First time Recumbent Test Ride

My wife test rode recumbents with me on Saturday. She loved them. I'm looking at a long wheel base Burley, mainly because I think it will be an easier transition for the family to go back and forth between upright and bent.

Only problem is, this may be too long to mount on our car bike rack.

poweredbysweat said:

I'm looking at a long wheel base Burley, mainly because I think it will be an easier transition for the family to go back and forth between upright and bent.

My experience has been that the LWB "easy to learn" thing is way over rated. In many cases it appears to lead to recumbent regret. My GF, who has very limited cycling experience of any kind, rapidly dumped the LWB thing in favor of something that handles and is fun to ride.

At the price of these things, one should ride a number of bikes, in several styles, before purchasing.

Hull 697 said:

My experience has been that the LWB "easy to learn" thing is way over rated. In many cases it appears to lead to recumbent regret. My GF, who has very limited cycling experience of any kind, rapidly dumped the LWB thing in favor of something that handles and is fun to ride.

At the price of these things, one should ride a number of bikes, in several styles, before purchasing.

The LWB didn't seem hard to handle, and it was fun to ride. Are you talking about the transportability issue?

poweredbysweat said:

The LWB didn't seem hard to handle, and it was fun to ride. Are you talking about the transportability issue?

No, talking about a bike that is fun to ride over time. There is a reason the LWB is all but dead in Europe, boredom.

The SWB is not hard to handle either, although numerous bike shops seem to push the LWB because "it is so much easier to learn on". IME, for what, 10 minutes? We drove and rode for quite a while before deciding what to buy, and the LWB thing was boring very soon. After three or four test rides, we simply did not bother with LWB any more because we were already beyond that.

We wanted bikes we would RIDE for a long while, and we simply did not find a LWB that would fit that criterion. Fun Factor, if you will.

OTOH, different strokes for different folks. Just don't get caught up in some LBS's BS and buy something you will be tired of in a couple months and selling for 1/2 what you paid on eBay.

And, on another note, Bacchetta has a couple new steeds, the Agio and the Cafe, that are kinda LWB but ride more sporty. I have ridden the Cafe and found it much more agile than the Burleys and other LWB's we tested. You might give them a ride and see what you think. They are priced well.

Thanks for the advice. I'll check them out. I did try a few Bechettas, but I don't remember the names.