Mike Sales wrote:
> If this is so it may well not improve. I think that a recumbent
> may be the answer. I would appreciate any advice the varied brains of this
> group could give, as to which model.
Best way to decide is ride as many as you can. UK dealers tend to work
with lots of demo bikes, and the Usual Suspects are Kinetics (Glasgow),
Laidback (Edinburgh), Norman Fay (South Shields), Futurecycles (E.
Sussex), London Recumbents (London & Brighton), Bikefix (London) and
D-Tek (Ely).
Also consider a trip over the North Sea to NL, where you can play at the
likes of Ligfietswinkel in Amsterdam and Ligfiets Centrum in Brielle
(and several others too). Westcountry Recumbents (Hull), but they're
trikes only IIRC)
> I strongly prefer bikes to trikes. Weight is important, but I would like
> the possibility of guards and rack.
Most 'bents are characterised with a huge range of options fitted at
delivery, so you can have minimalist or maximalist and everything in
between.
> Preferably not suspension, but I
> appreciate that it is common on HPVs.
It's easy enough to get an unsuspended one if you want, but don't write
it off. My first 'bent didn't have any and when it got written off I
was a bit suspicious of suspension as I'd done fine without it, but with
hindsight it's actually Rather Good. It does make more sense n a 'bent:
first off, you're not going up and down so there's much less tendency to
pogo, and second off, you can't stand on the pedals and use your own
legs as shockers on the rough bits.
Done properly (and quite a lot of them are done proerly) the suspension
actually makes the bike more efficient over anything other than
billiard-table class tarmac. Extra comfort is more of a side benefit
than anything else.
Back to the "ride everything you can" advice, you should end up on both
suspended and unsuspended bikes: try before deciding.
> I am a competent mechanic, so building
> or rebuilding is no problem. I had a Kingcycle years ago, found it twisty
> and had to tilt the seat back to accomodate my lack of knee bend.
Underseat steering will get you around most problems of knee bend,
tiller-type overseat is also unlikely to cause knee conflicts.
Beyond that, try and narrow down *functionally* what sort of bike you
want: my 'bent is a tourer, and actually has more in common with a
Galaxy than a lowracer recumbent. What sort of "normal" bike would you
be after if you were buying a new one with no arthritis gotchas? If we
know that, we can match functionally similar recumbents for a shortlist.
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/