Recumbents: extreme, unsuitable for purpose, dangerous, dull,overpriced

"Still Just Me" wrote in message
...

So how come the entire thing is so low that you are stressed out from
fear of being splatted not by a bus but by a common low hatchback
because the driver didn't see you?

Hatchbacks are rather uncommon these days. At least in civilized
countries.

Ahem. They're still very common in civilised lands - ones with still
profitable car makers...

("We'll be the laughing stock of the civilised world - and America" - goon
show, probably 1953)

(bike content - I won't buy a saloon/sedan because I want to be able to
carry bikes in the car)

On May 31, 6:55*pm, Chalo wrote:
Andre Jute wrote:

The only technically interesting trikes I could find were the
Tripod from The Netherlands (surprise!) and the Tripendo from Germany
(surprise! surprise!), both tilting trikes, both technically
interesting on several levels, both too low for daily convenience.
Tripod:
*http://www.tripod-bikes.com/
Tripendo:
*http://www.tripendo.com/DEFAULT.htm

You might be intrigued by the German Culty trike. *It rides quite high
and it tilts. *Unfortunately for most of us, it is "blessed" with rear
steering.

http://www.culty.de/

Chalo


I've tried one of those, and they are, umm, interesting. A fellow
here in town uses his for winter commuting, and the first time I tried
it about six years ago I could only ride it in a straight line. But
since then I've put many kiliometres on my big cargo trike with
tilting front end, and somehow the Culty is now easier for me to
ride.

That said, I'm not buying one anytime soon. Though I still need to
find a replacement for my Linear LWB, because when I want to go for a
long ride on two wheels (fast or slow) I find bents to be more
enjoyable.

Mark

Andre Jute wrote:
The point of a recumbent is a comfortable seat and saving your back,
right?

The point of a recumbent tricycle even more so, hmm? More comfort,
less stress, not so?

A recumbent trike would be the ideal geribike, one would think.

So how come the things are so low you have to contort yourself and
then drop 18 inches -- boing, boing -- to fall into the seat with
your bum four inches from the road?

So how come the entire thing is so low that you are stressed out from
fear of being splatted not by a bus but by a common low hatchback
because the driver didn't see you?

I've been looking into recumbents for a spot of speeding, and in
particular into trikes because I already have bikes that can go fast
downhill. Whatever else I buy or build must be different in some
significant way, not just more of the same. (I have several upright
bikes that are pretty near to perfect, for instance my Utopia Kranich
lacking only an automatic Rohloff hub gearbox to be a perfect bike.)

In the usual curse of bicycling, a bunch of deranged designers took a
good idea -- a bike that doesn't kill your back -- to ridiculous
lengths, all of course in the name of sport. Ha-ha.

Customers are offered virtually nothing but extremes, and at
outrageous prices.

I looked only at tricycles with two front wheels. The socalled deltas
with one front and two rear wheels are inherently unstable, flipovers
waiting to happen.

After spending an entire night on the net I found:

1. Catbike, a major offender of the splatable lower-is-better
paradigm, launching their Villager as a higher-seated, lower-priced
bent trike. Thoughtless fitting out, needs the boom replaced even to
swap out the useless single chainring for a triple, the old American
curse of extra charges for necessary equipment. Cat's idea of a
"higher" seat is still too low by a mile for their target market.

2. The *only* trike I found that doesn't suffer this stupid "sporting
image" deficit of a too-low seat is the Anthrotech from Germany,
intended for touring, commuting, even shopping. (Nobody is surprised
by now that the only good bikes I can find are German or Dutch --
sometimes it looks like the last American bike designer to have his
brain in gear was Keith Bontrager.)
Anthrotech:
http://anthrotech.de/index.html

3. The technology is probably mature, and the form of the tadpole
recumbent trike has settled into two ali beams at right angles for
chassis and front frame, with a swing arm for the rear suspension. A
dreadful dullness is creeping over the format, with only esoteric
details distinguishing the different brands, and then only to the
obsessed. The wheels are universally small and the ride no doubt
nasty.

4. The only technically interesting trikes I could find were the
Tripod from The Netherlands (surprise!) and the Tripendo from Germany
(surprise! surprise!), both tilting trikes, both technically
interesting on several levels, both too low for daily convenience.
Tripod:
http://www.tripod-bikes.com/
Tripendo:
http://www.tripendo.com/DEFAULT.htm

So much for the trikes market survey. In summary, there appear to be
only one genuine all-round multifunction bike by Anthrotech, and two
interesting tilting bikes by Tripod and Tripendo. The rest is a
heaving mass of undistinguished sameness.

Here you go:
http://www.tecnoartsurrey.com/sport.html

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Andrew Muzi wrote:
Andre Jute wrote:
[...]
So much for the trikes market survey. In summary, there appear to be
only one genuine all-round multifunction bike by Anthrotech, and two
interesting tilting bikes by Tripod and Tripendo. The rest is a
heaving mass of undistinguished sameness.

Here you go:
http://www.tecnoartsurrey.com/sport.html


How will it do being towed at 100+ kph by a lorry?

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.

On 31 May, 23:41, Andre Jute wrote:
The point of a recumbent is a comfortable seat and saving your back,
right?

The point of a recumbent tricycle even more so, hmm? More comfort,
less stress, not so?

A recumbent trike would be the ideal geribike, one would think.

So how come the things are so low you have to contort yourself and
then drop 18 inches -- boing, boing -- *to fall into the seat with
your bum four inches from the road?

So how come the entire thing is so low that you are stressed out from
fear of being splatted not by a bus but by a common low hatchback
because the driver didn't see you?

I've been looking into recumbents for a spot of speeding, and in
particular into trikes because I already have bikes that can go fast
downhill. Whatever else I buy or build must be different in some
significant way, not just more of the same. (I have several upright
bikes that are pretty near to perfect, for instance my Utopia Kranich
lacking only an automatic Rohloff hub gearbox to be a perfect bike.)

In the usual curse of bicycling, a bunch of deranged designers took a
good idea -- a bike that doesn't kill your back -- to ridiculous
lengths, all of course in the name of sport. Ha-ha.

Customers are offered virtually nothing but extremes, and at
outrageous prices.

I looked only at tricycles with two front wheels. The socalled deltas
with one front and two rear wheels are inherently unstable, flipovers
waiting to happen.

After spending an entire night on the net I found:

1. Catbike, a major offender of the splatable lower-is-better
paradigm, launching their Villager as a higher-seated, lower-priced
bent trike. Thoughtless fitting out, needs the boom replaced even to
swap out the useless single chainring for a triple, the old American
curse of extra charges for necessary equipment. Cat's idea of a
"higher" seat is still too low by a mile for their target market.

2. The *only* trike I found that doesn't suffer this stupid "sporting
image" deficit of a too-low seat is the Anthrotech from Germany,
intended for touring, commuting, even shopping. (Nobody is surprised
by now that the only good bikes I can find are German or Dutch --
sometimes it looks like the last American bike designer to have his
brain in gear was Keith Bontrager.)
Anthrotech:
*http://anthrotech.de/index.html

3. The technology is probably mature, and the form of the tadpole
recumbent trike has settled into two ali beams at right angles for
chassis and front frame, with a swing arm for the rear suspension. A
dreadful dullness is creeping over the format, with only esoteric
details distinguishing the different brands, and then only to the
obsessed. The wheels are universally small and the ride no doubt
nasty.

4. The only technically interesting trikes I could find were the
Tripod from The Netherlands (surprise!) and the Tripendo from Germany
(surprise! surprise!), both tilting trikes, both technically
interesting on several levels, both too low for daily convenience.
Tripod:
*http://www.tripod-bikes.com/
Tripendo:
*http://www.tripendo.com/DEFAULT.htm

So much for the trikes market survey. In summary, there appear to be
only one genuine all-round multifunction bike by Anthrotech, and two
interesting tilting bikes by Tripod and Tripendo. The rest is a
heaving mass of undistinguished sameness.


Buy a derestricted moped with a freerunning clutch.

"Tom Sherman °_°" wrote in message
...
Chalo wrote:
Clive George wrote:
Andre Jute wrote:
The wheels are universally small and the ride no doubt nasty.
That'll be experience speaking, will it? When you've actually tried the
ride
on one, come back and tell us.

I've ridden 'bent bikes with 20"/27" and 16"/20" wheels. The big one
had a long floppy frame and gave a shaky but smooth ride. The small
one gave a treacherous and crappy ride that didn't get better despite
my days spent trying to make the best of it.

There is no stock recumbent suitable for someone Chalo's size. Since Chalo
is in the 99.999th percentile in both height and weight, the manufacturers
are not missing much of a market.

What is Chalo, an 800 lb. gorilla?
[...]

Regards,

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

On 31 May, 23:49, "Clive George" wrote:
"Andre Jute" wrote in message

...

So how come the entire thing is so low that you are stressed out from
fear of being splatted not by a bus but by a common low hatchback
because the driver didn't see you?

I believe you're rather more likely to be noticed on a recumbent trike than
on a bike - ie your fear is misplaced.

3. The technology is probably mature, and the form of the tadpole
recumbent trike has settled into two ali beams at right angles for
chassis and front frame, with a swing arm for the rear suspension. A
dreadful dullness is creeping over the format, with only esoteric
details distinguishing the different brands, and then only to the
obsessed. The wheels are universally small and the ride no doubt
nasty.

That'll be experience speaking, will it? When you've actually tried the ride
on one, come back and tell us.

The lower you are on the trike, the faster you can go round corners. That's
an important feature of a high performance machine.

In a head to head race, is a trike faster than a bike on a winding
downhill course?

Edward Dolan wrote:
"Tom Sherman °_°" wrote in message
...
Chalo wrote:
Clive George wrote:
Andre Jute wrote:
The wheels are universally small and the ride no doubt nasty.
That'll be experience speaking, will it? When you've actually tried the
ride
on one, come back and tell us.
I've ridden 'bent bikes with 20"/27" and 16"/20" wheels. The big one
had a long floppy frame and gave a shaky but smooth ride. The small
one gave a treacherous and crappy ride that didn't get better despite
my days spent trying to make the best of it.

There is no stock recumbent suitable for someone Chalo's size. Since Chalo
is in the 99.999th percentile in both height and weight, the manufacturers
are not missing much of a market.

What is Chalo, an 800 lb. gorilla?
[...]

Chalo has listed his height at about 6'8" or so, and weight ranging from
about 320 to 370 pounds.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.

"Tom Sherman °_°" wrote in message
...
Andre Jute wrote:
[...]
So how come the entire thing is so low that you are stressed out from
fear of being splatted not by a bus but by a common low hatchback
because the driver didn't see you?

Drivers notice trikes much more than run of the mill [run-of-the-mill]
bicycles in my experience.

The above is not necessarily true. In any event, if and when you get run
over, the driver will say for sure that he did not notice you.
[...]

Customers are offered virtually nothing but extremes, and at
outrageous prices.

Let us see Mr. Jute build and sell one both at a profit and reasonable
price.

Recumbents are outrageously overpriced. The very small market for them has a
lot to do with it, but still it would be nice if someone would come out with
a recumbent for a few hundred dollars instead of the usual thousand dollars
or so.
[...]

Regards,

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

Edward Dolan wrote:

Tom Sherman

Chalo wrote:

I've ridden 'bent bikes with 20"/27" and 16"/20" wheels. *The big one
had a long floppy frame and gave a shaky but smooth ride. *The small
one gave a treacherous and crappy ride that didn't get better despite
my days spent trying to make the best of it.

There is no stock recumbent suitable for someone Chalo's size. Since Chalo
is in the 99.999th percentile in both height and weight, the manufacturers
are not missing much of a market.

What is Chalo, an 800 lb. gorilla?

Gorillas have short enough legs to ride BMX bikes, which works to
their advantage. I am forced to be more resourceful than that.

I rented a BikeE while I was vacationing in Seattle in early 2001.
The reason I rented it was because it was the only rental bike
available in Seattle that could be adjusted to fit me. For some
reason, Mr. Sherman thinks it was the wrong size for me despite the
BikeE thinking it was the right size.

I believe it was the right size, but wrong in a more fundamental way.
Hence my wife, who's a foot shorter than I am, had no better luck with
it than I did.

Chalo