How Many Recumbents Have You Actually Seen on the Road?

[Ming the Merciless]

People look at the bike and trike next to each other, and don't think about how much the rider adds to the overall width of a bike. They also tend not to see that the handlebars are just as wide as the track of the paired wheels.

But how many people have said this to you. What sample size are you basing your comments on?

 

[a.twiddler]

Regardless of perceived width, having ridden recumbent bikes and trikes I have observed that other traffic gives you plenty of room. I have no experience of upright trikes but I would imagine that their rarity and "differentness" also causes other vehicle drivers to be wary of them. I've come to accept this phenomenon to the extent that it's a bit of a shock when I get (relatively) close passed on the rare occasions that I ride an upright bicycle.

 

[rydabent]

A large percentage of us that ride trikes find that traffic gives us a wide berth. A lot of drivers think a trike is some sort of handicap device, and dont want their name in the paper as having had hit a handicap person.

 

[rydabent]

One note about recumbents is the fact that a lot of us older riders of bents have switched over to trikes. I would venture to say these days, more trikes are sold than bents.

 

[404 Not Found Anywhere]

I went out on my Fuego for the first time in quite a while. Compared to the DF ride I took last week I was reminded that it’s far faster, my neck doesn’t seize up, and my legs felt satisfyingly worked out. Being a Sunday there were a few cyclists out, on a set of rolling hills I was amazed how fast I caught up with them and how quickly they shrunk in my mirror. I’ve run it with aerobars for a few years now and whilst they are good for control going at low speed and uphill I am prone to the wobbles at speed in a way that I wasn’t with the hamster bars. I might switch them back because it’s a bit disconcerting. And compared to my trikes, starting off is a non-trivial issue and I had a couple of false starts towards the end of the ride when I was probably a bit tired and hypoglycaemic. I nearly sold the bike last year, I’m so glad I didn’t! Faster and further than on my ancient but sporting DF, and that’s not accounting for the stops on the latter to ease my neck out, or the protracted agony afterwards. Vive la vélo couché!

 

[404 Not Found Anywhere]

I went out on my Fuego for the first time in quite a while. Compared to the DF ride I took last week I was reminded that it’s far faster, my neck doesn’t seize up, and my legs felt satisfyingly worked out. Being a Sunday there were a few cyclists out, on a set of rolling hills I was amazed how fast I caught up with them and how quickly they shrunk in my mirror. I’ve run it with aerobars for a few years now and whilst they are good for control going at low speed and uphill I am prone to the wobbles at speed in a way that I wasn’t with the hamster bars. I might switch them back because it’s a bit disconcerting. And compared to my trikes, starting off is a non-trivial issue and I had a couple of false starts towards the end of the ride when I was probably a bit tired and hypoglycaemic. I nearly sold the bike last year, I’m so glad I didn’t! Faster and further than on my ancient but sporting DF, and that’s not accounting for the stops on the latter to ease my neck out, or the protracted agony afterwards. Vive la vélo couché!

PS I didn’t see any other recumbents except me reflected in a shop window!

 

[rydabent]

I suspect a part of this may be down to a lot of roads in the UK being narrower than in the US, and conventional trikes tend to be a lot wider than bikes.

They do exist, but usually just for things like local shopping, rather than for "serious" riding.

And even though recumbent trikes aren't usually as wide, they still suffer by association.

Another thing is all the hiker biker trails we have here in the US. My city Lincoln Ne, has 130 miles of hard surface trails. It also has a protected bike trail thru the center of the city. Out side of cities we have what is called rails to trails where abandon rail road of right of ways have been bought up and converted to bike trails. Here in Nebraska, we must have at least 300 miles of bike trails out of town.

Besides the local bike club I belong to, I am a charter member of the Great Plains Trails Network. It is a group that promotes in town, and out of town trails.

 

[rydabent]

Regardless of perceived width, having ridden recumbent bikes and trikes I have observed that other traffic gives you plenty of room. I have no experience of upright trikes but I would imagine that their rarity and "differentness" also causes other vehicle drivers to be wary of them. I've come to accept this phenomenon to the extent that it's a bit of a shock when I get (relatively) close passed on the rare occasions that I ride an upright bicycle.

What you say about trike and drivers is true. When I ride my trike drivers give me a really wide berth when passing. Some of us trikers believe that drivers think trikes are some sort of handicap device. So since they dont want their picture on the front page of the local paper as the person that hit a handicap person, they give us a very wide clearance when passing.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I think I've only ever seen one. And they do stand out to me because they look so weird! In fact the only one I saw (probably 12 years ago) was stopped at lights. The seat looked more like a hammock and the chap riding it, waiting at the lights, was smoking a spliff