General Category > The Dark Side
Lead Me To The Darkside
Kim:
Boom adjustment faff involves lots of angst about whether you've got the bottom bracket straight WRT the seat (which you discover you've got wrong after a couple of hours when things start to hurt), and sometimes a change of chain length. HPV's seat-that-rotates-around-your-pelvis design has an awful lot going for it.
That said, I just keep my seat fully reclined the whole time, and live with the extra work in traffic. Of course, for city-only riding, I tend to use a DF bike.
mrcharly:
I was hesitant to comment until experienced 'bent people spoke up.
I'm not convinced that a bent is the answer for commuting. Like Kim, I thought that a very upright df with appropriate bars might be more sensible.
The type of bars found on the Africa bike remove all weight from wrists (and hence shoulders). That's why I bought PDs one for stepdaughter.
Sure, they are unaero and you can't honk. But then you can't honk on a recumbent. For stop-start city riding, light wheels and tyres will be more of a help in pulling away from traffic lights anyway.
Kim:
--- Quote from: clarion on July 20, 2012, 02:57:51 PM ---I hate being held up by traffic, but a lot of my commute is in bus lanes or via back streets, so I'm not sure that's so much of an issue. I do remember feeling very large and a bit vulnerable riding a trike in the inner parts of London.
--- End quote ---
I'm reasonably convinced it's mostly psychological. The SMGT's riding position is equivalent to the front seat of a car, so I don't feel vulnerable on that. On the odd occasion I've ridden the ICE trike in traffic, I've felt very low and vulnerable for the first 20 minutes or so, and then got used to it. Being seen isn't really an issue any more than any other cycle, other than in very obvious edge cases. The width thing is odd. You're at most 6 inches wider than a mountain bike, but suddenly you're treated as if you're as big as a car (which is both a blessig and a curse).
Being at exhaust height is crappy in stop-start traffic, though.
Kim:
--- Quote from: mrcharly on July 20, 2012, 03:06:54 PM ---But then you can't honk on a recumbent.
--- End quote ---
Common misconception. You can. Indeed, you've got a seat to push against rather than just your body weight and whatever you can manage with your arms without upsetting the steering too badly.
But it's contraindicated for balancing a two-wheeler at low speed (you can't shift your bodyweight to compensate), and will cause serious stress on the drivetrain and your knees. Recumbentists tend to spin and make use of all the gears they can get because that generally works a lot better.
mrcharly:
erm, "whatever you can manage with your arms" can be a huge amount. Really huge. Enough to bend a weak frame, snap bars.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version