Recumbent questions

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nigelb

New Member
Hi

Made a bad mistake yesterday.

There was a show on in Cambridge over last weekend, and we went along for a look. They had an area of grass roped off for people to try different bikes out on!

Seeing the recumbents, I thought "now's my chance" and I tried a couple. One was a "short wheel base", the other seemed to be roughly a half-way house between conventional and recumbent.

Have to say I loved them!

Guess I'll have to use my new cycle to work bike for the year, get it paid off, before I start shopping....

To be honest, the whole riding position seems to be a natural progression - I started off on drop handlebars, have moved to hibred curved back ones (and a big soft comfy saddle!), rotating back further sounds perfect.

One thing the guy did say was that its normal to have lots of gears on recumbents, as high cadence is important - didn't quite make sense to me why that's more important on a recumbent?

Nige
 

mark barker

New Member
Location
Swindon, Wilts
I wondered about the gear issue too, until I rode mine for a while. Because of the seat position its much more important to be in the right gear at the right time, no lifting out of the saddle to compensate for wrong gear choice, and you'll really notice that on hills!
 
OP
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nigelb

New Member
Ah, gotya, hadn't occurred to me (as I never get out of the saddle anyway!).

Just out of curiosity, how do chain sets etc and chains stack up price wise?

Loads more gears, much longer chain, can see this being a bit of a cost hike over a conventional bike?

Nige
 

bottlemsher

Über Member
hi nige

The components on a recumbent are the same as a normal bike the only diifference
is length of the chain.
Give D-Tek a call on 01353 678177 which is based in Little Thetford and not far away from you .I think it's still around £25 for a morning of trying out all different styles of
recumbents under the tuition of Kevin.
 

Fiona N

Veteran
People often see the long chain on recumbents and assume it's going to be a cost issue but its not - wear on the chain is mainly a function of friction over the sprockets and chain ring teeth which gradually thins the rollers causing 'chain stretch'. So if the recumbent chain is four times longer than normal, each link wears at one quarter the rate of a normal chain link for a given mileage. So you just buy a chain at longer intervals. In fact, with some recumbents it's even better than this as dirt from the road which is sprayed off the wheels, especially in wet weather, is a significant factor in reducing chain lifetime and some recumbents have chain tubes which cover the chain thus protecting it from the dirt. The bottom bracket position also reduces dirt from the font wheel hitting the chain rings in some designs, especially trikes. Others, like Windcheetahs, have the rear wheel offset away from the chain run, so again reducing dirt from the rear wheel on the chain.

It all helps and I've got over 50,000miles from my Windcheetah chain - so I reckon I can afford to buy gold plated chains every 10 years or so :wacko:
 

DrMekon

Über Member
FWIW, the 'bent they had at the tryout session in Cambridge was a Dawes Lowrider, which is a rebadged Batavus Relaxx. I enjoyed it too. I've recently been to see Kevin at DTEK, and it's a brilliant day out. I loved pretty much everything from a Bikee (would love to try a HPV Spirit) through to the Bacchetta Strada.
 
Or you can get a Rohloff!

Rohloffs and recumbents are made for each other!


DSCF0165.jpg
 

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
Cunobelin said:
Or you can get a Rohloff!

Rohloffs and recumbents are made for each other!
Not to mention a Rohloff & an 11-32 9sp cassette + 30/42/53 crankset not only give you the same number of discrete gears but they're offer the same gearing range. The Rohloff is just more even with its gear distribution.
 
Actually this setup has a Triple at the front (although with the granny disabled) so there is a 28 gear range

DSCF0163.jpg


The most I have ever heard of was a Greenspeed with an intermediate gearchanger giving a total of 63 gears

Drivetrain
Our SRAM/Sachs 3x7 drivetrain is shifted by bar-con bar-end shifters. The components all integrate well and our test trike shifted flawlessly. The 63-speeds come from a 7-speed cassette x 3 speed triple crank x a 3 speed internal hub (SRAM 3x7). The 3x7 has a 27% reduction in low gear, a 1:1 in 2nd gear and a 36% increase in 3rd gear. This makes it ideal for any recumbent with a 20-inch drivewheel. The only downside is the bolt-on rear axle. The super wide gear range will have you climbing the largest hills with ease. The fact that you are on a trike will low-speed balance concerns a non issue. So, do you need 63-gears. At this price, why not.
 

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
Yeah with a 26x1.5" tyre I kinda like the idea of a 39/54 crankset mated to a Rohloff with a 16t sprocket, 17-123" or 18-131" with a 15t. Or even a 32/39/54 (though I have no idea where to source something like that from) & a 13t sprocket for 17-151", this however would be great setup for a 24x1.5" drive setup.
 
Location
EDINBURGH
GrasB said:
Yeah with a 26x1.5" tyre I kinda like the idea of a 39/54 crankset mated to a Rohloff with a 16t sprocket, 17-123" or 18-131" with a 15t. Or even a 32/39/54 (though I have no idea where to source something like that from) & a 13t sprocket for 17-151", this however would be great setup for a 24x1.5" drive setup.

The 32 up front would be a problem for the Rohloff.
 
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