Do you know anything about recumbent bicycles?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My sister recently purchased a recumbent bicycle, and her enjoyment of it has piqued my interest. I did a little research on the web, and as with most niche interests, most of the information about the subject originated from enthusiasts and was glowingly positive.

I’m seriously considering buying one, but still have reservations. I’ll test ride one of course, but don’t think even an hour long test ride is enough to notice all the flaws. So instead I’m conducting this highly scientific poll. Please relate any anecdotes you have regarding recumbent bicycles. Anecdotes with negative information will score you double points. Anecdotes related to how comfortable a recumbent is in hot weather (I heard the seat gets sticky), how well it handles bumps, and the ability to watch for traffic behind you will score you triple points.

Thanks.

2

Recumbants are far faster along the flat and downhill but hopeless uphill.If you are located somewhere fairly flat then they are a lot of fun.

They tend to ride using higher gears which tires a rider out faster than conventional machines, and varying your position whilst riding is not possible on many of them, which can also lead to early fatigue and discomfort.

Your biggest worry though is being seen, some riders fit flexible poles carrying bright dayglo pennants but even pedestians crossing the road will fail to see you.

It is hard to generalise because there are many differant versions, but most have long wheelbases which means they are great for long fast sweeeping bends but not so good when the road gets very twisty.

In some ways they behave in a similar fashion to tandems.

3

Casdave has already given some good info, so i’ll try not to be repetitive.

Back when i was living in Florida, my bike of choice was a BikeE (due to the hills and traffic, it’s not the most practical thing to have here in San Francisco). They’re definitely slower going uphill, you but tend to make up for it on the downhill. I did some touring on it through central Vermont – pretty hilly – towing a trailer, and didn’t have much trouble at all. Coming down one particularly long descent, i looked down at my computer and it read 57 mph!

I know all about riding one in the heat, having gone through a couple of Florida summers on the thing. It really wasn’t bad at all. Sure, my back got sweaty, but no more than the rest of me. It wasn’t as bad as riding with a backpack on.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is why recumbents, as a whole, are so much faster than upright bikes. In addition to the aerodynamic advantage, you’re using your leg muscles more efficiently and you’ve got the back of the seat to push off against. Furthermore, the frame design of many recumbents (the BikeE’s single beam frame is a prime example) allow them to be much more rigid than a standard bike, so they deliver a lot more power.

Unless you live somewhere where biking is very common, you will get a lot of looks. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you make of it, and where you happen to be at the time (ie, if you’re riding through a not-so-nice part of town and some big guy starts chasing you demanding you let him ride it… but chances are you’d avoid such areas anyway ;)).

It takes a little getting used to, but after a little while, you’ll be able to ride a lot longer on a recumbent than on an upright bike. You won’t suffer from the numb crotch syndrome, your back won’t ache, etc. Also, a recumbent works your abs a lot more than an upright bike: ride one every day and you’ll have no trouble with situps!

4

I test rode a couple recumbents last year, and nearly bought one, but two things put me off it, hills and visibility. On the test ride I had to use the granny gear to get up a hill that I would have climbed in the middle ring on a mountain bike. The visibility problem was that I couldn’t see over stuff. I was going to pull out of a side road onto a bigger road. There was a car parked on the road so I had to stop, stand up to look for traffic, then sit back down and take off. When I’m on a standard bike, my head is at the same height as when I’m standing, so I can see over cars and other things. Oh, one more thing, you can’t hop up a curb on a recumbent.

5

There’s a fellow who rides one through Cambridge – I think he’s an MIT professor. He’s been doing it for at least eight years, and no ill effects. My biggest reservation about his recumbent bike is that he’s a LOT lower than I am on my traditional 10-speed, and I’m sure he can’t see as well. To help him BE seen (Massachusetts drivers are bad enough when they can see you – your life is problematical if they have no idea you’re there) he has a fluorescent orange flag on a flexible pole up where you can’t miss it.

6

I know that stationaries are different than mobile bikes, but when i was using the regular stationary, and then switched to the recumbent stationary, i noticed a difference in how my legs felt. They actually started to burn when I went back to the recumbent.