Recumbents for Roadies

Get Bent

Thoughts on riding a recumbent from a roadie’s perspective

In 2019 had some health problems that made it difficult to ride an upright bike, so I got a recumbent, as one does. Eventually the problems went away, but I still occasionally ride the ‘bent. Mostly to justify the expense (I of course went overboard on the ‘bent), but also to keep up my skills in case things go south and I can’t ride a “real” bike any more.

TL;DR: I don’t like riding a recumbent bike, but it is better than not riding at all.

Disclaimer

• I have only ridden two recumbent bikes for any length of time.
  • My ‘bent, a Bacchetta CA 3.0 high-racer with 700c wheels
  • A Lightning P38 with a 20" front wheel and a 26" rear.
  • YMMV if you have a different kind of ‘bent
• All the places I like to ride are hilly and I enjoy climbing.
  • This is pretty much exactly what recumbents are bad at.

What’s familiar?

• A ‘bent has almost all the same components
  • Your bike maintenance & repair skills and tools will transfer over
• Shifting and gear selection are about the same
• You can use the same helmet, gloves & shoes
• “Going for a ride” is a similar activity

What’s different?

• Pretty much everything about the actual riding experience is different from an upright bike.
• It’s very unstable compared to an upright bike.
  • Cornering feels dicey.
  • Taking a hand off the bars to drink is an advanced technique.
    • Riding no-handed is basically impossible
  • Low speed handling is absolutely terrible
    • Doing a U-Turn is an advanced technique
    • Going uphill slowly is very wobbly.
  • Riding on gravel is a nightmare
  • The frame is much more flexy than a traditional diamond frame.
  • Human musculature is optimized for balancing in an upright position, not laying on your back.
• Starting from a dead stop is hard.
  • You need to downshift two gears before coming to a stop, or you’ll stall out trying to get moving.
  • Even when you’ve learned the technique, you’re very slow off the line.
    • Getting across a busy intersection is really hard
  • The first time I rode a ‘bent it took me 15 minutes before I could go a full pedal revolution w/o putting a foot down.
• There’s only one riding position.
  • It IS pretty comfortable.
    • I call my bike “The World’s Fastest Lawn Chair”
  • Eventually your butt gets kind of sore.
  • And you can’t change things up to transfer the load to different parts of your body.
  • You can’t stand up to put out extra power.
  • Every bump goes straight up your spine
    • You can slightly unweight your butt, but it’s tricky and decreases your stability even further.
• Climbing is HARD
  • Since you can’t stand up you must shift down
    • Way down.
    • I’m a very strong climber on an upright bike, and I need a 1:1 gear for a 7% grade climb.
  • A little hill for an upright is a serious hill for a ‘bent
    • Expect to climb 3X slower
  • You will notice even a 1% grade
  • 5% is steep and difficult
  • A 10% climb requires a flat out effort
  • Climbing is not rewarding like it is on an upright. It’s just difficult and tedious.
• Sprinting is basically impossible
• A ‘bent would not be good on a large or fast group ride
  • The large differences in handling and climbing would make for a difficult experience for everyone.
  • It’s OK for riding with 1-3 other upright cyclists who aren’t trying to go hard.
• An analogy…
  • Imagine riding a pro tour time trial bike in a full aero tuck.
    • Except it’s somehow really comfortable.
  • You’re down on the aero bars before you even start pedaling from a stop.
  • In a full tuck when you’re cornering on a descent.
  • Full tuck making a U-turn.
  • Full tuck riding up a steep hill.
  • There’s less wind resistance and you’re really comfortable, but everything else is terrible and sometimes terrifying.

Tips & Techniques

• Learning to ride a ‘bent
  • Use flat pedals
    • You’ll need to be able to put a foot down on very short notice for the first 50-100 miles.
  • Practice your starts in a parking lot.
    • Make sure you practice starting on an uphill as well.
  • It will take you a few hours of practice before you’ll feel comfortable riding in traffic.
• Starting
  • The goal is to get a quick burst of speed so you can stop pedaling long enough to get your other foot clipped in.
  • Sit upright on the seat, holding up your weight with your arms.
  • Put one foot on the pedal at 10:00 and push forward on the ground with the other.
  • Push the pedal HARD for about 1/3 of a rotation.
    • There’s a “dead spot” from 2:00 to 5:00
  • While you’re bringing your other foot up, pull the pedal back and give it another push to keep your speed from dropping too much.
    • This obviously won’t work when you’re using flat pedals…
• Turning
  • The inside leg should be straight
    • Allows you to swing the bar across your thigh to tighten the turn.
  • Doing a U-turn takes a lot of practice and confidence.
    • I eventually gave up trying
    • Now I just unclip the inside foot
  • High racers have significant overlap between the front wheel and your heel.
    • You can’t pedal through a tight turn.
    • Best not to pedal thru any turn until you’re very clear on when overlap happens.
    • If you’re careful you can do push-pull pedaling on the overlap side.
• Low speed maneuvering
  • To move short distances you end up doing this thing where you sit up and “walk” with your butt on the seat and your feet on the ground. It’s called “Fred Flintstone-ing”, and it’s every bit as awkward as it sounds.
  • It’s often easier to just stand up, get off, and pick up the bike to reposition it.
• Sit up straight for additional power
  • It’s not very comfortable or sustainable.
  • But you can get a bit of extra umph this way.
  • Useful for starting out or the last grunt over a steep climb.
• Parking & moving the bike
  • Having a handle on the back of the seat makes things a lot easier.
  • Remember that the crank is in front of the front wheel.
    • When moving the bike around you risk bashing the crank into obstacles.
  • A ‘bent is harder to park than an upright
    • They fall over if you don’t have a wide enough surface to rest against.
    • It’s often better to just lay the bike down.
  • If the bike falls over it can bend the handlebars.
• Clothing & Gear
  • You REALLY need a rear view mirror.
    • On your helmet, glasses, or handlebars
    • You can’t turn your head far enough because your shoulders are against the seat.
  • You’ll want a visor.
    • Your head is facing up rather than down over the bars so the sun will be in your eyes.
    • Either put a visor on your helmet or wear a hat with a short bill.
  • You don’t really need proper bike shorts.
    • But they’re perfectly comfortable if you’re used to them already.
  • You can’t put anything in your middle jersey pocket, and not very much in the side pockets.

Notes & Resources

• BentRider forums
  • https://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/index.php
  • The folks here have a lot of good info and are happy to welcome new riders.
• Zach Kaplan
  • http://zachkaplancycles.com/
  • Zach has been riding and selling recumbents for decades and he is a walking encyclopedia. His store in Alameda has a wide variety of bikes you can test out.
• Try a trike
  • I did a one mile test ride on the Bacchetta carbon trike.
  • It was incredibly fun, and now I wish I’d seriously considered buying it.
  • At the time a trike seemed impractical
    • Low to the ground
    • Not very visible to drivers
    • Takes up a lot of space in the garage
    • Hard to transport by car
    • Heavy
  • But now that I’ve ridden the high-racer for a while I really don’t enjoy it. I think I might actually enjoy riding a fast trike.