Newbie 'bent queries

[peterc]

I've done about 60 or so miles on it now, having fun, getting some strange looks but so far so good.

1. When commuting, do people "filter" or is it a question of time and place. Right now I'm just quing with the cars till I can get pulling off down pat.

2. Pulling away from standstill, it's getting better slowly but have big issues when I want to pull away while turning (say at a junction) any advice?

3. Steering seems as twitchy as a twitchy thing are they all like that? I understand Mike has some "characteristic" elements in his designs, but is this just something 'bents do.

On day I'll get to relax enjoy the view, but right know I feel alot like I'm trying hard to keep the bike under me.

[Tim]

What 'bent is it?

Guesses Ratcatcher* from the comments.

Balance pulling away/steering, it comes with time. If in doubt use a lower gear as mashing a big gear/low cadence makes bad stuff happen to the handling, notably when starting, even more so if you are pointing uphill at the time.

For pulling away it is mostly about getting your foot up quickly, if you are using clipless pedals it can be worth not aiming for the first time round for the pedal to catch the spare foot but the second to get a cleaner start.

Traffic jamming - mostly it is a confidence thing and comes with time. I sometimes end up riding with one foot clipped in gently spinning the pedals around and the other hanging down poised to be put on the ground if I need a rapid rethink of what I'm actually doing.

SWB 'bents are twitchier than LWB, same as all bikes - extend the wheel base to get a more stable platform. It'll just feel twitchy to start with until you are used to the correction that goes with a 'bent. Couple of months time and you'll be wondering why your friends complain that it's trying to throw them when you let them have a go.

Mostly it just rides differently to an upright, you get used to the difference and don't think about it after a while.

*Got to be a Burrows from the Mike comment and probably not a ratracer as a 'bent newbie.

[Wendy]

It's Mike's Cafe bike, or FWD midracer with a hub gear.  Really nice bike, I rode his prototype a couple of years ago.  I thought its handling was sweet and easy.

Peter, I filter a lot, sometimes quite assertively, and I do squeeze through tight gaps.  See here for two examples:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Am4wlW2yj6Q&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Am4wlW2yj6Q&rel=1</a>

I didn't in the beginning though, I did exactly as you're doing.  It took me ~1000km before I had the balance necessary to negotiate one particular cycling farcility without putting hand/foot down.  That one no longer exists (two double overlapping fences blocking an alleyway shortcut).

Pulling away from junctions - it goes with the balance needed for filtering as above.  Unfortunately with a midracer you won't be able to put a hand down, which made life a lot easier on the two Challenges I have.  Twitchy steering - you'll grow to love it if you're anything like me.  The fine control will come with practice, and the ability to flick across two lanes in an instant at speed is very nice if you have to dodge moton sillyness.

My suggestion?  Bring it to the park and lay out some cones.  Then practice all sorts of slow speed slalom, for hours at a time.  Figure of 8, big and wide, and also tight and slow.  Also make chalk lines and try to ride the line.  With your skating skills the recumbent balance will come quickly.  I did this a while ago with a chap and his then newish Fujin, and not only did it improve his skills, it improved mine too.

[peterc]

Thanks both, as Mike said it's a Ratracer SL, open cockpit/scorpion bars.

Mike, cones and chalk marks, as long as I don't have to do scooter drills on it I should be happy. May have to put the flats back on if I'm doing anything too twitchy.

One other thing I've noticed is I seem to have probelms loading the pedals as I start to get the "other" foot in, is that anything people noticed when they started.

[Wendy]

Maybe start in a slightly higher gear, push strongly by pressing your back and bum into the seat, and don't pull the handlebars.  Instead hold with fingerlight precision, or even push them away from you slightly.

I'd be happy to do some balance drills with you, I can always use a bit of sharpening up on the Fujin.  I've only ever done them on the Hurricane.

[peterc]

I'd be happy to do some balance drills with you, I can always use a bit of sharpening up on the Fujin.  I've only ever done them on the Hurricane.

Coool, I'll have to work out when I'm next in the middle of London (or sarf London) with the Burrows.

Rode it home in the drizzle this evening, stayed rather dry. More hair got a bit soggy, and adopted another "characteristic" style. (Almost as bad as the silly car for that.)

oh, and I lost traction going up a steep hill and stayed upright. 

[Cunobelin]

Take your time and find a local car park to practice in and the handling skills develop quickly. The RAtcatcher is a sports machine and will be twitchy, which may be the key to filtering

As for traffic, just be sensible. I personally treat each junction as an individual. the trick is to remember that you are less visible and need to take care. Of course filtering is dangerous and sticking with traffic as you do now is not a problem, and can be advisable.

[Von Broad]

3. Steering seems as twitchy as a twitchy thing are they all like that? I understand Mike has some "characteristic" elements in his designs, but is this just something 'bents do.

On day I'll get to relax enjoy the view, but right know I feel alot like I'm trying hard to keep the bike under me.

Handling can be very different from bent to bent and indeed rider to rider. I've not ridden that bike, so I can't say, but I'd imagine that, designed as a street bike, it should handle pretty good really. Having a larger [than 20"] front wheel should help a bit too. But as a general rule, one thing I've found is to not be too concerned about the 'twitchy feel of the steering.
Bikes never ever travel in straight lines, not absolute straight lines anyway. It's impossible. Try and keep the front wheel dead straight on any bike on any surface and see how long you stay upright for? There's constant counter-balancing input going on. Watch the front wheel constantly move from side to side on an upright and you'll see [it's obviously easier to see on an upright]. You're constantly adjusting your centre of gravity to remain balanced. On a bent this can be amplified, partly because your CofG is lower [making it more difficult to balance in some instances], and also because of the tiller in the steering can be greater than on an upright [although on your bike that may not be the case, being quite a high seat relatively speaking]. The point being is to 'let the steering go where it wants to go! Learn to relax into it. It's the way things are [although admittedly some bikes are more twitchy than others, but trying different bikes is the only way to find that out].
The car park idea is a good one - time and space to really experiment with things like that, and get a feel for it.
And the traction thing. Always a moot point with FWD bikes. I built a dual 26" FWD bike last year, and for the most part the traction was fine. But there can be issues with it. Climbing on autumnal, wet, leafy lanes could be interesting at times! You've just got to be aware of things like that.
Anyway, hope you get to enjoy it.

[harrumph]

Glad to hear that you are enjoying being recumbent - practice will eventually make you much more confident, as others have said. Until then, I would take the attitude to traffic jamming recommended by Tim and Mikey.

When I first rode a recumbent (a Kingcycle in my case, another machine with a reputation for being twitchy) my minimum speed up steep hills was ~6mph. Below that, and I couldn't maintain a straightish line. These days, I go as slowly as I like and can almost trackstand at traffic lights 

The steering, I find, is really for getting round potholes. Most of the time, I don't use it - well, not consciously, anyway. I lean instead.

[Tiger]

If this is the Burrows SL I saw on a darkside ride last year - it is a bit tricky to get started from stanstill - due to pedal height? The guy riding (bottlemasher?) was needing to scoot it to get forward momentum/balance before pedal engagement - I don't think that is a traffic option.
You will just need to practice and practice until you are master of it and can do a momentary trackstand while you engage pedal force.

[peterc]

If this is the Burrows SL I saw on a darkside ride last year

Yeap, I would think so, there are lots of SL shots on his flicr site.

But the look of the welded tube that one may have been an early one, if that makes any difference.

[peterc]

Things are starting to show flashes where it works, seems to be very speed specific, the faster the better from what I can feel. I don't feel so worried about taking my a hand off the bars for a short bit.

Not got used to the "not being able to see over traffic" thing quiet yet.

[Tiger]

You need to hold tight to the bars as the slipstream will pry your fingers loose at high speeds.  After a few months you will get stronger muscles to cope.

[bottlemasher]

Hi Peter

The best way to start off on the fwd is

lay back ,lightly hold onto the bars
select 3rd gear a good push with your strongest leg, when you have motion
bring the other foot up so its on the downwards stroke of the crank

and remember just RELAX

as for a scooting start I only use that technique at junctions

cheers
Bmr

[peterc]

Spoke question.

Does Mr B like low spoke tension? Or is it a characteristic of 24" wheels, just asking as mine seem alittle slack, as in less tight than all the other wheels I've had before.

Went around trying to sort the worst last night, (in prep for the Basinstoke big wheel on the Sunday) and noticed they seems just a touch slack. I'm putting it down to the last owner myself, but just want to be sure

Still loving it, even when it rains, as it seem to have been doing far too much this week.

[Jon P]

Hi Peter, when I first got my KC I found it very twitchy and was sure I'd never be able to control it as well as normal bikes, but all that is long forgotten and I can ride on the white lines for miles on either bike (Speed Ross and Toxy ZR).

One problem you might have with FWD is lack of steering lock - on my Toxy the best thing to do is often to get off the bike and haul it over to where it needs to go.  Is there any front wheel interference with the pedals?  It takes quite a long time to get confident at junctions but don't worry about making a fool of yourself.

Re traffic jamming, as well as Mikey's vid I did my own training one for 'bent riders - Hagley Mile