Windcheetah and a few questions about recumbents in general.

[Tigerbiten]

Remember, even if you ride a bicycles normally, you use your muscles slightly differently on a recumbent.
So it will take you around 1,000 miles to get full bent fit and get your bent legs.

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

I am recovering from an accident in July and have not been on the bike since, so I dont have much fitness at all!

 

[Ganymede]

I am recovering from an accident in July and have not been on the bike since, so I dont have much fitness at all!

Take it easy then and do not be discouraged by the extra bit of oomph it takes to get uphill. Plan your routes well and build up your strength. The extra comfort of the 'bent is a real incentive to keep working on it, I find!

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

I have never found it uncomfortable on a bicycle, I have done plenty of 100 miles rides and a 200 as well. But after breaking my neck I have been warned about the consequences of landing on my head again. I think it is a lot less likely for me to put my head through a window again if I am laying down in a recumbent! I also find the advantage of 3 wheels appealing as the weather gets a little colder (although it is unlikely I will be going back to work for another 3 months or so) If I do like it, I may have to change my route to work a little as there is a little stretch of uphill that is very narrow, I would not want to hold people up too much on it, but it is easy to go an alternative route (and it is also where the woman pulled out in front of me, so I would not be passing that every day!)
Hpw much slower are they up hills? Is it just the extra weight or the riding position?

 

[Ganymede]

Hpw much slower are they up hills? Is it just the extra weight or the riding position?

I find a bit of both. But you may get a more detailed answer from someone who rides a more recent model, as mine is quite heavy. People do say that 'bents are speed machines but I think I'd need to get a new one to feel that! Or possibly put in a few more miles and toughen up a bit!
(NB the comfort thing is me with my bad shoulders and creaky neck which feels crunched on a normal bike.)

 

[voyager]

Hi Martin

I have been using a trike now for a couple of years and at 63 I find they are slower by far than a conventional DF bike but the art is spinning the pedals rather than pushing . A lower gear than a DF helps ( I still ride DF bikes as well ) my Trike is so much more fun and is used as daily transport and short shopping trips to stop me sitting on my *** riding around in the car .
The bottom gear on my 20/20 homebuilt is 18" and with e-assist I can get up anything , I don't think the e-assist works efficiently at speeds under 10mph and most of the effort on steep hills is me but on the straight 15 /17 mph is good where I can only average 10-12 mph using pedal power.
Longer less steep hills I find the e-assist a blessing as I can cruse up those as quick as I can go on the straight . Downhill stretches the trike is stable and 25mph plus is no effort at all. my 20.20 e-trike has a 42" wheelbase and 31" track .and weighs 75lb all up with batteries etc

I am nowhere near fit and I need the exercise but I use the e-assist when the going gets tough as I have a few problems that flare up and limit the amount of pedalling I can do

regards emma

 

[starhawk]

Hpw much slower are they up hills? Is it just the extra weight or the riding position?

From what I remember I used one gear lower than on a DF. According to some it seems slower and harder because you see the entire uphill strech, on a DF you only see the patch in front of you.
I decided rather soon to get an e-bike kit, it solves the problem with slow boring uphills. Now I can go up hills at the same speed as on the flats. As a bonus you can use it at the traffic light, when it turns green you apply full power on the e-assist and grind on, even the cars can't keep up. The e-assist does a great job of taking away the inertia when you apply full power.
The riding position makes it possible to use you leg muscles full out, on a DF bike you have only your weight to play with so the riding position has an advantage. The "bent legs" is controversial subject, some say it exist others that it doesn't exist, personally I had no experience of an adjustment period.

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

I picked the windcheetah up today and cycled (is that the right description?) it home. Only 12 miles, but it was certainly different to using my two wheeled bike. Cars were more patient and sat behind me. I had people wind their windows down to talk to me at traffic lights and pedestrians immediately smile when they see you!
It took me a while to get used to the braking (it is pulling to the left a bit, I can adjust that though) The steering is very sensitive to input, but I was a lot better by the end of the ride. I found that if I span too fast it made the trike move around a lot, this may be more to do with my pedaling technique than anything else!

 

[Scoosh]

WOOHOO !!!

Still grinning ?

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

I am!

 

[Ganymede]

I picked the windcheetah up today and cycled (is that the right description?) it home. Only 12 miles, but it was certainly different to using my two wheeled bike. Cars were more patient and sat behind me. I had people wind their windows down to talk to me at traffic lights and pedestrians immediately smile when they see you!
It took me a while to get used to the braking (it is pulling to the left a bit, I can adjust that though) The steering is very sensitive to input, but I was a lot better by the end of the ride. I found that if I span too fast it made the trike move around a lot, this may be more to do with my pedaling technique than anything else!

That's fab!

I do think the pedalling takes a bit of adjustment (I hadn't thought about it before you mentioned it) because the pedals are closer to the steering axle (at least they are on my 'bent). I knew you'd get lots of attention from motorists, too! I get so many grins and nice comments when I'm out (which I don't get on my hybrid!).

 

[Scoosh]

It's very hard to be 'just part of the scenery' on a 'bent - you will get noticed and usually with smiles, thumbs-up, greetings etc.

Going back to an upright, one becomes an 'anonymous cyclist' again.

 

[starhawk]

Cars can be nice at the point of silliness, I once got caught on a cycleroad with my frontwheels just behind a curb and my rearwheel i a sandheap, but the cars on a crossing road about 10 meters further on patiently waited for me to get loose and pass over the crossing!

About the Windcheeta how do you steer it? do you rotate the stalk or do you use the stalk it as a tiller?

 

[BrevetRider]

Cars can be nice at the point of silliness, I once got caught on a cycleroad with my frontwheels just behind a curb and my rearwheel i a sandheap, but the cars on a crossing road about 10 meters further on patiently waited for me to get loose and pass over the crossing!

About the Windcheeta how do you steer it? do you rotate the stalk or do you use the stalk it as a tiller?

Rotate.

 

[Tigerbiten]

Trike are sensitive to shifts in body weight but not how you would expect.
If you lean left, a trike will go right and vice versa.
It's how you steer them hand off.
Plus the steering get lighter at speed.
So it means that if you rock a bit due a too high a cadence at speed, the trike will try to snake.
It's one reason I tend not to go much over 100 rpm.
And I also tend to stop pedaling at just over 45 mph, which for me is just over 90 rpm .........