Should the tour de france allow recumbant bicycles?



Originally posted by jdc2000
If recumbents were allowed you would wind up with the same problem as F1 racing has - the teams with the most money would win, since the technology of the bicycles would have more effect on the results than the performance of the riders.

On the contrary, the biggest asset a team has now is it's riders. If you have a good team, you have a distinct advantage. The riders cost a lot more than the bikes. So I think the team money advantage would actually diminish with recumbents because the other riders' drafts wouldn't benefit the lead rider as much. It would be far harder to suck wheels on a recumbent than an upright.

But I agree, the fan turnout would decline severely.
 
Well all very interesting points of view and thanks, its always good to have a chat.
I dont know about the hippies though, if you ride at all there must be some part of you that loves nature and the planet.

I just thought that recumbants deserve more coverage, and some sort of kick ass race would be coool. Hell they have car races with all types on the same start line.
And bike races with road and mountain legs, lets just mix things up.

I must agree with leaving the classics alone though, more so after this years race, what a beauty...!

Well all the best and enjoy all that rapid forward motion.
 
The biggest assets that teams have NOW are the riders. But if you think their current time trial bikes are expensive, you haven't looked at the amount of money needed to develop the record setting recumbent bikes. Try millions of dollars instead of thousands. Plus, you can't even get into them without assistance. You are sealed up in them, with no way to even put down a foot. Yes, you could use a non-faired, non-sealed recumbent, but if one team started using fully faired bikes, the others would have to as well to stay competitive. No matter how you slice it, allowing recumbents makes it a competition between the bike builders, not the bike riders. There would be little or no drafting, so each stage would just be another time trial.
 
I ride a lowracer recumbent myself and race. I wouldn't want to see lowracers in the tour either. It wouldn't be much of a race. A strong rider on a lowracer can stick with a pack on the climbs but absolutely roast them on any of the downs. As far as sprinting, a lowracer also has a pretty big advantage over a DF platform. A DF does accelerate a bit better out of the hole, but loses ground again around 16mph when the lowracer overtakes wind resistance.

As far as being wobbly and slow, maybe thats just what you have in Australia.........maybe its the summer heat i don't know.

Anyone know any DF riders that have done a 3 hour 38 minute century solo?

I know a recumbent guy that did this summer. I did a 4:13 non stop in the same race. The nearest pack of roadbikes came in at 4:18


We have our own racers and don't need to compete with roadbikes, although there are ocassionaly non uci or ucsf races that allow recumbents.

The recumbents dominate these races. I won a 100k race this summer.

http://www.tctimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12609929&BRD=2524&PAG=461&dept_id=494488&rfi=8

http://groups.msn.com/BicyclingForumPicPost/trainingsetuppics.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=7408

If I had been piloting a full streamliner, I would have finsihed the race a half hour sooner. They probably wouldn't have even had anybody at the finish line that early. Nobody would be expecting a bike to come across in two hours.
 
gntlmn said:
Come to think of it, RAAM used to have an hpv division, but they discontinued it due to safety concerns after one team entered a freeway in bad weather against a "Do Not Enter" sign. They simply could not see well enough to know they were going the wrong way.

I failed to mention above that the safety concerns would be another factor. In the Gold Rush style, being able to see would not be a factor, but it certainly would be for fully enclosed ones like they use to set those speed records.

They had a hpv division this year and the hpv division won RAAM this year.
 
JohnO said:
I don't think the recumbent would place a greater emphasis on technology - there is a pretty serious focus on it right now.

However, it would alter the strategy dramatically. Not so much aerodynamics, as the fact that sprinting doesn't work well - can't stand up and put the arms and body weight to work, so 'breakaways' would be decidedly more languid. I would also have to wonder about a lengthy mountain climb with the legs higher than the head - definitely calls for a different physique. I'd be curious as to how bents do on sprints and hillclimbs - any comments from experienced riders?

Spectator sports are as much entertainment as they are the pursuit of sporting excellence. The NBA and NASCAR epitomize this, and they've grown rich as a result. The current cycling situation with it's colorful peloton and complex tactics is drawing record crowds and rich sponsors, so why alter the strategy that the fans are already paying to see?

As far as long climbs go like the ones in the TDF, kinda hard to say how a racing recumbent would fair compared to the DF platform. I would think on the long climbs, slower maybe.

On shorter climbs but steep like those at the Hilly Hundred in Indiana, nobody could hang with me. hit top speed of 56mph on the second of the 3 sisters. Frankie Andreu couldn't even hang with me.
 
Many recumbent riders will acknowledge that recumbents are potentially faster than uprights, but then in the same breath they want to race against them. That's nutz! The UCI is right to at least try to level the playing field so that it's the rider, not the bike, that makes the biggest difference.

Recumbents have their own races, and quite a few other organized races offer recumbent classes; so it's not as if there are no venues available for those who want to try their hand. As was alluded, anyone with visions of making it big in the racing world will stick with the 'approved' platform, so as a result you won't see many top riders on recumbents. Recumbent riders tend to be attracted to the comfort, the 'alien factor,' and yes sometimes by the free speed in a non-racing setting. But those who think recumbents are slow, wobbly, or only for the disabled, are making the mistake of blaming the platform for the engine. An OF (old fart) who is only interested in tootling will never improve his conditioning or his technique; moreover, he would be riding the same way if he were on an upright.
 
there will never be recumbant bicycles in the tour de france or any other professional road cycling race.

It would be a complete different sport
 
Duckwah said:
yeah i always associate recumbents with long haired hippy idiots who want to save the world and abolish free trade etc

Comments like this and the general unthinking prejudices against 'bents, ( LOOK out I'm gonna WOBBLE!), have reinforced my desire to ride 'bent....

And when has "Free Trade" ever been free?

"What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?"
:cool:
 
The 'bents shouldn't race against the DFs but there's reason they couldn't race with the TdF. They could certainly hold a 'bent sanctioned event to follow the TdF stage by stage only several hours or a day later.

Other sporting events don't seem to have a class problem.

The 24 hours of Lemans runs multiple classes concurrently. Many regattas run the same course with different classes starting in stages. With a little planning, it shouldn't interfere with the traditional event.

Of course, that doesn't address the tradition and ego issue.
 
I keep seeing the comment that you cannot draft behind a recumbent. Bunk. I rode the Bike ride across Georgia this year. On the third day I was a bit tired and spent about an hour drafting behind a Gold Rush style recumbent. They do knock quite a hole in the air. For any object to go through the air they MUST push it aside. Drag is often a function of the smoothness of that airflow. The fairing is what gives the really fast recumbents their speed, it smooths out the airflow. It probably also pushes the air out far enough so that there is less drag down the side of the bike and rider.

Ride behind a recumbent the taller ones (like the Gold Rush) cetainly do provide a draft.
 
Where where you at RAAM Slowdio? You like to race DFs and not recumbents. That was the perfect race for you and your cheater fairing gimmick.

Cheers,
Johnny NoCom

lowracervk2 said:
They had a hpv division this year and the hpv division won RAAM this year.
 
It's just a two wheeled lounge chair. When I want to lounge I chill in my lounge chair. When I want to ride my bike, I ride my bike. I don't believe in combining the two. Sorry I think it's a cop out. Unless you're physically unable to peddle the conventional way. You should ride a real bike. You might as well install a TV, eat a sanwich and have a brew and watch the Tour de France. Armstrong, Mayo and Ulrich on a recumbant. I think not...... Well maybe Ulrich. Pease pass me another beer.........Danka
 
gntlmn said:
Actually, I just wanted your opinion about that particular kind of recumbent: the Easyracer Toureasy. I was just wondering if they are wobbly and dangerous like the kind you lie down on. I honestly don't know. I don't see many recumbents around here. I have seen a wobbly one one guy rides, but it's the prostrate kind.
Had to stop riding entirely at 56 due to surgeries. Everything OK now, but I'm 61. Always liked the idea of a recumbent during my riding years on a Fuji 7/21. So, this July, after test riding various combinations of recumbents, decided to buy a Toureasy LWB. I took 30 days to get used to it's riding style; not a difficult thing to do. I find that it's faster, more comfortable and easier to handle than my old Fuji. After 30 days of practice by myself I do not wobble even at slow (walking) speed. And at high speeds I find it extremely stable. I did add a full front faring (not a body sock). Made a big difference when riding into the wind. Also, cars seem to give me more room when passing.

Very happy with the Toureasy.

BOB500

PS: Keep the Tour De France as is. Recumbents can have their own events. If the Tour eventually allows recumbents, then the recumbent should not have farings or body socks.
 
Steiger said:
It's just a two wheeled lounge chair. When I want to lounge I chill in my lounge chair. When I want to ride my bike, I ride my bike. I don't believe in combining the two. Sorry I think it's a cop out. Unless you're physically unable to peddle the conventional way. You should ride a real bike. You might as well install a TV, eat a sanwich and have a brew and watch the Tour de France. Armstrong, Mayo and Ulrich on a recumbant. I think not...... Well maybe Ulrich. Pease pass me another beer.........Danka
and in a subsequent post:

Steiger said:
... I've never heard of such nonsense.
I agree. Bashing someone else's bike based on an emotional argument isn't very dignified. I thought that this forum being a 'general' forum it would deal with all bikes, not just the style you happen to ride.
 
In the mountain stages the recumbents would be so slow it would be faster to just walk them up those steep mountains. The riders would have to switch to walking shoes for all that walking. Now that would look silly, wouldn't it?:p
 
3speedfan said:
In the mountain stages the recumbents would be so slow it would be faster to just walk them up those steep mountains. The riders would have to switch to walking shoes for all that walking. Now that would look silly, wouldn't it?:p
Wouldn't they be better off changing bikes to one specialized for climbing? Oh, wait! They already do that! :rolleyes:
 

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