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Recumbent bikes, and trikes, in the Netherlands?
Hello,
Years ago when I went to Amsterdam, I was blown away by the large number of cyclists. I wasn't a recumbent cyclist then, so I didn't look for any recumbent cyclists. Now, I'm a recumbent cyclist myself, so I'm curious about the popularity of recumbent bi( or tri )kes in the Netherlands (specifically Amsterdam? Thanks, Cullen Carter |
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#3
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Recumbent bikes, and trikes, in the Netherlands?
Recumbents are a pretty rare sight in the U.K.?
U.S. recumbent cyclists are similar to the Dutch. They seem to be good-natured and friendly to eachother. It's like we're a part of some secret club. I understand the difficulty of riding recumbent in a city that has designed for the upright. I be a lot of that is changing? Do you see a trend towards recumbents? Cullen On Mar 10, 5:11*am, Peter Clinch wrote: wrote: Years ago when I went to Amsterdam, I was blown away by the large number of cyclists. I wasn't a recumbent cyclist then, so I didn't look for any recumbent cyclists. Now, I'm a recumbent cyclist myself, so I'm curious about the popularity of recumbent bi( or tri )kes in theNetherlands (specifically Amsterdam? They're a lot more common over there than in the UK. *On a typical day's ride there I've usually seen one or two others. So that's one or two more than is likley in the UK, but several hundred to several thousand (in Amsterdam) fewer than normal uprights you'd see. *The 'bents are rare enough that the pilots usually give each other a "Hoi!" and a wave, which you wouldn't do with other general cyclists: too many! 'Bents do have considerable disadvantages over a typical Dutch roadster in a place like Amsterdam. *Notably, they won't fit in so well with high density cycle parking, and usually being without enclosed brakes, gears and chain they'll suffer a bit more parked out in the street through the winter. *For folk that park them in their hosues, they're relatively unwieldy to move by hand. But you will see them about. *Particularly aroundhttp://www.ligfietswinkel.nl/which is a good shop to try them out from. 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/ |
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Recumbent bikes, and trikes, in the Netherlands?
On Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:49:29 -0700 (PDT)
" wrote: Recumbents are a pretty rare sight in the U.K.? Yes. Except for planned meetings or organised rides, I could count them each year without taking my shoes off. Yesterday as I locked mine up at the supermarket a guy with an American accent [1] asked about it, saying he'd never seen one before. He did have a bike but had never seen clipless pedals either, so I suppose that makes him typical quasi-cycling public. U.S. recumbent cyclists are similar to the Dutch. They seem to be good-natured and friendly to eachother. It's like we're a part of some secret club. Yup, always wave; sometimes stop for a chat. I understand the difficulty of riding recumbent in a city that has designed for the upright. I be a lot of that is changing? Not that I can see right here. And Amsterdam won't change from that aspect either. The streets are not designed to be bike friendly, more tram friendly if anything, it's just that bikes are so numerous they overwhelm almost everything else. Other places that had to be more extensively rebuilt 60 years ago, such as Rotterdam, have a lot more bike provision. [1] Two large USAF bases nearby. Mike -- Mike Causer |
#5
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Recumbent bikes, and trikes, in the Netherlands?
wrote:
Recumbents are a pretty rare sight in the U.K.? U.S. recumbent cyclists are similar to the Dutch. They seem to be good-natured and friendly to eachother. It's like we're a part of some secret club. It seems the way with anything relatively unusual. So 2CV drivers will flash headlamps at one another, and so on. I understand the difficulty of riding recumbent in a city that has designed for the upright. I be a lot of that is changing? I'd agree with Mike that few places are particularly designed with any particular configuration in mind. In the UK I'd say it's the case that a lot of so-called "facilities" are designed not so much with anything in mind as outright ignorance that any bikes are longer or wider than any others: huge tracts of "specially designed" cycle track are completely inaccessible to a hand-cyclist on a trike who can't walk around a barrier, for example. Riding my 'bent (an HP Vel Streetmachine touring bike with my head at about the same level as driving our car) in urban traffic isn't as easy as my Brompton, but then again riding a 700c upright racer in traffic wouldn't be as easy as my Brompton either. I'd also say it's certain design aspects of the particular machine rather than it being a 'bent, so the USS has (relatively) limited lock for very fine low and zero speed manoeuvring, the seat is well laid back for weight distribution over a day rather than relatively upright for ease of looking around, it weighs a lot because it's built not to fail in the middle of nowhere with heavy luggage on, and so on. So it's not special in cities, but something like an HP Vel Spirit would be a much better machine there. Much better than our notional 700c upright racer IMHO. Do you see a trend towards recumbents? No, not really. There are a lot more about than there used to be but I'd not call that a trend because there used to be practically none and now there are a very few. I think you'd need a critical mass of around maybe 0.5% for a real upswing, and I can't see that happening. They're too expensive and too misunderstood to get a critical mass, and they'll continue to be misunderstood if people don't have the chance to ride them and as long as there's no mass market they'll stay expensive. 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/ |
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