arallsopp
Post of The Year 2009 winner
- Location
- Bromley, Kent
I've descended bumpy twisty roads at a touch under 50mph, in the pack with uprights, immediately after breakfast having ridden through the night before. No problems detected, except for my sleep deprived eyes not being able to keep up. I have USS on my Furai, and can echo that you need to lean rather than steer if only to avoid heel strike. Besides which, it feels great to lean in too steep then power out. I can't get on with hamster bars on any of my bikes, but that's probably just me.I am curious about the handling of the Furai. Here in Arizona, as I am sure where Wayne lives, we have a lot of hills to tackle. I REALLY want to give the hamster bars a try. They look really cool, and clearly are more aerodynamic. I have "heard" that one has to lean steer the bike more than turn it, is this true? How does she handle high downhill speeds (if you have any hills!), like around 40mph (I apologize I don't have the km conversion!)
As above, I can't do tiller at all Just seems to be beyond my comprehension. That said I've got over 8000 miles on the Furai, and I've only ever had her get skippy twice. Once was in the rain onto a hard right turn (in your world, that'd be left). Oncoming traffic popped up and I grabbed the brakes which saw the rear slide away from me. Nothing bad, stayed upright. Bit breathless though. The other was when the USS linkage was loose, and I hit a raised bit of road running *almost* parallel to me. Close enough that the front wheel tracked it rather than me, which was a little disconcerting but again it all righted itself without issue.How twitchy/squirrly is the Furai? I am an experienced recumbent rider and can handle most bikes. I had a Rans Rocket when I first started riding. I am not a fan of tiller steering, but I did get used to it.
I had a good chat with Robert at Terracycle yesterday. They have this idler problem licked. Now let's see if Paul at Challenge will respond and just automatically put these on all of their bikes. Most honestly, they are expensive bikes, and one should not have to upgrade the idlers. Let's see how it all pans out.
If you're spec'ing out a new bike, bear in mind that the replacement terracycle power side idler doesn't actually fit with the carbon seat (damn). The feeder solution works just as well though.
Andy.