Dawes Kara Kum

[Brian G]

I'm planning for a Land's End - John o' Groats next year, but none of my
bikes want to come, so naturally I'll need a new one. I don't use drops
any more and at 60 I'll be far too young for a recumbent ;-)

The bike I'm thinking about at the moment is the Dawes Kara Kum. Does
anyone have experience of this model, good bad or indifferent?
--
Brian G

 

[Peter Clinch]

Brian G wrote:
> I'm planning for a Land's End - John o' Groats next year, but none of my
> bikes want to come, so naturally I'll need a new one. I don't use drops
> any more and at 60 I'll be far too young for a recumbent ;-)

In which case at 39 I'm far, far too young, but I ride one anyway. And
I ride one because I just find it more enjoyable covering miles looking
where I'm going by default with no weight on my arms and shoulders.
Give it a go before you write it off, if you'll be riding the best part
of 1000 miles and are getting a bike specially for the job, might as
well be as comfy as possible...

> The bike I'm thinking about at the moment is the Dawes Kara Kum. Does
> anyone have experience of this model, good bad or indifferent?

None, I'm afraid, though another one to throw into the ring for flat bar
good quality tourer would be various offerings from Thorn. Folk I know
with those have been very happy with them.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Dave Larrington]

In article <[email protected]>, Peter Clinch
([email protected]) wrote:
> Brian G wrote:
> > I'm planning for a Land's End - John o' Groats next year, but none of my
> > bikes want to come, so naturally I'll need a new one. I don't use drops
> > any more and at 60 I'll be far too young for a recumbent ;-)
>
> In which case at 39 I'm far, far too young, but I ride one anyway.

I bought my first one at the advanced age of 25...

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
You can't have ham!

 

[Arthur Clune]

Dave Larrington wrote:
>
> I bought my first one at the advanced age of 25...

But we all know it's nothing to do with age. One's
suitability for a recumbant is the product of two
factors a) visible body hair and b) aero belly size.

The higher the better. For the body hair bit, hair
on head, or lack thereof doesn't count

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

 

[wafflycat]

"Brian G" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm planning for a Land's End - John o' Groats next year, but none of my
> bikes want to come, so naturally I'll need a new one. I don't use drops
> any more and at 60 I'll be far too young for a recumbent ;-)
>
> The bike I'm thinking about at the moment is the Dawes Kara Kum. Does
> anyone have experience of this model, good bad or indifferent?
> --
> Brian G

Oi! Some of us have many years to go before we reach 60 and we still ride
recumbents!
Cheers, helen s ;-)

 

[Jon is Away!]

Arthur Clune wrote:
> Dave Larrington wrote:
> >
> > I bought my first one at the advanced age of 25...

And I built my first, at the equally advanced age of 24... IIRC, memory
appears to be failing me.

> But we all know it's nothing to do with age. One's
> suitability for a recumbant is the product of two
> factors a) visible body hair and b) aero belly size.

a) As long as I continue to wear a respectable level of clothing,
visible body hair is not great an issue (No Helen... no jpegs!)
b) Steadily increasing due to consumption of French food and lack of
cycling. I'm loath to reduce the former, so must consider ways to
increase the latter.

Jon

 

[John B]

Brian G wrote:

> I'm planning for a Land's End - John o' Groats next year, but none of my
> bikes want to come, so naturally I'll need a new one. I don't use drops
> any more and at 60 I'll be far too young for a recumbent ;-)

Hey! I'm younger than you and one reason I got my 'bent was for teh E2E ;-)

Go for it. It's a brilliant excuse to wave the light sabre.

John B

 

[wafflycat]

"Jon is Away!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> a) As long as I continue to wear a respectable level of clothing,
> visible body hair is not great an issue (No Helen... no jpegs!)

I hereby publicly annopunce I have no photos of Jon, clothed or unclothed
and I have no idea of his body hair - amount or distribution of...

Cheers, helen s



> b) Steadily increasing due to consumption of French food and lack of
> cycling. I'm loath to reduce the former, so must consider ways to
> increase the latter.
>
> Jon
>

 

[Danny Colyer]

wafflycat wrote:
> I hereby publicly annopunce I have no photos of Jon, clothed or unclothed
> and I have no idea of his body hair - amount or distribution of...

Whereas we all now know that Helen herself shaves regularly ;->

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Subscribe to PlusNet <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/referral/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

 

[wafflycat]

"Danny Colyer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> wafflycat wrote:
>> I hereby publicly annopunce I have no photos of Jon, clothed or unclothed
>> and I have no idea of his body hair - amount or distribution of...
>
> Whereas we all now know that Helen herself shaves regularly ;->
>

Indeedee ;-)

Cheers, helen s

 

[Brian G]

Peter Clinch wrote:
> Brian G wrote:

>> The bike I'm thinking about at the moment is the Dawes Kara Kum. Does
>> anyone have experience of this model, good bad or indifferent?
>
> None, I'm afraid, though another one to throw into the ring for flat bar
> good quality tourer would be various offerings from Thorn. Folk I know
> with those have been very happy with them.

Thank you. The Thorn Sherpa is certainly on the short list, if rather
near the pricey end of it!

--
Brian G

 

[Mike Causer]

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 18:12:13 +0000, wafflycat wrote:

> I hereby publicly annopunce I have no photos of Jon, clothed or unclothed


Easily solved! Here is a picture of Jon (closest to the camera):
http://www.mikecauser.com/images/jon.jpg

If that doesn't reveal enough of him, try this one:
http://www.mikecauser.com/images/benters2.jpg
(hint: he's not the one sneaking off for a pee in the bushes...)


Mike

 

[John Redman]

> In which case at 39 I'm far, far too young, but I ride one anyway. And
> I ride one because I just find it more enjoyable covering miles looking
> where I'm going by default with no weight on my arms and shoulders.

If there is no weight on your arms, that means there is more weight than
needs be on your backside. With an End to End ride, that is going to be
very uncomfortable. One should aim to have the weight more evenly balanced
between the three areas of the body that touch the bike, namely feet hands
and backside.

John R

 

[Colin McKenzie]

Brian G wrote:
> I'm planning for a Land's End - John o' Groats next year, but none of my
> bikes want to come, so naturally I'll need a new one. I don't use drops
> any more and at 60 I'll be far too young for a recumbent ;-)
>
> The bike I'm thinking about at the moment is the Dawes Kara Kum. Does
> anyone have experience of this model, good bad or indifferent?

I test-rode one before settling for the cheaper Sonoran. It seemed
light and fast, with a good rack - but then I'm used to riding with a
minimum of 5kg on the rack.

I found it a little hard to control steering and braking at the same
time, probably because I'm used to wider handlebars. If you're used to
drops it might well be the same as you're used to.

HTH

Colin McKenzie

 

[Call me Bob]

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 20:52:23 -0000, "John Redman"
<[email protected]> wrote:

... on recumbents...
>> I ride one because I just find it more enjoyable covering miles looking
>> where I'm going by default with no weight on my arms and shoulders.

>If there is no weight on your arms, that means there is more weight than
>needs be on your backside. With an End to End ride, that is going to be
>very uncomfortable.

On the contrary, most recumbents distribute your body weight through
much more than just your ****. Mine, for example, is designed so the
riding position is laid right back as if in a fully reclined LayzBoy
armchair. Weight is supported from my bum all the way up the spine -
it's far more comfy, for me at least, than being perched on bum and
hands.


"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

 

[Pete Connors]

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 20:03:24 +0000, Brian G <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Peter Clinch wrote:
>> Brian G wrote:
>
>>> The bike I'm thinking about at the moment is the Dawes Kara Kum. Does
>>> anyone have experience of this model, good bad or indifferent?
>>
>> None, I'm afraid, though another one to throw into the ring for flat bar
>> good quality tourer would be various offerings from Thorn. Folk I know
>> with those have been very happy with them.
>
>Thank you. The Thorn Sherpa is certainly on the short list, if rather
>near the pricey end of it!

A Sherpa carried this 58 yr old 15st (the half I lost has gone back on
again) along a LEJOG. The reliability was very good; nothing went
wrong except with my physiology!

--
Pete

 

[Nick Kew]

wafflycat wrote:

> Oi! Some of us have many years to go before we reach 60 and we still
> ride recumbents!
> Cheers, helen s ;-)

Age is a matter of mind. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

Nothing so vulgar as the number of thy years.

--
not me guv

 

[Peter Clinch]

John Redman wrote:

> If there is no weight on your arms, that means there is more weight than
> needs be on your backside. With an End to End ride, that is going to be
> very uncomfortable.

You /really/ haven't thought about that one... The weight isn't all on
one's bum on a touring recumbent, it's spread the whole way along your
back as well. With an E2E is will be much /more/ comfortable.

> One should aim to have the weight more evenly balanced
> between the three areas of the body that touch the bike, namely feet hands
> and backside.

No, one should aim to minimise the total pressure through increasing
surface area, not simply adding small contact points. The surface area
I have taking my weight is several times greater than that taking it on
an upright so the pressure on any one point is considerably less, and
the areas taking the pressure are used to it and have evolved to take
it, which can't be said for arms.

I moved to recumbents from an upright trad tourer with a good Brooks
saddle (still used on my freight bike). It was, for an upright bike,
quite a comfortable setup, but nowhere near as good as my recumbent.
The only place I ever get aches is in my leg muscles after considerable use.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Steve W]

"and at 60 I'll be far too young for a recumbent"

Dangerous talk!!!!


SW



"Brian G" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm planning for a Land's End - John o' Groats next year, but none of my
> bikes want to come, so naturally I'll need a new one. I don't use drops
> any more and at 60 I'll be far too young for a recumbent ;-)
>
> The bike I'm thinking about at the moment is the Dawes Kara Kum. Does
> anyone have experience of this model, good bad or indifferent?
> --
> Brian G