On Friday, April 14, 2017 at 3:07:49 PM UTC-4, Doug Cimperman wrote:
On 4/14/2017 12:44 PM, wrote:
Interestingly enough a normal recumbent three wheeler is hard to get on and off of perhaps the two wheelers are easier. But I can hardly picture how you would get on and off of those streamlined ones.

But I think that they are a good idea. Now only would they give you additional speed (a friend of mine who rides a standard two wheel recumbent says that it's reasonably easy for him to ride at 40) but also protection from the weather. Though the idea of windshield wipers for fully enclosed models appears to be somewhat daunting.

Another thing is that you could have the streamliner painted a bright color to make it a lot more visible than a non-covered version.

Velo windshields fog up on the inside surface, in the rain. The
windshields flip up and end up being just a visor in rainy weather.

The racing 2-wheel streamliners can't be used solo at all, since the
shells are totally enclosed and are taped shut after the rider is inside.

So far the /only/ 2-wheel streamliners I've heard of being sold for
street use is the Peregrin-on-Birk
http://speedbikes.ch/en/peregrin-on-a-birk/
it is built very nice but the typical delivered price is $30K - $35K.

If you get a long-wheelbase recumbent and add a front fairing and
bodysock, you can get most of the aero gains of a hard shell with very
little cost and weight added. They look dorky but a decent job can add
5-7 mph to your flat-ground cruising speeds, assuming you have the
gearing for that.

I'm surprised that noone makes a streamliner with a sliding rear part of the body. Slidethe body rerarward to get in and then pull it forward when ready to pedal away. It'd be much like the sliding canopy on a WW2 fighter plane Such as the P-40, the Hurrican or the Yak-3.

Cheers