Woohoo!

NYC XYZ said:

Well, I took the SWB out for a twelve-mile spin...I was riding on the
Grand Concourse in the Bronx, then went over the Tri-Boro into Astoria
Park...and I have these further observations, for those who may be --
in the future -- looking into a recumbent for urban riding:

1) Cars are so much more respectful! Of course, this was Sunday, but
the Grand Concourse is still, as its name suggests, a major
thoroughfare. Even the bus drivers were extremely respectful! But
being the former NYC messenger that I am, I was never in any danger --
though it was very nice for a change not to get cut off or honked at.
Amazing!!! Everybody kept their distance, slowed down even though it
cost them the light, etc.

2) I don't need no rear-view mirror! I could turn my head just about
as easily and nearly as much as I always do on an upright! 'Matter of
fact, I was zipping along as fast as I ever did on my upright! Or,
rather, I should say, with as much effort as I typically do, which
brings me to my next observation...

3) I'm 5 mph slower!!!!! At least!!!!!!!! The amount of pedalling I
did would have been a good ~27mph, but the most I was able to manage
was a measly ~21!!! I hope this is just a matter of not having had the
right gears (due to the chain issue mentioned in another post, which,
unfortunately, seems unresolved) and 'bent muscles still
developing...which brings me to my next point...

4) I'm really feeling it! Not sore the next day, thankfully, but wow,
'benting is like them leg exercise machines in the gym! I really
worked my glutes, my quads (mainly above the knees), and hamstrings.

5) Also, this reminds me of kayaking! Yes! Insofar as you've got to
keep the shoulders relaxed to make it work...with kayaking, you'd think
that it was about hacking away at the water with your manly arms on the
paddle, but it ain't, it's about relaxing the upper body enough to
coordinate its movement with the rest of the torso in order to paddle
efficiently! Likewise, at least on an SWB like the HP Velo SMGTe,
you'd think it was about maintaining firm control of the handlebars --
but it ain't! It's about relaxing your shoulders, arms, everything,
really...cool!

6) The headrest is a nice addition to the already very comfy BodyLink
hardshell seat. Actually, you'll definitely need the Airflow Cushion,
which costs $$$. Actually, every damned thing on this machine costs $$
-- can you believe the little two-inch computer mount is US$16??? But
it's a very fine ride..."magic carpet," as RCN said a couple of times.
I don't know how any other SWB maker stays in bid'ness!

7) It's fun going over bumps and potholes with the fully-suspended
SMGTe! At least with my Swiss Air DT air shock...though it seems to be
bottoming-out more than it should, so I'll need to adjust it. It's fun
going over speed bumps and jumping a few inches off the ground!
Hmm...maybe I should get a seat belt? Or a parachute!

8) Which segues again into this other note: the much lower vantage
point seem to make spotting potholes slightly harder! A couple of
times I'd been sort of surprised by a pothole that materialized as the
lay of the land suddenly came into sight. But this is not a major
issue, and now I can enjoy girls' plump pear posteriors without craning
my neck!

9) Speaking of whom...wow, this is more eye-catching than a car! You
know how females enjoy novelty...and the girls in Astoria Park were
really intrigued! I actually started getting shy...then wondered if
all they were interested in was my 'bent! But I did some chin-ups and
pull-ups to distract them...hehe....

WOOHOO!!!!

Please be careful, your enthusiasm the last months for your 'bent
project is apparently contagious! I find myself repeatedly visiting the
Challenge website in secret.

I may yet join the ranks of 'bent riders! A Hurricane Sport USS may be
in my future.

Joseph

PS: The mental image of some crazed usenet-junkie doing chin-ups in
Astoria park to impress some girls admiring his 'bent is a wonder to
behold! I wonder if they would have thought you were so studly tooling
around the office the other day!

PPS: I'm just teasing. I really enjoy your posts, and your humor is
right up my alley.

Quoted message said:

Please be careful, your enthusiasm the last months for your 'bent
project is apparently contagious! I find myself repeatedly visiting the
Challenge website in secret.

I may yet join the ranks of 'bent riders! A Hurricane Sport USS may be
in my future.

If possible try before you decide: I didn't get on very well with
Challenge's seat when I tried a Mistral, which is a shame as I find many
of their models /very/ desirable on paper :-(

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Oh, that reminds me:

10) I'm actually not so concerned about others not seeing me as much as
I am that I won't see them! With this lower vantage point, I find that
I can no longer peer into the cars parked alongside the curb to make
sure no one is pulling out or opening a door. Major bummer!!!

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

NYC XYZ said:

1) Cars are so much more respectful! Of course, this was Sunday, but
the Grand Concourse is still, as its name suggests, a major
thoroughfare.

Heh :-) If yer gonna commute, don't get suckered by the diff between
Sunday, and Monday morning's rush hour.

Anyways, here's to yez:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/lyrics/70795/Easybeats/Friday_On_My_Mind

Quoted message said:

WOOHOO!!!!

You kin say that again.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

NYC XYZ said:

Oh, that reminds me:

10) I'm actually not so concerned about others not seeing me as much as
I am that I won't see them! With this lower vantage point, I find that
I can no longer peer into the cars parked alongside the curb to make
sure no one is pulling out or opening a door. Major bummer!!!

While you can't really do that with SUVs etc., the riding position on
mine is about car seat height, so if anything I find it easier to look
into cars and establish eye contact with their drivers.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

NYC XYZ said:

2) I don't need no rear-view mirror!

It's not /necessary/, certainly, but I find it quite helpful. For a
definitive check I'll look behind anyway, but you don't get "false
positives" from mirrors, so a glance down that tells you there's a car
coming up fast will be right and it's just saved you the bother of
looking over your shoulder.

Quoted message said:

5) Also, this reminds me of kayaking! Yes! Insofar as you've got to
keep the shoulders relaxed to make it work...with kayaking, you'd think
that it was about hacking away at the water with your manly arms on the
paddle, but it ain't, it's about relaxing the upper body enough to
coordinate its movement with the rest of the torso in order to paddle
efficiently! Likewise, at least on an SWB like the HP Velo SMGTe,
you'd think it was about maintaining firm control of the handlebars --
but it ain't! It's about relaxing your shoulders, arms, everything,
really...cool!

While you're quite right about relaxing being the key to control, I
don't really see quite how you link that to kayaking, where you're
actively trying to get as many upper-body muscles in on the action as
you can!

Quoted message said:

6) The headrest is a nice addition to the already very comfy BodyLink
hardshell seat. Actually, you'll definitely need the Airflow Cushion,
which costs $$$.

While I prefer the Airflow to the default pad and consider it worth the
extra money, it is not something that is /required/ for the bike to be
workable.

Quoted message said:

I don't know how any other SWB maker stays in bid'ness!

a) How many have you tried to compare the ride?, and b) there are plenty
of other SWB designed with a very different brief. The Velokraft NoCom
is a SWB, and does outright speed at the expense of anything else rather
better than a Streetmachine. Depends what you want.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Quoted message said:

Please be careful, your enthusiasm the last months for your 'bent
project is apparently contagious! I find myself repeatedly visiting the
Challenge website in secret.

LOL, I was just there last night myself! I'm still interested in their
SL line...mainly, the low weight has got me really curious as to its
likely climbing capabilities! But after a Maxarya Ray-1X late this
summer for a guest bike (and the intriguing CLWB design), I'll be
looking into a fully faired and body-socked Easy Racers Gold Rush LWB!

Quoted message said:

I may yet join the ranks of 'bent riders! A Hurricane Sport USS may be
in my future.

You'll never go back! There's a nice interesting article over at
bentrideronline.com about riding a DF after six years on a 'bent. I
really love my DF, but I honestly can't see it for anything other than
errands now.

Quoted message said:

Joseph

PS: The mental image of some crazed usenet-junkie doing chin-ups in
Astoria park to impress some girls admiring his 'bent is a wonder to
behold! I wonder if they would have thought you were so studly tooling
around the office the other day!

You better lock up your wife and daughter if I put on my suit and tie!

Quoted message said:

PPS: I'm just teasing. I really enjoy your posts, and your humor is
right up my alley.

Heh, they do say us 'bent-heads are weirdos!

Peter Clinch said:

It's not /necessary/, certainly, but I find it quite helpful. For a
definitive check I'll look behind anyway, but you don't get "false
positives" from mirrors, so a glance down that tells you there's a car
coming up fast will be right and it's just saved you the bother of
looking over your shoulder.

This will sound counter-intuitive, but I think, at least in my case,
*not* having a rear-view mirror contributes to safer biking! I mean,
I'm a speed demon on a DF (not that I mean to be, but I recently found
out that 20, 22, 25 mph is considered fast), but I will usually slow
down before looking behind, and I almost never take risks (relatively
speaking; after all, this is NYC!) -- I save the andrenaline rush for
full-on pedal-mashing!

But I've already bought a US$20 German rear-view mirror...so, unless it
doesn't really fit, I'll have it installed.

Quoted message said:

While you're quite right about relaxing being the key to control, I
don't really see quite how you link that to kayaking, where you're
actively trying to get as many upper-body muscles in on the action as
you can!

Well, I meant in the sense of relaxing the shoulders...even in
kayaking, there's a certain relaxation of the shoulders...basically,
the reality is counter-intuitive to what one might imagine.

Another thing:

11) Starting up is noticeably harder than on a DF. You really need to
push hard on that first pedal or two before achieving a nice ~4 mph
momentum to stabilize. Thus, starting up at the bottom of a slope is
extremely hard, though possible. Starting up on a turn is similarly
more time-consuming -- at least for a 'bent newbie like me.

Quoted message said:

While I prefer the Airflow to the default pad and consider it worth the
extra money, it is not something that is /required/ for the bike to be
workable.

Well, no, not "required" to be "workable" but...the difference is so
great that you feel like something is missing without that extra US$119
Airflow Cushion "accessory."

Quoted message said:

a) How many have you tried to compare the ride?, and b) there are plenty
of other SWB designed with a very different brief. The Velokraft NoCom
is a SWB, and does outright speed at the expense of anything else rather
better than a Streetmachine. Depends what you want.

A lot of folks get into 'bents due to the perceived greater comfort. I
think only a small minority get into 'bents on account of the improved
aerodynamics afforded by extreme low-racers. So for the comfort market
that's looking into SWBs (as opposed to LWBs), it seems that the HP
Velo SMGTe offers the best comfort available. Of course, as you say,
it all depends on the "brief" one desires in a machine...there are
other SWBs which divvy the comfort/performance issues differently than
as evident on the SMGTe...but for those whom comfort is first and
foremost (on a bike -- not a trike), the SMGTe is It.

So I strongly encourage all the newbies who can afford it to seriously
consider the HP Velotechnik Street Machine Gran Tourismo evoluzione.
If you're into comfort on an SWB and you don't mind compromising
performance, this is It.

Quoted message said:

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

I'd meant from a distance, like from three or four cars away in a line
of cars parked along the sidewalk...with my lower vantage point now,
it's about all I can do to see into their side mirrors when before I
was able to look inside the car from way behind. SUVs, vans, trucks --
forget about it!

No more zipping around town like a messenger for me anymore!

Peter Clinch said:

While you can't really do that with SUVs etc., the riding position on
mine is about car seat height, so if anything I find it easier to look
into cars and establish eye contact with their drivers.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

NYC XYZ said:

11) Starting up is noticeably harder than on a DF. You really need to
push hard on that first pedal or two before achieving a nice ~4 mph
momentum to stabilize. Thus, starting up at the bottom of a slope is
extremely hard, though possible. Starting up on a turn is similarly
more time-consuming -- at least for a 'bent newbie like me.

Get into the habit of changing down before you stop. It's much
easier to get going in a lower gear than pushing very hard.

Quoted message said:

A lot of folks get into 'bents due to the perceived greater comfort. I
think only a small minority get into 'bents on account of the improved
aerodynamics afforded by extreme low-racers. So for the comfort market
that's looking into SWBs (as opposed to LWBs), it seems that the HP
Velo SMGTe offers the best comfort available.

But what else have you compared it too that you can reasonably say
this? My partner prefers her Nazca Fiero for the same brief:
comfortable loaded touring. She learned to ride a 'bent on my
Streetmachine so she's well aware of what it's like, but it didn't
even make her shortlist of potential bikes.

Quoted message said:

So I strongly encourage all the newbies who can afford it to seriously
consider the HP Velotechnik Street Machine Gran Tourismo evoluzione.
If you're into comfort on an SWB and you don't mind compromising
performance, this is It.

Unless it's not... For a start I prefer the SMGT to the GTe
because I prefer the seat on the older model to the Bodylink. It
just fits me better. If you like the Bodylink then is the comfort
of the Streetmachine GTe really significantly better than the
Grasshopper, sporting the exact same seat?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Don't let your bent get stolen while you are doing chinups in Astoria Park!
It is NY, you know.

Good luck from a fellow HPVGTE rider.

Jonathan Kaplan said:

Don't let your bent get stolen while you are doing chinups in Astoria Park!
It is NY, you know.

Good luck from a fellow HPVGTE rider.

GREAT point, well worth bearing always in mind.

Thank you.

"NYC XYZ" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

2) I don't need no rear-view mirror! I could turn my head just about
as easily and nearly as much as I always do on an upright! 'Matter of
fact, I was zipping along as fast as I ever did on my upright! Or,
rather, I should say, with as much effort as I typically do, which
brings me to my next observation...

Only a fool would ride without a mirror, please get one

Quoted message said:

3) I'm 5 mph slower!!!!! At least!!!!!!!! The amount of pedalling I
did would have been a good ~27mph, but the most I was able to manage
was a measly ~21!!! I hope this is just a matter of not having had the
right gears (due to the chain issue mentioned in another post, which,
unfortunately, seems unresolved) and 'bent muscles still
developing...which brings me to my next point...

And a more accurate speedometer?

Mark Leuck said:

Only a fool would ride without a mirror, please get one

That's completely over the top. Thousands of riders don't use mirrors
and get about quite safely.

It's almost as dopey as saying you're doomed without a helmet...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Mark Leuck said:

Only a fool would ride without a mirror, please get one

That's completely over the top. Thousands of riders don't use mirrors
and get about quite safely.

It's almost as dopey as saying you're doomed without a helmet...

Even better, make that millions of riders!

Come and have a look at the Netherlands, where a lot bigger percentage
of people ride a bike to work, school etc. every day, but where mirrors
on bikes are almost non-existant, and where helmets for people not
riding racing or (real) mountain bikes are very rare indeed.

Wanna call all of those people fools, Mark?

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilko<a t)dse(d o t>nl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

I had to delay my purchase of a Bent :-( My daughter needed some
money to pay in advance for a Summer Session college class, and her
board for the Fall. I asked my wife, "What's more important?"

Hopefully in the next month or two!
Jim Gagnepain
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

"Mark Leuck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Only a fool would ride without a mirror, please get one

???? Do you ride a style of recumbent that makes it hard to turn your head
for a quick glance?

This certainly doesn't apply to most riders or most situations.

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mark Leuck said:

Only a fool would ride without a mirror, please get one

That's completely over the top. Thousands of riders don't use mirrors
and get about quite safely.

It's almost as dopey as saying you're doomed without a helmet...

Pete.

On a normal bike I can see your point however on a recumbent it's a
different matter

"Wilko" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Come and have a look at the Netherlands, where a lot bigger percentage
of people ride a bike to work, school etc. every day, but where mirrors
on bikes are almost non-existant, and where helmets for people not
riding racing or (real) mountain bikes are very rare indeed.

Wanna call all of those people fools, Mark?

Well yea they are European after all

Mark Leuck said:

On a normal bike I can see your point however on a recumbent it's a
different matter

Dude, I was real surprised myself -- I'd even bought a $20 German
rear-view mirror in anticipation. But I'd taken it out for a spin
before installing the mirror, having forgotten all about it -- then I
realized, hey! I'm looking behind me naturally, instinctively turning
my head after scanning the road ahead and slowing down, and I've been
turning my head all along without realizing it!!

I'll need a few more rides to be real sure, but for now I honestly
believe that I don't "need" a mirror! At no time did I feel
inconvenienced, such that I totally forgot I didn't have a mirror at
first!