Cycling UK Forum

Very good question, why are they so rare?

I have a few ideas, the first and most obvious being people do what they know an are comfortable with. Its a shame but I find peoples closed minds to be the biggest obstacle to them giving recumbent's a go. I always get a funny giggle/laugh, then I'm asked is it difficult or whats it like to ride? I always try to be polite ass possible and even offer stranger a chance to have a seat, being 6'2 and of large stature a ride is normally out of the question. 9 times out of 10 the person in question gives a quick no thanks and continues to laugh or stare sheepishly. For some reason seating with a post up our bums hunched over some handlebars is firmly fixed in the normal bike riders head from that first push off from mom or dad and until we break that fixation I don't see there being a large sway from upright to recumbent.
I'd say the second barrier, is the prices to get a recumbent even and older or entry level one. I built my first recumbent after coming out of the services as a way to keep busy and a way to get rid of some of the weight after leaving the Military. I've always enjoyed bike riding but I've never been comfortable on a upright so I knew if I wanted to ride it'd have to be something else, that something else was my version of a Atomic Zombie Tomahawk. Wasn't as expensive as something new and i got to spread the cost over about 5 or 6 months of building and it was bargain basement if I'm being nice but we saw a nice few thousand miles together before I sold it on. Then I got hold of a second hand PDQ for a steal off a friend, it too needed some tinkering but we've seen a few thousand mile together as well. I recently acquired a semi new Performer 922 which cost me a fair bit, so in the last 4 years or so I'm the better part of 1500 quid of so into 3 bikes which seems like a steal when you say 3 recumbents but its still not peanuts by any standards.
The last and most common reason for converting to the darkside is the necessity or need for comfort. I had a need for comfort while I know others have had to come off of uprights for various medical reasons. I don't think the why matters to the recumbent riders of the world. Recumbent riders are a lot like the motto from the Statue of Liberty " Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore." Instead of freedom we offer a ride without pain or judgement, just a new laid back way of riding.
I'm glad I made the switch to recumbent, I wish more would shed their fear and do the same. Either way I've learned a few things about myself I didn't know and made some awesome friends and acquaintances. Who could ask for anything more?

Lancaster.

Tangled Metal wrote:I want to try any recumbent. Nowhere near any retailer and too busy with family to get to one. Oh I wish they were more mainstream.

It’s interesting that the meets they used to have on Morecambe sea front appear to have left no legacy in Morecambe. I think 1996, the year of Lancaster Birthday Rides, was its last year? I’ve never seen anyone riding a bent when I’m down there.

I've seen a few. There's an old guy from bowerham side of town who rides one. A trike with full fairing IIRC. He's a well known character who used to be one for always being on his bike. Then he switched to recumbent trike. Possibly to keep himself in bike if any sort.

I've seen a few riding the millennium path on the quay side of Lancaster towards the Glasson Dock cycle path.

Cyril Haearn wrote:+1 I love this philosophical talk about visibility and invisibility and nearly not being seen
Determined to test ride a Liegerad (German: lying bike) soon

Have to post this again, "Invisible recumbents narrowly avoid death":
http://mccraw.co.uk/invisible-recumbents-narrowly-avoid-death/
[youtube]MUp7fNSIdM0[/youtube]

squeaker wrote:

Yossarian wrote:I'd certainly never ride one on the roads, but maybe that's just a mental block.

Yes After long spells on a 'bent trike my first reaction to getting back onto a 'victorian' bicycle is 'it's a long way to fall'

+1 - it's a long long way to fall. Now I have varifocals when I look down the ground is blurred which makes it even worse
Seriously, the thought of coming off again onto a hard road is quite scary. I've met two people who have broken their hips in falls off bikes. Note: "falls" not "crashes".

I didn't get that video. Why was a car driver coming the road saying they had a lucky escape all the time. Apart from the cyclist right at the beginning there was just empty road. Where were the recumbents?

I can suggest a very good reason why recumbents are rare round my neck if the woods. No retailers! Then again nobody nearby selling secondhand ones neither why do all recumbent vendors on ebay and gumtree appear to be London area or the South? Don't ppl up north sell them on. I can understand it even if not right for you the effort to drive to the other end of the country to look at a bike possibly means you'll not sell it on.

It's a shame retailers don't do a traveling roadshow with demo recumbents. Or the BHPC arranges them. There's a very good kids cycling club and several ones for adults in the Lancaster area. I'm certain you'd get ppl going to one.

Tangled Metal wrote:I've seen a few. There's an old guy from bowerham side of town who rides one. A trike with full fairing IIRC. He's a well known character who used to be one for always being on his bike. Then he switched to recumbent trike. Possibly to keep himself in bike if any sort.

I've seen a few riding the millennium path on the quay side of Lancaster towards the Glasson Dock cycle path.

No need to travel far for a test ride, just hail the next bent rider you see, get talking to them and they may offer you a go

Since the NC500 started being advertised I've seen quite a few low, single-seat cars on the road around here. I don't know if there's a generic name for them but if you DDG 'single seat road car' you'll get an idea what I'm talking about. The drivers appear to be sitting a few inches above the road, on a route that's largely made up of single-track roads with sharp bends and switchbacks.

I wonder how many of them have been involved in accidents because they're so invisible.

cookie32 wrote:Very good question, why are they so rare?

I have a few ideas, the first and most obvious being people do what they know an are comfortable with. Its a shame but I find peoples closed minds to be the biggest obstacle to them giving recumbent's a go......

I think you're right but it's not without reason,it needs a pretty persistant person to seek out and be converted to a 'bent,even if that person is already a committed cyclist.
TM's posts are a good example,he can't easily get to test ride one and if he does it'll mean he'll need to relearn his upwrong riding skills,that's a lot to overcome before he gets to the stage where he's parting with his hard earned.
I've looked at 'bents in the past but come to the conclusion they don't suit my sort of cycling,but if 'bent owners are happy riding them I've no problem with that.
My previous post on page1 sums up the prejudice,cycling in the UK is,for the most part an out group,with certain not inconsiderable obsticles,' bent riders are an out group within an out group.Some years back I read on this forum of a 'bent rider being told they weren't welcome on CTC club rides

pjclinch wrote:

Tangled Metal wrote:I didn't get that video. Why was a car driver coming the road saying they had a lucky escape all the time. Apart from the cyclist right at the beginning there was just empty road. Where were the recumbents?

It's what they call irony.

Tangled metal you can complain all you want that there are no dealers near you, but the Dark side has found you, it will keep gnawing at you, just give in, plan the weekend/day away. Go with the flow.

Some people likened learning to ride like teaching a child to ride, I would say once you get going which tends not to take quite as long the feeling the same as well ?

there seems to always a few for sale on Ebay. So you could if you wanted to just take a punt buy and teach yourself, but the wealth of knowledge that the shops provide may be useful as a beginner , Kevin at DTek was invaluable for me.

You will either love it or hate. As you can see here most of that have gone recumbent don't want to go back, The ones that do tend to be the ones that use it to get over an illness