Recumbent bicycles · Public discussion

First Rides

donnercruz · 2004-09-04T13:45:22+00:00

I'm in the market for a new bike. I'm still not sure whether to go DF or Bent or Both. My home is at the top of a series of pretty good hills, so any ride from here includes some hill climbing. On my current DF, a fifteen year old Nishiki, I tend to ride between an hour and two, depending on the terrain I choose for the day. Just a good work out. I do have to work at my positioning to keep from having wrist pain and hands falling asleep and the area between my shoulder blades does get quite soar. So, I started thinking about recumbents. I've just started test riding a few. I rode everything that Easy Racer makes. Their shop is about 3 miles from my house. I even tried their new tadpole trike. My favorite so far was the Gold Rush. They let me take it out for a 15 plus mile loop past my house (quite a few hills). It was a good work out. I definitely have a different set of soar muscles to contend with today. The only down side I found was the slow speed climbing on the bent found me really working the handle bars to keep in a straight line. I'm not sure whether that's the nature of the beast or lack of experience. Any thoughts? I also tried a Catrike this week. It was light and fun, but I definitely felt every bump in the road. The lwb Gold Rush soaked up a lot of the bumps while riding, but the tadpoles just seemed to transmit bumps right through me. Do you get used to it or is there something I'm missing on tadpole technique? I can't see riding one on any extended rides without rattling my teeth loose. I'm hoping to try a Bacchetta Corsa next week. I'm still not sure whether I'll buy bent or DF for my next ride.

Started by donnercruz · 4 September 2004 · Last activity 1 November 2004 · 5 posts · 3,379 views

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Original section: Recumbent bicycles
Published: 4 September 2004
Last activity: 1 November 2004
Original author: donnercruz
Posts: 5
Discussion status: Public discussion
Total views: 3,379
Views / 30 days: 0
Topics: Climbing Hand and wrist pain Recumbent cycling

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Original post
donnercruz
Archived post

4 September 2004, 13:45 UTC #1

I'm in the market for a new bike. I'm still not sure whether to go DF or Bent or Both. My home is at the top of a series of pretty good hills, so any ride from here includes some hill climbing. On my current DF, a fifteen year old Nishiki, I tend to ride between an hour and two, depending on the terrain I choose for the day. Just a good work out. I do have to work at my positioning to keep from having wrist pain and hands falling asleep and the area between my shoulder blades does get quite soar. So, I started thinking about recumbents. I've just started test riding a few.
I rode everything that Easy Racer makes. Their shop is about 3 miles from my house. I even tried their new tadpole trike. My favorite so far was the Gold Rush. They let me take it out for a 15 plus mile loop past my house (quite a few hills). It was a good work out. I definitely have a different set of soar muscles to contend with today. The only down side I found was the slow speed climbing on the bent found me really working the handle bars to keep in a straight line. I'm not sure whether that's the nature of the beast or lack of experience. Any thoughts?
I also tried a Catrike this week. It was light and fun, but I definitely felt every bump in the road. The lwb Gold Rush soaked up a lot of the bumps while riding, but the tadpoles just seemed to transmit bumps right through me. Do you get used to it or is there something I'm missing on tadpole technique? I can't see riding one on any extended rides without rattling my teeth loose.
I'm hoping to try a Bacchetta Corsa next week.
I'm still not sure whether I'll buy bent or DF for my next ride.

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G Cook
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4 September 2004, 21:47 UTC #2

First you are lucky to have that many bike shops near you. The closest one to me was 150 miles. I was having the same symptoms as you when I rode my df bike. I only got to ride a few bent bikes at that one shop and just decided to buy a bike online and am really glad I did. I bought a Bacchetta Giro for my first bike. When I was at my not so LBS I did ride a Stratus, Strada, Rocket and a Coosanay. That's all he had for me to ride therer. I liked the Strada the best, but would have like to have ridded a Rans V-2. None in the area. I am very pleased with the Giro for now and have gotten used to the light hand hold on the handle bars. It took me some 50 miles to get a great feels just like all on the forumns had to say. The best riding is the ones you enjoy without pain. I was a lot faster on my df, but the pain offset the riding. The view from a bent makes up for the slow climbing for me anyway. It will get better with more miles I am sure. Just have fun riding and don't worry about the speed. Where I live there are many hills also so I am getting a lot better at climbing.

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blazingpedals
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1 November 2004, 01:01 UTC #3

Donner,
A bent will never be quite as fast as an upright on long steep climbs, especially a heavy bent like a TourEasy or GRR with a fairing. Which is more important to you, to go fast up hills or to ride pain-free?

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speedracer
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1 November 2004, 02:58 UTC #4

I have a Catrike Speed, and I find that putting a firm foam on the frame under the seat has really smoothed the ride. Also, I never worry about hills with the trike since I never have to worry about balancing.
On a recumbent bike, one really needs to not pull on the handlebars when going up hills. Relax on the handlebars and you will find that maintaining a straight line is not so hard.
Dennis

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bentbrian
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1 November 2004, 18:21 UTC #5

speedracer said:
I have a Catrike Speed, and I find that putting a firm foam on the frame under the seat has really smoothed the ride. Also, I never worry about hills with the trike since I never have to worry about balancing.
On a recumbent bike, one really needs to not pull on the handlebars when going up hills. Relax on the handlebars and you will find that maintaining a straight line is not so hard.
Dennis

Looks like you are finding the wonderful world of 'bents. Different muscles come into play on a 'bent. Give yourself time to adapt, some say as long as 3000 miles. Keep a light touch on the steering, it will help you maintain a straight line. Most importantly relax and ejoy the ride. With a reasonable 'bent and some miles under your belt you should be about as fast as your DF bike on the flats (perhaps faster), faster into headwinds and downhill. Climbing will be slower, but just remember to gear down and spin (one of the few useful things that carries over from a roadie). Have fun!
'bent Brian

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