JTE83 said:
How much faster are recumbents to road bikes? Like does anyone here have a good road bike and a good recumbent bike ? What is your average cruising speed on both? What is your top speed on both?
I might get a recumbent one day, like an Optima Baron but I already have 10 bikes already.
Like if someone averages 18 to 20 mph cruising on a road bike how fast will he cruise on a recumbent ?
My last road bike was a Trek 1000, about 1991 vintage. Up to then, my best average speed for a century was 18 mph, done by huge amounts of drafting. I was mostly a 17 mph rider.
I got a V-Rex and my speed... was the same or slower. That was somewhat disappointing, but got it for comfort, not speed. Still, speed was a goal so I added a homemade fairing. The first one didn't help much. A newer design helped more. I'm on version 4.2 now, and it helps about 10% at speeds over 17 mph. With the fairing, I've done sub-6 centuries which, not counting rest stops, have averaged 20+ mph; and not had to draft to do it.
About the same time as fairing version 4.0 came out, I was still lusting for more speed, so I got a Baron. Instant gratification! I bought it used, and when I took it on my first club ride I didn't even have it shifting properly yet. In spite of that I won the traditional sign sprint. I didn't just win, I
annihilated everyone! The studs in the group freaked when I went flying past them; it was like I had a jet engine. Since then, I've gotten my best century time down to 4:20 without drafting.
Thinking back, that's a 5-6 mph increase over my old upright, and I no longer need to draft to do it. So, overall, I'm pretty pleased with the performance I've seen out of my bents.