Do bents go up hills?

In alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent on 13 May 2006 16:04:14 -0700

Fardog said:

Thinking about a bent. Live in South Carolina with rolling hills, some
longer than others, not too steep. Do the bents work on these? Thanks.

I'm not aware of any law of physics that says the rider position means
a bike cant proceed up a hill...

A light bike goes up more easily than a heavy one, you can't get out
of the saddle to use your body weight on a bent, you are limited in
the amount of thrust your legs can generate on an upright before you
lift yourself up from the saddle.

Meaning: They climb hills more or less like an upright of equivalent
weight, but you use different muscles which you have to develop.

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone said:

In alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent on 13 May 2006 16:04:14 -0700

Fardog said:

Thinking about a bent. Live in South Carolina with rolling hills, some
longer than others, not too steep. Do the bents work on these? Thanks.

I'm not aware of any law of physics that says the rider position means
a bike cant proceed up a hill...

A light bike goes up more easily than a heavy one, you can't get out
of the saddle to use your body weight on a bent, you are limited in
the amount of thrust your legs can generate on an upright before you
lift yourself up from the saddle.

Meaning: They climb hills more or less like an upright of equivalent
weight, but you use different muscles which you have to develop.

Zebee

Doing moderate hills on a recumbent is just fine, if it's the right
bike. (The worst are those bents that look like they've made with a big
2x4, but I can't recall the manufacturer.) Most of the modern
recumbents climb pretty well.

Really steep hills, especially long ones, are a serious problem for
recumbents. I've done Mountains of Misery, near Blacksburg and Mountain
Lake, a couple of times... but the last 40 miles took me all day to
complete. (The first 60 were relatively easy.) There were recumbents
that finished ahead of me, but none were much of a challenge to the
uprights.

Tom Sherman said he was going to do MoM on a trike, but hasn't attempted
it so far. I'm now to fat to do it, probably.

"Freewheeling" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

In alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent on 13 May 2006 16:04:14 -0700

Fardog said:

Thinking about a bent. Live in South Carolina with rolling hills, some
longer than others, not too steep. Do the bents work on these? Thanks.

I'm not aware of any law of physics that says the rider position means
a bike cant proceed up a hill...

A light bike goes up more easily than a heavy one, you can't get out
of the saddle to use your body weight on a bent, you are limited in
the amount of thrust your legs can generate on an upright before you
lift yourself up from the saddle.

Meaning: They climb hills more or less like an upright of equivalent
weight, but you use different muscles which you have to develop.

Zebee

Doing moderate hills on a recumbent is just fine, if it's the right bike.
(The worst are those bents that look like they've made with a big 2x4, but
I can't recall the manufacturer.) Most of the modern recumbents climb
pretty well.

I think you were describing my Infinity.

Quoted message said:

Really steep hills, especially long ones, are a serious problem for
recumbents. I've done Mountains of Misery, near Blacksburg and Mountain
Lake, a couple of times... but the last 40 miles took me all day to
complete. (The first 60 were relatively easy.) There were recumbents
that finished ahead of me, but none were much of a challenge to the
uprights.

Yup, long steep mountain climbs are for the birds on a recumbent. My advice
is to stay out of the mountains on a recumbent. Recumbents love the flats,
the flatter the better.

Quoted message said:

Tom Sherman said he was going to do MoM on a trike, but hasn't attempted
it so far. I'm now to fat to do it, probably.

Anyone know where Tom Sherman has disappeared to? He has not posted to ARBR
for many months now.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Fardog said:

Thinking about a bent. Live in South Carolina with rolling hills, some
longer than others, not too steep. Do the bents work on these? Thanks.

Go to:
http://www.lightningbikes.com/cyber.htm

and click on one of the movies under the title:
Can a recumbent climb hills?

R+
Be

Fardog said:

Thinking about a bent. Live in South Carolina with rolling hills, some
longer than others, not too steep. Do the bents work on these? Thanks.

For some values of 'bents, yes. For others, not really, in which
respect they're no different from uprights...

As long as you have suitable gears and are happy spinning them,
rather than standing on your pedals, to get up hills then a 'bent
ought to get there. I've done a climb of just short of 1000'
vertical feet with sections of 1 in 6 on my (quite heavy) touring
'bent, carrying 4 panniers of gear and I got up it okay. Bottom
gear is (IIRC) about 23".

Being able to push against the seat is a fairly good substitute for
a lot of what you can get standing on the pedals, but for me the
real key is spinning low gears. On a trike rather than a bike you
can gear it as low as you want and go as slow as you want, 'cause
you're not going to topple over! On a suitable low geared trike
you can get up insane hills, with traction the main limiting factor.

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 hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

I live in New Hampshire and have a LWB, USS recumbent. My bike is heavy
and I usually tour self contained with about 50 to 60 pounds of gear. I
probably have the worse recumbent for hills except a BikeE and I like
riding the mountains.

I have ridden most of the Mountains in New England and Atlantic Canada
plus Corsica, Sardinia, Italy, France, and Croatia. The secret is not
too worry about how fast you are going. Yes, there are hills you can't
climb, but normal folks on diamond frames can't climb them either.

While riding the Gaspe Peninsula (hills were marked with grades in the
20% range), I used to decide to walk when I was riding slower than the
folks on diamond frames were walking. That's my general rule, I walk
when it is faster.

Out of the box, most bikes are not set up to climb steep hills but
standard XT gearing will do it just fine. I usually put a 34 on the
rear not the 32 and standard mountain on the front. So if a Ryan
Vanguard can climb, I think most lighter recumbents should do fine.

Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee can be tough biking but if
you aren't in a hurry and you prepare they are beautiful riding.

Roland
Dover, NH

[email hidden said:

"] That's my general rule, I walk
when it is faster.

Out of the box, most bikes are not set up to climb steep hills but
standard XT gearing will do it just fine. I usually put a 34 on the
rear not the 32 and standard mountain on the front. So if a Ryan
Vanguard can climb, I think most lighter recumbents should do fine.

Gearing and training are the major factors. Discuss gearing options seriously with your LBS or manufacturer before purchase, you can often trade in the standard crankset for something more suited to your terrain on an initial purchase. You'll want to ride clipless. You'll want to be able to unclip uphill without kissing the pavement. I ride BeBops for easy in easy out and certain clipin.

Initially I unclipped when my speed dropped below ~5 mph. There is a learning curve for slow ascents. Now, it's around 3 mph.

Don't think that because you can outclimb a goat on your DF that you will automatically transmit that to your 'bent. Different sets of muscles, and we mostly spin out of consideration for our knees.

So long as bike weight is 30 lbs. or so that is not the major factor. Your weight is often much more significant, and more easily reduced.

No. Just like uprights, recumbents do not work on hills. Also like
uprights, if the rider pedals and does the "work", they can and will
climb on a recumbent. Generally speaking, on steep climbs (say overe
8%), the same rider will be faster on an upright than on a recumbent
largely because you can stand on the pedals on an upright.

Jim

Fardog said:

Thinking about a bent. Live in South Carolina with rolling hills, some
longer than others, not too steep. Do the bents work on these? Thanks.

As others have said, bikes don't climb hills, riders do. The thing
about recumbents is that they *are* more efficient on the flats and
downhills (better aero), so they can make a weaker rider feel like
Superman. When the climbing starts (and aero is less important), it's
like Kryptonite.

I've ridden my Tour Easy up Mount Hood (the 6,000 foot level) a couple
times. I got passed by a few uprights, but then I'm 220 pounds- not
your classic "climber". It was fun coming down, though- on the long
straight stretches of Highway 35, I had a paceline of uprights behind
me.

To see what a powerful rider can do on a recumbent, read this article:
http://jimlangley.net/ride/easyracers.html

Jeff

Jeff Wills said:

The thing
about recumbents is that they *are* more efficient on the flats and
downhills (better aero)

For some values of "recumbent". I /very/ much doubt a BikeE with
fat tyres is more efficient than a time trial DF.

*potentially* more efficient, perhaps.

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 hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Edward Dolan said:

"Freewheeling" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

In alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent on 13 May 2006 16:04:14 -0700
Fardog <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Thinking about a bent. Live in South Carolina with rolling hills, some
> longer than others, not too steep. Do the bents work on these? Thanks.
I'm not aware of any law of physics that says the rider position means
a bike cant proceed up a hill...

A light bike goes up more easily than a heavy one, you can't get out
of the saddle to use your body weight on a bent, you are limited in
the amount of thrust your legs can generate on an upright before you
lift yourself up from the saddle.

Meaning: They climb hills more or less like an upright of equivalent
weight, but you use different muscles which you have to develop.

Zebee

Doing moderate hills on a recumbent is just fine, if it's the right bike.
(The worst are those bents that look like they've made with a big 2x4, but
I can't recall the manufacturer.) Most of the modern recumbents climb
pretty well.

I think you were describing my Infinity.

Yeah that's it, a Linear Infinity.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Really steep hills, especially long ones, are a serious problem for
recumbents. I've done Mountains of Misery, near Blacksburg and Mountain
Lake, a couple of times... but the last 40 miles took me all day to
complete. (The first 60 were relatively easy.) There were recumbents
that finished ahead of me, but none were much of a challenge to the
uprights.

Yup, long steep mountain climbs are for the birds on a recumbent. My advice
is to stay out of the mountains on a recumbent. Recumbents love the flats,
the flatter the better.

Quoted message said:

Tom Sherman said he was going to do MoM on a trike, but hasn't attempted
it so far. I'm now to fat to do it, probably.

Anyone know where Tom Sherman has disappeared to? He has not posted to ARBR
for many months now.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

bernward halfkann said:

Fardog said:

Thinking about a bent. Live in South Carolina with rolling hills, some
longer than others, not too steep. Do the bents work on these? Thanks.

Go to:
http://www.lightningbikes.com/cyber.htm

and click on one of the movies under the title:
Can a recumbent climb hills?

R+
Be

There's usually a P38 "in the pack" at Mountains of Misery, finishing
way ahead of me. But he's nowhere near the front at the end. Of course
the MoM is much tougher than the typical ride, even in mountain terrain.