Recumbents, educate me!

[GrumpyGit]

On the way to work I saw someone riding a recumbent, this was in heavy traffic (the Angel, Islington) which I thought looked a bit risky.

When I'm on my "normal" bike, I'm sat up high enough to see what's going on around me and (hopefully) be seen by other road users. On the recumbent the rider was very low to the ground, face roughly level with vehicle exhausts and I would imagine with greatly compromised visibility.

So tell me, what are the advantages of a recumbent and why are they worth (what I would consider) the greatly reduced safety of tackling traffic on one?

[thirdcrank]

I'm off to my nuclear bunker till I hear the all clear - sometime in 2010 probably.

[EdinburghFixed]

It's not such a big deal. Think about it this way - riding very low is just like cycling an upright bike around vans, buses, and tall cars with blacked out windows. It's not what I would choose if my commute was solely a traffic-jam carvery, but otherwise for a longer commute (or if you had just one bike) it's not a safety concern.

To turn the question around, how do you consume the extra information you gain by seeing over cars, that makes it a safety advantage (relative to car drivers, who can't see over other cars)?

The main reason I like to be able to see over cars is so that I can pass them, which I do all the time on my upright. If you're willing to modify your level of 'progressiveness' and wait a bit more in line, then you don't lose as much as you imagine. In fact you could argue that by discouraging the most risky filtering manouvres you have gained safety (but this depends on your answer to the question above).

I would say there are two big advantages to riding a recumbent in traffic - firstly, in the event of a crash you are not flying face-first. Instead you can pile into the action feet-first which, if I am going to have to crash, is how I would prefer it. It's not unusual to read reports of riders merely denting the malefactor's car but ruining their good looks - on a recumbent you are driving the bottom bracket, with the whole frame and your weight behind it, like a blunt spear. Much more agreeable

Secondly, you get a lot more space from drivers. Almost freakishly more - I think there is something about the fact that you are lying down that makes it socially unacceptable for drivers to risk you, so their behaviour is markedly different. Maybe there's a touch of 'he might be disabled' about it, if I'm honest with my suspicions!

And to be honest, who doesn't want to fly past upright bicycles on a demonic street luge with pedals?

[glueman]

I don't like recumbents, I freely admit it. But then there are lots of things I don't like while supporting others right to like them (so long as they don't try to convince me to like them too).
It's an aesthetic thing for me, the position of someone in a Maserati without bodywork to cover their vanity. I have no problem with 'bents for human powered racing on closed tracks with other consenting adults, I just think you can easily look a wally on one.

Completely irrational but there you go.

[reohn2]

THEY ARE DARK MAGIC AND AS SUCH SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS,

THEY ARE SPAWN OF THE DEVIL.

YOU'RE SOUL IS AT RISK,

----YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED----

There that should straighten it all out.

PS Tandems rule OK!

[mw3230]

Some years ago my wife and I sampled tandem riding courtesy of a local hire shop who provided a tandem for the day along with tuition. We went on to buy one. Does anyone know of any similar opportunity vis a vis recumbents? (North of England area). I would love to try a 'bent and if I liked it then work on the financial comptroller with a view to aquiring one. Thanks Notwithstanding that they are apparently the 'work of the devil'

[reohn2]

Some years ago my wife and I sampled tandem riding courtesy of a local hire shop who provided a tandem for the day along with tuition. We went on to buy one. Does anyone know of any similar opportunity vis a vis recumbents? (North of England area). I would love to try a 'bent and if I liked it then work on the financial comptroller with a view to aquiring one. Thanks

Look, tandems are OK, ie pleasurable things, both to tinker with and ride, when two are aboard all is well with the world.One can chat, laugh Ha ha ha... enjoy the world as it should be enjoyed,of course you know, you've found out tandeming's pleasures.
As for that SPAWN it is unnatural I tell you, keep away, no good will come of it.
Human sanity is threatened by these low things.

[ncutler]

:shock:

I'm off to my nuclear bunker till I hear the all clear - sometime in 2010 probably.

I hope you are taking your helmet with you ?

N

[GrumpyGit]

To turn the question around, how do you consume the extra information you gain by seeing over cars, that makes it a safety advantage (relative to car drivers, who can't see over other cars)?

I can't really comment on that as I own an old Land Rover so I can see over the top of the cars

Still don't think I'd fancy the face level with the exhaust pipe thing though.

[EdinburghFixed]

Unfortunately the air intake on virtually all modern cars (not your Land Rover, though) is low at the front, just where the vehicle in front has its exhaust. This is why when you look at the lungs of drivers vs cyclists you get the result, surprising to many, that drivers suffer more from pollution inside their cars than cyclists do outside.

Of course you'd expect being lower down would expose you to more fumes, but I'm honestly not sure how much more. When you watch stuff billowing from old or badly maintained car exhausts, it goes all over the place. The less-visible pollution from ordinary cars must be spreading in a similar fashion - so I guess it might come down to your exposure time (which isn't as high on an upright as you cut through queues). Car drivers spend a lot of time in queues sucking air from the exhaust in front, so if recumbent riders spend more time in a similar position, they'd be worse off.

As far as looking like a wally goes, I'm genuinely not sure. I thought recumbents looked ridiculous until I tried one and realised it was the way forward. It's not as if I don't often look ridiculous (to Joe Public) when I'm cycling anyway! However, much of this may be rationalisation from my perspective from the recumbent seat itself.

I suppose a big win for recumbency is that you don't need to wear anything special - when I borrowed LB's demo bike I set a personal best for speed on flat terrain, in jeans and a hoodie. Now you *can* wear anything you like to cycle any kind of bike. But only a recumbent makes going as fast as a time-trial as comfortable as sitting on the sofa

[byegad]

In traffic, by that I mean town and lots of traffic, a low recumbent, be it trike or bike, rider has the same problems as a DF rider has among vans, lorries and buses, except it is in all traffic. It is hard to see anything other than what ever is adjacent to you.
On a higher 'bent, like a 20/26 bike, high racer or trike like a Hase Kettwiesel, the rider's head is at a similar height to the driver of say a Ferrari. Still unable to see over things but can see a bit better than really low riders. Also at Give Way junctions it's best to sit up and lean forward to see into the main road as the boom and possibly the front wheel stick out a fair bit further than the front wheel of a DF.

All of this makes 'bents less able to carve through traffic. Not impossible but anyone used to commuting in a big town on a DF will feel held back by a 'bent in that they cannot 'work' the traffic as well as they could on a DF. Some experienced 'bent commuters tell me they make up for the slow bit being slower by being a deal faster on the fast bits! A report on the BHPC forum from, I think, last year reported an RTA where a car over took a bent and then slowed hard resulting in the rider clipping the rear of the offending car and bouncing between it and several cars in the next lane. A motorcyle paramedic arrived and after seeing the rider was on a 'bent canceled the Air Ambulance that had been scrambled. He said 'It's OK its a recumbent so no head injury.' or something similar. Hitting feet first is preferable to the head first common on a DF.

People assume that the main traffic problem is being seen but the unusual profile of a 'bent makes it stand out from 'normal' traffic and so most 'bent riders report that, if anything they are seen better on a 'bent than they ever were before. One exception is a low 'bent where the car behind the car following the 'bent may not be able to see what's holding up the first car and overtake into a gap already in use by the 'bent. A flag is useful in these circumstances to ensure that the second driver can see it waving!

Other road users tend to treat any bent, but especially trikes with great patience, how often have you on a DF been waved out of a junction in heavy traffic? How often does a car pass your DF by completely vacating the lane you are in as they go by? It happens all of the time to me on my trikes.

On my Trice QNT, seat 8" from the ground and well reclined, I always run with a flag, for the reasons mentioned above. On my Hase Kettwiesel, seat 18" off the ground and a more upright seat I never do. For choice in town I run the Kettwiesel as I can see more. By the way I know my eye line is the same as a Ferrari's I sat next to one at the lights last year!

You can't be shy on a 'bent but the vast majority of enquiries or shouts from the pavement are positive. Other Df cyclist always seem to ask the same question. 'Can you be seen down there?' thay ask. The answer is most certainly yes.

For me, 58, fat, slow, asthmatic and arthritic to be able cover a distance on my trike that, on a DF, would leave me with sore wrists, elbows, neck, shouders and backside the next day with absolutely no aches or pains is a miracle. A recumbent may not be for everyone, but for some of us it's the difference between riding regularly and not riding at all.

[MrsWildduck]

:shock:

I'm off to my nuclear bunker till I hear the all clear - sometime in 2010 probably.

I hope you are taking your helmet with you ?

N

What about your single pannier?

[ANTONISH]

You're a braver man than I am GrumpyGit

[Tigerbiten]

I'm the proud owner of a 10 day old Trice Q.

I have an above elbow amputation of the left arm.
I now don't feel safe trying to ride on a DF but I do on my recumbent trike.

Luck ..........

[Cunobelin]

THEY ARE DARK MAGIC AND AS SUCH SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS,

THEY ARE SPAWN OF THE DEVIL.

YOU'RE SOUL IS AT RISK,

----YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED----

There that should straighten it all out.

PS Tandems rule OK!

Almost as bad as a single pannier?