recumbent frustration

[Steve Christens]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
>
>Gary,
>
>My V-Rex did the same thing. If you call RANS they will send you a shim for your seat free of
>charge that will help keep the seat from moving. It worked for me.
>
>Scott.
>

>news:<[email protected]>...
>> Cletus Lee <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > In addition to spinning, you need to fine tune the seat to pedal distance. a change of 1/4" can
>> > make a big difference.
>>
>> This has always bothered me. On my V-Rex seat, my butt slides all over the place. I'd say there's
>> at least 1", probably more like 2" of travel while I ride. How can I fine-tune the seat/pedal
>> distance by 1/4" if my "seat" is moving 1-2" all the time??
>>
>> Gary

I may be wrong here, but I sort of thought Gary meant his butt moved around on the seat, not that
the seat moved on the frame. (Which we all know does happen with RANS seats.)

If RANS has a shim to keep your butt from sliding around on the seat, I sure would be interested in
seeing one! ; )

Steve Christensen Midland, MI

 

[Steve Christens]

In article <[email protected]>, "Eugene says...
>
>Your experience is similar to mine and all but one of the people in my area, that I know. I have a
>Strada and can not ride with the guys I always rode with on my upright. After several thousand
>miles, I've decided to sell the Strada and try to get back to the DF, if medical conditions permit.
>If not, I'd rather not ride than be frustrated on a recumbent. I'm a 5-10,000 mile a year rider and
>the recumbent just doesn't do it for me on the hilly terrain I ride in. Even on the flats I've
>tried, it just ain't fun. I know lots of folks on this group love their bents, but they apparently
>aren't for most people, that's why you rarely see them. Good luck in your attempt to enjoy the
>bent, but like I said they're not for everyone.

Bents may not be for everyone, but I submit that if you are (were?) a 5 to 10 K a year rodie, you
are hardly everyone either! And while hard core rodies might be a bit disappointed in recumbent
performance (at least initially), cyclists at this level of performance can not make up a very big
percentage of the all the people out there buying bikes.

Steve Christensen

 

[Anonymous]

Steve Christensen <[email protected]> wrote:
> I may be wrong here, but I sort of thought Gary meant his butt moved around on the seat, not that
> the seat moved on the frame. (Which we all know does happen with RANS seats.)

Yup, that's the problem.

> If RANS has a shim to keep your butt from sliding around on the seat, I sure would be interested
> in seeing one! ; )

Hmmm, super glue?? Maybe some spikes in the seat to "secure" your backside from moving around??

Gary

 

[Tom Blum]

I have to agree ans say "I feel your pain!!"

Reading about bents, on line, it DOES sound like the speed advantage (at least on the flat) is
automatic. I, for one, and many others in this group, didn't find thisto be so.

However, I have to say, that the comfort and novelty more than made up the difference. Today, after
about two years bent, I can say that I'm a couple of miles per hour faster on my tour easy clone. My
low racer clone is no faster than the ERC, which puzzles me.

Apparently each type of bicycle/bent carries it's own group of physical needs. Some have the build,
or musculature,to get immediate speed benefits. Others, like me, don't.

--
Miles of Smiles,

Tom Blum Winter Haven, Florida Homebuilts: SWB Tour Easy Clone Speed Machine Clone

www.gate.net/~teblum

 

[Cletus Lee]

> Cletus Lee <[email protected]> wrote:
> > In addition to spinning, you need to fine tune the seat to pedal distance. a change of 1/4" can
> > make a big difference.
>
> This has always bothered me. On my V-Rex seat, my butt slides all over the place. I'd say there's
> at least 1", probably more like 2" of travel while I ride. How can I fine-tune the seat/pedal
> distance by 1/4" if my "seat" is moving 1-2" all the time??

Sometimes when I am having trouble staying awake, I have been known to slouch in my seat too. I am
sure this is the 1-2" that you are refering to. However, when torqueing the pedals or applying the
most power possible, your butt is firmly back against the seat. I think it is this fine tuning that
is critical to the knees and knee pain. I think with a closed position seat like the Lightning when
your back is to the wall, the potential for knee damage over time is more likely than with a more
reclined seat like a RANS or an M-5.
--

Cletus D. Lee Bacchetta Giro Lightning Voyager http://www.clee.org
- Bellaire, TX USA -

 

[Tom Sherman]

cbb wrote:
>
> It sounds like upright riders with lots of miles have a more difficult time transitioning to a
> recumbent than the more casual riders. I only rode bicycles occasionally before getting my first
> bent. I've believe I am definately more efficient on my recumbent on flat to rolling terrain. I am
> 20+ pounds overweight and nearly all my rides this year are the 8.5 mile ride through the city to
> work and back. Yet I have completed two centuries this year (6 hr on bike 7 hr total). I wasn't
> fast but I wasn't that slow either. On the last ride I was really hurting after pushing myself too
> much on the first 80 miles. But the last 20 was very flat with a strong head wind, I was riding
> with a cyclist that was atleast 40 lbs lighter than me and had many more miles in. While I was
> able to easily maintain 18mph he struggled the whole way due to the wind. This was the strongest
> evidence I have seen of the advantage of recumbent aerodynamics (other than the fact I always pull
> away quickly on any kind of hill)....

Lowracer vs. upright into a headwind is not at all fair.

Tom Sherman - Quad Cities USA (Illinois side)

 

[Cbb]

Tom Sherman <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> cbb wrote:
> >
> > It sounds like upright riders with lots of miles have a more difficult time transitioning to a
> > recumbent than the more casual riders. I only rode bicycles occasionally before getting my first
> > bent. I've believe I am definately more efficient on my recumbent on flat to rolling terrain. I
> > am 20+ pounds overweight and nearly all my rides this year are the 8.5 mile ride through the
> > city to work and back. Yet I have completed two centuries this year (6 hr on bike 7 hr total). I
> > wasn't fast but I wasn't that slow either. On the last ride I was really hurting after pushing
> > myself too much on the first 80 miles. But the last 20 was very flat with a strong head wind, I
> > was riding with a cyclist that was atleast 40 lbs lighter than me and had many more miles in.
> > While I was able to easily maintain 18mph he struggled the whole way due to the wind. This was
> > the strongest evidence I have seen of the advantage of recumbent aerodynamics (other than the
> > fact I always pull away quickly on any kind of hill)....
>
> Lowracer vs. upright into a headwind is not at all fair.
>
> Tom Sherman - Quad Cities USA (Illinois side)

Your right its not fair. The upright cyclist I was riding with commented to that affect many times
during the ride. But I'll take any advantage I can get. I am not a strong rider and I am over
weight but with my recumbent I can complete rides like that century in comfort and in a reasonable
time. Craig

 

[Geob]

> Reading about bents, on line, it DOES sound like the speed advantage (at least on the flat) is
> automatic.

I was an occasional upright rider before my bent. I have a nice 8 mile ride to work. I'd do that a
couple times a week. I was out of condition, overweight, sedentary, balding (but that should add
speed, right?) middle-aged (but to say that I should really have to know when I will die). I used to
travel at 10-12 mph. I used all of my gears for some mild hills on my route.

I bought a Vision R40. Now, after 1 year and 1750 miles, I travel at 16-18, am still overweight but
working on it. I use a gear about 5-6 on my middle chain ring, even up these mild hills, and I go
about 3X faster up them than before. I don't feel tired after a ride at all, unlike before.

I am considering some serious bicycle touring next year and am committed to getting in better
condition and dropping 40 lbs.

 

[Steve Christens]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
>
>> Reading about bents, on line, it DOES sound like the speed advantage (at least on the flat) is
>> automatic.
>
>I was an occasional upright rider before my bent. I have a nice 8 mile ride to work. I'd do that a
>couple times a week. I was out of condition, overweight, sedentary, balding (but that should add
>speed, right?) middle-aged (but to say that I should really have to know when I will die). I used
>to travel at 10-12 mph. I used all of my gears for some mild hills on my route.
>
>I bought a Vision R40. Now, after 1 year and 1750 miles, I travel at 16-18, am still overweight but
>working on it. I use a gear about 5-6 on my middle chain ring, even up these mild hills, and I go
>about 3X faster up them than before. I don't feel tired after a ride at all, unlike before.
>
>I am considering some serious bicycle touring next year and am committed to getting in better
>condition and dropping 40 lbs.

That is a great story. What is special about recumbents is that there are lots of people just like
this who would not be riding at all (or riding nearly as much) if they hadn't found a recumbent
bike. To me that is a lot more significant than whether you can keep up with a 25 mph pace line in a
club ride (which I can, but it's awfully hard work).

Steve Christensen

 

[Risto Varanka]

Victor Kan <[email protected]_uceloopdrive.net> wrote:
: baronn1 wrote: My experience these past few months has been in the opposite direction of most
: folks in this newsgroup. Back in May, I purchased an upright bike, a Specialized Sequoia Sport
: road bike with various, alleged comfort features (some are really to make it easier to manufacture
: and stock fewer models to cover a wider range of potential buyers), like:

Why a road bike? A hybrid bike could be very nice for short commutes and more flexible for all
around riding. Maybe you don't see speedy riding as that important so you don't have a
speed-optimized recumbent

: Today I had special motivation with the thunder clouds blowing in and did a personal best on my
: commute route home, reaching 19.3 MPH average on the bike based on real clock time (I must have
: moved my wheel magnet when pumping the tires 'cuz the computer wasn't working properly tonight),
: whereas when I rode to work on the trike this morning, I eeked out a 15.1 MPH ride on the
: slightly easier route (about a mile longer, but fewer big hills) coming into work, based on
: auto-start ride time.

I'm starting to think that to be fast, recumbents have to be really speed-optimized. No compromises
or you blow it. For related notes you can see my Jester experiences at
http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/jester.html . I never owned a bent of my own but my experience
base is getting larger.

Bents can be faster, more comfortable and safer than uprights, but not all of it at a time. Bents
have more freedom in design choices, but you have to make some... What I'm interested in is what
kind of sweet spots would work nicely.

Well maybe velomobiles can be better than uprights in most aspects, but they are expensive,
heavier, etc :_)

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html varis at no spam please iki fi

 

[Risto Varanka]

Rongmal <[email protected]> wrote:
: I got my first bent, a Lightning Thunderbolt A-10, last November, and after about 2500 miles, my
: speeds are about 2mph higher than my DF

I have done 2500 miles since last November on my upright hybrid, and I do about 2 mph higher
speeds now.

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html varis at no spam please iki fi

 

[Risto Varanka]

Steve Christensen <[email protected]> wrote:
: Bents may not be for everyone, but I submit that if you are (were?) a 5 to 10 K a year rodie, you
: are hardly everyone either! And while hard core rodies might be a bit disappointed in recumbent
: performance (at least initially), cyclists at this level of performance can not make up a very big
: percentage of the all the people out there buying bikes.

Why would a hard core roadie be slower on a bent while an overweight casual rider would not? I admit
specialization (conditioning) to a platform can play a part, but is that really such a huge factor?

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html varis at no spam please iki fi

 

[Tom Blum]

Risto writes (Notice alliteration!!!)

"Why would a hard core roadie be slower on a bent while an overweight casual rider would not? I
admit specialization (conditioning) to a platform can play a part, but is that really such a
huge factor?"

No one said what you allege. The correct comparison would be a rabid roadie getting a bent and not
being instantly faster.

Us slow guys just stay relatively slow. Even overwieght casual riders get faster. Mainly because
it's so much fun that they ride more, thus being less casual and less overweight. ;-)

--
Miles of Smiles,

Tom Blum Winter Haven, Florida Homebuilts: SWB Tour Easy Clone Speed Machine Clone

www.gate.net/~teblum

 

[Risto Varanka]

GeoB <[email protected]> wrote:
: I was an occasional upright rider before my bent. I have a nice 8 mile ride to work. I'd do that a
: couple times a week. I was out of condition, overweight, sedentary, balding (but that should add
: speed, right?) middle-aged (but to say that I should really have to know when I will die). I used
: to travel at 10-12 mph. I used all of my gears for some mild hills on my route.

If you do that ride every day you work, it'll be like 3000 miles of riding each year.

Not so efficient training if you always ride at the same pace, though.

: I bought a Vision R40. Now, after 1 year and 1750 miles, I travel at 16-18, am still overweight
: but working on it. I use a gear about 5-6 on my middle chain ring, even up these mild hills, and I
: go about 3X faster up them than before. I don't feel tired after a ride at all, unlike before.

Could be just the effect from better motivation. You ride more and sometimes you ride harder too.

Other than that, the bent probably has smooth high-pressure tires, better components with less drag,
could be lighter, and a more sporty design overall...

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html varis at no spam please iki fi

 

[Victor Kan]

> : My experience these past few months has been in the opposite direction of most folks in this
> : newsgroup. Back in May, I purchased an upright bike, a Specialized Sequoia Sport road bike with
> : various, alleged comfort features (some are really to make it easier to manufacture and stock
> : fewer models to cover a wider range of potential buyers), like:
>
> Why a road bike? A hybrid bike could be very nice for short commutes and more flexible for all
> around riding. Maybe you don't see speedy riding as that important so you don't have a
> speed-optimized recumbent

I do see speedy riding as important--that's partly why I got the road bike. Speedy riding just isn't
the main goal for me on the Trike.

As for why I didn't get a hybrid? Because I don't like MTB style bars, even if they are raised up
with "antlers" like hybrids have them.

--
I do not accept unsolicted commercial e-mail. Remove NO_UCE for legitimate replies.

 

[Dave Larrington]

[email protected] wrote:

> Bents can be faster, more comfortable and safer than uprights, but not all of it at a time.

I think I must take issue with the above. I find both the Baron and the Speedmachine to be faster
and more comfortable than uprights (Neil Fleming told me recently that he used to set up his Baron
on the turbo trainer in the living room and use it as a chair) and as for safety:

o less far to fall o less anonymous

And so on. Having said that, I *did* manage to drop the Speedmachine on Sunday morning after a close
encounter with some gravel at a junction, but managed to get both a hand and a foot down, thus
limiting damage to a sprained dignity.

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
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