Any tips for looking at used recumbent?

[Galactic]

Thanks for the tips - Thanks to a.twiddler I think I've narrowed it down to a Sinner Fifty-Fifty or the substantially identical Flevobike Fifty-Fifty (those mudguards are a give away!). That puts the bike at probably around 20 years old, so I'm glad it's steel and not aly!

Upwrong's suggestion that it may be the Sirix Flash was useful even though I concluded it probably isn't a Traix Sirix - those have a very similar design, but appear to have always been made of aly rather than steel ( https://traix.de/ueber-traix ). However it looks like Traix/Sirix may be a source for new forks if that should be necessary.

I've got several extra points on my checklist now thanks to your replies, many of which I wouldn't have thought of and I'm meeting the bike at the weekend. I'll let you know how I get on.

But even if I don't buy that bike, I now feel I have more of an insight into what to look out for when checking over a bent and doing a test ride, so thank you all!

[Campag]

Just come across this thread. If you're anywhere near Sunderland I have a few recumbents of varied type, you're welcome to visit for a test ride.

[Grldtnr]

If you never ridden a recumbent expect to struggle at first, you very likely will fail first time,it depends on what you try, recumbents are not like Upwrongs, each design may look similar but they all have idiosyncratics , , I prefer 'Bum' steer, underseat bars,, tiller , superman and above seat bars all affect how they ride,, I have a Peer Gynt, as well as 2:other trikes, I find it unerving riding the Gynt, but could be I am so used to riding trikes, that adjusting to 2 wheels is very different, but have ridden other solo recumbents successfully.
I say stick at it, once you get your 'bent legs , you might be coming over to the dark side

[Galactic]

Thanks for the offer of trying out your bikes, Campag, much appreciated. Sadly a long way from Sunderland too, otherwise I'd take you up on that offer.

As Grldtnr says, I'm in grave danger of coming over to the dark side. We shall see how I get on with this recumbent I'm thinking of buying (watch this space ...)

[Galactic]

So I went and had a look at the bike at the weekend and ended up taking it home with me. Overall in very good condition, the only thing i'm considering replacing are the handlebars which have obviously seen a few falls and are badly scarred. The seat may also be a little too small for me, but I'm going to give it a chance first.

Thanks to your tips I was able to get going on it fairly quickly, although I'm still far from being in proper control and am riding only on quiet, traffic-free paths while I learn how to do straight lines and controlled corners.

The bike has a front-motor conversion kit installed, including a thumb throttle. The throttle makes it extremely easy to start off and get my feet on the pedals. (I'm aware of the unclear legal status of thumb throttles, if you feel the need to drop your tuppence on the subject there's an ongoing discussion here: viewtopic.php?p=1936890#p1936890 ). The plan is to get rid of the thumb throttle sooner rather than later.

With the high handlebars installed the bike is very easy to push. The interesting thing is that it feels long even though it is 10cm shorter than my touring upright. This is because of the overhanging boom and pedals which makes it feel slow to turn while manoeuvering the bike through doorways and onto trains.

So now I have to practice, practice, practice and time will tell whether I will give up my upright and join you all on the dark side.

Thanks again for the tips and advice. I felt a lot more confident about buying my first recumbent after reading all your suggestions. This is the CUK Forum at its best

[Jdsk]

That's great and very interesting. Looking forward to hearing how this develops.

Jonathan

[Grldtnr]

You don't have to busecthe thumb throttle, things may have changed, but if itbiscsn aftermarket kit I think that's ok,,forsvitbpowervthe bike above 4mph? As the law allowed that to help manoeuvres,above that makes it illegal , possibly you can deactivate it, I did briefly dally with E-PACs but scorned it as the work of the devil!

[hercule]

Excellent outcome.

Even after I don’t know how many years I still struggle with uphill starts, I am seriously considering fitting a motor to overcome my phobia of gradients (though not on three wheels, I’ll take on anything on a trike!)

[hercule]

I believe a throttle is OK if the bike pre-dates a certain age but don’t quote me on that.

[belgiangoth]

Take it to the park and practice starts on the flat, circles and figures of 8.
Relaxed grip on the handlebars and look ahead at where you are going.
You do want clip-in pedals, but just set them to "really loose", meaning that you can clip in/out easy and not crash when you stop, but then don't need to work on keeping your feet on the pedals.
I learnt (ish) recumbent riding when my twin had just been born, so very short and infrequent trips to the park. You build up some decent muscle/reflex memory even with infrequent short visits.

[Blondie]

Welcome to the dark side.

As above, with recumbents you want your upper body nice and relaxed, not in tension as per uprights. You will find kids think the bike is sick, and you will get lots of smiles or laughter. Enjoy it, you will soon have that recumbent grin.

[Galactic]

you will soon have that recumbent grin

The recumbent grin has already been diminished. Bumped into (fortunately not literally!) a couple or recumbent riders the other day and they let me have a go on their top-of-the-range lottery-winner's 26/20 recumbents. After that my vintage 20/20 no longer seemed so comfortable

I'm learning to relax, it makes a noticeable difference to twitchy steering, as does focussing on where I want to go rather than what's about to go under my wheels. Still need more practice going slow and turning tight corners without needing to put my foot down.

Clip pedals can wait until I've decided whether I'm going to take to the whole recumbent thing. I use cages on my upright's pedals and am happy with them so would need to invest in shoes, clips as well as pedals.

The thumb throttle is still a huge help with starting off. I can almost do it with the throttle limited to a legal 6kmh, but at the moment I still need 8kmh to get enough momentum up. I'll change the motor PAS settings to see if I can get it to kick in earlier or ramp up more quickly.

Today's job is to see if I can take apart the front suspension forks (elastometer or spring, probably) which are as soft as stagnant marshmallows. Depending on whether they can be salvaged I'll think about replacing them with a rigid fork and bigger tyres. Rigid steel forks would also give some piece of mind considering they're carrying a front motor hub.

Does anyone have experience of how rigid forks on a 20" front wheel with 50mm or 52mm (or bigger!) tyres feel? Thinking of something like the Schwalbe Big Apples. Also need to check what the vintage steel strip mudguards will take.

[Grldtnr]

Welcome to the dark side.

As above, with recumbents you want your upper body nice and relaxed, not in tension as per uprights. You will find kids think the bike is sick, and you will get lots of smiles or laughter. Enjoy it, you will soon have that recumbent grin.

You want to look where you going,and the bike will follow, don't focus on the front wheel, if going through bends look beyond the vanish point the bike will go there, much like riding a motorbike, fine control eventually happens.
Yeah I could spend money on Lotto winners bikes, but it won't make me any happier,be content with what you have

[a.twiddler]

you will soon have that recumbent grin

The recumbent grin has already been diminished. Bumped into (fortunately not literally!) a couple or recumbent riders the other day and they let me have a go on their top-of-the-range lottery-winner's 26/20 recumbents. After that my vintage 20/20 no longer seemed so comfortable

I'm learning to relax, it makes a noticeable difference to twitchy steering, as does focussing on where I want to go rather than what's about to go under my wheels. Still need more practice going slow and turning tight corners without needing to put my foot down.

Clip pedals can wait until I've decided whether I'm going to take to the whole recumbent thing. I use cages on my upright's pedals and am happy with them so would need to invest in shoes, clips as well as pedals.

The thumb throttle is still a huge help with starting off. I can almost do it with the throttle limited to a legal 6kmh, but at the moment I still need 8kmh to get enough momentum up. I'll change the motor PAS settings to see if I can get it to kick in earlier or ramp up more quickly.

Today's job is to see if I can take apart the front suspension forks (elastometer or spring, probably) which are as soft as stagnant marshmallows. Depending on whether they can be salvaged I'll think about replacing them with a rigid fork and bigger tyres. Rigid steel forks would also give some piece of mind considering they're carrying a front motor hub.

Does anyone have experience of how rigid forks on a 20" front wheel with 50mm or 52mm (or bigger!) tyres feel? Thinking of something like the Schwalbe Big Apples. Also need to check what the vintage steel strip mudguards will take.

The advice from other posters will stand you in good stead. I've never had an electric recumbent so I can't comment on that.

Is the front mount motor in the hub or fixed to the BB? Front hub motors can have unexpected effects on the steering until you get used to it. Quite a novelty having two driven wheels though, and if you have chain problems it can still get you home. If it's a BB motor, that weight stuck out front also takes some getting used to.

Anyway, it's just another factor to add to the general weirdness that is recumbent riding, and given enough riding it's just a skill that you develop.

Sometimes if you think you are going to fall over in a slow tight turn, you have to over ride that automatic thing in your head which is a hangover from riding conventional bikes which makes you want to stop pedalling, and just pedal. That helps to maintain stability, and tightens up the steering. Once you have the confidence to do that, it works like magic.
Might be better to concentrate on pedal power in these situations at first, but once you are confident, if your speed is below the thumb throttle cut off point, that might help too, later.

Starting off is something where the distance between zero and about 5mph is scary territory at first, with the fear of falling off stopping you from going faster. Another thing that you have to train your brain to do is realise that once you're rolling above that speed, it's easier to balance! So you have to go for it from a standstill on the flat or on a slight downhill, and be in a gear that's not too low, as that first pedal thrust from the 12 o'clock position has to get you rolling fast enough to get your other foot up and give another good push and carry on from there. Once you've done it a few times the scariness subsides. It's getting that rapid start from zero to rolling which allows you to experiment with your control.

I started out without clip in pedals and I've never found the need for them since on my various recumbents. But, people use what they're comfortable with. It's always easier to bring your speed down then pedal a bit to increase it again until you're a bit happier with the way it feels. If you have a quiet road or rail trail with a bit of a downhill slope you'll probably soon find yourself able to freewheel to nearly a standstill and get going again without putting a foot down. With practice and the right roads you might be able to work out a route where you can ride for miles without putting a foot down.

Then, uphill starts! Starting at junctions! The more you ride, the more these once scary situations become second nature.

I've changed an MTB rigid front fork to a suspension one (26") but you need to change like for like. Does your bike have a quill stem type 1" steerer or is it an aheadset one? The main thing is that the ride height of the replacement fork will be the same as the original, and the steerer tube is the same length. If longer, you can cut it to size, if too short, no good. There are others on this forum more expert on this subject than me. If you are going to be fitting a fatter tyre, it needs to have plenty of clearance.

On my old Linear recumbent, which came with a 20" 500A front wheel and fairly skinny tyre, I was able to fit a 20" 406 front wheel and a 50mm Big Apple. It was a rigid fork. A previous owner had already increased the rear wheel size from 26" to 700C so I was quite worried that messing about with the front wheel would upset the handling. It actually worked out fine and I had that bike for a further five years and it was a very comfortable long distance bike. So from my experience, as long as the rim is not too narrow, a fatter front tyre works fine.

[Galactic]

Update on the forks:

Managed to get them separated, the springs were well rotted through. Have ordered new springs in the right size (and guessing at what strength) and will clean the forks up ready to be put back together.

I'll keep those forks for the time being since there's no sign of stress from the front motor and apart from the suspension itself they're in good condition. If I decide to keep that recumbent rather than upgrade to a lottery winner's model then I may still change the forks to rigid.

And they're 1-1/8" threaded if anyone's interested. A quick look on the net says I may have a restricted choice when it comes to replacements.