Recumbents and comfort

Most recumbent ('bent) owners learned to ride on DFs or 'diamond frames.' A DF is the standard road bike like the ones ridden in the Tour de France.

Some cyclists bought a recumbent because they believed it would be faster. Some because they wanted to try something different and some because they were suffering pain when riding a DF. Many bent owners also own and ride DFs.
Some bent owners are a bit evangelistic about recumbents. They don't consider DFs have any redeeming features at all and their most likely comment is that "DFs are painful to ride."

Leaving aside any arguments about speed or visibility, is a recumbent much more comfortable than a DF?

Let's start with the three wheeled bents - the trikes. You don't have to balance them and you sit in a cushioned chair. They can be very comfortable. Even the hard shell seats on alloy racing trikes are supportive and comfortable. In terms of the gold standard for comfort, trikes have it.

Next on the comfort scale are the recumbents with fairly upright seats. The most common design is the short wheel based recumbent like the P-38, V-Rex and Maxarya but there are some low racers with high angle seats. The front wheel drive Toxy is one. Zockra is another. Long wheel base recumbents like the Gold Rush also have upright seats.

As the seat angle drops below about 28 degrees, the comfort starts to suffer in one specific area. In order to see forward the rider on a low angle seat has to raise his head. His position can be assisted by a seat that has 'recurve' - the upper part of the seat is at a higher angle. The rider can also utilise a neck rest or a head rest, but on bumpy roads the vibration may be unpleasant.

Any bike where you sit on a cushioned chair and face forward has to be more comfortable than any DF. But DF riders say they're comfortable; how can that be?

On a properly fitted racing DF, the riders weight is evenly balanced on his or her seat, pedals and wrists. Riders become accustomed to the pressure from the saddle and don't notice discomfort unless they ride long distances. They are relatively 'comfortable.'

This is at the expense of forward vision. To see more than a few feet in front of their wheel, a DF rider has to raise the head, which puts the neck under strain - just as a low seat angle does on a recumbent. Of course, the 'comfort' DFs like the Electra Townie and the RANS 'crank forward' bikes keep the riders back almost vertical, so they have good forward vision.

Anyone that has ridden both DFs and recumbents will almost certainly admit that most recumbents are more comfortable than DF road bikes. But both recumbents and DFs can become uncomfortable as you change the riders positions to obtain a more aerodynamic position.

FAQ or Fiction

I'm writing this Blog because I own a P-38 but also because there's some lack of knowledge and confusion about recumbents in general. When you understand why the P-38 performs the way it does, then you're in a better position to evaluate all recumbents.

Recumbents make up a very small percentage of the bicycle market. This means that they are expensive compared to what the recumbent aficionados call DFs, or Diamond Frames. DFs are 'normal' bikes like the bikes ridden in the Tour de France. We often refer to recumbents as 'bents and DFs as wedgies.

Recumbents are still promoted as being faster than DFs. The truth is that the fastest recumbent designs, ridden by fit riders acclimatised to their bike will be faster than an equally fit DF rider. The less palatable truth is that many recumbent designs are at best equal and in some cases slower than DFs.

Where does the P-38 fit on the speed scale of unfaired recumbents? It is my opinion, backed up by riding and testing other designs, including DFs, that on a scale of one to ten, where one is the slowest bent and ten the fastest, the P-38 would rate a minimum of seven and a maximum of eight.

But how can anyone measure the speed of a recumbent when the strength of riders varies so much and we live in a world that's not flat?

That's what this Blog is about. It's one mans opinion obtained at high dollar cost and in future posts, I'll expand on my experience.

Meanwhile, for all things recumbent, visit Bentrider Online. It's a treasure trove of facts, opinions and links. If you have a question about recumbents or bicycles, it will be answered there.

http://www.bentrideronline.com