More speed please
- Thread starter spennie
- Start date
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Tigerbiten
Guru
Not a lot is done cheap on a bent ........ 
Apart from have the seat at it's most reclined and get ride of any excess weight.
How are your bent legs ??
I found it took over 1,000 miles before my leg muscles adapted to riding a bent.
Which tyres do you have ??
Schwable Tryker tyres are supposed to be fast.
I'll find that out when I next change my tyres.
Which seat do you have ??
The hard shell seat lets you put a little bit more power through the pedals.
Plus you can pull the back boom out a little and get a more reclined seating position.
That's how my Sprint is set up.
After that your looking at tail-boxes and front fairings.
Just remember, a good tail-box will give you twice the increase that a fairing does.
Apart from have the seat at it's most reclined and get ride of any excess weight.
How are your bent legs ??
I found it took over 1,000 miles before my leg muscles adapted to riding a bent.
Which tyres do you have ??
Schwable Tryker tyres are supposed to be fast.
I'll find that out when I next change my tyres.
Which seat do you have ??
The hard shell seat lets you put a little bit more power through the pedals.
Plus you can pull the back boom out a little and get a more reclined seating position.
That's how my Sprint is set up.
After that your looking at tail-boxes and front fairings.
Just remember, a good tail-box will give you twice the increase that a fairing does.
byegad
Legendary Member
- Location
- NE England
Wot Tigerbiten sed.
Seriously the frontal area is a big help, and fairings make you faster down hill but add weight so slowing you down up hill and making acceleration a bit more sluggish. Before anything else, check the tracking is spot on, change to faster tyres* and you'll get more speed. I found that moving my cleats as far back as possible aided in hill climbing, as did running the boom a tad shorter than the intuitive length.
* There are pages of tyre threads on all the forums for recumbent trikes and the conclusions depend on the type of road surface you ride on. I ride on a lot of fairly rough Chip and Seal and found 2" Big Apples at near to 70psi to be as fast as Kojaks on my Kettwiesel. They also have a lot more protection!
Seriously the frontal area is a big help, and fairings make you faster down hill but add weight so slowing you down up hill and making acceleration a bit more sluggish. Before anything else, check the tracking is spot on, change to faster tyres* and you'll get more speed. I found that moving my cleats as far back as possible aided in hill climbing, as did running the boom a tad shorter than the intuitive length.
* There are pages of tyre threads on all the forums for recumbent trikes and the conclusions depend on the type of road surface you ride on. I ride on a lot of fairly rough Chip and Seal and found 2" Big Apples at near to 70psi to be as fast as Kojaks on my Kettwiesel. They also have a lot more protection!
OP
OP
spennie
Veteran
Thanks lads, my seat is a hard shell and is tilted back as far as i can get it. I ride on schwable durano 1.35 at 100 psi in the summer months and i'm a hefty 12 stone. After years of racing i'm still looking for that little bit extra, the tail box seems a good ideal, but would they add to much weight and where would the best place to find them on the interweb?
Tigerbiten
Guru
Just google search for "Recumbent ?".
Where ? could be fairing, tailbox, bodysock, etc.
See something like http://lonniemorse.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/faired-or-un-faired/
To get the best result for the lowest price .........
Get a second hand streamer/windwrap fairing and build a body sock .....
I've keep threatening to do something like that, if only for more weather protection ......
Where ? could be fairing, tailbox, bodysock, etc.
See something like http://lonniemorse.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/faired-or-un-faired/
To get the best result for the lowest price .........
Get a second hand streamer/windwrap fairing and build a body sock .....
I've keep threatening to do something like that, if only for more weather protection ......
byegad
Legendary Member
- Location
- NE England
Novo Sport make tailboxes for a variety of recumbents, the hard shell seat will make fitting easy enough I imagine. Frankly if you are already a pretty quick rider you'll gain more form the aero effect than you'll pay for the weight. ICE make, or made, luggage carriers for the back of their trikes IIRC. I think they are more optimised for luggage than aero, but I am dredging up something I read somewhere some time ago.
