How Many Recumbents Have You Owned?

[Always Cross]

My recumbents in the past have been. Linear Lwb, street machine, Peer Gynt. my current one is an ICE Adventure trike. The only one I regret getting rid of was the Peer Gynt. Luckily I don’t have space as there is one up for sale on the Cycling Uk forum or I might be tempted,

 

[rydabent]

Two bikes, and two trikes.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

1 bike, one (tadpole) recumbent.

 

[TheDoctor]

I've owned a Pashley PDQ - never really took to it. I've ridden a few Trice trikes, a Windcheetah and an Oke-Ja Flevobike. I would like a trike...

 

[alanuni]

Never had more than one at a time but been through a few....

Handbuilt converted shopper bike with seat made of two bits of plywood and some foam. Did me a tour round Norfolk (about the flattest county?) but weighed a ton even without panniers. A lot faster than my MTB...

Flevobike racer. 17kg, but could be ridden hands-off (good for carrying parcels, as in literally carrying!), and very aerodynamic; did my first 100-mile ride on this. Tight turning circle but not good for quick reactions/adjustments; quite a handful in town. Good for core strength!!

HP Velo Grasshopper. Suspension good, compact - fitted in a standard bike space, unlike most, due to the small wheels. Not the fastest but would go places many wouldn't, versatile, comfortable.

Bacchetta Giro 26. A bit lighter, felt a lot lighter; faster, less clunky, but "stick bike" riding position and handlebars not as comfy for me. Took it to the Peak District and hit 50mph downhill...but boy was it tough going. Handled well.

M5 Carbon High Racer. A Rolls Royce for the open road; smooth, light, responsive, stable, sublime ride - fastest bike ever. But long wheelbase - manoeuvrability limited, hard to look around, not good in urban situations, hard to store let alone transport. Looking to pass on if anyone's interested...

Hard to see where I'd go from here. Kinda wish I'd gone for the M5 "M-racer" for its slightly more compact form (and hand on floor); would enjoy the flevo as a fun thing/challenge rather than necessarily a serious bike. Cruzbike maybe but the steering geometry looks.... different!!

 

[rydabent]

How many Recumbents have you owned? Was there a logical progression? Which ones have you kept? What have you learnt from the experience? Should I get out more?

Perhaps I’m just being self indulgent, but maybe putting down these thoughts might convince someone teetering on the brink to have a go, or a fellow recumbentitis sufferer to recognise some of these themes in themselves.

Six in five years. That’s quite a turnover compared with the 11 diamond frame bikes and folders over the last 47 years, though many of them overlapped.

I liked to do longish rides, tours, etc with no great speed. Over recent years due to neck stiffness I’d been finding my comfortable distance becoming restricted. I’d become resigned to doing shorter rides, thought it was just the way of things as you got older. My upright bikes had gradually developed higher and higher bars.

I knew about recumbents, had seen one or two in passing over the years, had read about them but never been close enough to touch or have a test ride. So I thought I might try one.

No logic with the first one, the Linear.
View attachment 778610
A random choice. No test ride. I knew nothing. (Fools rush in?). It was cheap. It was local. Whatever recumbent gods there might be, smiled upon me with this one. If I’d bought something different, and had a bad experience, I might not be riding recumbents now. It has a likeable character. It’s been very upgradeable. It taught me a lot. Still got it. Every time I think about selling it, I go for a ride and come back thinking, this is great! Gotta keep it!

Once I’d got the hang of it, I hankered after something that had its strengths, but was more portable. So along came the Dawes Low Rider.
View attachment 778611
No test ride. Not so lucky this time. Alas, not enough adjustment, so it went.

Meanwhile, I’d had a hankering for a trike. This turned up. Sinner Comfort Delta.
View attachment 778612
Local, cheap, small frame size, tried for size before buying. Good spec. I made many mods, learned that I was more a 2 wheeler rider, so that too went eventually.

HPV Spirit 16/20.
View attachment 778613
Has many of the strengths of the Linear, but also train friendly, easy to get on and off. Nice to ride. A good foil for the Linear, not a replacement. It makes me smile.

HPV Grasshopper FX.
View attachment 778614
After reading many positive reviews, believed that this could be the One to do it all. Local, not cheap, but well priced. Tried it for size. Coincided with some health issues, took a while to evaluate it. Alas, too much designed -in non reducible seat recline. That went too. Surprisingly, sold for more than I paid for it, allowing me to unexpectedly buy:-

Rans Stratus XP.
View attachment 778615
Still evaluating this. Looks promising. Seems a bit faster than the Linear for the same effort on local trips. Longer trips pending! Despite my thoughts of a Linear replacement, going to be n + 1, I think.

Still got the Linear, still got the Spirit. Still got no room in the garage. There’s a Brompton in there too, but at least it folds to a small size.

What have I learnt?

If you get the recumbentitis bug, you never end up with just one recumbent bike or trike.

You will know why you need so many bikes, but partners and others will never understand.

I need a bigger garage!

There definitely isn’t one that does it all...yet.

Not being in the average size range severely limits your options when it comes to recumbents. I’m not freakishly short, but short enough, apparently. Being tall gives riders different problems.

My creaking bod works better with something fairly unreclined with a lowish BB, and it’s significant that what’s in the garage is all of a longish wheelbase persuasion.

Also, maybe coincidentally, the adjustment for them is all in the seat. Perhaps I’m developing an aversion to bikes which require you to mess about with adding and subtracting chain links to accommodate changes in boom length.

Given the right recumbent, I can ride all day, at my own pace, with no adverse effects.

I’m never going to be a BHPV record breaker.

I’m most likely not a trike person, though maybe it would take experience of several trikes to do the trick? Though for some posters, just a test ride is all it took, so I’m a bit dubious about my convertibility.

So, I’m definitely a committed recumbentist, even if I’m not one of the grand horizontals.

Should I get out more? Definitely!

In my case two bents, and two trikes. When I was in my 60s I bought what I thot would be my last bike. It was a loaded touring bike that had granny gears, so I thot I would be able to get up hills in my old age. Then I bought a mountain bike to able to ride some places with my son. Im now 87 and still riding. My point is I bought 6 "last" bikes!!!

 

[mrandmrspoves]

I started on an old Linear, quite liked it, once I got used to the launch, but it didn't help as much as I thought it would with my shoulder problem (the reason I decided to get a recumbent). The issue was that to keep the Linear balanced I was making numerous micro movements with my shoulders.
I then tried a Dawes PDQ which I incorrectly thought might be better because it had over seat steering. I really struggled with the PDQ and never felt as confident as I did on the Linear.
Next came an early Trice trike. A fantastic buy that worked perfectly. The only issue with it was it had the original sized 20" wheels (541) and the only tyres I could find that fitted it were Raleigh Shopper style .....and I cycle in Norfolk which is famous for amongst other things, Norfolk Flint.
The Trice having been a successful proof of concept, was replaced with a brand new Performer Trike X that I imported via Australia for an extremely reasonable price. I kept the Performer for about 3 years, but then I got the chance to own a Redmount Roller. The Redmount was made in King's Lynn by a local GP (who I vaguely knew as I lived there and worked in the hospital there) The Redmount was an absolutely brilliant trike, the most comfortable and pleasant riding machine, but transporting it was a problem as although it could be dismantled, it was not a quick process. I didn't have room to keep two trikes and was attracted by the quick and easy fold design of ICE Trikes. When I saw an Ice Sprint for sale on eBay at a sensible price and no bidders I watched carefully and a quick snipe in the last few seconds got me an absolute bargain. The vendor had listed it as a recumberent bicycle - so possibly people searching for a recumbent wouldn't have seen it. The Sprint served me very well and the folding mechanism meant I could easily pop it in the back of my car if venturing further afield. For the last few years of riding the Sprint, I was struggling with both distance and speed and started toying with the idea of going e assisted. (Wrong side of 60, with asthmatic l a sloppy damaged knee which I sustained 50 odd years earlier when a motorist knocked me off my bicycle at speed)
Eventually, I found a very nice ICE Adventure HD with Shimano Steps for sale on eBay with a reasonable asking price or best offer.
I tried a very cheeky best offer expecting a more realistic counter offer - but it was accepted! Unless I become rich enough to ever get an upgrade, or some sort of catastrophe, this will be my last recumbent......but the brand new chainless drive e assist Ice Trikes look very interesting!