Unfaired Recumbent vs. Upright Speed Comparisons

"DH" wrote in message ...
Sorry to be a bit dense here, but what exactly is meant by the word
'faired'? I first went to an online dictionary and came up with nothing.

What!!!? Are you a DFer or something???? (just kidding...)

To be 'faired' is to employ a fairing.

Mikael, thanks ... that was easy enough for me to understand. DH

(cbb) wrote in message . com...
I have to disagree here. On an open road in a rural or similar area it
is true but in an urban are the ability to see over cars (or atleast
through thier windows) comes in very useful. I can see the car that
wants to turn left in front of me and make sure he sees me on my
Strada but when I rode the Baron I had to be much more careful. It
also helps to see over cars parked on the street an over shrubs
planted too close to the intersection corner. True there are still
sometimes when vehicles or obstacles are too tall to see over on the
Strada but they are much less common than those I can't see over on
the Baron.

I was mainly speaking about open roads. Barry said roads in his post
and being a country boy, I differentiate between roads and streets. I
was also speaking from the perspective of motorists seeing the
cyclist, not the viewpoint of the cyclist, because again, that is what
Barry posted.

A higher seating position definitely allows better visibility for the
cyclist. However, highracers with laid back, hard shell seats still
have the problem of the head and neck angle making it more difficult
to turn the head and look behind and to look directly down,
immediately in front of the bike. They are no better than a lowracer
in this respect. If a cyclist considers maximum viewing ease to be
important, then a bike with a more upright seat would be a better
choice.

I won't argue that a lowracer, with an extreme laid back seating
position is an ideal bike for commuting on city streets but I don't
think a highrscer with the same seat angle is either. If one wants a
bike mainly for commuting, then something other than a lowracer would
be a better choice. If one wants a lowracer for fast riding on open
roads, with occasional riding on city streets, am stating that I and
other lowracer owners do so with minimal problems.

Harry

Monkey Island Times

Recumbent of the Year: Bitch-shidda Aero

"The next best thing to having a titanium pole up your ass"

My fellow Monkeys, after a ridiculously close vote, I am prouder than a fat-ass
after taking a long sh_t to anounce the
"Monkey Island Times: Bent of the Year Award" goes to none other than the
Bitch-shidda Aero Hi Wheeler recumbent!
This fine 'bent distinguishes itself as being the ride of choice among us fine
fools who avoid those damn plastic
lowbikes and prefer nose-bleeds. Accepting this award for Bitch-shidda was none
other than the three stooges.... uh, I
mean, the three founders of Bitch-shidda bicycles: Jimmie Shidder, Richie NoGo,
and Marky Colonoscopy.

To comemorate this monumental achievement, Fox's "Boston Pubic" recently aired an
episode featuring
Bitch-shidda's more sedate "Squatta" model. In this episode, some random
highschool dumbass crashes his wedgie
and screws himself out of a promising rookie goffer position with the US Gone
Postal Team. One of the teachers from
the school offers a ride to the poor sod on his Squatta, and the kid is hooked....
"My, my, I've never felt so confident on
a bike... now my head is nearly as high as my ego!". This reporter noted that the
character played by the attractive
Jerri Ryan walked passed the young kid mumbling, "he looks like such a DORK on
that thing...I bet my gay assistant
principal friend would think he looks cute!" Well, you can't win 'em all
Bitch-shidda!

By Captain Graybeard
Monkey Island Slacker-n-Chief



To see thread on Monkey Island go to:

http://www.recumbents.com/monkeyisla...p?TOPIC_ID=176

"Mark Leuck" wrote in message news:7vDpb.99832$Tr4.264902@attbi_s03...

That will make a nice epitaph for lowracer owners. "They should have seen
me! It's their fault I'm dead!"

Regardless of what type of bike I am on I always assume cars don't see me


Good advice!

Harry

"Mark Leuck" wrote in message news:YzDpb.73863$275.192842@attbi_s53...

I slightly disagree based on my experience with motorcycles, in many cases
the motorist sees the bike yet still pulls out into the street. I ended up

This is what I meant when I wrote that some motorists don't "notice"
cyclists. They actually visually see them, yet for some reason it
doesn't register that it is an object for which they must yield.

Harry

On Tue, 04 Nov 2003 01:43:31 GMT, "Mark Leuck"
wrote:
That will make a nice epitaph for lowracer owners. "They should have seen
me! It's their fault I'm dead!"

Regardless of what type of bike I am on I always assume cars don't see me

That never made sense to me. If you assume cars can't see you and ride
accordingly, wouldn't you have to stay at the edge of the road and
share a lane with cars? I'd rather ride in such a way that cars cannot
help but see me. That usually means taking the lane.

Ken Kobayashi

http://solarwww.mtk.nao.ac.jp/kobayashi/personal/

"harryo" wrote in message
om...
"Mark Leuck" wrote in message
news:YzDpb.73863$275.192842@attbi_s53...

I slightly disagree based on my experience with motorcycles, in many
cases
the motorist sees the bike yet still pulls out into the street. I ended
up

This is what I meant when I wrote that some motorists don't "notice"
cyclists. They actually visually see them, yet for some reason it
doesn't register that it is an object for which they must yield.

Harry

That is a much better explaination than mine

"Ken Kobayashi" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 04 Nov 2003 01:43:31 GMT, "Mark Leuck"
wrote:
That will make a nice epitaph for lowracer owners. "They should have
seen
me! It's their fault I'm dead!"

Regardless of what type of bike I am on I always assume cars don't see me

That never made sense to me. If you assume cars can't see you and ride
accordingly, wouldn't you have to stay at the edge of the road and
share a lane with cars? I'd rather ride in such a way that cars cannot
help but see me. That usually means taking the lane.

Ken Kobayashi

http://solarwww.mtk.nao.ac.jp/kobayashi/personal/

I usually stay near the edge

(harryo) wrote in message . com...
(cbb) wrote in message . com...
I have to disagree here. On an open road in a rural or similar area it
is true but in an urban are the ability to see over cars (or atleast
through thier windows) comes in very useful. I can see the car that
wants to turn left in front of me and make sure he sees me on my
Strada but when I rode the Baron I had to be much more careful. It
also helps to see over cars parked on the street an over shrubs
planted too close to the intersection corner. True there are still
sometimes when vehicles or obstacles are too tall to see over on the
Strada but they are much less common than those I can't see over on
the Baron.

I was mainly speaking about open roads. Barry said roads in his post
and being a country boy, I differentiate between roads and streets. I
was also speaking from the perspective of motorists seeing the
cyclist, not the viewpoint of the cyclist, because again, that is what
Barry posted.

A higher seating position definitely allows better visibility for the
cyclist. However, highracers with laid back, hard shell seats still
have the problem of the head and neck angle making it more difficult
to turn the head and look behind and to look directly down,
immediately in front of the bike. They are no better than a lowracer
in this respect. If a cyclist considers maximum viewing ease to be
important, then a bike with a more upright seat would be a better
choice.

I won't argue that a lowracer, with an extreme laid back seating
position is an ideal bike for commuting on city streets but I don't
think a highrscer with the same seat angle is either. If one wants a
bike mainly for commuting, then something other than a lowracer would
be a better choice. If one wants a lowracer for fast riding on open
roads, with occasional riding on city streets, am stating that I and
other lowracer owners do so with minimal problems.

Harry

I agree with you here. Just wanted to point some limitations of
lowracers. I loved riding my Baron on mostly rural roads. I just
wasn't comfortable riding it in high traffic or many intersection
areas. A high racer works better in the city because you can see
better and with a good mirror (or two) I don't many blind spots but I
agree that a low BB bike with more upright seat is better suited to
urban riding. Lowracers can work in urban riding but you must be much
more careful and in my experience you end up being slower because of
the extra caution needed. I probably should have gotten a LWB or
atleast a more upright lower BB SWB for my commute but I just couldn't
give up that much comfort and performance from my Baron.

Craig