WE'RE careening down a residential street in Long Beach's California Heights, stretched out like Olympic lugers, eye-level with a Labrador retriever racing alongside. Nestled in a tandem recumbent bike, Jonathan Dietch and I sail past carefully trimmed lawns and exuberantly-flowering Monet gardens, over a carpet of jacaranda petals -- a blur of purple below.
People on the street stop and stare; some holler and cheer.
"When I'm on my recumbent, people wave and say hi," yells Dietch, my driver and brakeman, over his shoulder. "Even the transients wave at me." He takes a turn, and we sail past a line of parked cars -- door handles at eye level, but he's not worried. Drivers notice this bike.
WE'RE careening down a residential street in Long Beach's California Heights, stretched out like Olympic lugers, eye-level with a Labrador retriever racing alongside. Nestled in a tandem recumbent bik...
WE'RE careening down a residential street in Long Beach's California Heights, stretched out like Olympic lugers, eye-level with a Labrador retriever racing alongside. Nestled in a tandem recumbent bik...
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They really wack your kidney area. But I am only familiar with the ones at the gym and they have a stiff back, and when you really start to move you end up banging your back on the board.
I ride alot but those bikes scare me. I like standing up on my bike, I can see better and cars can see me better.
I started riding a recumbent in 1992, a bike custom built by Don Harse, a former HPV race-head. For comfort they can't be beat. For long distance touring they're great. You can't climb quite as well as on an upright bike, I find personally. Visibility isn't nearly as good, and safety in inner city traffic is poor --- they're lower, less visible, and much less stable at very slow speeds; you can't trackstand. But if you run into something, you're going feet first, not brains first -- a definite plus. Downhill they're amazing because of their superior aerodynamics. I have had much stronger riders completely unable to keep up with me on downhills at speeds at times exceeding 50mph. But you need more gears to be able to grind up and fly down hills; mine had 64 speeds. And recumbents are neither cheap, nor especially light compared to a 20# road bike. They will, however, ALWAYS put a smile on your face. Go try one today!
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First Posted: 06-16-08 02:39 PM | Updated: 07-29-08 02:31 PM