09-30-2003, 07:45 PM
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#28 (permalink)
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| | Re: Unhappy bentriders ?
Any claims that recumbents are *always* faster than upright bikes is
BS.
Ok, I will assume that you've never actually been able to compare a
lowracer to an upright racing bike. Even with no tailfairing, the
whole pack of 'A' riders on our wednesday night fast ride are dropped
by 1 single Optima Baron. On an upright bike I can barely hang with
the fast guys for 6 miles. On the baron I smoke them all by 6 to 8
minutes on a 32 mile ride. You must mean that bents aren't fast on
mountain bike trails. If you mean a wedgie can outclimb me on a 1
mile hill or grade.........yeah probably........but what difference
does it make when I get to the hill and go over the hill before they
even get to the hill? Just because you haven't seen a fast recumbent
before doesn't mean that they aren't out there. When is the last
time you did a solo 4 hour 13 min century on an upright? I did. Did
you?
George <nospam@no.no> wrote in message news:<Xns940179E877C99fubar123@66.134.198.18>...
> "jacques" <jamnospam@bluewin.ch> wrote in
> news an.2003.09.25.17.57.53.690563@bluewin.ch:
> > Is there somebody here who has owned a recumbent, not liked it, and
> > stopped using it ? If so, why ?
>
> I have a recumbent that I use only occassionally. I use my upright road
> bike most of the time. Some reasons, in no particular order, why I don't
> like the recumbent:
>
> 1. Low seat position makes you less visible in heavy traffic
> 2. You can't turn around to look at traffic behind you. Most recumbent
> riders rely heavily on mirrors (often multiple mirrors), but looking back
> on an upright bike gives you a much better view. This is a big problem
> when you're trying to merge/turn left through multiple lanes of high speed
> traffic.
> 3. Acceleration is poor. This can be a big problem when you're trying to
> cross a busy street at a 2-way stop (you have a stop sign and cross traffic
> doesn't). This is especially a problem on uphills.
> 4. The longer wheelbase makes recumbents difficult to maneuver through the
> various types of barriers on bike paths. I often have to pick the bike up
> and carry it over the barriers.
> 5. Fixed seating position and long wheelbase make recumbents more
> difficult to maneuver in traffic. You can't use "body english" to make
> quick turns.
> 6. The acceleration profile of a recumbent is different from upright
> bikes. On group rides, I always get dropped at stoplights and hills and
> have to work hard to catch up. You can't really draft an upright bike
> either.
> 7. Any claims that recumbents are *always* faster than upright bikes is
> BS. Recumbents are faster when fully faired, but fully faired upright
> bikes are really fast, too. Unfaired recumbents are no faster than
> unfaired upright bikes at recreational speeds. You may gain an aero
> advantage at 30mph, but I don't hit that very often.
>
> Recumbents are great if you're going on long rides on low traffic rural
> roads. The big seat is really comfortable on century rides. If you ride
> in a big city or in the suburbs during rush hour, recumbents can be pretty
> exciting.
>
> That's just my personal experience. I'm sure others have different
> experiences.
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