What Is A Recumbent Bicycle?

What is a recumbent bicycle?
A bicycle where you sit back in a full seat with your legs in a
horizontal position. This puts the body in a position where there is
less wind drag from the legs, but still maintains the optimal angle
between back and legs as on a conventional bicycle, provides a more
comfortable riding position with no weight on the wrists, and provides
a natural view looking forward.
If you study where the energy goes in riding a bicycle you will find
out that at speeds over 25 km/hour, 90% of your energy is used to
overcome wind resistance.

(I found the above on www, it seems to make it clear for those who
don't know.)

wrote in message
...
What is a recumbent bicycle?
A bicycle where you sit back in a full seat with your legs in a
horizontal position. This puts the body in a position where there is
less wind drag from the legs, but still maintains the optimal angle
between back and legs as on a conventional bicycle, provides a more
comfortable riding position with no weight on the wrists, and provides
a natural view looking forward.
If you study where the energy goes in riding a bicycle you will find
out that at speeds over 25 km/hour, 90% of your energy is used to
overcome wind resistance.

(I found the above on www, it seems to make it clear for those who
don't know.)

I seriously doubt anyone gets a recumbent because they have a slight
aerodynamic advantage over uprights. They get them for just one reason -
comfort. No one who is perfectly comfortable on an upright will ever get a
recumbent. It will not even occur to them.

However, many cyclists after they get a recumbent decide they also want to
be fast, and so the quest begins for a faster and faster recumbent. It is
how many of us end up with more than one recumbent.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

On Jul 20, 6:06 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
wrote in message

...

What is a recumbent bicycle?
A bicycle where you sit back in a full seat with your legs in a
horizontal position. This puts the body in a position where there is
less wind drag from the legs, but still maintains the optimal angle
between back and legs as on a conventional bicycle, provides a more
comfortable riding position with no weight on the wrists, and provides
a natural view looking forward.
If you study where the energy goes in riding a bicycle you will find
out that at speeds over 25 km/hour, 90% of your energy is used to
overcome wind resistance.

(I found the above on www, it seems to make it clear for those who
don't know.)

I seriously doubt anyone gets a recumbent because they have a slight
aerodynamic advantage over uprights. They get them for just one reason -
comfort. No one who is perfectly comfortable on an upright will ever get a
recumbent. It will not even occur to them.

However, many cyclists after they get a recumbent decide they also want to
be fast, and so the quest begins for a faster and faster recumbent. It is
how many of us end up with more than one recumbent.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

So you could save the rest of us a lot of time by suggesting the best
and fastest highway bicycle ('bent) right here in this group. eh?

wrote:

So you could save the rest of us a lot of time by suggesting the best
and fastest highway bicycle ('bent) right here in this group. eh?

No, not really.

While the Battle Mountain strip /is/ a regular road it's an exception
rather than the rule, and while a Varna Diablo is probably best /for
going fast on that particular road/ or the few others like it, that
doesn't make it "the best" in a wider sense. If, for example, you want
a fast, sporty tourer the Diablo's practically zero rating for comfort
and lack of luggage porting ability much beyond a spare hankie would
tell against it. If you want something that's highly manoeuvrable for
twists and turns then again, it's just not built for that, and there are
highways that have lots of twists and turns.

"Best" depends on how you define "best". It's actually very hard to do
outsdie of /very/ narrow definitions, like "what bike can cover this
200m stretch of flat, straight road quickest with a flying start". That
sort of thing means little to the great majority of cyclists. I
typically use 3 bikes: which is best? Well, it depends what I'm doing,
and depending on what I'm doing I'll select a different value of "best".

Pete.

p.s., your term "highway" might make sense to you, but I suspect not
necessarily to these guys... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSW6_J_7-KE
--
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/

wrote in message
...
On Jul 20, 6:06 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
wrote in message

...

What is a recumbent bicycle?
A bicycle where you sit back in a full seat with your legs in a
horizontal position. This puts the body in a position where there is
less wind drag from the legs, but still maintains the optimal angle
between back and legs as on a conventional bicycle, provides a more
comfortable riding position with no weight on the wrists, and provides
a natural view looking forward.
If you study where the energy goes in riding a bicycle you will find
out that at speeds over 25 km/hour, 90% of your energy is used to
overcome wind resistance.

(I found the above on www, it seems to make it clear for those who
don't know.)

I seriously doubt anyone gets a recumbent because they have a slight
aerodynamic advantage over uprights. They get them for just one reason -
comfort. No one who is perfectly comfortable on an upright will ever get
a
recumbent. It will not even occur to them.

However, many cyclists after they get a recumbent decide they also want
to
be fast, and so the quest begins for a faster and faster recumbent. It is
how many of us end up with more than one recumbent.

So you could save the rest of us a lot of time by suggesting the best
and fastest highway bicycle ('bent) right here in this group. eh?

Unfortunately as I acquired faster and faster recumbents, I also got older
and older and therefore slower and slower. I suggest you go for comfort and
forget about speed on a recumbent. Serious uphill grades will utterly defeat
you on any recumbent, so why bother.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Edward Dolan wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Jul 20, 6:06 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
wrote in message

...

What is a recumbent bicycle?
A bicycle where you sit back in a full seat with your legs in a
horizontal position. This puts the body in a position where there is
less wind drag from the legs, but still maintains the optimal angle
between back and legs as on a conventional bicycle, provides a more
comfortable riding position with no weight on the wrists, and provides
a natural view looking forward.
If you study where the energy goes in riding a bicycle you will find
out that at speeds over 25 km/hour, 90% of your energy is used to
overcome wind resistance.
(I found the above on www, it seems to make it clear for those who
don't know.)
I seriously doubt anyone gets a recumbent because they have a slight
aerodynamic advantage over uprights. They get them for just one reason -
comfort. No one who is perfectly comfortable on an upright will ever get
a
recumbent. It will not even occur to them.

However, many cyclists after they get a recumbent decide they also want
to
be fast, and so the quest begins for a faster and faster recumbent. It is
how many of us end up with more than one recumbent.
So you could save the rest of us a lot of time by suggesting the best
and fastest highway bicycle ('bent) right here in this group. eh?

Unfortunately as I acquired faster and faster recumbents, I also got older
and older and therefore slower and slower. I suggest you go for comfort and
forget about speed on a recumbent. Serious uphill grades will utterly defeat
you on any recumbent, so why bother.

Serious uphill grades will kill your average speed on any bike, so why bother.

"Jon Bendtsen" wrote in message
...
Edward Dolan wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Jul 20, 6:06 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
wrote in message

...

What is a recumbent bicycle?
A bicycle where you sit back in a full seat with your legs in a
horizontal position. This puts the body in a position where there is
less wind drag from the legs, but still maintains the optimal angle
between back and legs as on a conventional bicycle, provides a more
comfortable riding position with no weight on the wrists, and provides
a natural view looking forward.
If you study where the energy goes in riding a bicycle you will find
out that at speeds over 25 km/hour, 90% of your energy is used to
overcome wind resistance.
(I found the above on www, it seems to make it clear for those who
don't know.)
I seriously doubt anyone gets a recumbent because they have a slight
aerodynamic advantage over uprights. They get them for just one
reason -
comfort. No one who is perfectly comfortable on an upright will ever
get a
recumbent. It will not even occur to them.

However, many cyclists after they get a recumbent decide they also want
to
be fast, and so the quest begins for a faster and faster recumbent. It
is
how many of us end up with more than one recumbent.
So you could save the rest of us a lot of time by suggesting the best
and fastest highway bicycle ('bent) right here in this group. eh?

Unfortunately as I acquired faster and faster recumbents, I also got
older and older and therefore slower and slower. I suggest you go for
comfort and forget about speed on a recumbent. Serious uphill grades will
utterly defeat you on any recumbent, so why bother.

Serious uphill grades will kill your average speed on any bike, so why
bother.

Recumbent cyclists who get into speed want to be able to keep up with
upright cyclists. And they can almost do this if it weren't for the hills.
You cannot make up going down a hill what you lose going up a hill. And so
recumbent cyclists are always being dropped by upright cyclists because of
this fact of life.

I have seen upright cyclists take hills like they are not even there. That
is never true for recumbents. It will feel like you have an anchor attached
to your bike every time you approach a slight upgrade. That is why recumbent
are for comfort, not speed.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Jon Bendtsen wrote:
Edward Dolan wrote:

Unfortunately as I acquired faster and faster recumbents, I also got
older and older and therefore slower and slower. I suggest you go for
comfort and forget about speed on a recumbent. Serious uphill grades
will utterly defeat you on any recumbent, so why bother.

Serious uphill grades will kill your average speed on any bike, so why
bother.

I've yet to be defeated by a hill's gradient killing available power
completely, I have failed on a couple off-road where I ran out of traction.

The End to End record (cycling from Land's End in Cornwall to John
o'Groats in Scotland, the longest direct trip there is in the UK) is
held on a faired recumbent trike. There's no shortage of "serious
uphill grades" on the route so the position that recumbents are killed
by hills is evidently wrong. http://www.windcheetah.co.uk/record.htm

In 2003 there was a recumbent class in the Classique_Genevoise road
race. For those unfamiliar, the Geneva area is not the flattest you'll
find on the planet... the race report at
http://www.m5-ligfietsen.nl/site/EN/...que_Genevoise/
again suggests recumbents can do hills and still keep up.

Still, why worry about mere evidence when one's mind is made up?

But despite the above Ed does actually have a good point about speed not
being the primary driver to get folk onto 'bents. I initially got on
for curiosity, I've stayed because of comfort.

People who love to go fast often want to race, and if you want to do
that against good racers the opportunities on recumbents are there but
are *very* limited compared to racing UCI compliant upright racers. The
best way to get fast isn't buy a recumbent, it's go out with the local
chain gang. Not so clever taking a bike for that that is slower in some
places, faster than others, and that nobody can draft properly.

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/

Highway bicycle does mean something to me: like:
http://www.recumbentmania.com/images...ate/dragon.jpg

wrote:
Highway bicycle does mean something to me: like:
http://www.recumbentmania.com/images...ate/dragon.jpg

That looks like a "Z-frame" lowracer to me. The large, custom single
chainring indicates that the bike is intended mostly for racing.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken /
She shipped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”