Recumbent recomendattions

[Fraggle]

Spring is in the air (almost) and I am once again surfing the recumbent manufacturers seeking my
perfect bent.

I am looking for a bike I can commute on, but also do some lightweight touring.

I have my eye on a Hurricane Tour USS which appears to have everything I wish, low but not TOO low,
ability to take panniers of some description and USS. I am not sure about the indirect steering, but
I can imagine I would prefer it to 'tiller' that comes with the Hurricane Sport.

Others that have my attention are HP streetmachine (a bit heavy maybe),the speedmachine is not USS,
Challenge Twister (looks a bit tall).

What other bikes should I be looking at? I have my (fairly virtual) upper limit at £1800 all in.

 

[Roos Eisma]

[email protected] (Fraggle) writes:

>I am looking for a bike I can commute on, but also do some lightweight touring.

>I have my eye on a Hurricane Tour USS which appears to have everything I wish, low but not TOO low,
>ability to take panniers of some description and USS. I am not sure about the indirect steering,
>but I can imagine I would prefer it to 'tiller' that comes with the Hurricane Sport.

>Others that have my attention are HP streetmachine (a bit heavy maybe),the speedmachine is not USS,
>Challenge Twister (looks a bit tall).

Same here... The HPVel Grasshopper is somewhere inbetween Streetmachine and Speedmachine and does
come with USS, it will be out sometime in March. If you can get a cheap flight over to the NL you
can try out a couple of brands which afaik aren't available in the UK but worth looking at: the
Nazca Fiero is *very* nice and has similar dimensions as the Hurricane. Rainbow makes a number of
bikes, I tried the Lyner which worked very well. Both brands were very nicely finished, and the
shopowner had good experiences with the manufacturers.

Roos

 

[Andrew Douglas]

One small bit of advice...don't let preconceived notions get in the way of any given choice.
Specifically, don't lock yourself into USS. I did when I got my first bent, and made the mistake of
discounting other fine bikes simply because they didn't have USS.

In between the bikes I've owned, those I've ridden in my role as a writer for Bentrideronline and my
current gig as marketing manager for Catrike, I've had a lot of direct experience with different
steering systems and the ergonomics of various recumbents. Two different types of USS, praying
hamster, extreme (stiff-arm) superman, etc. etc.

Naturally, what's "best" for you all comes down to personal preference. But I've found that the most
comfortable riding position, and the one that gives the best control, is to have your arms
comfortably in front of you in a relaxed "superman" position...elbows slightly bent, hands at about
chest level...just as if you were driving a car. The steering ergonomics of the Bacchettas are
great, as are those of the Tour Easy and GRR. The best USS I've ever seen is on the Reynolds Weld
Lab bikes (now the T-Bone...I used to own a Wishbone). The best ergonomics I've had the pleasure to
experience are on my own very highly modified Pharobike lowracer (which has a set of Bacchetta bars
on it, coupled to an adjustable Kalloy stem).

I'm not necessarily suggesting any of these bikes for your needs...I'm just using them as examples
of good ergonomics.

Bottom line: Keep an open mind.

Andy Douglas Catrike

 

[Victor Kan]

Andrew Douglas wrote:

> One small bit of advice...don't let preconceived notions get in the way of any given choice.
> Specifically, don't lock yourself into USS. I did when I got my first bent, and made the mistake
> of discounting other fine bikes simply because they didn't have USS.

This is good advice. I've been USS-only since I got my first bent a few years ago.

I'm looking for my third bent now and I'm considering USS and ASS equally, with the latter having a
slight advantage given their prevalence in the "high racer" genre.

However, despite the loss of Vision and the reconfiguration of the Haluzak business, there seem to
be more USS HPVs (especially if you include trikes) available today than when I first got my
Linear Mach III.

The USS bikes I'm looking at are:

- ActionBent TidalWave (and maybe Jetstream)
- Reynolds T-Bone 700/20

Quite a price differential there (about a factor of three or four!).

But the ASS offerings like the Bacchettas, the RANS Force5 and T-Bone
700/700 look so tasty too!

> Bottom line: Keep an open mind.

I will.

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