by ksisler
(Post 15653629)
I don't own or ride one, but them lawn chair bikes are cool with me. I service a few from time to time. Now as to making them look good... that may be asking too much unless the pilot is a very pretty young lady.
/K http://www.recumbentblog.com/wp-cont...iaOnSilvio.jpg |
Originally Posted by ksisler
(Post 15653629)
I don't own or ride one, but them lawn chair bikes are cool with me. I service a few from time to time. Now as to making them look good... that may be asking too much unless the pilot is a very pretty young lady.
|
I saw a truck with a couple of bikes in the back - one a long-wheelbase recumbent with underseat steering - at a home improvement store this past weekend. Just happened to catch the owner as I was loading my merchandise. He just got it a couple of weeks ago when a LBS was having a going-out-of-business sale. He said he couldn't beat the price at 1/2 MSRP (no, I didn't ask), and that he said he wished he would have switched to a bent years ago because of the comfort on the road with his new one... Yeah, he was an 'older' guy, about my age or so -mid 50s... His wife had a carbon Fuji road bike of some sort, also bought at the same sale. I was at that LBS late last year, and although somewhat off the beaten path, they seemed to be doing a good business...
I'd like to try a recumbent some time, but they're like hen's teeth around here. Nobody stocks them. |
Originally Posted by Cougrrcj
I'd like to try a recumbent some time, but they're like hen's teeth around here. Nobody stocks them.
Don't get me started on the chicken/egg issue of availability and popularity. If you want test rides, your best bet is to corner a bent rider on a bike ride. |
Meh, I don't care about image. I am happpy to be out and riding. now it's my transportation. It's certainly better than sitting at home, unable to ride a bike because of balance problems. I am not young, but I am no longer fat, thanks to my trike. My doctor came out to have a look at my trike, at my last appointment, because I lost 60 lbs in the past 11 months. And I can go much longer distances than on a DF because my bum doesn't get tired, neither does my neck or my shoulders. I have yet to have anybody say anything negative about my TT. I did overhear a couple of maintenance guys say in Spanish that those vehicles are for the "viejos", but I am a "vieja", compared to them. :D
|
I think it's amazing that the OP is able to discern attitudes of millions of people, many of whom have never given a thought to recumbents. I'd ask for this methods but, since it would be worth many millions, that would be crass of me.
|
I don't know about "millions," but it's a common assessment that anyone riding a recumbent, and especially a recumbent trike, must have some sort of disability. After all, if there was nothing wrong with them, they'd be able to ride a 'regular' bike, right? :notamused:
|
I do ride a benttrike because u=it hurts too much to ride my FG now.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps3dd5fe23.jpg I wish I'd switched sooner! |
Originally Posted by Tom Stormcrowe
(Post 15660584)
I do ride a benttrike because u=it hurts too much to ride my FG now.
|
Originally Posted by Jeff Wills
(Post 15660848)
You need to work on that AeroBelly®, Tom. It looks a little undersize.
|
Heeeeeey... Isn't that the wife's trike? Or are there two in the family now?
|
Originally Posted by BlazingPedals
(Post 15658916)
I don't know about "millions," but it's a common assessment that anyone riding a recumbent, and especially a recumbent trike, must have some sort of disability. After all, if there was nothing wrong with them, they'd be able to ride a 'regular' bike, right? :notamused:
|
It is time the cycling community gets over its blather and snobbery against bents. Do a lot of bents and trikes have older riders--------yes they do. But remember one logical fact. Many people have challenges of pain, recovering from operations etc that bents are their only answer if they want to ride. Many do have enought pain that comes with old age that they dont need additional pain from riding.
The sad fact remains that the "poor" image of bents are generated in the cycling community itself. |
Originally Posted by rydabent
(Post 15683677)
It is time the cycling community gets over its blather and snobbery against bents. Do a lot of bents and trikes have older riders--------yes they do. But remember one logical fact. Many people have challenges of pain, recovering from operations etc that bents are their only answer if they want to ride. Many do have enought pain that comes with old age that they dont need additional pain from riding.
The sad fact remains that the "poor" image of bents are generated in the cycling community itself. |
Originally Posted by tcs
(Post 15652963)
Around a decade ago, I noticed that whenever 'dad' would come into the LBSuperstore to buy a new titanium flat washer for his Cervelo, the kids inevitably would play on the recumbents.
|
Before concluding that recumbents need an image makeover one should check out the posts on the road bike forum.
OTHER RIDERS ARE GOING TO LAUGH AT YOU. It doesn't matter what kind of bike you ride or don't ride, what kind of clothes you wear or don't wear, Whether or not you wave at other riders, there will always be a group of riders who are going to skoff at you. Always. It's true of safety bicycle riders, it's true of recumbent riders too. |
Originally Posted by unterhausen
(Post 15684236)
My son and his friend were really interested in building a recumbent a year ago, I haven't seen them since I banished them from my household for that.
dad (nervously): uhhh... O.k. son: Dad, I'm gay. dad: Phew! I already knew that. I thought you were going to tell me something scary, like that you wanted to ride recumbents... |
Originally Posted by cplager
(Post 15684638)
son: Dad, sit down. I have something to tell you.
dad (nervously): uhhh... O.k. son: Dad, I'm gay. dad: Phew! I already knew that. I thought you were going to tell me something scary, like that you wanted to ride recumbents... |
delcrossv +1
At least on a bent after 50 miles the riders are still smiling. |
Originally Posted by cplager
(Post 15684638)
son: Dad, sit down. I have something to tell you.
dad (nervously): uhhh... O.k. son: Dad, I'm gay. dad: Phew! I already knew that. I thought you were going to tell me something scary, like that you wanted to ride recumbents... I suppose one could take that as mean spirited, but I don't think so. Actually, I kind of like it. We bike riders do a lot of bantering back and forth about the evolution of man and the like. Recumbents don't need an image makeover. Some recumbent riders just take themselves way too seriously. |
Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
(Post 15687910)
My point exactly.
I suppose one could take that as mean spirited, but I don't think so. Actually, I kind of like it. We bike riders do a lot of bantering back and forth about the evolution of man and the like. Recumbents don't need an image makeover. Some bike riders just take themselves way too seriously. |
This weekend my daughter is taking my recumbent to a park with some friends so they can try to learn to ride it. There are all regular riders. In fact, she and her friends are bicycle delivery riders for various companies. If course they don't ride 'bents at work; 'bents are not well suited for hop-on hop-off riding.
The trouble they have is in no way related to the image of recumbent bicycles; rather, that recumbents have a hard learning curve. Recumbent riders, and proponents, need to face the fact that they are much harder to ride. I suspect that this is a large part of the reason that, in the recumbent market, trikes sell extremely well. |
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:03 PM. |
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.