Does anyone here own a recumbent bicycle?

Question

I have been thinking about getting a recumbent for commuting and fun. Does anyone have any recommendations? Would a SWB be better than a LWB for dealing with traffic?

Also, does anyone know of any recumbent dealers in the Atlanta area?

Answer 1

below links

Answer 2

I have a couple of recumbents. Standard advice is to test ride every recumbent you can find, of every style, price range, and purpose. Sometimes it's only practical to test ride a couple, but the more you test, the better decision you can make as to which ones might suit you. Unlike uprights, where small geometry changes are about all you see between mountain bikes, TT bikes, touring bikes, etc... recumbents are wildly divergent, and different styles can be like totally different animals. When you find the right one, you will know, because it will tell you.

I don't know about dealers in Atlanta, but there seems to be a recumbent group, ARC (Atlanta Recumbent Cyclists) there. The contact I saw listed was

BPWatters21<at>aol.com.

One word of warning, don't do any test rides unless your wallet is prepared.

Answer 3

Hi,

I own a high-racer recumbent which provides the comfort of other types of recumbents--but it also provides considerably greater performance capability. It is one of the SWB recumbents. My performance is very good on this bike; however, other riders have found this bike's performance to be extreme.

The high-racer takes longer to learn to ride because you sit and pedal "high." The pedals are literally above and towards the front of the front wheel. Balancing, steering, starting, and stopping are done differently than other types of bikes. At the same time, the learning curve is not overwhelming. The learning process simply requires some practice, a few hundred miles (or less) under your belt, and the knowledge that you simply do things differently on a high-racer recumbent.

It is one of the better recumbents for "dealing with traffic," as you sit higher than other recumbents. In fact, you sit close to the height of a "regular" diamond-frame bike.

The high-racer may or may not be the best choice for you. However, if at least occasional high-performance is necessary for you to be happy with it, you may want to check out the high-racer.

CycleMan

Answer 4

I have several 2 wheel and 3 wheel.

As the other fellow said, do a lot of test rides.