Given I live in North Yorkshire, please assure me they'd be rubbish in the hill country.
Tony Eastwood, longtime recumbent aficionado, rides a Quest in North Wales, which is not noted for its flatness.
Nor is Edinburgh, where I ride my Quest. 'Rubbish' is arguable, when in wintertime outright speed and hill climbing ability tend to play second fiddle to being warm and comfortable and safe in bad weather. Outright hill climbing is slow if you don't get a run at it, because it's dead weight. But get your velo into rolling terrain and they become devastatingly efficient. I once took mine to Glasgow, following the old A8 through Livingston and then over Fauldhouse summit, and did 45 miles in about 2.5 hours. You might say that's skinny carbon road bike easy peasy riding, but my Quest weighs 70lbs, and I was carrying two changes of clothes, a sleeping bag, and all that an overnight requires.
Coming back from Carnwath with friends more than once I found myself an entire hill further down the road and had to stop and wait three or four times before we were back in Edinburgh together.
