Fixed gear

Cullen Carter said:

Hello,

I'm wondering just how popular recumbent fixed-gear bicycles are.

Rare to the point of being almost unheard of.

Quoted message said:

So, does anybody here ride one?

Very few recumbents have horizontal dropouts, so you would need
something like the White Industries ENO hub:
<http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/white-hubs.html>.

The other factors working against fixed gear recumbents are hills. Most
fixie upright riders stand and "honk" on all but shallow grades, to get
more leverage. Unless you have very good knees and legs, you could be
risking injury by mashing hard in too high of a gear for too long.

On the downside (pun intended) the lower aerodynamic drag of the
recumbent will also be a disadvantage, since top speed is limited by
maximum cadence. You would end up riding the brakes [1] a lot going
downhill.

I did once consider a recumbent fixie, but that was when I lived in flat
east central Illinois where I could do a whole club ride in the middle
chainring and only 3 or 4 gears in the back.

[1] Anyone who rides a fixie without brakes anywhere but the velodrome
is an idiot. Rear wheel only braking is poor on uprights and most SWB
recumbents [2], and chain derailment would leave the bicycle brakeless.
[2] The RANS Rocket is an honorable exception, and the Rotator Tiger
appears to have proper weight distribution for decent rear braking.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

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