On 19/05/11 16:40, Duane Hebert wrote:

Then why are they so rare? We actually have people here commuting on
bikes and we rarely see bents...

All sorts of reasons.

But start off with cost. They have big tickets. As a cyclist with a
pocketful of cash to spend, do you spend a lot on an incremental
improvement you /know/ will improve matters (basically, your existing
mount but better/lighter) or do you spend quite a bit more than that on
something where you have no experience of at all? Most will do the
former, and quite reasonably so.

Most 'bent riders (certainly this one) seem to say that it's very
important to try before you buy, because the difference between two
notional 'bents is usually much greater than two notional uprights. So
are you going to drop mucho $$$s on something folk say you must try,
that you typically can't try (because they're hard to come by to test
ride)? I'm an advocate, and I'd say don't do that...

Part of the problem is they are misunderstood in terms of function.
Asked to list bike categories, John Q. Cyclist might come up with
racers, tourers, commuters, folders and recumbents. All those are
/functional/ except the last, while in truth recumbents can (and IMHO
should) themselves be subdivided by function just like uprights. Mine
isn't first and foremost "a recumbent" but rather it's "a tourer". I
use it because it does touring better (for what I want) better than any
upright I could have had for the same money. But I think that most
people wanting a tourer won't look at recumbents, they'll look at
"tourers", and so on. And that leaves 'bents perceived as a
function-free curiosity, rather than as bikes designed for particular
functions that happen to have different seating arrangements.

So a lot of it is down to chicken/egg. You'll have lots of 'bents after
you've got lots of 'bents, as you need lots for a conservative group of
punters to see they're viable and for the prices to come down so they
can afford them. In other words, I can't see them really taking off in
the foreseeable market conditions.

(I don't commute on a 'bent, btw. Round here I use either a Brompton or
Moulton TSR because they suit my particular journeys and needs best, but
I can think of notional commute journeys where I'd be very happy on a
'bent).

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/