Recumbent Rides

[a.twiddler]

The main benefit of a hub gear for recumbents and other small wheeled bikes is to be able to allow a high top gear without having to have a huge chainring. An awful lot of recumbents (trikes and bikes) do have small wheels so a greater percentage of them will have a hub gear of some sort. The ability to be able to change gear at a standstill is a sort of side effect of the design, though I've found it useful on my bikes.

The Rans Stratus XP has shown me that a straightforward 3 X 9 derailleur set up can work quite well as long as you bear in mind the need to anticipate gear changes a bit more than you would on an upright bike. It seems also that the small ring is used more than I would use the low ratio hub gear on the Linear, so I'm not too far off the right gear if I should end up stopping suddenly. We're not robots, and everyone ends up in the wrong gear some time, so the ability to downshift when stopped is the ultimate option if it's available.

Stopping and starting, it's all down to practice. It might seem odd, but you can reduce wobbliness by pedalling against a little rear brake as you come to a halt. The longer you can keep your feet on the pedals the better, even to a standstill, though it's hard to judge it all at first. It might be purely psychological, but its about feeling that you're in charge, rather than the bike. It probably feels at if it has a mind of its own at the moment.

 

[Psamathe]

The main benefit of a hub gear for recumbents and other small wheeled bikes is to be able to allow a high top gear without having to have a huge chainring. An awful lot of recumbents (trikes and bikes) do have small wheels so a greater percentage of them will have a hub gear of some sort. The ability to be able to change gear at a standstill is a sort of side effect of the design, though I've found it useful on my bikes.

The Rans Stratus XP has shown me that a straightforward 3 X 9 derailleur set up can work quite well as long as you bear in mind the need to anticipate gear changes a bit more than you would on an upright bike. It seems also that the small ring is used more than I would use the low ratio hub gear on the Linear, so I'm not too far off the right gear if I should end up stopping suddenly. We're not robots, and everyone ends up in the wrong gear some time, so the ability to downshift when stopped is the ultimate option if it's available.

Stopping and starting, it's all down to practice. It might seem odd, but you can reduce wobbliness by pedalling against a little rear brake as you come to a halt. The longer you can keep your feet on the pedals the better, even to a standstill, though it's hard to judge it all at first. It might be purely psychological, but its about feeling that you're in charge, rather than the bike. It probably feels at if it has a mind of its own at the moment.

When I got my tadpole bent (new) I opted for danglies at the rear. Never had issues with starting stationary, maybe because I also have danglies on my upright and I'm used to them.

Every time I considered hub I talked to manufacturer and they were anti (despite offering it as a configuration option) and most negative is they said I won't get as low at granny end. But went through same loop again 2023 and talked to somebody who was positive about the idea, spent ages chatting about front options, got to lower granny than I have with danglies whilst staying in warranty range.

Very expensive but upgraded and love the hub gear. Fantastic, wish I'd upgraded earlier.

Ian

 

[grldtnr]

When I got my tadpole bent (new) I opted for danglies at the rear. Never had issues with starting stationary, maybe because I also have danglies on my upright and I'm used to them.

Every time I considered hub I talked to manufacturer and they were anti (despite offering it as a configuration option) and most negative is they said I won't get as low at granny end. But went through same loop again 2023 and talked to somebody who was positive about the idea, spent ages chatting about front options, got to lower granny than I have with danglies whilst staying in warranty range.

Very expensive but upgraded and love the hub gear. Fantastic, wish I'd upgraded earlier.

Ian

I think best option is danglies and a hub, , my other trike also has that combo, albeit a Sachs/ SRAM one, with a 'granny' on the front, but quite why you'd want 42 gears?
I treat it as a low / high range, the smaller ring has to be manually thrown over ,I just grab the chain tube works just fine!

 

[Psamathe]

My configuration is a Rohloff 14 rear and a GRX 2 x Chainset (46/30) front and 26" rear wheel on the front which gets my "granny" end down to the more recent Rohloff torque limit.

Brilliant configuration for loaded (camping) touring.

Ian

 

[a.twiddler]

I think best option is danglies and a hub, , my other trike also has that combo, albeit a Sachs/ SRAM one, with a 'granny' on the front, but quite why you'd want 42 gears?
I treat it as a low / high range, the smaller ring has to be manually thrown over ,I just grab the chain tube works just fine!

The Linear as bought came with a triple on the front but no changer. It had the potential for 63 gears with a greasy finger change, with a top gear of around 150". This sort of set up seemed accepted in the 90s for low volume bikes. When I did something about it, to fit a FD, I found a double was adequate, and took the big ring off as I certainly couldn't push that size gear. It makes my current 42 gears seem quite conservative. A wide range, with plenty of overlap. There are trikers out there with 80 + gears so it's obviously a thing. My other bikes have a 24 and a 27 but they have a good range too.