Re: Trek and Cannondale recumbents

[Harry (Lincoln, Nebraska)]

>
>>> The chief hazard I've run into on snowy roads is sideslips and wheel
>>> diversions due to crossing ruts at a shallow angle. That's sometimes
>>> very difficult to avoid, especially at intersections and when changing
>>> lanes. On an upright the usual way to stay, well, upright is to get up
>>> off the saddle and shift one's weight to compensate. When you've run
>>> into those conditions on a recumbent, how have you handled it?
>>
>> Studded tires with studs on the shoulders would be a necessity.
>>
>> One *might* take a few more falls under such conditions on a recumbent,
>> but the falls hurt much less.
>
>If you really want to do ice on a cycle, there's a lot to be said for
>more than two wheels...
>
>Pete.



We have a lot of ice rigth now on the side streets here in Nebraska.
I don't have a problem riding the Trike on it. Takes a little longer
to get where I am going and I often have to detour around some of the
larger pack ice pushed across intersections by plows. And this to me
is pretty close to off-road riding. Rough and Tumble ride. And I
just LOVE it when I get into a parking lot that's empty and covered
with ice...........Donuts are INCREDIBLE and always seem to put a
smile on my face.

 

[DougC]

Edward Dolan wrote:
>
> The fact remains that recumbents are all about comfort and little else.
>

This much is true.

Lack of comfort is what keeps a lot of people off bicycles.
High unit prices is what keeps them off of recumbents.
Recumbents weigh more, but bike weight isn't the major problem here--ass
pain is. High-end bike shops don't have that "wall of saddles" because
people complain their bikes are too heavy.

When I had a short-wheelbase there were times riding on rough roads when
the SWB bike's handling was "challenging", when an upright bike would
have had no problem at all. Since going to a long-wheelbase however,
rough-road handling isn't much of an issue.

There are some things that are more difficult or impossible on a
recumbent--riding up curbs, yes. But I ride in the street the vast
majority of my miles anyway. The only places in my town that have lots
of curb cuts AND lots of busy car-traffic is in the central town
business district--but there's also lots of pedestrian sidewalk traffic,
too. So the only place I might prefer to ride on a sidewalk, is full of
sidewalk-walkers.

The slow-speed handling thing is true, but it comes down to mostly
practice. Leaning forward off the seat-back allows for pretty fine
balancing.

.....

I would state again--most people do not ride enough for the added
comfort of a recumbent to be beneficial--and the people who would
consider the comfort benefit most-beneficial, are the same people who
would need to be FORCED to ride a bicycle at all.
~

 

[Tom Sherman]

gotbent aka FVTR wrote:
> "DougC" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Edward Dolan wrote:
> snip
>> The slow-speed handling thing is true, but it comes down to mostly
>> practice. Leaning forward off the seat-back allows for pretty fine
>> balancing.
> snip
>
> SWB and tiller steering is the combo that caused me to weave slowly up
> hills. After riding my V-Rex for five or six years, it was still something I
> could not eliminate. When I bought a Speedmachine that had the 'ubermann'
> bars, I had much better control when slowly climbing and even at five or six
> mph, I can ride a more or less straight line. Bill Patterson (professor of
> mech. eng. at Cal Poly) explained the weaving phenominon as a 'negative
> spring'. An interesting observation, but when I bought a Sunset, I first set
> it up with a RANS Flipit and hamster bars, I found that there was much less
> weaving than on the V-Rex, so the geometry of the Sunset minimized the
> negative spring reaction. The Sunset is a lowracer and it is probable that
> having a 406/305 wheel setup reduces the reaction forces that are prevailent
> in a tiller steered 406/559 set-up. I eventually settled on a tweener bar
> setup for the Sunset, but steerage at low speedds is still fairly solid and
> predictable....

Prof. Patterson and I have had our disagreements about bicycle handling
on this forum (ARBR), and what he advocates is much a matter of taste.

As for the handling of the Earth Cycles Sunset, Sean got the head tube
angle and and trail combination correct, since not only is the Sunset
easy to ride at low speed, but also stable at 90+ kph, as befits The
Most Fun Bicycle in the Known Universe.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"Localized intense suction such as tornadoes is created when temperature
differences are high enough between meeting air masses, and can impart
excessive energy onto a cyclist." - Randy Schlitter

 

[Tom Sherman]

Edward Dolan wrote:
> "Tom Sherman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> [...]
>> As for the handling of the Earth Cycles Sunset, Sean got the head tube
>> angle and and trail combination correct, since not only is the Sunset easy
>> to ride at low speed, but also stable at 90+ kph, as befits The Most Fun
>> Bicycle in the Known Universe.
>
> Tom Sherman has never ridden anything 90+kph in his life nor is he ever
> likely to. I believe I am going to take a hint from the Great Mike Vandeman
> and start calling liars liars.

I did so going south into Oregon, Illinois and west towards Hyde,
Wisconsin. Such speeds are not hard to obtain on a lowracer.

> By the way, Sean of Minneapolis (St. Anthony) ran his business (Earth
> Cycles) into the ground because he didn't have the brains he was born with.
> Why is it that once someone gets into recumbents, they seem to lose all
> common sense. Mr. Sherman has a couple of orphan recumbents because Sean was
> too stupid to run a simple business. Sean may have gotten the head tube
> angle right, but he could not get his own head right!

There is much more to the story than that, but I will not post
privileged information to Usenet.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"Localized intense suction such as tornadoes is created when temperature
differences are high enough between meeting air masses, and can impart
excessive energy onto a cyclist." - Randy Schlitter

 

[Tom Sherman]

Mr. Ed. Dolan the Grate wrote:
> ...
> Liar, liar, pants on fire!....

Reverting to preschool behavior in your dotage, eh?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"Localized intense suction such as tornadoes is created when temperature
differences are high enough between meeting air masses, and can impart
excessive energy onto a cyclist." - Randy Schlitter