rydabent

I have posted this on several forums when it comes to recumbents. Probably over 99% of recumbent riders have ridden thousands of miles on DF bikes. I did. So-------------we have first hand knowledge of the differences between DF and bents. That means that bent rider posts are based on expierences of riding both, and are more believeable. So many posts that berate bents are posted by DF riders that have never ridden a bent. They are mainly just posting old wives tails that DF riders have said for years.

There just is too many compelling reasons for most cyclist to ride bents. Most cyclist that ride for fun and exercise would be far better off on a bent.

John_V 

My wife rides a Performer JC-70 AL tadpole trike, I ride a DF Colnago road bike. I have ridden her trike on many occasions and love riding it, when she lets me. It's fun, it's fast and yes, I've even passed a few DF riders on it. It's what I rode during the time I injured my shoulder, since I was able to steer it with one hand. No matter what I did, I couldn't ride the road bike with the shoulder injury, not even on a trainer. I have also ridden two wheeled recumbents and they too, are fast and fun to ride. Having said that, I would much rather ride my road bike than the trike or a standard recumbent. I ride at least 30 miles a day, six days a week and don't have any aches or pains from riding my road bike. My cycling team does close to a dozen charity rides a year with many of them being 100K and century rides. I don't get aches and pains from those rides either.

Personally, I don't think anyone is foolish, dumb or better off for riding one type of bike over another. The main thing is that you're out there riding on something and not sitting on the couch or on the porch watching the grass grow. To make statements like "There just is too many compelling reasons for most cyclist to ride bents. Most cyclist that ride for fun and exercise would be far better off on a bent." is like DF riders making a statement that those that ride a bent do so because they just can't cut it on a DF even if they've ridden one before. Ride what you want and don't worry about what someone else likes to ride. If someone wants to change from one type of bike to the other, they'll do so. It seems like this ridiculousness comes up every time someone mentions bent vs DF.

BTW: If I continue this cycling addiction as I get into my seventies and find that my road bike no longer serves me well, you'll be seeing me on a bent of some kind. Until then, I'm very happy with what I ride and have no current plans of converting.

gregf83 

I haven't seen any posts berating 'bents, just obnoxious bent evangelists who repeat themselves ad nauseum.

Rong

Introduction - I'm 51 and was a couch sitting motorcyclist (read non exercising fat man) until an MC accident last year. I still wanted some adventure in my life but the MC wasn't coming back into the picture. I fondly remembered my friends and I riding our 10spds everywhere back in the day. Even did Skyline drive when I was 16.

But the last time I rode a DF I thought I was going to need to see a proctologist to have the seat removed from my posterior and the thought of putting pressure on my reconstructed thumb (accident) wasn't very appealing - so I started looking into recumbents. After all, I was over 50, do have a beard and have a nice size aero belly, figure I'm 3 for 3 these things gotta be up my alley. Lot's of research and a few test rides lead me to purchasing a tad-pole trike.

So why do you see more folk over 50 on these things? The cost. Fact is these things are pretty much hand built and given the low production numbers well you're just going to pay thru the nose for these things. You gotta have some expendable cash to go down this road and not many younger people are going to fork out this kind of money. Purchasing used is really the way you want to go until you really know what you're after. Besides - they are goofy as hell looking and what 20 year old is going to tarnish their cool factor. At 50, well you stop giving a rats a$$ what someone else thinks.

14 years of sitting in front of a computer monitor at work and the big screen at home meant the first lap around the neighborhood (all of 1.3 miles) about left me dead. That was end of April. In Oct. of last year I did a metric century, albeit it was the Seagull Century which only had about 600' over the entire 66 miles. Right now I've added a Tour Easy long wheel base to the stable because I want to go a little faster and I'm aiming to do the full imperial century next month. So like them or not, it was these goofy machines that got my lard ass moving again.

Things I like - Comfort factor. There really is a huge difference especially things like your hands, wrists, neck and back. My buddy has a high end seat on his Trek and says he has no complaints so I'm not going to go into that argument. But when I ride with my friends (all DF riders) I watch the amount of times they are shaking out their hands and wrists or trying to stretch out their backs.
Going down hills - freaking RULES. I'm coasting while my DF buds are pedaling.
MUP riding on my trike is also great. Dual disks will have me doing head stands, but come in handy when little Billy decides to jump loose from Mom. Plus if the trail is twisty with wet leaves, well I may slide, but I don't slide out. Besides it's like being on a go-cart they really are a blast to ride and you should give one a try if you ever have the opportunity.

Things I don't like - I can't get my butt out of the seat and hammer on the pedals going up a hill. Hills suck! I do however make up for some of that by spinning like a mad man in lower gears but it still doesn't make up the difference of being able to stand up on the pedals and power your way up a hill.
I'm riding a long wheelbase bike, think wheel base of a tandem. Transporting is a bit more challenging. Turning radius? Well give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around. There are however short wheel base bikes that don't have this issue but my bike really is set up for the open road.
Learning curve. As others have said these things all have their quirks and they are not like jumping from a mountain bike to road bike different. Low racers with preying mantis steering can be twitchy as hell. Depending on the design the BB can by higher than your hips which on a two wheeler just feels weird. You have to build up an entirely different set of leg muscles, so even with a recumbent that's set up for racing it's going to take months of training to see the same speeds you had on your DF.

No, I don't think they are the end all be all of bicycling. Heck I'm currently itching to go check out a fully suspended 29er. If you'd like a better understanding of recumbents then I suggest reading up on them at www.bentrideronline.com that's how I really learned what was what about them.

But I'm all about the ride, not what you ride.

Homeyba

No, you didn't! That point was meant for another. Yes, I think we're pretty close in our thoughts on the subject.

BTW, is that a NoCom in your profile pic?

Dchiefransom

What I miss about my upright is that my back muscles would slowly stretch out while riding.

Trsnrtr

Like I mentioned earlier, I rode 120,000 miles on uprights from 1982 to 2003 including 9 years as a Cat 2 USCF racer and have three state Masters championships. I now have 185,500 miles in my log, so that means the last 65,000 miles or so have been on bents.

I have two sub 20# low racers, a 26# mid-racer, a Catrike 700 and one sweet Campy equipped 2011 Specialized Roubaix Pro. I also own a Santana Sovereign tandem.

I feel qualified to speak of both bents and uprights.

Dudelsack 

then tell me, why do they hate us so much? Was it something we said?

Retro Grouch 

I just scanned through all 83 posts and frankly, I didn't see hatred. I read a few friendly jabs (and I jabbed back a little), I read some attempts to make an objective argument about speed, and, frankly, I saw a lot of defensiveness from fellow recumbent riders.

My conclusion (and I'm one of the enlightened few) is that it's not about the bike. We're going to laugh at you regardless of what kind of bike you ride, what kind of riding clothes you wear, and pretty much anything else. Don't take it personally.

10 Wheels

I ride with a mixed group. We do daily rides and some touring.
It is fun.

Dudelsack 

I'm guessing one or two more Fat Tire Ales and this whole thread will make sense.

BlazingPedals

To homeba: yes, it's a NoCom.

big john

Is that a 1967 Satellite?

10 Wheels

Could be one. That guy works on the old ones.

Rong

All this talk about "them hating us", funny thing is you go over to the recumbent forums and all the comments are about how much the "roadies" hate us. Must really come down to the person more than what type of bike they are riding. The most derisive comment I've had to date was when I was on my trike at a traffic light and a couple of DF riders pulled up along side me. The one yelled over to his partner, "Look he's sitting on his couch and riding at the same time!" Now that's just plain funny.

tcs

David Gordon Wilson once said I must be a member of the Flat Earth Society if I couldn't see how recumbents would sweep DF bikes off the market the same way safety bikes replaced the highwheeler.

That was in 1984.

Trsnrtr

Nah, we just look weird.

Seriously, no matter how comfortable we are, how fast we may be, or whatever, we don't fit the norm. Black sheep, we'll always be.

rydabent

Recumbents got outlawed clear back in 1934 I think it was. They knew then they were faster and probably the big DF manuf bought off the UCI members. Its mainly money involved here. Yet I think that roadies have in the back of their minds the fact that if not outlawed by antique rules, recumbent hold almost all the speed records. I dont think they like that much.

What is silly is that if all racers could use any bike they wanted to on any part of the course, it would all be equal. They could use a DF in the mountains, and bents on the flats.

Keeping a design that was invented in approx 1885 is kinda like having a fireman on a diesel locomotive. Its time for the racing community to spring forward into the 21st century.

Retro Grouch 

If I were raceing RAM, essentially a long time trial, I'd definitely want a recumbent. On the other hand, I think that recumbents on the Tour would be boreing enough to kill the race in just a couple of years. Most of the turning points in the Tour start with some kind of breakaway in which a rider stands up on his pedals and sprints away from the competition. You can't do that on a recumbent.

Homeyba

Those are pretty cool. A friend of mine has one. They seem like they'd be kind of scary on the road though. They are so low to the ground that I'd be afraid of someone not seeing me and running me over. I've never seen my friend ride his on the open road without a follow vehicle.

Homeyba

Hmmm, since recumbents were invented prior to 1893 (Fautenil Vélociped) you must be talking about recumbents...and I thought you were a recumbent fan...

tcs

Nope. Didn't happen, although very few recumbents meet current USA CPSC standards.

fietsbob

I think it was a UCI issue.. they do to bike racing what restrictor plates do to NASCAR

BlazingPedals

I have not had a problem with being low; in fact, the NoCom is my favorite bike for touring. You wouldn't believe how much stuff I can cram into the hollow frame!

Yes, the 'outlaw' thing was the 1934 UCI decision that recumbents represented an unfair advantage and were banned from racing in any UCI-controlled events.

tcs

You know, not that many of the world's 1,000,000,000+ cyclists are affected by the UCI.

The 'everybody would be on a recumbent today if the UCI hadn't restricted them in the 1930s' factoid was part of a marketing pitch dreamed up by a couple of American recumbent manufacturers in the late 1970s. It played pretty well to the largely ignorant, enthusiastic U.S. ten-speed riders of the day. If one knows anything about bicycle history, technology, usage and the large percent of 'racing' that takes place throughout the world entirely outside of UCI control, the myth just doesn't hold up.