Cycling UK Forum

When recumbent touring I've always tied my wallet to a belt loop or D ring on my trews - it means you can't lose it while riding, leave it on a counter by mistake, or tempt locals to pinch it.

Ah! Great stuff Paul M, thanks for the links!

Dunno about suspension on your trike, but I agree about Moultons being quicker on the rough. I used to commute on an AM Jubilee up the Old Kent Road in London, and on the rough bits (= lots of it!) I could just keep pedalling when the DF riders had to coast with pedals at 3+6 just to keep rubber in contact with tarmac. For me the ability to keep pedalling is a major plus of (good) suspension.

Is it OK to use White Lightning on recumbents with chain tubes? As the dirty stuff is supposed to drop off, isn't there a chance it'll clog up the tubes?

Thanks for that, folks. Sounds like I should thoroughly explore Pete Bland's shop!

Got this week's issue of Cycling Weekly, mainly for a picture feature entitled "the 50 greatest bikes of all time". Lots of beautiful machines - I particularly love Alf Engers' holiest-ever bike with amazing amounts of drilling-out.

The 50 featured machines are from "121 years of Cycling Weekly", and include a Flying Gate, Curly Hetchins, Chopper, Brompton, track tandem, Moulton, Obree's Old Faithful, Boardman's Lotus, Moser's hour record machine and lots of lovely road racing and time trial bikes from throughout the 20-21st centuries.

As the editorial says: "They're all here, the machines that made history... you name it, we've got it."

But of course, you can guess what is notable by its absence - there's not a recumbent in sight. The whole piece is peppered with examples of how the UCI's rules on what bike designs are permitted to compete have been explored to their limits - and beyond, e.g. Moser's then-illegal disc wheels, which he used to gain the hour record and the UCI 'overlooked'. Yet it seems Cycling Weekly is trying to write recumbents out of history entirely.

I'm not really bothered, as for me the 'oddness' of recumbents is part of their attraction, and if they'd not been banned from mainstream competition by the UCI in 1934 they'd be much less odd nowadays, as track racing and maybe road racing would surely be dominated by them. And I don't think they're 'better' than other configurations. It just makes me chuckle that there does seem to be real disdain for them in certain cycling circles - ah well...

Hmmm, two great suggestions! Interesting to read here that rowers often have had to use cycling clothing in the past - we're not the only ones struggling to find the right clothing for our pursuits.

[XAP]Bob wrote: - it's only cycling specific clothing that is inappropriate.

Ain't that the truth!

Hi All
First post here. I've ridden recumbents for quite a few years - I used a Greenspeed trike as my main transport in inner London for a few years, followed by an HP Velotechnik StreetMachine, on which I did a lot of touring, including extended trips in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. I've had no bike at all for a year or two, but I'm now awaiting delivery in a few weeks of an HP Velotechnik Grasshopper from Kinetics in Glasgow - Rohloff hub gears, SON hub dynamo - I can hardly wait!

To business - in the past I used to wear a mix of cycling-specific clothing (SPD shoes, training tights and cycling tops) and more general outdoor gear (Rohan shorts, Craghopper shirts etc). I dug all my old cycling gear out of the cupboard yesterday, but it's just too tired to be useable, so I'm thinking about what new apparel to go for.

Standard cycling gear is OK, but zips on back pockets (on tops and bottoms) can snag on seats, so they are a no-no, and any back pockets are a complete irrelevance, of course. I live in Kendal, home base of running specialists Pete Bland Sports, and I wondered if anyone had tried wearing running gear on recumbents? Their running tights seem reasonably cheap, and this sort of jacket looks like it might be good. Any thoughts?

I'm also aware that cycling has grown massively in popularity in the last couple of years, so I might be out of touch with current clothing manufacturers. Any recommendations for cycling clothing brands and/or items that are a) good value, b) snug fitting and c) free of rear zips, or otherwise good for recumbent use?

Any suggestions gratefully received!