Recumbant death jockeys.
gtvlusso
Posts: 5,112
A few questions about recumbant cycles:
1, Why ride something so low?
2, Why ride something that is difficult/off balance to get your foot down quick?
3 Why the beard?
4, What pleasure can it give?
5, They look stupid and geeky - discuss:
Are they the nerdy dweeb wagons that only a geek would ride (note, I may have completely stereotyped and insulted quite a few people - probably incorrectly!)
I saw one a few mornings ago as I flew by - he had full on wing mirrors, panniers and motorbike style handlebars.....it looked brand new and well looked after, but so damn geeky and stoopid......I laughed my censored off at the contraption.
1, Why ride something so low?
2, Why ride something that is difficult/off balance to get your foot down quick?
3 Why the beard?
4, What pleasure can it give?
5, They look stupid and geeky - discuss:
Are they the nerdy dweeb wagons that only a geek would ride (note, I may have completely stereotyped and insulted quite a few people - probably incorrectly!)
I saw one a few mornings ago as I flew by - he had full on wing mirrors, panniers and motorbike style handlebars.....it looked brand new and well looked after, but so damn geeky and stoopid......I laughed my censored off at the contraption.
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2. It's just practise. Why use SPDs?
very bad saddle sores
lots of reasons to use one if you're broken
Carbon 456
456 lefty
Pompino
White Inbred
Die-hard comic book fan so maybe I can comment.
1, Being low to the ground makes you feel like you're going faster. you don't have far to fall when you're having an off.
2, Because in the world of the geek the more technically difficult the challenge the mightier the geek who can overcome it.
3, The length of the beard is a direct measure to the level of nerdy-geek a person can exude. In truth every geek wants to be 'Gandalf the Grey'.
4, None, accept the repressed introspective pleasure that only geeks have as its the only pleasure they're allowed to have.
5, Indeed they do, but in the world of the geek, they look cool, geek-girls dig'em and it gets geek's laid with glorious dress-up fantasy geek sex and anyway you want to look at it glorious dress-up fantasy geek sex (i.e. the girl dresses up as Supergirl and the guy in a business suit in desperate need of "saving") is just cool.
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
Beards are essential.
VOODOO CANZO
Come and see me at https://www.facebook.com/biketyke/
FACT
Granted though, I think for pretty much every conceivable journey the cons would outweigh the pros so I can't help thinking that people who ride them (without some sort of compelling reason as supersonic and ride_whenever mentioned) are making some sort of statement, which I generally don't have much time for.
In America recmbrants are only fast of Wednesday. In England they're fast on Thursday's. Why?
Comic books are released weekly on Wedenesday (America) and Thursday (England) respectively.
Those guys that are flying on recrumbrants (sp) are only doing so because they are rushing to the comic shop.
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
VOODOO CANZO
Come and see me at https://www.facebook.com/biketyke/
Drops over flats for comfort, not performance. If you want handlebars for aero reasons, fit some tri-bars.
I don't disagree with the aero advantages of a decently designed recumbant.
like for like i think is the thing, they also tend to be heavier and suffer more uphills, but there are some very very fast ones, ones you see around Richmound Park one could cream with a milk float quite frankly but i see a bloke on a wee red one who would probably humble any uprights/normal bike looks daft mind, I'd love a go can't say i can see that much use for one at moment though.
Myself and BJUK were cycling down the Mall, chatting to each other, and bent forced himself between us mid conversation...We looked at each other in disbelief! :shock:
If I'm not riding I'm shooting http://grahamsnook.com
THE Game
Watch out for HGVs
They'd all be riding themif it wasnt for the damn UCI!
Ever seen a recumbent go fast uphill?
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."
The reason you don't see the pros use them is because the UCI banned them in 1934 after a French rider used one to beat the top pros in racers (he was Cat 2) and broke the hour record. Since a lot of road bike technology is trickle-down from racing, this somewhat set back recumbents.
Recumbents lend themselves to fairings rather well, with the most usual being a tailbox behind the rider, but full fairing is also possible (though only really for races!). These bikes are highly specialised and have been taken to a world record of 82.33mph (not 72.74mph as stated above) by Sam Whittingham last year.
Personally I wouldn't use one in traffic though.
Not sure they would, all the time, any more than they'd all ride full on TT bikes for all stages - it's a horses for courses thing, as I understand it they fly on the flat but ain't so hot up hills? Think it's due to the ability to transmit weight of rider into force on pedals or something. Mind you, this may be bo77ocks.
Where's that Mike Burrows fella when you need him?
It's just a hill. Get over it.
As a Recumbent user does this apply?
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
They have an advantage braking due to the position of the rider relative to the front wheel, and you can pedal them through corners with no fear of pedal strike, which coupled to the aerodynamic advantage means you could smoke people on the descents (if you had the balls!). But I still couldn't see pros on them in mountain stages. Flat TT courses though, definitely (except that recumbents use slightly different muscles so you'd lose training specificity).
In so many ways... no.
The TTs would be even more boring than they are already!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj76yIGcrHU
Touche!
2) When you have disabilities it helps keep you on the road - back to the reply about Sheldon - RIP - its why we got one for my wife due to her hands.
3) Depends on the model you get - but try riding a Trice downhill with its front drum brakes - at the bottom make your turn (in my case into the local garden centre) - at the same time as apply a bit of brake. Its like a hand brake turn in a car. javascript:emoticon(':lol:') Can't do that on a normal two wheeler.
Viner Maxima, Tifosi CK7, Giant Bowery, Old commuter.
Have done ever since I saw a guy riding one on the first century and a bit I did many years ago.
I'm not sure I'd ever want to commute into London on one though, filtering would strike me as somewhat terrifying.
It was a pity I had to turn off...
dificult to balance at low speeds etc and slow to put ones foot down i think are the main issues, being seen isn't a problem as it's so odd *every one* can see you....