Don’t suppose there are any recumbent frame builders in this country are there?
[Assuming the confidence of the late Mike Burrows for a brief moment]
Yes, me.
[reverting back to normal self]
But I wouldn't let anybody go near any of my bikes...for your sake
I was just reading your thread from a few months ago. I can offer little in the way of an opinion about commercially produced recumbents, but I've recently met chap on a couple of PBP qualifiers who goes by the name 'Rab' [don't think he posts here]. He rides a Pelso Brevet, and does so at a very decent pace too [we don't talk for long....he's up and away]. Of course, it's about the engine that sits on the thing. One has to be careful about putting too much expectation into the performance of the bike, but given a half decent machine in the hands of a rider who is prepared to put some work in, then these things are perfectly capable of decent output.
Just looking at the list of criteria in your initial post you mention:
1. Fast on the track
2. Some luggage capacity
It's not that these things are mutually exclusive, can you have a fast bike that take luggage? Of course you can, but there is a clash of interests - to an extent.
How fast is 'fast' and how much luggage is 'some' and for what purpose?
[edit: an integrated tailbox offering some aero capability might be an option of course].
You've probably got to decide what is the most important feature you want from another bike - and then be prepared to accept that satisfying all other criteria may not be possible to the degree you'd like.
I'm in a similar position with the next recumbent I'm going to build. I find myself going round and round in circles about this that and the other. In the end, I have to be disciplined about what and why I'm building it....make that the number one priority and go from there. It means that other aspects have to be sacrificed - again, to an extent.
At the end of the day, regardless of what anybody says, there's no substitute for experience, and you just have to go and try out these things, which I do understand, can be quite a time consuming process.
