[Closed] Is a Recumbent quicker?

I think it depends on the recumbent. Low back-leaning ones are, I think. But the one I rode was not, it was a total dog and bastard hard work. It was the kind where you sit up high over a 26" rear wheel with a 20" front under your calves and your feet way out in front. The bars were on 2ft long articulated stem that you had to lift up to get off the bike. None of the advantages of a recumbent whilst also being really bloody hard to ride and incredibly slow.

Certain 'bents are faster - generally only on the flat though. To counter this they are almost always heavier. Up hill never quicker. Popular in the Netherlands and the US where they have long flat roads with few tight bends.

Fairing also helps but makes them even harder to ride and don't even think about a cross wind!

Basically an evolutionary dead end

Basically an evolutionary dead end

Such an evolutionary dead end that the UCI banned them. They wisely saw that the pinnacle of recumbent design was reached in 1934 and designers would simply be wasting their time if they pursued them any further.

As far as weight goes, it depends what you mean. They are a niche and so don't benefit from the economy of scale that upright bikes do. Therefore you end up paying more for lower spec.

However, if we were all riding around on MBB (Moving Bottom Bracket) designs (which is basically just an upright bicycle with the parts rearranged) then you'd probably find that the cost to weight ratio would be quite similar.

How to chop your current bike up and reassemble it as a MBB recumbent.

Not for me.Just sold my tadpole trike and replaced it with a gravel bike.On a flat cycle track I was lucky to maintain 10mph where the gravel bike will do 15mph.OK I have a pathetic engine but it’s the same for both.I only bought the trike as a rehabilitation device after breaking my hip.Factor in the fact the trike weighed 18kg to the bikes 9kg and the trike cost more than the full carbon bike and there is no sensible non medical argument for the trike.

That’s before you tackle your first hill,you will discover the true horror of aerobic burn as you winch the trike upwards.You end up in a very low gear and an equally low speed.

Amanda Coke broke smashed the distance record for a year on one iirc.

Bought one (HP Velotechnik grasshopper) when at a bit on an impasse which cycling with my buggered hip to see if it could get me out and about cycling again without pain. Frightened the bejesus out of me. A short (50m) steepish hill that has me out of the saddle for a dozen pedal strokes on a standard bike had me stalled and then off in a muddy pile in the ditch. The temptation to haul on the bars was just too much and the stability at low speeds felt horrific.

But given some technique and some muscle adaptation I can see how on the right roads they could be great and kick the butt of a normal bike.

I have cannibalised it for parts but one day I'll put it back together and tame the beast.

No, she rode a recumbent, a TT bike and a road bike in rotation  to ease pressure on certain muscle groups.

Flat/down hill road that’s smooth and straight then yes, probably.
Uphill or twisty, no.

I think it will also depend on whether you on a two wheel recumbent or a three wheel recumbent.The extra wheel of the trike adds weight and rolling resistance,I think the two wheeler has the potential to be faster spec for spec due to its low aerodynamic resistance.

My Dad had one for a while, supposedly as a rehabilitation device when he couldn't ride a normal bike due to a bad back.

It was horrendous. He only rode it a couple of times. Anything uphill it was almost unrideable, the gears were awful because the chain was 3 times the length of a normal bike (cranks way out front but driving the rear wheel).

That said, they can be fast. Flat straight road, they'll leave a road bike for dead.

This is quite a good watch:

GCN comparing various different kinds on a track.

A Windcheetah recumbent trike with a fairing once held the LEJOG record. With a (tadpole = wide at the front) trike you can get really low between the wheels and that reduces the windage. I had one for a while, great fun to ride but I'm not really into road riding. The riding position isn't as efficient as a diamond frame bike, but the windage is lower, so to get the benefit you need the legs to push the speed up to 20mph+ when windage begins to be significant.

I rode a two-wheel recumbent bike then a tadpole trike for a few years around the turn of the millennium, including an end-to-end on the bike, commuting and lots of general rides. The bike (Streetmachine) was fast into the wind on the flat and a right laugh going downhill (hit 50mph in Cornwall). Also lovely and comfortable for a leisurely tour. The trike (Windcheetah) was a right laugh and fantastic when it was icy. But I never enjoyed climbing on either and since you spend so much time climbing they ended up being slower overall than a normal bike.

I’ve wanted to try a Windcheetah ever since I saw it in Richard’s Bicycle Book in the early ‘90s. Add a motor to help on the climbs and it would be like the C5 done right!

There is one (a Burrows built one from his Norwich workshop/shed by the look of it) on ebay at the moment 🙂

If someone can wave a magic wand and make all motor vehicle drivers observant and competent than I shall buy it! If not then sadly I’ll stick to commuting on my big eMTB and doing all leisure rides on dirt, safe from halfwits with steering wheels...

Funnily enough I had fewer issues commuting on the 'bents than on normal bikes. There is a big WTF factor that seems to make drivers actually notice you. Plus, if some idiot does pull out in front of you then you hit them feet first rather than head first. As some wag pointed out a while back, drivers manage to see the lines on the road and they are only a few mm high 🙂 Biggest issues where being at exhaust height in jams and pulling out of some blind junctions with your feet so far in front of your head.

My recumbent trike is 14 kilos and slower than my uprights. But you smile a lot more and never get cut up. It also keeps your heart rate down.

Have been looking at velomobikes. These are always faster in the flat. Think 100W for 20 mph fast. But come hill time you’ll want the electric assist.

Just great fun really.

I once had an impromptu race with a recumbant at some traffic lights - the rider reckoned he could pedal harder and therefore accelerate faster because he could with push with his legs against the support of the seat, instead of his own bodyweight as on a standard bicycle. In any case, he easily beat me.

They are terrible on hills but so comfy! I've got a Semi recumbent Tandem . (circe morpheus) . With a good stoker in the front recumbent position it has a great cruising speed. Have fitted electric assist for the hills, low speed maneuvers and Cargobike mode.

Followed one a while back, caught up fairly easily on the uphills, got demolished on anything flat.

The HPV record says yes, on a flat road, with a fairing. Even without a fairing you're still far more aero than you'd ever manage on a road bike, and if you're used to the position, much faster (other factors being equal)

Whether a particular recumbent is depends on the rider, tyres, position so much more than the records would suggest though.

I've had a go on my dad's (trice) and it's quite enjoyable but weighs more than a tandem, and I don't actually find being in one fixed position comfy (maybe if I had one of my own with a different seat etc. this could be overcome).

A Windcheetah recumbent trike with a fairing once held the LEJOG record

Andy Wilkinson held the record for both recumbent and conventional upright bike. I think his recumbent time was around 8 hours faster. Even allowing for different weather conditions, etc, that's a fairly good demonstration that a recumbent is faster than a conventional bike overall.
I've followed a recumbent downhill on an Audax, and the aerodynamic advantages were very obvious. I was pedalling flat out just to stay on the recumbent's back wheel, and there was noticeably very little drafting advantage.

A windcheetahs a bit of a mental thing tbh 🙂

Great fun and a fantastic design considering how old it is.

An old friend of mine designed and built one that had a switchable high and low riding position that can be changed whilst on the move 😯 Google Mark Chillery & Switchblade if interested & yes he does have too much time on his hands...