ArtW said:
Hepcat, what's the speed differential on a recumbent vs upwrong? any?
Art, I almost hate to even go there because there are SO many variables... but I'll dust off some old 'conventional wisdom' for you.
Generally, recumbents will be faster down hill and slower up hill. On the flat, with a similar quality drivetrain and comparable engines, a 700c high racer will smoke a roadie every time. It's almost embarrassing sometimes. High racers and low racers are built for speed.
Now, that said, all of MY recumbents are purpose-built. My trike is a touring hauler and is set up as an around-town Sunday afternoon cruiser with 406mm x 2.0 (or 2.15 on the rear) balloon tires on all three corners for suspension float. I can haul about a hundred pounds with it in the trailer without issue. My normal camping load is probably around 60lbs including the weight of the trailer. I've had that combo going downhill at 43mph (towing the trailer) and uphill registering as slow as 0.2mph, slower than walking speed. So, as you can see, there's quite a range there.
My Grasshopper fx is a dual-suspension 406 commuter/touring folding bike. It does duty as a grocery getter, errand runner, and sight-seeing platform when I'm out with the van. It took the place of my Bike Friday NWT. While it'll do respectable speeds, it's not a 700c high racer, or a carbon fiber low racer. It's built to be rugged and to see daily use, not as a go-fast bike.
Both my trike and my bike have custom drive-trains that are substantially geared lower than what they came with stock. That's important because you can't use your weight transfer to "pump" a recumbent like you do a diamond-frame bike. Your power is all in your quads and hamstrings... and you pedal to maintain cadence on a recumbent shifting as often as necessary rather than trying to power through in a taller gear... and you need enough low gears to be able to shift down as far as necessary to maintain cadence... at the cost of a more constant speed on hills. You can actually injure yourself on a recumbent trying to be a "tough guy" and push through maintaining speed instead of maintaining cadence and not worrying about speed.
The one thing I CAN tell you is that there is a learning curve to riding a recumbent bike. All you've learned riding an up wrong won't help you much as you have to learn how to balance on a different plane, not centered over your feet. (A non-issue on trikes of course.) And that recumbent trikes that look similar may have VERY different riding and handling characteristics... so don't ride one SWB recumbent, not like it, and swear them all off. Try LOTS of them. One of them will just feel "right." My Grasshopper fx is that bike for me... and I've had a half-dozen short wheelbase recumbents. I liked them all, but the Grasshopper fx just fits me better and therefore handles better for me.
Craigslist is your friend for finding recumbents... and/or the classifieds at Bryan Ball's recumbent forums. Lots of REALLY good information on all things recumbent there. That's THE resource for learning about recumbent bikes and trikes. Let me know if I can answer anything specific for you too.
Good luck!
