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#11
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Samuel Burkeen wrote:
Here is my two scents on this. I own three bikes, a lwb Bentech, a swb Bentech, and a Rans Tailwind. The only bike of the three I have never gone down on is the swb Bentech. The bike most prone to an accident is the My surmise is that the lwb needs larger control inputs which cause the front end to slip earlier than the swb. I also believe that it's easier to ride a swb slower so some trails are better on the swb. -- Order Lords of the Chainring http://www.calpoly.edu/~wpatters/lords.html Or use pay pal Reply to |
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#12
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Steve knight wrote:
bents tent to have worse traction on the front then a df will. the longer the wheel base the worse it will be. though the longer it is the more time you have to react. so anything loose or wet or slippry watch out for. like wet leaves and such. I really liek this front tire it seems to grip far better http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/...sory=983919734 I keep about 100psi in it. I also foudn a pantour suspension hup helps with traction too. as otehrs have said when you go down don't put your foot down. this is called leg suck. Good advice, except putting 100psi in the front tire. (See below.) Here's my list of ways to avoid a front-end slide-out on a LWB: 1) Use your brain. More than anything else this will keep you out of accidents. This means maintaining an awareness of your surroundings, other road users, road conditions, speed, familiarity with the handling characteristics of your bike, etc. 2) Practice riding your bike off-road on loose surfaces. Learn that it is seldom wise to grab the brakes when a loss-of-control seems imminent and that is is often better to _release_ the brakes when the tires start to lose traction. 3) Don't overinflate your front tire. I run 90 psi in a Continental GP (28mm) or 70psi in a Primo Comet (37mm). An overinflated front tire is going to bounce all over the road when you corner hard on a road that has any irregularities. 4) Put some weight over the front wheel. I carry all my water and some of my other junk on handlebar bags (behind a fairing). I also lean forward in my seat when cornering hard. 5) Know that if you do start to lose front-end traction, the best way to regain it is to do one of the following: (a) release the front brake, if you're using it, or (b) widen the turn. The LWB is quite forgiving of exceeding front-end traction (compared to a road bike) if you react (but don't overreact) quickly. -- Bill Bushnell http://pobox.com/~bushnell/ |
#13
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"Indiana Mike" wrote in message ... On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 18:11:11 -0400, "Bruce Davis" wrote: [...] (By the way, I hope Ed Dolan the Great posts a reply, as in my short visit to this newsgroup, I have found his posts to be hilarious and his writing style to be top-notch. In the words of that old Lowenbrau commercial, "Dolan, you're a genius!") --Bruce Davis Ed's on a good run right now, good to see you appreciate him. As long as no one takes some of throw away bait he uses he can be entertaining. Any attempt at conversing with him can run in nearly any direction, and in some directions he seems to get stuck and become disturbingly repetetive. You can bet he will deliver the final word, no matter how inane, for he is dedicated to nothing so much as the reply. Bottom line is no one appreciates Ed as much as Ed. Indiana Mike This thread has been around for a few days now without any further activity, so I think it is now safe for me to post to it without raising the ire of the entire newsgroup. My throw away lines are there to add some spice. I mean to entertain and amuse the reader above all else. I also like conversations that wander a bit as almost all subjects are soon exhausted if adhered to closely. I only get stuck when I am on my hobby horse, which invariably has to do with the ignorance and stupidity of liberals and/or the evils of top posting. I do like to accord everyone the courtesy and honor of a reply. I figure anyone who has gone to the trouble of reading my not so humble words at least deserves that much. And I know it is a great honor to receive a personal response from someone as Great as I am. I do not mind talking to myself because I like to listen to someone intelligent and I also like to talk to someone intelligent. This can only be accomplished if I am talking and listening to myself. That is the advantage of being Great like I am. Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota |
#14
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"Joshua Goldberg" wrote in message ... well cannot argue with you on E.Dolan being a Genius and he is our resident Pit Bull who will gladly bite the ass off anyone who invades our group from Chicago. [...] Joshua is top posting just to irritate me. You still in Toronto? The Chicago group (Monkey Islanders) were vulgar and disgusting, but far worse than that was the fact that one or more of them were criminal trolls. I simply can't stand criminality and I will have nothing to do with those types. I do like the good fight, but all is NOT fair in love and war. Far from it. There are rules of civilized behavior which we all have to observe for the good of everyone. There is no greater upholder of the laws than yours truly. If I am a troll (highly debatable), I am a good, law abiding troll whose only interest is the welfare of this newsgroup. I do not want everyone here to die of boredom, that is the main thing. Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota |
#15
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"Bruce Davis" wrote in message ... [...] The bottom line is that I love my recumbent, have no buyer's remorse, and will continue to ride it; but I'm just curious about whether anyone out there has any suggestions or comments that will put my mind at ease, so that I can just enjoy my rides without constantly worrying that I'm going to end up in the hospital again. [...] --Bruce Davis Bruce, you have had very bad luck riding your Tour Easy. I have also got that bike (a home made version) and the light front end can and will cause problems if you aren't attentive to road surface conditions. I like to ride my bikes with my head in the clouds, but I only do that when going slow and I am sure of the road surface. When I speed up I have to get focused on any kind of a recumbent. In my opinion, recumbents are more unstable than uprights and they handle very differently. I admire those who can go fast on recumbents, but I am never comfortable going fast on a recumbent. The worst spill I have ever had was on a recumbent (RANS V2). I was going about 30 mph and got my front wheel caught in a longitudinal crack in the road. I went down hard in a split second. I don't believe I would have had that particular accident on an upright, but still I know it can happen because I have seen uprights also go down under the same condition. Watch out for those longitudinal cracks in the road! Regards, Ed Dolan - Minnesota |
#16
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Many thanks to all who posted replies (especially to Ed Dolan the Great, who
makes this newsgroup quite entertaining despite what his detractors may claim). You all have provided some valuable information, whether it be specific tips on avoiding crashes and/or surviving crashes; or more general information that is useful as well. I plan to continue to enjoy taking my EZ Racer out for weekend jaunts, but will now be more cognizant of the nuances of the bike (e.g., avoid unstable road surfaces at all costs [wet leaves and sandy soil in particular]; and if I do fall, just keep my feet on the pedals and let my hip-flesh take the brunt of it, rather than snapping any more bones). I will henceforth be a loyal reader of ARBR, though most likely more of a lurker than a poster. So I just wanted to say thank you once again. (p.s. I think the reason I find Ed so entertaining is that he reminds me of my favorite fictional character -- Ignatius J. Reilly of "A Confederacy of Dunces." I hope Ed doesn't take offense at that -- I'm sure Ed isn't nearly as fat as Ignatius.) |
#17
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"Bruce Davis" wrote in message ... (p.s. I think the reason I find Ed so entertaining is that he reminds me of my favorite fictional character -- Ignatius J. Reilly of "A Confederacy of Dunces." I hope Ed doesn't take offense at that -- I'm sure Ed isn't nearly as fat as Ignatius.) Ed reminds me of the Salad Fingers cartoon character (to anyone who does know who that is do a Google lookup) |
#18
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"Mike Rice" wrote in message ... On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 07:08:11 -0500, "Edward Dolan" wrote: excellent post snipped The worst spill I have ever had was on a recumbent (RANS V2). I was going about 30 mph and got my front wheel caught in a longitudinal crack in the road. I went down hard in a split second. I don't believe I would have had that particular accident on an upright, but still I know it can happen because I have seen uprights also go down under the same condition. Watch out for those longitudinal cracks in the road! Regards, Ed Dolan - Minnesota Hi Ed. When you had that spill were you injured? I certainly am acquinted with how quickly the Tour Easy can flip its rider sideways. Indiana Mike The RANS V2 is a long wheel base much like the Tour Easy, except that it has a much higher crank. The Mueller Fairing may have prevented me from seeing the road crack as it lines up all wrong for good road viewing. When you fall on a LWB you will generally go down sideways and land on your hip and/or elbow. The seat edge took much of the force, but I also had a bruised hip and wondered at first if I had broken anything. I went down with the bike because it happened so fast I did not have time to think what to do. If I had thought, I might have put my leg out to brake the fall and been infinitely worse off as a result. I do not like to have bike accidents and I will spend days after an accident analyzing what went wrong. As a result of my RANS V2 accident, I resolved to slow down and pay more attention to those longitudinal cracks in the road. I may get rid of the fairing too as it prevents me from seeing the road right ahead of me well. Regards, Ed Dolan - Minnesota |
#19
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"Mike Rice" wrote in message ... On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:28:02 -0400, "Bruce Davis" wrote: [...] (p.s. I think the reason I find Ed so entertaining is that he reminds me of my favorite fictional character -- Ignatius J. Reilly of "A Confederacy of Dunces." I hope Ed doesn't take offense at that -- I'm sure Ed isn't nearly as fat as Ignatius.) The only cartoon character I keep up with is Garfield. I wonder if that darn cat is in anyway influencing me? I also have 8 cats of my own, yet I am not really a cat fancier. But I do prefer cats to dogs because they are less trouble. All my cats came to me as strays. They must recognize a sucker when they see one. Well, maybe his head might be as fat, since it must house his ego. Don't count me too solidly among Ed's detractors. Even though he has hurled insults my way (I'm a liberal, PC squared trewp) I too often find him entertaining. And as Ed sees himself more a gadfly than a troll to the group I occasionally play devil's advocate and question some of his inconsistancies, especially when they become generally offensive to certain groups or nationalities. I guess I think of Ed as more an Ogre, he lives under any bridge in the area and can be unsettling to those who don't know him. I do think of myself as a gadfly. A deadly serious person would never bother to do what I do. When you come to ARBR and have noted the on-topic posts, then you are ready for a little levity from me. Why should we all be bored to death just because some few find bike computer calibrations interesting. God preserve us all from the scientific and engineering types. Number crunchers are not even human. Anyone miss Tom Sherman with his eternal trivial facts and figures? Ed's post to you today was the mnost on-topic thing I believe I've ever seen him deliver. If I didn't know better I would think he was mellowing out a little. But I'll never make Santa's mistake. I've seen a black rainbow.I trwholly know better. Some on this group think I do not even have any recumbents since I seldom post anything on-topic. I have surely got too many. No one will come to my house anymore for fear of tripping over them. Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota |
#20
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"Bruce Davis" wrote in message ... [...] (p.s. I think the reason I find Ed so entertaining is that he reminds me of my favorite fictional character -- Ignatius J. Reilly of "A Confederacy of Dunces." I hope Ed doesn't take offense at that -- I'm sure Ed isn't nearly as fat as Ignatius.) "A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs. In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly's supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D.H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress. Several of the outfits, Ignatius noticed, were new enough and expensive enough to be properly considered offenses against taste and decency. Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person's lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one's soul." --from A Confederacy of Dunces I vaguely remember reading that book many years ago, but I had forgotten about it. I do remember there were several episodes in that book that I found uproariously funny. No one else on this group will get your reference however. John Kennedy Toole was a mysterious person, did not live long and was never well known. I do not mind in the least being compared to Ignatius J. Reilly. We are kindred spirits in many ways (but not all ways). I have always greatly admired those individuals who can stand outside of society, even though I can't really do that myself. I only pretend to do it. Regards, Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota |
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