Convertable bike...Standard to recumbent...

[OldPete]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H39NiWbeOw

Standard for in town visability and quick steering. Recumbent for a stable, slow steering platform with lower wind drag for open road use. A perfect bicycle for a rackmount. The bike has no suspension and does appear to have front n' rear drum brakes. I like it! Prolly made in The Netherlands where there is a real bicycle cottage industry.

 

[DougC]

I've read elsewhere that the guy that designed it is looking for a manufacturer--and he's from the Netherlands, where a "typical" bike price is around $700 US.

There's been a lot of discussion of the bike on various other bicycling forums.
People who have uprights wonder why you'd ever want a recumbent at all, and recumbent-bike riders wonder why you'd ever use it as an upright.

One advantage of such a bike (that I can see) is that most urban buses and trains that have bike racks, are usually only long enough to accommodate standard-length bikes, and many of these have rules against mounting any bicycle that won't fit into the racks properly. With this bike you could use it as a recumbent, and then switch it to an upright when you had to place it on a bicycle carrier (on a bus or train).

Standard for in town visability and quick steering. Recumbent for a stable, slow steering platform with lower wind drag for open road use. ....

I don't know how familiar you are with recumbents.
I don't have any problems with the steering of mine, even in city traffic. The main thing I cannot do is ride up curbs, but most corners in the city have wheelchair ramps, and technically (in the US) one isn't supposed to normally ride on sidewalks anyway--especially city sidewalks full of pedestrians--so this hasn't ever been much of something I've missed since getting rid of my upright bikes.

The aerodynamic benefit of recumbents depends a lot on how reclined the seating position is. Many that sit quite upright (such as mine, and probably the convertible one mentioned) don't have significantly less drag than a normal upright bike does. The main cause of drag is your torso, so until that is fairly reclined there's not much advantage there. You don't really get aero benefits you can "feel" until you get into high-foot-position, steeply reclined bikes like the Bachetta Strada.

The main benefit of recumbents is riding comfort. Most of the typical riding pain you get on an upright bike (sore butt, numb hands, sore neck) simply never happens. People who will not tolerate riding even five miles on an upright bike will usually ride three to five times that far on a recumbent, if not farther.
~

 

[OldPete]

I like that Strada. Short wheel base and steep steering head angle. Expensive too.
I have ridden just one bent around the block...that's it.
Because I am doing most of my riding in a city of 500K++ ppl I would much rather be on an upright bicycle. Most of the bents here travel on the bicycle trails along the paved river banks. One does not see that many out on PCH or any of the other major roads. Deltas or pollywogs? Forget seeing them mixed with our traffic.

True...by laying down the torso drag is really reduced but even this convertable bike does reduce frontal area, so drag must be reduced at least a little. Confort should be a tad better too.

I thought this video interesting and did not intend to start a conflict with the lycra boys.

 

[DougC]

...I have ridden just one bent around the block...that's it.
Because I am doing most of my riding in a city of 500K++ ppl I would much rather be on an upright bicycle....

The height is an overblown issue, for the most part.

There are some recumbents that sit quite low, but there's also types that sit fairly high. A lot of people see something like a Velokraft NoCom and assume that all recumbents are built that low, and they're not. There's a wider range of geometries among recumbents than there is of upright bikes.

The ability to see over cars isn't really that useful: when you're bicycling in heavy traffic, generally you are riding off to the outside, or you are splitting lanes--and in both those cases you can easily see several cars ahead and behind you, precisely because you don't have to look over the cars.

I have rode mine in every condition I would have taken an upright road bike in, including in heavy multi-lane car traffic. The visibility issue doesn't really amount to much, that I have seen.

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In fairness, I would also point out that the value of recumbent comfort is proportional to the riding times you put in. If you ride to work every day and your work is only a half-mile from your house, the difference in comfort won't amount to much--but when you want to ride 25, 50 or more miles, the difference in comfort becomes enormous.
~

 

[OldPete]

I was warned that the recumbent lycra boys took their bicycles like crazy religious fundies but w/o the fun.

I found the video interesting. At this point I am sorry I even posted it. I have done 800+mile days on un-faired motorcycles and my butt has delt with it.

 

[DougC]

...I found the video interesting. At this point I am sorry I even posted it. I have done 800+mile days on un-faired motorcycles and my butt has delt with it.

Well,,,, bicycles (that you must pedal) and motorcycles (that you don't) don't use the same styles of saddles. Get out a hacksaw and welder and swap the seats, and then try riding each for a few hours; neither will work on the other very well.

Recumbent bikes are ideal for long-distance pedaling; if you never pedal a bike long distances it's difficult to see the point.
~

 

[sklein25]

Riot Wheel......

Found this from OldPete's Youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9AOhPgCNJs

Thought it was kinda unreal, but slow!!!!LOL

Cheers............