I think this is one of ActionBents' links on their website...interesting to see some of the Asian recumbent designs. Seems much more varied than what we see out of Europe and North America! Not sure if any of them hold a candle to the HP Velo SMGTe for comfort, though -- or to one of the Challenge speedsters for speed...but interesting to see, all the same! Particularly as they seem like every-day low-maintenance kind of machines, the sort you just pick up and go with and not really worry about.
I wonder in which Asian country recumbents will first really pick up and take off...China, with its tradition of bike-riding; Taiwan, where most bikes are (had been?) made; Japan, whose citizens love novelty and gadgets and funny-looking contraptions? One big factor *against* "recumbency" would be the typically tight spaces of most Asian environments, plus the some of the worst impulses of '50s-era US auto culture....
one of them looks like a bicycle drive fitted onto a portable scooter frame.
The low rider cycle frame look like cycling frames used by hi speed man power vehicles san the shell.
NYC XYZ said:
I think this is one of ActionBents' links on their website...interesting to see some of the Asian recumbent designs. Seems much more varied than what we see out of Europe and North America! Not sure if any of them hold a candle to the HP Velo SMGTe for comfort, though -- or to one of the Challenge speedsters for speed...but interesting to see, all the same! Particularly as they seem like every-day low-maintenance kind of machines, the sort you just pick up and go with and not really worry about.
I wonder in which Asian country recumbents will first really pick up and take off...China, with its tradition of bike-riding; Taiwan, where most bikes are (had been?) made; Japan, whose citizens love novelty and gadgets and funny-looking contraptions? One big factor *against* "recumbency" would be the typically tight spaces of most Asian environments, plus the some of the worst impulses of '50s-era US auto culture....
I think this is one of ActionBents' links on their website...interesting to see some of the Asian recumbent designs. Seems much more varied than what we see out of Europe and North America! Not sure if any of them hold a candle to the HP Velo SMGTe for comfort, though -- or to one of the Challenge speedsters for speed...but interesting to see, all the same! Particularly as they seem like every-day low-maintenance kind of machines, the sort you just pick up and go with and not really worry about.
I wonder in which Asian country recumbents will first really pick up and take off...China, with its tradition of bike-riding; Taiwan, where most bikes are (had been?) made; Japan, whose citizens love novelty and gadgets and funny-looking contraptions? One big factor *against* "recumbency" would be the typically tight spaces of most Asian environments, plus the some of the worst impulses of '50s-era US auto culture....
one of them looks like a bicycle drive fitted onto a portable scooter frame.
The low rider cycle frame look like cycling frames used by hi speed man power vehicles san the shell.
What photo number are you talking about?
---- Most of the "utilitarian" bikes seem to be home-made flevobikes.
It's interesting to see all the tiny-wheel bikes though, uprights and bents--probably most of them are folding bikes, very popular in Japan I know (can be taken on mass-transit). Not any long bikes at all; there's the combo-tandem but I don't see one LWB anywhere.....
My favorite is the square-tubed front-wheel drive one. Makes me want to go dig my welder out of the garage.
Joseph
It's awful small, though...in another photo (from one of the dozen of links on the main page), a guy trying to walk it has to really stoop over -- on bended knees!
The hi speed man power recumbent cycle systems have a wind canopy to reduce wind drag. Hi speed man power vehicles can go very fast when a properly trained athlete is running it. The low drag profile of the recumbent frame might also lend itself to improving the speed of a man power flying vehicle.
The hi speed man power recumbent cycle systems have a wind canopy to reduce wind drag. Hi speed man power vehicles can go very fast when a properly trained athlete is running it. The low drag profile of the recumbent frame might also lend itself to improving the speed of a man power flying vehicle.
A recent issue of "Velo Vision" magazine from the UK has a short article on just such a contraption. The Frenchman, IIRC, has already flown the pedal-powered zepplin over land and water, and his goal is a trans-Atlantic flight!
The hi speed man power recumbent cycle systems have a wind canopy to reduce wind drag. Hi speed man power vehicles can go very fast when a properly trained athlete is running it. The low drag profile of the recumbent frame might also lend itself to improving the speed of a man power flying vehicle.
A recent issue of "Velo Vision" magazine from the UK has a short article on just such a contraption[1]. The Frenchman, IIRC, has already flown the pedal-powered zepplin over land and water, and his goal is a trans-Atlantic flight!
