Active 1 year, 5 months ago. Viewed 39k times. I am also thinking about using the recumbent bike over the winter months as well. Improve this question. I would expect that a recumbent will not be as comfortable on forest trails. Some say recumbent's are faster on flat ground than a road bike, opinions vary. I think you get more power to the pedals on them than an upright One would think that, but bent riders I've talked to say that bents are at a disadvantage on uphills, which doesn't make sense if you can apply more power.
When riding an upright bike I stand up when over bumps. I'm sure my legs provide a lot more suspension than any bike suspension. So I assume although I have no first hand experience that it'd be bumpier on a recumbent.
Might be worth a new question. I suggest looking at velomobiles. If you can afford it and one will work on your route, that will solve both the speed and winter problems. Show 4 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. All that said, the trike is a lot of fun. Improve this answer. Adam Rice Adam Rice Recumbents are good for continuous power and with a fairing can be very aero efficient.
That is why recumbents have land speed records. However, recumbents are comparatively bad at instantaneous power which is why a road bike will beat a recumbent clinging hills and from a dead stop.
Unless the commute is one straight run with no hills or stops, it is not unthinkable that the road bike is faster. Whether there's "more frontal area" will depend on one's riding posture on a regular bicycle.
If you ride tucked in like you're in the Tour de France, then sure, compared to that a recumbent may be slower. But if you tend to ride upright, a recumbent may well give you less wind resistance than a normal bike. Add a comment. Matt Adams Matt Adams 2, 14 14 silver badges 19 19 bronze badges. I have real concerns about the options on passing other bikes. On my commute, I ride across a bridge where the bike paths is, lets say, optimsed for upright bikes.
Sometimes, there are motorised scooters coming in the opposite direction. There is no way of passing safely and at speed in this situation. Actually, world speed record bikes usually have 9 gears - no front derailleur.
Starting off involves the launch crew pushing, then some wobbling. But what will really make the difference is the rider. But how will it do for your commute? The things you want to look for which will improve your ride both on roads and forest trails in all weather include: A larger rear wheel Rear suspension or all-wheel suspension, rare High ground clearance The ability to mount fatter tires Fenders which also fit around the tires!
Some current model year possibilities include: The Gekko from HP Velotechnik uses a 26 inch rear wheel to help with obstacles you might run over on the road or even forest trails. Michael Hampton Michael Hampton 1, 11 11 silver badges 15 15 bronze badges. I disagree on the 'larger rear wheel' part of this answer otherwise a great answer. Now-a-days inch rear wheels on suspension-enabled trikes can be just as fast and comfortable and can provide an equal ground clearance due to frame geometry not wheel size as their larger brethren.
Plus, the shorter spokes typically means better weight handling and a stronger resistance to side-loading stress in turns. This is a great answer thanks! It also leads towards more information that is really useful Commercial recumbent trikes are not like light weight upright diamond frame road bikes.
On the other hand in my experience the fun out weighs the loss in speed. Trikeceratops Trikeceratops 81 1 1 silver badge 2 2 bronze badges. I've noticed I can do about the same cruising speed on the flat, but my heart rate is easily 20 BPM lower in the bent than doing the same speed on the road bike.
Scott Baxter Scott Baxter 61 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge. Tony Tony 67 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge. Welcome to Bicycles Tony!
I highly recommend this model of tadpole. TerraTrike Rocks!!! Barb Barb 41 1 1 bronze badge. I own a Trice Q and several other bikes The answer to your question is "it depends". Lateral wind, don't care about that. Wind from the rear provides a small boost. If there is no wind, the trike is slower than a touring bike, and even slower uphill.
However I can ride 8 hours without destroying my butt, comfort is a plus A 2 wheel recumbent with suspension could be a better choice. Or just keep your bike But maybe someone else can point to some actual test data. Here are some actual test data: bentrideronline. However, this particular trike has much higher rolling resistance.
I should clarify that among trikes, the ICE Vortex is considered to be fairly low, reclined, and aerodynamic; this means that the "typical" trike will have higher CdA than measured for the Vortex. Juan Juan 21 1 1 bronze badge. Carl Carl 21 1 1 bronze badge. That's an interesting data point - do you have any similar numbers for a trike without the electric assist? How many nominal watts does the electric motor put out?
From your description I would guess a lot e. Riding comfort your rear will be better on the recumbent. Joe Joe 1 1 gold badge 5 5 silver badges 15 15 bronze badges. Tim D Tim D 51 1 1 bronze badge. Willeke Willeke 2, 1 1 gold badge 15 15 silver badges 24 24 bronze badges. Peter Peter 11 1 1 bronze badge. Personal experience - I have a 15 kilo road bike and a 19 kilo high racer recumbent bike. I think you'll become way faster given more time. Aside from the Rock Star Effect, yes.
Foremost is the challenge of learning to ride a bike in a new position. Many recumbents require longer cables, which in turn creates more maintenance. Some components on recumbents may not be regularly stocked at your Local Bike Shop or Walmart. They can be harder to park and lock to a rack. Putting a recumbent bike in your car or on top of it can be a challenge, if not downright impossible. Maintaining a recumbent is its own distinct skill as well.
I knew a mechanic at a Local Bike Shop that hated recumbents: they were a square peg in a sea of round holes. What accounts for the recent recumbent resurgence? In a word, the Internet. While mainstream bicycle development is driven by big money and big ticket events like Trek and the Tour de France, a growing number of recumbent bicycles are being made by tinkerers and amateurs. Websites like Atomic Zombie and Bent Rider Online celebrate those who hack, chop, weld and modify new bikes from odd parts.
Wesley Cheney bikes for family, fun, profit and necessity in Norfolk, Virginia. He writes about bikes and kilts at Foto by Wes and re builds bamboo bikes and bamboo kayaks at Makerspace.
When he is not delivering sandwiches for Jimmy Johns on his bicycle, he aspires to earn another Bachelors in Music Education at his alma mater, Old Dominion University.
Wesley loves leather saddles, full fenders, helmet-mounted lights and mirrors, platform pedals, front racks, double kickstands, and vintage friction Suntour Command shifters. He warbles on a flugelhorn , sings bass in the choir of Christ and Saint Lukes Church , and studies ukulele under the amazing Skye Zentz. An ordinary biker will still feel it going faster than a traditional bike.
Speed differences between a recumbent bike and an upright bike: These differences are based on the following. Faster on flat ground: Although there are various opinions on this, many users have stated that recumbent bikes are faster on flat grounds as compared to an upright bike.
Continuous power: Along with its aero efficiency, it is also easy to supply a recumbent bike with continuous power which is why they have excellent land speed records. Few Important features necessary to boost recumbent bike speed: Rear suspension Larger rear wheel Seat lower to the ground Fenders High ground clearance Overview: The major reason why a recumbent bike is faster than an upright bike is because of aerodynamics.
However, one needs to weigh the downsides of this too. Latest guides. See post. Still, hardly a day goes by without some 10 year old blurting out "Cool Bike, dude! Motorists point you out to car-mates. Some folks just stop and stare. Everyone smiles and waves.
Recumbent riders end up answering a lot of questions. Many people want to know if they are hard to ride, how much they cost, how do you steer that thing especially the USS bikes , etc. While paused at a stop sign one day, a guy in a pickup pulled up in the next lane, rolled down his window and asked me "Did your wife put that thing together for you"?
Finally, there are other types of Recumbents that are designed for people who can't use their legs. These are Handcycles, and are either "pedaled" with hand cranks or by hand-on-wheel like wheel chairs on steroids. These tend to be Trikes, and some are amazingly fast. There are several companies specializing in these bikes, such as Greenspeed , and Varna , and others.
There are sites that sponsor rides and races. In spite of all the positive aspects of recumbent bicycles there are some drawbacks. Some are simply perceptions, others are based in fact.
Almost every recumbent weighs more than an equivalently priced road bike. There are certain exceptions, you can buy a pound recumbent, but it will end up costing you much more than the pound diamond frame upright bicycle.
Recumbents sometimes weigh as much as 5 pounds more than the same priced traditional bike. On flat ground, the recumbent will be faster, so who cares about weight? Read on. Hill climbing on a recumbent is different than on a diamond frame bike. You have to adapt to a different style of climbing, namely spinning high RPMs on the pedals in a low gear. In fact, recumbents generally improve your spinning skills and make you a better all round cyclist even on your upright.
Because recumbents are generally heavier, climbing problems are exacerbated by weight. In fact one school of thought is that weight is the only reason recumbents are said to climb slower. New recumbent riders typically climb slowly until they develop "recumbent legs".
This can take one to three months or more depending on how often you ride. There is something about the seating position that requires different muscle development. On the flats, this is offset immediately by the lower drag, but the hill-climbing disadvantage generally takes much longer to overcome. But those riders who switch back and forth between recumbents and uprights generally agree that recumbents do not climb as fast as upright bikes.
However, just because you climb sitting down does not imply less physical stress on your legs. Because your back is against a firm seat back, you are easily able to push harder on a recumbent than you could on an upright bike. As soon as you do, your body rises up, and the effort is wasted lifting your body rather than turning the crank. On a recumbent, you can push against the seat back. You can therefore put more pressure on the pedals - and your knees. New recumbent riders frequently complain about sore knees.
The advice is simple. Downshift to an easier gear, and spin faster rather than pushing so hard. Your endurance will be enhanced as well. It takes time to get used to it. A cadence computer helps. New recumbent riders generally find themselves sitting much lower than they did on their diamond frame bike. This can be unnerving in traffic, as it is harder to see around or over cars.
On most recumbents you are sitting with your head at the same level as the driver of a modern sedan. This is not that low, but seems like it. The car immediately behind you will see you just fine. The one behind that one e. This has some ramifications when you are riding beside a steady stream of higher speed overtaking traffic. Cars may right hook you turn into a driveway directly across your path. Most of this is all in the head of the cyclist.
The new lower position simply rekindles old fears of being hit from behind. Once you get used to it the lower position is not a problem. Defensive tactics used to avoid the right hook work as well on recumbents as on uprights.
Because you have your back leaning against a seat back, seeing behind you can be a problem. It requires greater effort to look back, and may involve leaning forward in your seat. Many recumbent designs, most of them actually, have small front wheels. This makes it difficult to hang front panniers on the bike. Most recumbents can accommodate rear panniers just fine. The rear tire of most recumbents is already carrying more weight than the front.
This is true in most, but not all, designs. You compound this when you add the weight of loaded panniers. This calls for a high-pressure tire in the rear. Still the bike will be very tail-heavy. This affects handling, but usually presents no serious problem. To offset the inability or simply the uselessness due to small size of front panniers, recumbents offer a large area behind the seat that can be used to stow a lot of gear.
Often this area can be enclosed in a cloth-and-wire frame or rigid structure called a tail cone. This makes an excellent carrying area.
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