Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
squeaker said:Doubtless I'll regret asking this, but what's a 'proper' bike then?
In bonji's view, one like what he rides, innit?
squeaker said:Doubtless I'll regret asking this, but what's a 'proper' bike then?
yadda yadda yadda, yeah yeah yeah. It boils down to the same old "but you could get struck by lightning so you might aswell stay in bed all day" argument. What risk assessment means to me is that once the risk becomes so improbable as to be insignificant, you don't consider it as a risk.Arch said:So you rule out the possiblity of a deceptive patch of loose gravel? An animal running across the trail? A sudden puncture caused by a flint? What a wonderful world of certainty you live in...
Yes, you can get the back end to step out - and yes it is fun. You can do it with go-karts, which are a lot of fun, but - I don't know whether this is the same with trikes, but when I last went go-karting the first few laps I was wrenching the wheel round at top speed and steering back into it when the back end stepped out and it was tremendous fun doing that, but after having done it for a few laps I realised that it was acutally not as fast if you do that, and if you brake late and take the racing line at the correct speed with all the wheels planted then you gain a bit on the guy in front who's been sliding.Arch said:One of the things people tend to do first when they get a go on a recumbent trike is test its cornering - which is much sharper than a bike of either sort. You can throw the trike at high speed into a sharp turn and the worst that happens is generally the rear wheel skidding out a little across the turn. When kids tried out something like the KMX on roadshows, our main task was to stop them doing it too much, because it gets expensive in tyres. People love the feeling - it makes you feel like you are driving in a Hollywood car chase.
Yes, I really don't know why you're not doing that. This is why it completely bemuses me that people want to seem to pretend that they're some way mainstream.Arch said:Um... If we were being self-congratulatory, and we believed they were harder to ride, wouldn't we say "Well, the reason they aren't ridden is that they're harder to ride, and only we, the clever ones, have learnt?" Wouldn't we want to keep the secret to ourselves?
bonj said:Yes, you can get the back end to step out - and yes it is fun. You can do it with go-karts, which are a lot of fun, but - I don't know whether this is the same with trikes, but when I last went go-karting the first few laps I was wrenching the wheel round at top speed and steering back into it when the back end stepped out and it was tremendous fun doing that, but after having done it for a few laps I realised that it was acutally not as fast if you do that, and if you brake late and take the racing line at the correct speed with all the wheels planted then you gain a bit on the guy in front who's been sliding.
Yes, I really don't know why you're not doing that.
This is why it completely bemuses me that people want to seem to pretend that they're some way mainstream.
gavintc said:This must rate as one of the most bizarre threads I have come across. Recumbents are not mainstream and never will be. They satisfy a niche specialist market. I am sure they suit many people, but not all. I certainly find them interesting, but not interesting enough to buy one. To me, visibility is a significant negative factor
and I am told that they do not climb hills as well as a normal bike.
So, I will stop and look at one, wonder what it would be like to ride, but would not be tempted to buy.
... and Arch isn't saying this because she feels superior, or because she is desperate for recumbents to become mainstream...BTW, if you ever get the chance, do at least have a go on one, especially on a trike, where you have no learning curve to cope with. It's great fun!
Maybe.Arch said:Absolutely. But that's not what we're talking about is it - I'm just saying that you can corner faster on a recumbent trike than on a bike, because you have better grip and less chance of slipping over.
OK. I think they're harder to ride, and I've stated a logical explanation for why, which is backed up by wikipedia - which incidentally I hadn't read before I thought of the reason they would be harder to balance.Arch said:Perhaps because it (telling people we are cleverer because the bikes are harder to ride) isn't true?
Well, wikipedia defines it asArch said:What IS mainstream, again?
It doesn't matter! The way the recumbent brigade try to make false pretences about them being mainstream just annoys me. Nothing more than that.Arch said:And why does it matter anyway?
I just get annoyed by smugness.Arch said:Can you tell us of the time you've been disadvantaged in anyway by not being interested in recumbents? So what's your problem with whether thay are 'mainstream' or not and whether people believe it or not?
bonj said:Maybe.
You think they're NOT harder to ride, despite the fact that even though you're so happy with two wheels on an upright bike you've got 3 of them but not so with a recumbent
I just get annoyed by smugness.
Uncle Phil said:I suspect that if someone first learned to ride a bike on a recumbent, they'd find an upright bike quite hard to learn when they came to it.
We only think recumbents are harder to get used to because we all learn to ride upright bikes first, and have to un-learn some things to get the hang of 'bents.
I merely throw in this observation to muddy the water a bit more.
Arch said:Quite correct. It's the same with upright bikes/trikes. People who ride bikes a lot often find riding a tricycle very difficult, because it's a different technique. People who don't ride a bike much are usually fine - fewer ingrained habits.
Arch said:Once you have the skill, just like on a bike, you get on with it. If I'm in a minority, fair enough. I'm just judging on personal experience.
bonj said:How can riding a trike possibly be difficult? It's like riding a horse. You just sit on it, and pedal - and it goes. Simple as.
bonj said:Yes but your experience isn't OF riding a two-wheeled recumbent, so how can you 'judge on personal experience'?