I’m in a quandry. This is it. Are self-important jerks naturally attracted to recumbent bicycles or is there something about recumbent bicycles that turns normal people into self-important jerks?
My city, Minneapolis, has spent lots of dollars making paved unicycle trails through some of the more scenic parts of the city. I don’t mind that bicyclists, inline skaters, and yuppie chicks with ipods and big dogs trespass upon them. Most of them are kind enough to yield to superior vessels.
But I draw the line at sharing my turf with recumbent bicyclists. I find them to be either woefully arrogant or ignorant to the point of brain damage.
Am I guilty of stereotyping? Most likely. There are worse things than being bigoted toward people who ride recumbent bikes. But I find this stereotype to be mostly accurate. By and large, the people I know who ride recumbents are self-important, self-absorbed, self-centered (pick a body part and insert here).
I had one for a while and I have often been likened to a self-important jerk.
Mine was a home-made thing with a chain a mile long, made by a friend who was an engineer and in the Human Powered Vehicle Club.
A good friend of mine had a proper one - was it Pierre Gynt or something? - the first commercially produced quality recumbent bicycle available in Britain. He’s a decent bloke, but a bit of an eccentric. (Morris dances, plays the bagpipes.) It cost approximately the same as a 600cc motorcycle.
I think the simple answer is that recumbents don’t do what it says on the tin. They are fast in a straight line on the flat. They are a pig on uphills, and it takes confidence and practice to manoeuvre them at low speed. Because they are low profile, they need silly flappy flags at driver’s eye level.
Recumbent riders feel put upon and hounded, having to fight for their road space, and deep down, they know they’ve bought a turkey. They dimly perceive that they look silly, and all the alleged advantages are so much hogwash when your face is at exhaust fume level, you’re slogging up hill with your back sweaty against the seat, and you aren’t sure that you will make it round the next road island alive. If you are then overtaken by a smiling chap on a $150 unicycle, it will inevitably grate a little.
The understandable feeling of having been seen coming by the salesman, but by nobody else since you left the shop, might make even the most even tempered of people a bit grumpy.
Be kind to recumbent riders. They also have Betamax videos because they’re better than VHS, and cars that run on biodiesel which are followed everywhere by hungry seagulls.
Doesn’t seem to be true around here, must be a minesota thing.
I’d buy a bent tomorrow if I won the lottery , love them, think they are most comfy of bikes. Have thorghly enjoyed riding other peoples and found that many bent owners are happy to let others have a go if they have time to spare. More so than owners of equally expensive MTBs.
SArah
[QUOTE=Jethro]
I’m in a quandry. This is it. Are self-important jerks naturally attracted to recumbent bicycles or is there something about recumbent bicycles that turns normal people into self-important jerks?
There just has to be a correlation between these two facts. The same people who are attracted to recumbents are attracted to bagpipes. That couldn’t be a mere coincidence. I will get back to you after I do the math.
Your open-mindedness and tolerant spirit have won me over. I will make a concerted effort to be nice to people on recumbents. Unless they are playing bagpipes.
This reinforces another stereotype I hold: that all English people not related to the Queen are well-mannered.
My brother and I have built recumbents. So far we have made five.
For me riding a recumbent is alot like unicycling. There are no other unicyclists in town and nobody rides a recumbent. Either way you get stared at, yelled at and treated like some kind of freak.
In summary; recumbents are good projects to build out of regular b*kes.
“But I draw the line at sharing my turf with recumbent bicyclists. I find them to be either woefully arrogant or ignorant to the point of brain damage.” Like it or lump it, you are now sharing virtual tuff with a recumbent bicyclist.
[QUOTE=Jethro]
There just has to be a correlation between these two facts. The same people who are attracted to recumbents are attracted to bagpipes. That couldn’t be a mere coincidence. I will get back to you after I do the math.QUOTE]
Maybe it’s deeper than that. My friend is Scottish. Recumbants use no petrol and there is no road tax on them. They are less likely to be stolen, so the insurance is cheaper. He never buys a round of drinks before he plays the bagpipes - the pub’s more crowded then.
Funny. I was ranting about recumbent bikes a few days ago with a friend. I’ve never ridden one, so maybe my mind would change if I did, but I don’t see why anyone would want one. I mean, I’m very comfortable on my traditionally framed bicycle. I’ve done day long rides on it, and I don’t believe changing anything would make it more comfortable. Also, for a given level of quality, a recumbent will cost more than a traditional bike simply because they’re not produced in large volumes. So dollar for dollar, a traditional bike will be better. Barring chronic back or neck pain, why would anyone want to spend more for a bicycle with less performance and no comfort gains?
I believe these two are the main reasons for recumbents, not against them. The lower profile means air resistance is greatly reduced, and with this being the largest force to overcome while cycling they will go faster with less effort.
Secondly, bike saddles are never going to be particularly comfy. A recumbent basically involves sitting in a comfy chair. There is no way a normal bike can compare in the comfort stakes.
I was under the impression that recumbents go better up hills… while I imagine it must be rather weird, having your feet higher than your head up steeper hills, being able to push against the backrest and pedal must be quite a strength multiplier.
Two have suddenly appeared around Yeovil in the mornings. I think it must take a lot of confidence to ride one in traffic, but they evidently enjoy it, so more power to them.
Hmm, maybe in a relatively flat area–I usually ride in the hills and mountains, so gravity is a much larger force to overcome. Further, I’m not convinced that air resistance is greatly reduced for a recumbent compared to a TT bike. As far as I’m concerned, unless the wind is blowing very hard, people who blame their lack of speed on wind resistance are mostly just making excuses for their lack of training.
No joke. I used to complain to my wife how uncomfortable chairs are compared to bike saddles. This is because it seems to me that most chairs put pressure in the wrong places, which is why they have so much padding to compensate. Whereas a comfortable bicycle saddle fits just right and supports in the right places while staying out of the way of my moving legs. Maybe if I had a larger @ss I would feel differently.
Yes, but you also lose the multiple positions that you have with a traditional frame. I usually climb with a varying cadence alternating between standing and sitting. With a recumbent, there is no standing.
sorry…not when your riding the rain and you have a huge puddle of water in you lap. Then there is the hot days with a puddle of sweat.
the power gain from that is nothing compared to pulling on the handlebars and using your arms… and dont forget about gravity being your legs friend. on a ReBent it gets very tiring to keep your feet on the pedals (even with clipless)
then there is the power drain from the longer chain…
i owned 2 and hated them both. if anyone wants any more reasons they suck let me know. i have a long list of things you would never know untill your down that low where the tail pipes are (yep theres another reason)
I was riding the bike path on the west side of Manhattan when a group of bikes came the other way. One of the bikes was a recumbent. He said to me, “Get a regular bike!”
I thought it was a very clever and funny remark, given the obvious irony of the statement. I don’t know if this supports the stereotype or not. Jethro? How do we spin it? I’ll go with whatever you decide. *
And if need be, I’ll someday retell the story… “some self-important jerk on a recumbent actually said to me…”
Another advantage is that, because you have the seat back as a stop, you can exert far greater pressure on the pedals, like doing leg presses. With a uni or regular bike (unless you grab the seat and hold fast), you are limited by your body weight to press the pedals.
A little bit off topic, but I went to a local juggling club meeting and a guy brought his recumbent. He let me try it.
I could not start the thing. Lying in a reclined position with both my hands steering behind my butt. Then needing to lift my feet way up to the pedals and quickly pedal off before falling over like a toppled cow. I could not do it. No one was more surprised. After all I had just gotten off a unicycle.
