are all recumbents like this?

[mopinko]

i am in the market for a good commuter bike for an old lady. well, not that old, but looking for a bike that i can ride as long as i am able. so, i borrowed a friends recumbent yesterday, and took it for a ride. i hated it. as nice as that cushy seat was, it was hard work pushing those little wheels, and it was so freaking unstable. i am unstable enough already.

it was one of these-


i assume there are better ones out there. opinions?

[Kolesar]

1. My impression is that Bike-E is a pretty substandard recumbent

"Or so I heard". Try something else. Look for reviews of bicycles here: www.roadbikereview.com

[happyslug]

2. What I have read is look at the tire size and the frame.

First the Frame can absorbs up to 70% of the Peddling power applied to the bike. The way around this is to make the frame as stiff as possible. This is the reason Cro-Moly Steel, Aluminum, Titanium and now Carbon Fiber frames are all the range (And in that order of Stiffness). Each of these material are stiffer than the High Tension Steel used on most cheap bikes.

The same with recumbents, the stiffer the frame the easier it is to peddle. The E-bike always looked to me to have cheap welds which indicate a less than stiff frame.

Another factor is the SIZE of the wheels. The bigger the wheels the easer it is to peddle uphill. Going uphill has been the biggest problem when it comes to most recumbents. The E-bike used very small wheels for it is easier to design a recumbent with small wheels than with large wheels.

A third factor is a lot of people compare $1000 upright bikes with $600 Recumbents (And this includes upgrades people do to their won bikes, i.e. start with a $600 bike and then upgrade the wheels and components over time). Recumbents being more custom make than uprights tend to cost more with the same level of components, i.e. you should be comparing $600 uprights with $1000 recumbents.

Other than these broad guidelines I have NOT seen anything that shows recumbents harder to peddle than Uprights. In fact controlling for these three factors recumbents tend to be more stable. My advice to you is to test out other recumbents before you buy one. I know it will be hard for most dealers do NOT stock them, but look around and some of the better stores do stock one or two as demos.

One last comment, you may also want to look at the recumbents tricycles. If you having problems with balance (Other than do to being on a bicycle) you might want ot opt for a recumbent tricycle, they tend to be more stable than two wheelers (And also MUCH more expensive).

[Fovea]

3. I have ridden bikeE's

and they are dogs.
But here is another problem, no SPD or ToeTins.
Recumbents do not like chugga chugga pedaling, but rather do best when you power through most of the circle in more of a Whhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrr. sort of fashion.

You cant do that without SPDs or equivalent. Also, as you have now discovered, while bents use all the leg muscles an upright does, *they use them differently-and different parts of them get used*.

Further, if you like off your seat and technical riding, you will hate a bent, because your arms are not helping you pedal, nor is gravity. It's all leg, baby! Of course you pay a heavy price for all that leg toning-- nothing hurts later.

Most bents have a sophisticated chain line, not the BikeE. It's shark like simplicity is not matched with shark like reliability. The seat angle is non adjustable in any meaningful way, and it is so upright that you get minimal wind advantage over a schwinn.

Now, if you want to rumble, I suggest you try an M5, Baron, Challenge Hurricane, or if the idea of buying American is a strong selling point, Burley is 100% as is Reynolds TBone and I think Calfee's carbon LWB... RANS, Bachetta, and most of the rest of the American bikes shop out their frames to taiwan.

You might also look at the Hostel Shoppe's Volae brand of high racers.

If you want a stable touring bike, look toward Long Wheelbase Bikes, if you like agility Short Wheelbase Bents are best, and for raw speed, the low and high racers seem to be the best.


Currently I am riding an Actionbent Jetstream 1 converted to above seat steering (the bike in the picture, but with differnt handlebars) I have tried several, and own a couple other bents. But I really like this particular bike's combination of speed and stability for a SWB. The price is good, though you will be swapping out the power train if you ride as many miles a year as I do.

[Fovea]

8. The AB was stolen

Replaced with a used Lightning Phantom. Lighter, better climber.

[Kolesar]

9. Sorry to hear about the theft!

I have had parts stripped, but that's about it. Glad the Phantom is working out.

[Fovea]

13. I really like this bike.

The company is quite small, but the bike is great.
So far I have had luck with the new Giant U lock.

I am hauling a OneStep trailer and my best climb so far was up to the Missouri State Capitol building from Missouri Blvd in Jefferson City with 100 lbs of printed material and refrigerator magnets for the Missouri Bicycle Federation's legislature bike day lobbying.

It was snowing lightly when we left the B&B we were staying in. I think the climb amounted to ~50 feet per block for 2 blocks. I was wearing three layers including a hoodie that made my mirror far less useful.

I think the lightning riding position is less comfortable than say the burley, but the seat is more comfy, and it is stiff under power.

[Kolesar]

14. record-breaking design geometry and seat of the legendary P-38

& the lovely Kristen!
Do you ever wish you had a "wind fairing"?

www.lightningbikes.com

[Fovea]

15. I have an old mueller windwrap.

But it is really useful on the Burley Jett Creek.

Mine is black, BTW. But it looks just like the bike in the photo, and it hauls ass.
It took about a month to get used to the more closed posture than my Actionbent JetStream (rebuilt from frame up) that was stolen. I miss the rigidity of the euro seat a bit, but this bike performs incredibly well.

I have a spare Truvativ crankset that I may replace the shimano 105 with on mine, and I already swapped out the brakes for Avid Single digits (good brakes are important in my hood). I am going to be tightening the seat laces a bit soon. I appear to be putting a lot more miles on it than the first owner did. (Insulin controls my Sgl poorly by itself, add 8 miles riding up and down the hills of Kansas City, whole different ballgame)

In fact, the only bent I have ridden that climbed as well was an EZSport Aluminum LWB I built up from a frameset with Ultegra gruppo. Also Stolen. Apparently the demand for stolen bents is really high here in the midwest.

I know that Sun does not have a rep for building fast bikes, but it was really light, and again, had a fairly upright, closed position. I used the Mueller on it for a while. I don;t mind trading a bit of aero for wattage, though, because aero is not a critical factor when you are winching a trailer full of groceries up a 17% grade the last block home from the city market. Also, the easy sport looked like a chopper, which I guess made it more desirable to thieves.

My hood is called Strawberry Hill, and it should really be called Strawberry Bluffs.
I climb ~250 feet in four blocks. Not bad for an insulin dependent Type II diabetic who's had 2 heart attacks and a stroke.

BTW--

Kristen proves that this is one elegant bike.
If it wasn't, few would notice there even was a bicycle in frame.

[goddess40]

4. I Have a three wheel recumbent and I love it

I have a WizWheel and no it isn't one of the grandpa bikes with the big basket on the front. I have a bad back and the sideways motion of riding a regular bike irritated my back. Plus my son has asperger's and just couldn't put the balancing, speed and pedaling together to operate a two wheel bike. When I first said I was getting a three wheel bike everyone assumed the worst and when the kids saw what I had they thought they were the coolest things on wheels - the envy of the neighborhood. We now own two.

[goddess40]

5. link to picture of a three wheel recumbent

http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Bike=1118856787

why a link instead of a picture - because I don't have a clue how to put a picture in this box.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. Here's a human-electric hybrid recumbent trike

The Aerorider. It's made in The Netherlands, I believe. It's a hybrid human-powered/electric-assisted tricycle, with a light-weight shell made of plastic composite and lexan. Supposedly, you can cruise at 25 mph and barely work up a sweat because the electric motor assists in the pedaling. It's supposedly far more efficient than a normal bicycle because of the aerodynamic design (much less wind resistance). If the battery runs low, you just pull over and pedal for awhile in a stationary mode to charge it back up. If we had major bike paths in urban centers sort of like bicycle freeways, I would seriously think about commuting in something like this. You don't spend a dime in gas, you can bicycle in any kind of weather, and you don't need auto insurance. And you don't need to go to the gym. I think they go for about 7,000 Euros which is a bit pricey, but with no gas, maintenance, or insurance costs, it might pay for itself over time.



Here's another manufacturer, with a similar design, the go-one3, sold in the U.S.:

[Fovea]

17. I had a wizwheels 3.2

for a while after my stroke.
Great trike. I rode mine about 150 miles down the Katy trail from Hermann to Rocheport. That was with a fairing and trailer.

I found it the perfect vehicle to get me back out on the road again. It got my balance back, to a great extent. I got enough back to ride a two wheel bent, and I suspect at some point I will be back on three wheels.

I was fortunate enough to have some email correspondence with Sheldon Brown about his experiences with them, and he certainly loved his when he could no longer cycle.

[Rob H.]

6. I have a BikeE RX

It's fully suspended and has an adjustable seat angle, unlike the original BikeEs. The downside is that it's pretty heavy--I haven't ridden it in quite awhile. If I were to buy a 'bent now it'd probably be something like the Rans V2 Formula 26. Still not the lightest bike in the world, but from what I've read it's comfortable and pretty easy to go fast on.

[AndyTiedye]

7. Some Recumbents are Like This

[Fovea]

16. I really want to test ride one of those stilettos

They look like a bad ass ride.

[Fovea]

20. Do you find that water bouton postion problematic

I had a similarly mounted one on the lightning and it was causing small bruises above my knees too frequently.

Not having the Easy Racers rake might make a difference there.

[peacebird]

10. The bent trike is a good option. My prob with bents is they are so low to the ground that

even with a flag I felt much less visible to traffic. (but then I ride on the road and lived in Northern Virginia when I rode the bent)

[Az_lefty]

11. Here's a real nice recumbent...Longbikes Slipstream

[Fovea]

18. I have ridden one.

It seems to climb pretty well at lower speed for an LWB.

[midnight armadillo]

19. I know someone with one of these

http://www.easyracers.com/06-tour_easy.htm



He likes it very much.