recumbent info

critical mass ??????

or there is a guy called moz up there who should help you out

--
D
----------------------------------------------------------
Dallas

When in doubt, jiggle the cable.
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Quoted message said:

I have been pondering the possibility of riding the 20km or so to work,
but I don't think I want to do it on an upright.

But will a recumbent be any better?

Can anyone point me to a group or forum or mailing list where people
living in Sydney using recumbents might be found?

Zebee

Dear Zebee,

if you're free tonight for Critical Mass around 5.30-6.00 get to Hyde Park
near the fountain. People will be milling around and chilling out waiting to
start. There should be at least one or two recumbants there, and they'll
have advice on how to check out recumbants.

Additionally, the latest Australian Cyclist has five recumant tourers
pictured.

yours,
Sam.

Zebee Johnstone said:

I have been pondering the possibility of riding the 20km or so to work,
but I don't think I want to do it on an upright.

But will a recumbent be any better?

Can anyone point me to a group or forum or mailing list where people
living in Sydney using recumbents might be found?

Zebee

--
Zebee Johnstone ([email hidden]), proud holder of
aus.motorcycles Poser Permit #1.
"Motorcycles are like peanuts... who can stop at just one?"

AFAIK, a recumbent is easier on the back and backside, but worse for visibility on busy roads. Having said that, I can't say I've ever seen a recumbent on Sydney's busier roads, though I've seen a few on the quieter ones. Go for it, especially if you have a route that avoids the busiest roads...

Ritch

Zebee Johnstone said:

I have been pondering the possibility of riding the 20km or so to work,
but I don't think I want to do it on an upright.

But will a recumbent be any better?

Can anyone point me to a group or forum or mailing list where people
living in Sydney using recumbents might be found?

Zebee

Some links: OzHPV and Moz Bikes

Hope this helps 🙂

Zebee Johnstone said:

I have been pondering the possibility of riding the 20km or so to work,
but I don't think I want to do it on an upright.

Quoted message said:

But will a recumbent be any better?

Quoted message said:

Can anyone point me to a group or forum or mailing list where people
living in Sydney using recumbents might be found?

The only problem with riding a recumbent to work is that you'd then have to grow a beard, as I can't think of anyone who rides a recumbent but doesn't have a beard. Sorta goes with the territory, I think.

More seriously, a few of the people in Bikenorth are recumbent devotees. Mainly Greenspeed trikes (for touring), but there are also a couple of M5 SWB bikes kicking around.

I don't know that a recumbent is any better than a wedgie for commuting - wedgies are a tad more manuverable than recumbents. Most of the people I know use them either for Audax or touring. Recumbents can be wicked fast - one of the guys I do Audax with did under 12 hours recently in the 400km cycle leg of the Sri Chinmoy triathlon in Canberra, on a carbon fibre lowracer recumbent.

The guy you really want to talk to is Ian Humphries. http://www.flyingfurniture.com.au He sells M5, NoCom, Airnimal, and all sorts of other good stuff.

Regards,

Suzy (who'd love a recumbent to play with but just can't grow that beard)

suzyj said:

The only problem with riding a recumbent to work is that you'd then have to grow a beard, as I can't think of anyone who rides a recumbent but doesn't have a beard. Sorta goes with the territory, I think.

Well, I'd love the beard to go with the bike but I find that the bugs keep getting caught up in it after they bounce up the aerobelly (tm)

Gues I'll just have to stick to the long socks.. 🙂

I reckon that a recumbent for commuting is pretty good.
I ride in Sydney on a few different versions and mostly its pretty good.
Some of the loss of manouverability is offset by the shear speed and smile factor..

If anyones after a recumbent I have a SWB Kotzur up for sale... Drop me a line for pics and info.

Tom

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:56:38 +1100

casurina99 said:

Some of the loss of manouverability is offset by the shear speed and
smile factor..

Can you lanesplit?

Quoted message said:

If anyones after a recumbent I have a SWB Kotzur up for sale... Drop me
a line for pics and info.

I would, but the reply-to on this post which appeared in aus.bicycle is
invalid, so I have no idea who to email...

Zebee

suzyj said:

Zebee Johnstone wrote:

The only problem with riding a recumbent to work is that you'd then have to grow a beard, as I can't think of anyone who rides a recumbent but doesn't have a beard. Sorta goes with the territory, I think.

Suzy (who'd love a recumbent to play with but just can't grow that beard)

Preconcieved ideas and bias again.
I rode with 10 others from the OzHPV Canberra Mob for a pre work breakfast ride on Wednesday and none had beards.
Aero-bellys, yes, but not beards.
Pete (No beard)

Quoted message said:

But will a recumbent be any better?

Recent discussion on recumbent bike v recumbent trike that might be of interest to you
http://www.velovision.co.uk/forum/read.php?f=1&i=355&t=355

Poiter said:

Preconcieved ideas and bias again.

Did I mention they're a grumpy lot?

🙂

Regards,

Suzy

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 25 Feb 2005 01:57:51 GMT

Huw said:

Quoted message said:

But will a recumbent be any better?

Recent discussion on recumbent bike v recumbent trike that might be of interest to you
http://www.velovision.co.uk/forum/read.php?f=1&i=355&t=355

Yes, useful, thanks.

Looks like the CWLB thingo is a good idea for heavy traffic, I still
can't see how you can laneslpit on sydney roads in a trike.

Zebee

--
Zebee Johnstone ([email hidden]), proud holder of
aus.motorcycles Poser Permit #1.
"Motorcycles are like peanuts... who can stop at just one?"

suzyj said:

Quoted message said:

Preconcieved ideas and bias again.

Quoted message said:

Did I mention they're a grumpy lot?

I was going to bloody object to that! But realised you're right after all...
--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org>

Zebee Johnstone said:

Looks like the CWLB thingo is a good idea for heavy traffic, I still
can't see how you can laneslpit on sydney roads in a trike.

I do it often enough. There's usually enough room, though some back streets
are quite narrow. If there's enough room for a motorcycle, there's more than
enough room for a trike.

Though overall, I can't say that I've encountered enough traffic to hold me
up like that. I usually only stay on the more major roads if I can keep up a
reasonable pace with traffic, that is, on the flat or downhills.

On my commute, I cover most ground on existing bike tracks, and cover the
remaining road on back streets. The bike track adds about 15% to the journey
distance (compared to motorcycle), but it's still faster than a car or train.

Going home I use the main roads more because I don't hold up traffic, and
because it's mostly downhill, it saves a fair bit of distance and time by using
the roads.

It depends on where you're rinding really, I've done a bit of riding in the
City, and I can stay on the roads exclusively without holding up traffic, in
fact, in the city, it's the vehicluar traffic that holds me up.
--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org>

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:03:50 +1100

John Tserkezis said:

It depends on where you're rinding really, I've done a bit of riding in the
City, and I can stay on the roads exclusively without holding up traffic, in
fact, in the city, it's the vehicluar traffic that holds me up.

Be going from Campsie to North Sydney.

So that seems to be up Frederick St - probably wide enough to lanesplit
- then the City-West link, which has a breakdown lane for most of it,
across the Anzac Bridge which might get a bit tricky given the speeds
were 60kmh or so the time I crossed it in roughly the right timezone,
and there's a bunch of lanechanging involved. Then down, through city
streets, and up the Bridge bike lane, then into North Sydney.

Judging how much I had to split on the motorbike, I definitely want to
split on a pushbike.

another reason for using a CWLB is the height - easier to see, and
possibly easier to be seen. A trike is low enough that planning your
splits might be hard.

Zebee

--
Zebee Johnstone ([email hidden]), proud holder of
aus.motorcycles Poser Permit #1.
"Motorcycles are like peanuts... who can stop at just one?"

Zebee Johnstone said:

Be going from Campsie to North Sydney.

Ok, that would more or less force you onto major roads. I'm doing Ashfield
to Pennant Hills, which doesn't have anything like your sort of traffic, except
in certain sections that I easily route around anyway.

Quoted message said:

So that seems to be up Frederick St - probably wide enough to lanesplit
- then the City-West link, which has a breakdown lane for most of it,
across the Anzac Bridge which might get a bit tricky given the speeds
were 60kmh or so the time I crossed it in roughly the right timezone,

You should be able to do at least 40 odd on a trike or recumbent, which would
be reasonable in traffic. I've found cars are pretty tolerant of trikes so at
least for short stints like that you won't have any trouble.

Quoted message said:

and there's a bunch of lanechanging involved.
Then down, through city streets,

You shouldn't have any trouble in the city. In peak hour, it's probably
faster if you walk... :-) You can certainly get away with more WRT
lanesplitting with an upright bike though.

Quoted message said:

and up the Bridge bike lane,

You mean the bike path with the stairs at the northern end? No way you'd get
up or down that on a trike, there isn't nearly enough clearance for that. You
might be able to get away with a recumbent bicycle, but would be a bit of a
scary trip going down the first time. I've only done it on a mountain bike
(down the stairs bit with a dualie) once, and it was fun, but wouldn't want to
do it as a regular commute. I sure as hell don't want to carry a trike up
there on the way home...
Last I checked, bicycles aren't allowed on the car bridge lanes, and you
wouldn't want to either. Crazy people use the bridge, I know, I used to be one
of them many years ago...

Quoted message said:

then into North Sydney.

Quoted message said:

Judging how much I had to split on the motorbike, I definitely want to
split on a pushbike.

From experience, among traffic on a trike would have plenty of room, people
generally give you lots of room to move, and in some cases overtake you on the
other side of the road, double centre lines and all.
On a normal upright bicycle, they overtake you with 2cm to spare. Actually,
you may as well wear a target sign on your back. (relative to a recumbent)

The situation would obviously be different on _your_ commute, since it's
mostly bumper to bumper car traffic, I only get moderate traffic worst case,
and even on the uphill sections, I could *probably* get away with riding on the
road, but would rather not hold up traffic if I don't need to.

Quoted message said:

another reason for using a CWLB is the height - easier to see, and
possibly easier to be seen. A trike is low enough that planning your
splits might be hard.

Possibly. I've never been on a recumbent bike (only trike), so don't know
how maneuverable it would be around traffic like that. Keep in mind it's
probably longer than a normal upright, so you'd need a bit more room than an
upright, even if you can see where you're going.

I don't need to do a lot of lanesplits, but I can do a sit-up and look ahead
if I need to, so it hasn't been a real big problem for me. Might be a bit
frustrating if you need to do it all the time though. At least your abs would
get a workout. :-)

As already mentioned in the discussion link a few messages back in this
thread, transporting a trike would be an effort if you needed to get over some
particularly troublesome obstacles.
I make an effort to take the path of least resistance. Basically, I get on
the trike when I leave the house, and don't get off it till I get to work.

While I've done my commute mostly on the trike, I've used my dualie some of
the time. It appears to be *marginally* faster, but only because I can jump
curbs and swerve around obstacles without slowing down on the MTB, where on the
trike, I need to route around driveways or smooth sections which slows me down.
Again it depends on the path, if I only stay on the major roads, the trike
would be no doubt faster than the MTB.

In your case, especially for the bridge stairs bit, I'd stay on a
two-wheeler. Much easier to carry up on the way home.

As an alternative, you could go up via the gladesville bridge, it'll add an
(estimated) 3Km to your ~20Km trip (guessing the start/end locations), but you
wouldn't have to battle with the bridge.
Going on my memory, bridge traffic is *NOT* fun regardless of the mode of
transport, and victoria road, though busy, has enough room to move, certainly
very doable on a trike or recumbent bicycle.

Personally, I do (each way) about 30Km on bike vs a 25Km trip by motorcycle,
to avoid traffic and major roads. A much more pleasurable ride. Try to be a
little open-minded with the exact path you take, as even if it's longer, it can
add up to a much more favourable experience.

You really have to experience the difference in driver attitude between an
upright and a trike to believe it. So if you don't have any curbs to jump, a
recumbent (of any flavour) would be the way to go.
Don't get swayed by comments people might make that low-rider trikes are
impossible to see. I live on it, and it's all [censored]. Not only do
cars/trucks/buses etc see you, they give you a LOT more room, offer a LOT more
tolerance, and the overall response is a LOT more favorable than a standard
upright bike.
--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org>

suzyj said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

I have been pondering the possibility of riding the 20km or so to
work, but I don't think I want to do it on an upright.

But will a recumbent be any better?

Can anyone point me to a group or forum or mailing list where people
living in Sydney using recumbents might be found?

The only problem with riding a recumbent to work is that you'd then
have to grow a beard, as I can't think of anyone who rides a recumbent
but doesn't have a beard. Sorta goes with the territory, I think.

More seriously, a few of the people in Bikenorth are recumbent
devotees. Mainly Greenspeed trikes (for touring), but there are also a
couple of M5 SWB bikes kicking around.

I don't know that a recumbent is any better than a wedgie for commuting
- wedgies are a tad more manuverable than recumbents. Most of the
people I know use them either for Audax or touring. Recumbents can be
wicked fast - one of the guys I do Audax with did under 12 hours
recently in the 400km cycle leg of the Sri Chinmoy triathlon in
Canberra, on a carbon fibre lowracer recumbent.

<rant mode>
I don't know about anyone else, but all the recumbents (esp trikes) I
see people commuting on around here are ridden in ridiculously low gears
at insanely slow speeds. WTH is with that? 'bents are supposed to be
more aerodynamic so you can go FASTER!
</rant mode>

Brett said:

I don't know about anyone else, but all the recumbents (esp trikes) I
see people commuting on around here are ridden in ridiculously low gears
at insanely slow speeds.

Not for me. I've increased my gearing, I was spinning too fast at my top
speed, and generally maxed out at a little over 70. I removed my granny gear,
shifted the middle and high gears down one position, and added a larger gear to
the top end. Though, I still haven't met a hill steep enough to get over 75
yet. :-(

Quoted message said:

WTH is with that? 'bents are supposed to be more aerodynamic

The aerodynamic advanges are only modest, generally, I've found about a 5Km/h
advantage on the bent over my MTB.
The more significant aero advange is that because you're closer to the
ground, ambient wind has less of an effect on you than it otherwise would. So
it depends more on the situation, though there definitely is an overall speed
advantage.

Quoted message said:

so you can go FASTER!

Speed is only one advantage. One major factor is if you have back problems,
a 'bent might work around any limitations you have. In those cases, they're
not riding bents to ride fast, they're riding bents just to ride in the first
place.
--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org>

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:07:30 +1100

John Tserkezis said:

As an alternative, you could go up via the gladesville bridge, it'll add an
(estimated) 3Km to your ~20Km trip (guessing the start/end locations), but you

Hmm. I'll have to look at that, it looked to be a bloody long way going
that route.

A friend has given me a different route that avoids a lot of traffic,
but it still includes the Bridde.

Quoted message said:

You really have to experience the difference in driver attitude between an
upright and a trike to believe it. So if you don't have any curbs to jump, a
recumbent (of any flavour) would be the way to go.
Don't get swayed by comments people might make that low-rider trikes are
impossible to see. I live on it, and it's all [censored]. Not only do
cars/trucks/buses etc see you, they give you a LOT more room, offer a LOT more
tolerance, and the overall response is a LOT more favorable than a standard
upright bike.

I have no doubt it's more visible. My very slow 1952 BMW 250 is one of
the most visible bikes I've ever ridden. THe unusual is always seen.

I'm more worried about seeing from it.

Zebee

--
Zebee Johnstone ([email hidden]), proud holder of
aus.motorcycles Poser Permit #1.
"Motorcycles are like peanuts... who can stop at just one?"

Zebee Johnstone said:

Quoted message said:

As an alternative, you could go up via the gladesville bridge, it'll add an
(estimated) 3Km to your ~20Km trip (guessing the start/end locations), but you

Quoted message said:

Hmm. I'll have to look at that, it looked to be a bloody long way going
that route.

It looks like that on a map, but the track still only added up to 3Km more.

Quoted message said:

I'm more worried about seeing from it.

Personally, the only problem I've had is when I'm waiting at a junction to
turn, and there's a car next to me in the direction of oncoming traffic so I
can't see.

No worse than sitting in a car with a truck or high 4WD obstructing your view
though.
--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org>