Third best reason to ride a bent or trike

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a.twiddler

Veteran
But an upright bike makes more sense. It's the go to bike for almost everyone.
I only started riding recumbents because of back injury and I'm grateful for the alternative - but let's not pretend there aren't compromises when riding a bent - there are

I would say, if you are going to ride some gnarly off-road, it's hard to beat an upright bike, with the ability to move your weight about to maintain balance and find grip. Obviously light weight and compactness are useful here too, if you might need to carry it on your shoulder as per cyclo cross.

I've ridden all purpose bikes for years and had a lot of pleasure from them, done the club thing, but when I look back a lot of my best rides have been as a.twiddler, solitary cyclist (which was actually my alias when I wrote stuff for my club magazine. When I had a club, when it had a magazine). Touring, bike by train, all that stuff. I even did some Audaxes, but didn't take to them. Never was into racing, either.
As with anything I take to, I threw myself into club life, becoming Touring Sec. for a while. I really lived that role, and hope that I set an example to other, younger riders. It was almost as if I gave up a superpower when I moved away in pursuit of new employment. With irregular hours cycling took a back seat, and I never made similar connections in my new area. I continued to cycle occasionally, but it was only when I retired that I began to ride more.

I can't help wondering how it might have been if I'd been exposed to recumbents back then whether they might have met my needs at that time. I was a different being then, as an experienced cyclist fairly impervious to pain, rain and cold. As I knew no different I thought that it was the cyclist's lot to suffer various pains, numbness in the hands and feet, and so on. There were so many other benefits to cycling that they balanced each other out.

As you get older you become more aware of these discomforts which no amount of DIY "bike fits" can resolve. Higher bars, different pedals, fatter tyres, different saddles, even different frame materials and so on. Five years ago I'd almost come to accept that these limitations would lead to less cycling, shorter rides etc. It was on a whim that I bought my first recumbent bike unseen and untested which could have been a disaster (though leaving me no worse off than I'd been before).

Instead, it was a revelation, and after the initial familiarisation period, led to me being able to ride far further (though no faster!) than before without all those aches and pains. So despite @kingrollo's gloomy pronouncements, for me, discovering recumbent bikes has been a largely positive experience. It's obvious that it doesn't work for everyone, but the Linear arrived at the right time of life, and maybe the right time of mind, for me to benefit from it. I'm prepared to accept that the Linear may not even be a particularly good recumbent bike by some peoples' standards, but what can I say? It has worked for me.
 
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I would say, if you are going to ride some gnarly off-road, it's hard to beat an upright bike, with the ability to move your weight about to maintain balance and find grip. Obviously light weight and compactness are useful here too, if you might need to carry it on your shoulder as per cyclo cross.

I've ridden all purpose bikes for years and had a lot of pleasure from them, done the club thing, but when I look back a lot of my best rides have been as a.twiddler, solitary cyclist (which was actually my alias when I wrote stuff for my club magazine. When I had a club, when it had a magazine). Touring, bike by train, all that stuff. I even did some Audaxes, but didn't take to them. Never was into racing, either.
As with anything I take to, I threw myself into club life, becoming Touring Sec. for a while. I really lived that role, and hope that I set an example to other, younger riders. It was almost as if I gave up a superpower when I moved away in pursuit of new employment. With irregular hours cycling took a back seat, and I never made similar connections in my new area. I continued to cycle occasionally, but it was only when I retired that I began to ride more.

I can't help wondering how it might have been if I'd been exposed to recumbents back then whether they might have met my needs at that time. I was a different being then, as an experienced cyclist fairly impervious to pain, rain and cold. As I knew no different I thought that it was the cyclist's lot to suffer various pains, numbness in the hands and feet, and so on. There were so many other benefits to cycling that they balanced each other out.

As you get older you become more aware of these discomforts which no amount of DIY "bike fits" can resolve. Higher bars, different pedals, fatter tyres, different saddles, even different frame materials and so on. Five years ago I'd almost come to accept that these limitations would lead to less cycling, shorter rides etc. It was on a whim that I bought my first recumbent bike unseen and untested which could have been a disaster (though leaving me no worse off than I'd been before).

Instead, it was a revelation, and after the initial familiarisation period, led to me being able to ride far further (though no faster!) than before without all those aches and pains. So despite @kingrollo's gloomy pronouncements, for me, discovering recumbent bikes has been a largely positive experience. It's obvious that it doesn't work for everyone, but the Linear arrived at the right time of life, and maybe the right time of mind, for me to benefit from it. I'm prepared to accept that the Linear may not even be a particularly good recumbent bike by some peoples' standards, but what can I say? It has worked for me.

That's absolutely fair enough - and a well reasoned response. My recent heart attack has meant I can't get the pain jabs in my back for 6 months.
So it's the recumbent or nothing. And on a flat canal towpath it's sheer joy. Trouble is I want to go further and that means encountering heavy traffic and big hills - my current bent the grasshopper is pretty poor in this respect. Its very slow on the hills and with an angry van man never far away it gets very stressful.

If I was 6ft 6 - I get a great big high racer - but I'm 5ft 7 and shrinking.

Tempted by the cruzbike S40. But it's an expensive leap into the unknown.!!!
 
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