An Urban Recumbent

[Stradageek]

I've been looking for one for ages and encouraged by advice from Alan at the World HPV Championships I bought a BikeE AT.

It's brilliant; amazingly maneuverable, light, responsible and comfortable. It is also seriously noticeable/eye catching and therefore safe as houses.

I'm treating fast cornering with circumspection as yet, not sure of the limits of the little 16" front tyre, but I hear a 20" conversion is easy if required.

The seat mounting weakness that enabled litigious Americans to bankrupt the company is easily remedied using a chunk of Delrin (£10) a file and a drill.

Looks as if the last of my upright bikes may be on their way to new homes.... however, I'm not sure I want to part with the Pashley Postie

[neil earley]

Enjoy your new bent bicycle ,onlything is you going to require more as you gain confidence

[pjclinch]

I've never found cornering on my Brom particularly scarier than with bigger wheels (excepting mountain bike terrain, and that's more tyre width/tread than wheel size) and that has 16" wheels. Unless you hit serious pot-hole country a 16" wheel is fine, as long as you put decent tyres on. I use Schwalbe Marathons on my Brom, and they're pretty bombproof and acceptably sure footed.

Pete.

[hercule]

It’s not so much the wheel size, as the fact it’s way up front and most of the weight is in the rear wheel. On a steep hill a BikeE turns into a unicycle recumbent with nose wheel! I’ve had the front wheel wash out on greasy bends, a rather painful experience. Apart from that they do have a charm all of their own and are very easy to ride. Fitted with wider handlebars it handles very well.

[Stradageek]

I was pleased to find that I've managed to procure the large frame version of the AT, so despite my silly long legs the seat is still well forward giving plenty of weight over the front wheel - let's see how it goes

[Sparkle Motion]

Congrats on your purchase of a classic CLWB design!

The idea of recumbents designed for urban use is an interesting one given that most recumbents these days seem to be designed either for speed or touring. Ever since I got my low-maintenance Dutch city bike I've dreamt of a recumbent equivalent - something with hub/drum brakes, hub dynamo-powered lights, fully enclosed chain (or as close to as possible), and hub gear. Hub gears, brakes and hub dynamo-powered lights are relatively straightforward - enclosing the chain is the tricky bit in my view. Covering the chain in a shedload of teflon tubing is the approach most manufacturers take, and I guess belt drives could be another solution. For now, Dutch company FlevoBike could be the company to beat here:

https://shop.flevobike.nl/en/greenmachi ... ering.html

Shame it's so expensive!

[hercule]

Pricey indeed!

A couple of alterntives might be the BikeE predecessor the Oke-Ja (sometimes seen on eBay) and the M5 CMPT for a folding option. And both are Dutch!

[mjr]

I've never found cornering on my Brom particularly scarier than with bigger wheels (excepting mountain bike terrain, and that's more tyre width/tread than wheel size) and that has 16" wheels. Unless you hit serious pot-hole country a 16" wheel is fine, as long as you put decent tyres on.

I found on 20" wheels (upright - please forgive me) that the most troublesome things for steering are dents in the road, rather than potholes. I once found myself swerve onto the right-hand-side of a street in central Cambridge after bending off the curve of such a dent - fortunately the oncoming cyclists were kind and have probably seen far worse!

[Brucey]

like this?


that is a strong rearwards weight bias for sure.

I posted this picture in another thread and I'm dashed if I cam remember where it came from now; I think it was a German student's design study.
[edit; found it; it was from Technische Universität München and I saw it here http://mysolarelectriccargobike.blogspot.com/2014/07/bicycle-bodywork-4-of-4-bike-fairings.html


I'm not sure it is terribly practical in several respects ( the belt drive? transmission being one) but I quite like the layout and packaging, even though it too has a strong rear weight bias.

cheers

[LowdownRider]

I'm (hopefully) taking delivery of my new recumbent ICE trike sometime later this month.
Living in West London, I too was a bit concerned about the risks of being so low down in an urban traffic setting, but having followed a few You Tubers with their recumbent trikes, they actually appear safer than conventional bicycles, as they are more of a novelty which catches the drivers eyes! Overtakers appear to give them a minimum of half a carriageway width when passing.

In all of the footage I've viewed there has only been one brief "close" pass, and that was NOTHING in comparison to what I've had on 2 wheels!
I'd say any recumbent, 2, 3 or 4 wheeled, is going to be safer than a conventional bicycle.
[I SHALL be flying a flag though, as well as sporting strobe lights front & rear and do not intend being a kerb hugger].

I shall still be wary of foreign HGV PSV drivers turning left though!

[Stradageek]

Update

An unexpected bonus is that the BikeE is pretty good off-road too - quite a surprise

The Brompton front wheel analogies may be erroneous however, the BikeE has a US 16" (ERTO 305) front, so smaller than a Brommie

Plan to keep this size wheel because handling and grip have been pretty good thus far.

Great fun little machine