MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Having resigned myself to not being able to ride properly for a while (thanks to my arm) I've been pondering alternative ways to do it. Someone had suggested it to me a while ago, and I saw one today so...
Recumbents - does anyone here have one (or ever ridden one?)
What are they like for riding? (I suspect just for road use!)
And does anyone in either the Nottingham or Northampton area have one (or know someone who does) that would be willing to let me have a go?
edit: how odd, someone else has had the same idea as me and I was just very slow to post! (I did search before I posted!)
used to be a geezer on here called Ben who sold recumbents in Glasgow I think (Kinetics ?)
[url= http://www.kinetics.org.uk/index.html ]here[/url]
He was a decent bloke, give him a ring
Cheers 🙂
Finally! Someone has a [b]valid[/b] reason for using a recumbent. Thx Becky!! 🙂
Glad you approve baldSpot! Just need to find one to play with 😛
Becky, whereabouts are you? For reasons too long winded to go into, my Dad's recumbent is currently residing at my house. If you're anywhere near south Manchester-ish, you're welcome to borrow/try it.
James
Edit: it's an HPVelotech Swift by the way.
Thanks for the offer James, I'm in Nottingham so might be a little bit far.
I have ridden a recumbent and it was brilliant. Super fast and super comfy, but I hear you have to learn how to ride up hills on them.
Did you ride a proper bike recumbent or a 3 wheeler? yeah - i can imagine hills taking some getting used to!
Cheeky bump for the morning crowd - surely there's more than 4 people on STW (who's members normally seem to know everything about everything!) with something to say about recumbents? 😛
This post confused the hell out of me. Two recumebent threads pop up on the same day, weird. Anyway, I thinkg recuments must be for propper weirdos as not much interest on here and there are some right odd buggers hanging about. Not that it helps you!
[url= http://www.velovision.com/index.php ]Velovision[/url] is where all the recumbent spoke sniffers hang out. They've got a forum and you could probably organise a test ride through someone there.
Judging by the magazine to ride one you have to have a beard, or smile like the happiest person on earth, or both.
My Son rides a KMX, which is a lot of fun. By nature of them being a low volume product, prices are high. D-Tek in Cambridge is your nearest dealer where you can get a test ride.
If you really only have the use of one arm, a trike might be the way to go, otherwise a Flevo bike - which you steer using your legs. A friend with multiple sclerosis rides an [url= http://www.icetrikes.co/ ]ICE[/url] recumbent trike on the road. Really nice machine and not as heavy as you'd think.
Hills will always be an issue.
EDIT : [url= http://www.bentrideronline.com/ ]Welcome to the darkside[/url]
Thanks guys - very helpful 🙂
Perhaps they are even more obscure than I thought!
I've had a handful over the years.
Firstly when you start looking you quickly realise it's like asking if anyone's got any experience with mountain bikes. ie they might be niche but there's lots of different types within that.
As others have said it's best to ride a few.
D-tek in Cambridge have a big array different types to try. I've had some contact with Derek there (very helpful if a bit disorganised, no website)
David at laidback bikes in Edinburgh has a few trikes and bikes to try.
Westcountry recumbents (now in Derbyshire) have trikes.
Kinetics in Glasgow mentioned above have bikes and trikes.
Most raise the issue of hill climbing harder. You can't get out of the saddle and use your body weight like a standard bike. In theory you can get more power than your body weight by pressing back against the seat. I just had to use low gears and spin.
I had a trike for a while, some people love them, I didn't like always leaning to counteract the camber and missed the leaning you get with 2 wheels.
Quite a few recumbents (bikes and trikes) have pedals above seat height. I got hot spots on my feet with that and couldn't get on with the 'style' It does improve aerodynamics though.
I liked the Easyracers Tour Easy long wheelbase I had.
You might be able to consider a 'semi-recumbent' like the Rans Dynamik and Fusion models. They can be set up so that there's no weight on arms and the seat is low enough to be able to get both feet down at a stop easily. And are lower on the 'weird' scale. They're harder to find over here, but well worth a try if you get a chance. You might find that one of these set up for one handed controls might do the job.
I ended up letting go of mine as I like mixed road and trail rides and standard bikes are generally better for that.
Might be worth seeing if CTC forum has anything to offer the wounded of arm too.
Thanks for that Andy! 🙂