recumbants

[hoegaardenadds1]

now am i just super fit or are they really hard to get up hills?

over took one going up a short(about 1/4 mile) steep hill, on my dh beast!

must be hard to keep weight over the front wheel?

 

[velomaniac]

They are tough going up, all your power has to come out your legs, you cant stand on the pedals letting gravity help.

How easy or difficult it is to keep weight over the front wheel depends on recumbent type. Easy on short wheel base where the front wheel is beneath you but tougher on long wheebase and compact long wheelbase where front end can become twitchy and light on a climb.

Downhill they're uber fast and they're pretty comfortable, great for long distance road work.

Mines compact long wheelbase and is a bit twitchy climbing hills but builds up leg strength a treat

 

[hoegaardenadds1]

They are tough going up, all your power has to come out your legs, you cant stand on the pedals letting gravity help.

make sense. was pretty steep. the guy had a maroon t-shirt, which around here means only one thing. i'd like to think the fact he didn't catch up means i'm super fast! probably means he turned off somewhere

 

[tintin40]

they sure are hard work up hill. But the down hill is cracking fun

 

[FMJ]

You have to realize they're the mimes of the cycling world.

 

[barry2017]

Ah, recumbents. I am a cycling nerd, but I have to be honest and say I'd never be seen dead on one. Too weird.

The way I see them is this: you'd have overtaken him going uphill, and you'd probably have overtaken him going downhill, but you'd not stand a chance if you were trying to do it all day.

 

[hamster]

They use different muscles for pedalling, so unless you are used to them it's hard work.

The SWB ones I've ridden are much more aero and amazingly fast downhill. 50mph comes up awfully quickly.

 

[tintin40]

They use different muscles for pedalling, so unless you are used to them it's hard work.

True. To much upper body movement and i snaked up the road. But once got that under control sweet. This also improved my normal cycling as upper body movement is wasted energy.

 

[velomaniac]

I remember freewheeling down a steep twisty hill with a group of fellow cyclists whilst I was on my recumbent. I started at the back and had easily overtaken them all without pedalling once by the bottom of the hill. The ride position makes for great aerodynamics and as you travel feet first your confidence is good.

 

[MikeD]

all your power has to come out your legs, you cant stand on the pedals letting gravity help

Although you get a backrest to push against, which counts for a lot.

I rode a prone recumbent once, that was ludicrous. The bars were welded to the fork legs about two inches above the dropouts.