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Old July 25th 05, 03:26 PM
Dex
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On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 18:11:11 -0400, "Bruce Davis"
wrote:

I just discovered this Newsgroup, and my newsreader only downloads the July
posts, so I apologize if this has already been a topic of discussion in the
recent past.

My question relates to whether you think that recumbents are any more prone
to spills than a regular bike is. Here's the genesis of my question:

I bought an EZ Racer Tour Easy in September 2004. I am 44 years old, and
have been a recreational cyclist for a number of years. I was never one of
those super-serious bikers in the multicolored spandex shirts and
super-speedy racing bikes. I simply rode a Trek hybrid on the occasional
weekend on bike paths. But I found cycling on a regular bike to be painful
after about ten miles -- my back and butt would be sore, and my weiner would
be numb after a ride. So when I first found out about recumbents, they
sounded like they'd be just what the doctor ordered.

I bought my EZ Racer last September, and for my inaugural ride I took it out
on a paved trail in local state park. Well, within five minutes of my
first-ever ride, I broke my ankle. I was coming down a slight slope, perhaps
going a little too fast for a novice, and came upon some wet leaves on the
trail. The bike started sliding, I braked, and it slid out from under me.
When I put my left foot down to the ground, I rolled over and onto the
ground. I ended up with my left foot pointing 90 degrees to the right. I lay
on the trail for about fifteen minutes before some hikers discovered me, and
went and found a park ranger, who called an ambulance. I was hauled off to
the hospital. I had to have my ankle sliced open like a fish's belly, and a
plate was screwed into my badly broken bones with about nine screws. I spent
the next six months recovering -- two months in a cast, a month with a
removable walking-cast, two months in physical therapy, etc.

Well, finally this spring I felt that my ankle was recovered enough to give
it another shot. I've taken my EZ Racer out about four times in the past few
months, and must say that I really enjoy it. But at the same time, I find it
somewhat unstable. I thought maybe it would take time to get the hang of it,
and then I'd be tooling around with ease. But I find that even after a
number of rides of long length, the bike seems a bit wobbly at times and
difficult to control. For example, if I take one hand off the handlebars to
take a sip of water, it seems like I am risking disaster. The bike is only
stable with two hands firmly gripping the handlebars. Contrast this with a
standard bike, on which it is fairly easy to ride with no hands, let alone
one hand (on the recumbent, the old saying "Look Ma, no teeth!" really seems
to apply.). And when someone passes me from behind, and I want to give them
ample room to get by, I find it somewhat difficult to keep the bike in a
perfectly straight line, and worry that I'll suddenly veer to the left and
crash into the passer.

And now, just yesterday, I had another spill. I was on the Schuylkill Trail,
which is a paved path between Valley Forge and Philadelphia. I was having a
great ride, averaging about 16 MPH, and generally enjoying life. The paved
portion of the trail is about 13 miles from Valley Forge to where it hits
Manayunk (a Philadelphia neighborhood famous for the "Manayunk Wall" in the
annual USPro bike race). When the trail hits Manayunk, there is an unpaved
portion of about a half-mile between the end of the trail and the streets of
Manayunk. I had ridden this unpaved area numerous times on my Trek hybrid in
years past, so I thought I'd give it a go with my 'bent. I thought I might
stop at a Manayunk brew-pub for a pint before heading back to Valley Forge
(I don't advocate drinking and riding, but I figured a single pint wouldn't
whack me out.) Anyway, I was doing well on the packed dirt, when suddenly in
front of me was a very sandy portion of trail, maybe three feet long. I
figured if I just kept my front wheel straight, I'd plow right through the
sandy soil, and continue on my way. But as soon as my front wheel hit the
sandy area, the wheel suddently slid, and I went down hard on my right leg.
I jumped up quickly to make sure I hadn't broken anything, and luckily I had
not. But I did have a large red scrape all the way from my knee to my ankle.
Despite a moderate amount of pain, I was very relieved that there were no
serious injuries, and that I wouldn't be spending the next three months on
crutches. I decided to forego the brew-pub, and headed back to Valley Forge.
All-in-all, I had had a great day, and very much enjoyed the 26-mile ride.
But my spill at the halfway mark got me worried again about whether there is
something inherently dangerous about this bike.

So my questions a
1. Are recumbents generally less stable than regular bikes (more prone to
crashes), or does it just take more experience to get the "hang of it"?
2. Are there precautions that must be taken with recumbents so that a.) one
does not take a spill; and b.) if one does take a spill, is there a certain
way to fall to lessen the chance of serious injury?

The bottom line is that I love my recumbent, have no buyer's remorse, and
will continue to ride it; but I'm just curious about whether anyone out
there has any suggestions or comments that will put my mind at ease, so that
I can just enjoy my rides without constantly worrying that I'm going to end
up in the hospital again.

(By the way, I hope Ed Dolan the Great posts a reply, as in my short visit
to this newsgroup, I have found his posts to be hilarious and his writing
style to be top-notch. In the words of that old Lowenbrau commercial,
"Dolan, you're a genius!")

--Bruce Davis

I ride a SWB Vision with USS, and have crashed a couple times. Both
times it was because my foot came off the pedal and threw my balace
way off. I am an older (69) rider and enjoy the Vision very much. My
wife and I also have a Rans Screamer tandem that we like too. I think
the problem with stability is related to the fact that weight shifts
on a recumbent just don't give the same results as on an upright bike
and you have to get used to the fact that steering has more effect on
turning and stability than weight shifts.
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