Your favorite recumbent myth?

There are so many - where to start?

"Safety hazard: Recumbents are so low you won't be noticed by motorists."

I've never been as noticed on any bike as much as I have been on a recumbent. If you want to avoid attention, don't get a recumbent. I even had one motorist once cruise along next to me so that his passenger, hanging out his window, could ask me where I bought mine.

I beg to differ. I was rear ended by a Kamikaze motorcycle messenger while riding my recumbent down Hwy 246 in Setagaya-ku in Tokyo about 12 years ago. Traffic was, as ususal, very heavy, and I was in my proper place near the curb on the left side of the road. As the traffic slowed for a stop light or some other reason, the messenger quickly pulled from behind the cars right into me.

I hit the ground so hard I cracked my helmet. My right arm and leg were numb and unresponsive for a few minutes. The biker helped me get out of the road, then moved my bike, then tried to walk me around a little. When the feeling/movement eventually returned to my arm and leg, the main sensation I felt was pain. Once I was sort of able to stand, he got back on his bike and left. I was still dazed and sat down for a few minutes to try to remember where I was going. Eventually I figured it out and got to work.

I went into the toilet to inspect the damage and found one of my cuff buttons has cut a gash about 4" long into my arm, and I had road rash on my left hip, knee, and shoulder, and a few holes in my jacket. I was escorted to the local hospital by a coworker whereupon the doctor pronounced me fine. He had a nurse bandage my road rash and sent me home to take it easy for a day or two. No head x-rays.

Three things came out of that experience- 1) I decided that the medical care in Japan was unacceptable for a long-term stay. 2) I bought what was then a fairly new concept mountain bike so I would be higher in the air where cars and motorcycles could see me. 3) I added a strobe flasher to the recumbent to make it more visible when I rode it.

Think for a minute, especially in these days of big, freakin' SUVs, about how visible a recumbent is going to be. It is obvious that the lower position puts one at a disadvantage relative to a higher, "normal" bicycle. Flags, flashers, etc. can be used to draw attention to the bike so that it is a lot safer.

How about the myth that recumbents are faster than "normal" bikes? A lot of people seem to think so, and under the right conditions they can be, but in general, I don't think so. I think the myth came from the speed record type machines that have fairings. Very few recumbent rider use full fairings. Recumbents tend to be slow going up hills since you can't stand up to pedal and use your upper body to help. They are definitely more comfortable, which can, on a very long ride, make a difference in overall average speed, but for most rides I'd say they are a little slower or maybe about even with "normal" bikes.

TD

__________________
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

I concede it is dangerous
...on a highway
...in Japan
...near Kamikaze motorcyclists.
Sorry for your experience. I'm glad you weren't permanently injured. I never ride on highways on any kind of bike - too risky.

As for speed, I think there are just too many variables to declare bents as faster than "normal" bikes or vice versa. If your "engine" is in good condition, you are likely to be fast on any bike but probably faster on a low-profile recumbent, depending on the terrain and your conditioning on a bent. At least I know I am, after several weeks anyway. As for climbing, another "myth" - yes, sustained climbs are challenging - but that's true on a "normal" bike, too, and really, again, depends on the "engine" performance more than the bike itself. (Pro cyclists climb in the saddle - they reserve standing out of the saddle for sprints and similar short-term power needs. Their bodies are tuned for cycling performance and those serious HPV'rs that race recumbents are also similarly conditioned - just in a different position.)

I've got one: Recumbents are expensive.

Compared to what? I just looked at an upwrong by DeRosa called the Dogma, and it has one model that costs $15,000.
I have yet to find a $15k recumbent!

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Volae Century

How about "Recumbents are much cooler and classier than uprights"?

Oh wait..... that's not a myth!

HAHAHAHA!!!!

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cYcLoBob

It's not being there, it's getting there!

That they are faster than road bikes. With the exception of racing models, they are no better, and many are slower. Anybody who thinks they have a speed advantage by riding a Burley Koosah, for instance, is fooling themselves.

BTW, I was rear-ended while waiting at a stop light. At the time I was standing in the crosswalk, in the middle of the traffic lane, with my upright bike between my legs. You guessed it -- the driver never saw me. So height means nothing; if the drivers aren't looking for you they won't see you no matter what you're riding.

My two favorite recumbent myths are:
1) Highwalker style recumbents are fast.
2) Old school design lowracers with mismatched tail fairings are fast.

Neither of those recumbent myths are true.

Cheers,
Johnny NoCom

Johnny NoRace,
Please provide verified race results showing where a former loser lowracer rider got a NoCom and became a winner. Otherwise you're just talking out your @$$.

Another favorite recumbent myth is that "bents are faster than DFs".
Race a DF is you want to prove you are as fast or faster than DFs. Everyone knows that benters cheat with fairing gimmicks that DFs never use.

Cheers,
Johnny NoCom

Well, if we want to look at it that way then, NOcoms are cheater bikes. They are not like every other stock bike and should not be allowed to race in stock class. The frame itself is a cheating gimmic fairing. Only devious cheaters would use such a frame against regular tube bents.

A nocom has a built in fairing that you can not remove from the bike.
At least I can do a u-turn on an out and back time trial with a tailfairing.
Geez a nocom would have to be picked up and manually turned around. oohhh you just lost some crucial time there Kieth Santiago.

nocahones has no evidence or proof...........you notice how he avoids that question every time? Just keeps spewing out more garbage. I think that Johnny is either Ed Dolan, Kieth Santiago, Thom Olinger, or Alan Ariel.
Either way, they are starting to turn into one person if ya ask me.

Another favorite recumbent myth is that a tail-fairing will make a benter fast. ha ha ha ha.

Cheers,
Johnny NoCom

Johnny,

I looked at SLOWDIO'S jpegs:
http://groups.msn.com/BicyclingForum...o&PhotoID=7408

Apparantly it is a light weight carbon bike with a recent generation Razz Fazz tailbox. AND SLOWDIO only averages 21 mph on a century ride (see his pathetic speed beaten by 22 wedgie riders)????

CERTAINLY THE BIKE IS NOT SLOW BUT 'SLOWDIO" IS!!!!!!!!!! Last year a couple of riders averaged OVER 25 mph with that same fairing. SLOWDIO sucks BIGTIME! Place the blame with the RIDER, he is a pathetic example of what a rider SHOULD do on a "old school" bike.

Raffi

I once had an older gentleman in a Caddy pull alongside of me at a stop light and warn me that I would have back problems because of riding something 'like that.' I've had it mentioned other times since. Apparently it doesn't exercise my back muscles, so it's bad??? Whatever happened to the concept of crosstraining or of doing supplementary exercises?

By that argument, his car seat is even worse. There's a certain irony there, don't you think?

"Bents are slower than DFs over all" or "Race records prove bents are slow" etc. etc. etc.

Yet which type of bike currently holds the Human Powered Vehicle speed records from the annual race at Battle Mountain.? A Bent!

Which type of bikes have been outlawed from cycling federation sanctioned races? Bents!

Now understand that as Johnny NoCom@ pointed out an another site, I am an old fat illigetimate person who rides a bike that is built for comfort not speed, but I can "blow the doors off" other older but skinnier than I duffers who are riding DFs in their lycra cycling clothes. And it really doesn't take any effort. The key to my success is the fact that I am riding a BENT! with a silly grin on my face.

The one I really loved was when a contemperary (similarly aged male) with a skinny tired racing cycle commented that "Bents cannot climb" but then when we climbed an hill to an overpass to cross a four lane road I passed him on the up grade! I guess that some bents can climb.

__________________
Ken the Troll
I live South of the Mighty Mackinaw Bridge
Riding 2003 Rans V-Rex