Niche of the week?

I once had a Pashley PDQ and found for me that it was more PDS

Now I saw a recumbent fat bike. Penultimate slacker for middle-aged knackers? (E-conversion guaranteed once extra pie-quota breaches the threshold)

Can’t deny that it looks fun. I love that recumbents are designed to go quickly, and fatbikes notsomuch. Mad combination. I can envisage some gloriously looong and lazy beach-riding with that getup.

Which niche+1 has tickled your fancy this week?

Recumbents are a nightmare to catch if they start to slide, can’t really use your bodyweight to control it. You’d be on your arse more than the seat riding that.

Needs a dropper post and SPD-L pedals. And maybe some FatNotFat 29er wheels. 😈

I could never ride a bike with such a long and tortuous chain!

The Engineer within me would be screaming all the time it was in my line of sight.

Christ on a recumbent

What a contraption. Won’t a frame with a single tube be a bit flexy? Suspect that the least of the issues though

Won’t a frame with a single tube be a bit flexy?

Not really a problem I noticed when I had one, (but not sure the concept of frame flex had been invented back then 😁 ) Great big diameter tubes are bloody stiff, even with thin walls and your not really levering on different parts of it the same as on a traditional bike.

and your not really levering on different parts of it the same as on a traditional bike.

Never really thought of that, it makes sense.

I think i’d also be worried about going bankrupt when i had to change the chain

When a strandbeest meets a bicycle and they love each other very much:

I think i’d also be worried about going bankrupt when i had to change the chain

With the idler there, would it not make more sense to run it like a tandem drivechain? A great big 1/8 chain up front then a normal drivechain under the seat.

Or even better/niche. Mount an alfine in the frame and drive a fixed gear rear hub from the disk brake sprocket. With some clever gearing you could probably even reduce the load on the alfine (big chainring, small sprocket so the alfine spins quickly, then small-big to the rear wheel?).

Could you not install a regular bottom bracket and double chainset, with one ring used to run a chain to the front crankset, plus a dropper post. Off-road, ride it like a normal(ish) bike, then use it as a recumbent on road? Face it, if you’re going to do weird, you might as well go all the way.

I love that recumbents are designed to go quickly

Some are, but those high wheel ones are designed to make people look at you and have people comment on your bike which is seriously presented as an advantage to these ridiculous things.

E-recumbents would be much better though.

those high wheel ones are designed to make people look at you and have people comment on your bike which is seriously presented as an advantage to these ridiculous things.

Source? I always considered recumbent cycling to be more the a-fashionable ‘geeky’niche of bicycle design, mostly arising from ergonomics, comfort and efficiency? I say this partly because of the auto-scoffage normally heaped upon ‘non-mainstream’ regardless of their comfort, function and efficiency.

This of course could also/instead be my projecting. I got into them 20 yrs ago when a wheelchair-user and wanted a Kettweisel trike because it looked so comfortable and just well-made for long-distance. Then when I got more mobile once more I started looking at Bachetta racers (‘high wheel’ as you call it) as they too looked super-comfortable, well-made yet higher-up so the rider would be more visible to drivers. Not ‘look at me’ but ‘I’musing the road, now you can see me’. In fact, if anything it’s the ‘outsider’ effect that puts me a little off recumbents, as many people tend to assume ‘different’ means ‘screaming for attention’. This annoys me no end about myself, ie how much should one care about what others think/assume?

Disclaimer: Am likely on the spectrum.

I want to see it being wheelied!

E-recumbents would be much better though.

C5. Ahead of its time. I’m still waiting for that time to come.

Niche +1? Well I don’t have a recumbent fat trike (there is one). I do have a bent trike (Catrike Voyager) and an upright trike though. Those are pretty niche. I always wanted a recumbent trike and after my accident I bought one. It always brings a smile.

Full disclosure. I bought the kids one of the first kmx trikes.

It’s nowhere near as fast as any upright bikes but is still faster than the e-bike cut off. I’m considering adding bafang for recovery rides. The upright trike is the fastest three wheeler in the country having achieved a 19 on a 10 mile TT (not by me)

BTW as for “don’t look at me”, well most drivers seem to assume that I am disabled (and two of my friends who ride trikes are). White van man is always courteous and I have never had so much as a mildly close pass. I have had more thumbs ups than you can count and the occasional phone video. I have only ever had one disgruntled Range Rover driver moan at me It’s absolutely great fun.

Source? I always considered recumbent cycling to be more the a-fashionable ‘geeky’niche of bicycle design, mostly arising from ergonomics, comfort and efficiency? I say this partly because of the auto-scoffage normally heaped upon ‘non-mainstream’ regardless of their comfort, function and efficiency.

Can’t be both fashionable and scorned, can they? Or can they? Is this the fundamental discord within the cycling community? 🙂

Ok so I’m taking the piss but the one bike ride I attempted to do on a recumbent was a disaster. Putting in an effort that would have resulted in travelling at a good clip on a normal bike saw me doing 15mph. A flat out sprint got me up to about 20mph for a short period of time. It was hideously unstable and a few hours after I finished my back spasmed and I was in agony for a day. This was probably because the seat was slightly too far away but still, that doesn’t happen on normal bikes! Took all of the fun out of the concept of cycling for me. Can not recommend.

The low slung racer types might be better, but there’s no way I’m riding on road below bonnet level.

I have had more thumbs ups than you can count and the occasional phone video.

That would irritate me no end. Maybe there is some truth in recumbent riders liking the attention 🙂

BTW I am trolling – ride what you like obvs!

Can’t be both fashionable and scorned, can they? Or can they? Is this the fundamental discord within the cycling community? 🙂

I’d say that’s more of a (two-note) chord within STW banter – ie it simply *has* to have both a fashion angle and a scorn/score angle – whether actual, imagined, conferred or inferred! Like I say, seriously think I’m not ‘normal’ in this respect. Reflective/hi-viz clips on my trews etc because it ‘makes sense’… 🤪. Have to try other people’s glasses on sometimes to maybe ‘rein it in’ 🤣

‘Oh look , a big kick scooter bike! Looks like fun! Here have a go!’

Other people:

Omwards and upwards…

What’s your niche/alt bike of the week, and why?

*edit

Can’t be both fashionable and scorned, can they?

‘a-fashionable’, BTW

That would irritate me no end. Maybe there is some truth in recumbent riders liking the attention

I don’t seek the attention, I just like riding the trike, but I’ve only ever had positive responses. It doesn’t irritate me, but if you ride one you will be noticed. Which is no bad thing as everyone thinks you’re going to get squished!

Best example is when white van man overtook so wide he nudged the kerb on the opposite side of the road! Seriously, close passes are just not a thing. Nor is filtering in traffic.

How many links would you like in your chain, sir?

Yes.

It’s chains actually. I need 2.5 9-speed chains on mine. Of course they wear slower as well. Except mine is 406 wheels. So they don’t.

This is one of my favourite fatties, might be a niche of one: