My first fixed

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BentMikey

Rider of Seolferwulf
Location
South London
LOL, not quite, but in the vein of the "My first recumbent" topic. Last night, on the way home from work, I passed a fixed (or at least ss) rider near Camberwell. He was going slowly, he looked exhausted, as though he was a messenger after a particularly long day. Anyway, he obv. took offence at being passed by a recumbent, and latched onto my rear.

I was quite impressed, he had accelerated really quickly to catch me as I passed him with quite a speed differential. I did call out to him "hello mate" a couple of times, and that he wouldn't find much draft behind me, but he couldn't or wouldn't respond. The reason I think he was a messenger was due to the confident way he followed me overtaking traffic on the outside. You never know though, with the number of fakengers around nowadays. I was also impressed at how long he sat with me, but he turned off when we got to Peckham, so I never got to see who would blow up first.
 

zimzum42

Legendary Member
Wasn't me, I never look tired......
 
I think overtaking on the right is the key that says he was experienced, and used to riding very fast too.

I waved a very tired looking middle aged guy into my draft last night, he looked fairly experienced but dog-tired and I took the risk. If he wasn't fast enough he would fall out of my draft as I wasn't about to slow down.

Like your guy did, he put on a burst of speed out of character with his riding as I passed him, and stayed tucked in behind me as I passed on the right and as I held the right hand tyre track along most of the inside lane of embankment. I got caught up in the thrill of a couple of green lights and this guy behind me and started working at barfspeed. As I started to tire near Chelsea he shouted "on-yerright" and came past me to take the lead and we streaked on.

At the lights we both came to a shuddering stop and shook hands, both panting and barely able to speak, but grinning ear to ear. Then I turned off and we parted ways.
 
I wonder what the drag coefficient of your 'bent is? I know as a very slim rider, in lycra, riding in the drops is about 0.80, and with a small rucksack around 0.97-1.00

That is a huge drag coefficient, which makes drafting an upright so easy.

Can a 'bent draft another?
 
The only thing (apart from a lack of available funds at the mo thanks to my motorbike throwing a hissy fit) that puts me off 'bents is the lack of hillclimbing ability, as going up is my favorite part of cycling.

I know one day I will prob end up with one, but for now I'm saving for a Lightspeed - mmm... titanium... ;)
 
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BentMikey

Rider of Seolferwulf
Location
South London
Hill climbing is much maligned for 'bents, but I don't believe it's necessarily true. Mine is a 17kg beast, and as a very average rider I still managed to do the Tour of the Surrey Hills in 5:25 in 2005. If I had one of the new 8kg superlight 'bents, I could have been a lot faster.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Jacomus-rides-Gen said:
The only thing (apart from a lack of available funds at the mo thanks to my motorbike throwing a hissy fit) that puts me off 'bents is the lack of hillclimbing ability, as going up is my favorite part of cycling.

If you like going uphill, I suspect you're the sort of person who has strong enough legs for it not to make a difference.

Although it doesn't make much difference to me, I'm equally slow upright or recumbent... The fact that my 'bent is a trike just means I can stay pedalling at the sort of speed that would have me walking with the upright.

Like Mikey says, I think that's blown up out of proportion. I suppose generally recumbents are heavier, but if you want the challenge of going up as fast as possible, the weight's just part of it.
 
Hmm... well, I can't really pass judgement as I've only ridden uprights, and both of you ride both. I just can't imagine being able to get a 'bent up an alpine pass, in the same way, though I guess thats not the point is it?

Surely, even a 'bent of the same weight as an upright can't climb as well due to losing the advantage of being able to use bodyweight to add power to the pedal stroke??

Dunno, guess I'll just have to try one!!
 

bonj2

Guest
Jacomus-rides-Gen said:
The only thing (apart from a lack of available funds at the mo thanks to my motorbike throwing a hissy fit) that puts me off 'bents is the lack of hillclimbing ability, as going up is my favorite part of cycling.

I know one day I will prob end up with one, but for now I'm saving for a Lightspeed - mmm... titanium... ;)

hmmm... same here. in fact I wouldn't mind one actually (but BentMikey'll never know - 'cos i'm on his ignore list, so shhh! dont' tell him)
 
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