Recumbent Adventures

[gfish]

This morning I road my new recumbent several miles to drop if off for maintenance. I'm not used to the twitchy steering yet, but I sure do like it overall. It's still completely unreal that a bike could be so very comfortable. If it wasn't so muddy and prone to tipping over at low speeds, I'd stick it in the living room as furniture. Bonus: according to a highly scientific study[1] conducted along the way, attractive people all like the bike. I'm getting larger tires put on it, and a general tuneup. After that, it will be completely ready for daily use... if the weather would get just slightly less constantly wet and cold.

1) Sample size: 2, including my wife. Margin of error: a lot.

Comments

[tylik.livejournal.com]

"Bonus: according to a highly scientific study[1] conducted along the way, attractive people all like the bike."

I've noticed the same thing, with a much larger sample size. I've gotten more attention from hot biker chicks on the Burke...

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I'd heard of the phenomenon, but I expected Seattle people to be a bit more blase. Bents aren't that rare around here.

[callibr8]

Have you seen these lyrics?

catsittingstill still enjoys riding her recumbent (a long wheelbase Bike-E) as far as I know. Hope you will find yours equally enjoyable! Not sure if Seattle is as bike-path-endowed as Portland, but I do recall taking several rides along the Burke-Gilman trail, back in the day.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Hee, no, I don't think I ever heard that one performed.

[noumignon.livejournal.com]

ready for daily use... if the weather would get just slightly less constantly wet and cold.

It's not enclosed? I always thought that was half the attraction of recumbents.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Very few are fully faired for daily use. Ventilation is tricky, visibility poor, and balancing while stopped in traffic can be a problem. It's also very expensive, and unless you're regularly biking above about 20mph, has very negligible efficiency gains compared to the extra weight. Lots more have a windscreen in the front for partial fairing, which I might get one day. I found an interesting page on how to blow your own plexiglass domes for that purpose.