Recumbents

[HOGEPH]

Any one ride a recumbent trike?

Thinking of getting one to allow me to ride when the roads are a bit too slippy for 2 wheels.

[option click]

Firstly, check that you have a beard.
It's de-rigeur to sport one whilst riding a recumbent.

[DrMekon]

I have a beard.

I would love an ICE Trice QNT26

.

Not sure how they'd be in the ice. I hear rear traction is an issue. If you want to geek out on recumbents, join the IHPVA mailing list.

[timbo48]

Completely bonkers. Please tell me why any sane person would want to mix it with trucks, buses, taxis etc on busy roads. It's bad enough on a normal bike. Unless of course it's yet another niche in which case......fine.

[Rolls]

You'll of course be buying the fixie, single speed version!

[Accelebrate]

A pair of these might be somewhat cheaper, easier to store for the rest of the year and more effective:

[Gazzab]

Darwin award winner choice of ride me thinks?

[DrMekon]

Put the right lights on it and don't go up the inside of lorries, and I can't see why you wouldn't be significantly less safe than other cyclists. Once you've been noticed, I suspect you'd be less likely to be forgotten. Something like a Dinotte amber would do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otT9f60d5WQ&fea...

Still, if I was crazy enough to go recumbent, I'd feel like I wasn't doing myself justice unless I went fully faired. Something like a Sinner Mango



Dave Hembrow (beardist extraordinare) blogs about his epic commute in his

http://hembrow.blogspot.com/search/label/sinner%20...

[Nick_F]

That looks fab - £5k plus, though, so it should do!

[ClassicMercs]

The main benefit of a Trice - or similar - is that you won't fall off. I nearly did on two wheels today whilst crossing from one car tyre track to another. Not amused when the prat in the pushchair (people carrier) behind had to shout 'crap' at me when he did decide to pass.

We bought a used Trice (very early) model for the wife due to hand problems. The previous owner bought it to get home from the pub on - so he didn't fall off. The pub was 10 miles away and from what we could tell he was a serious boozer. On the day of collection he had been out on an all day 50 miler bender, collecting special seaweed you can cook and eat en-route. He smelt - of booze. As he didn't work I don't know where the beer tokens came from.

The biggest problem you will find is that you would need very good waterproofs in this weather, being so low down. I haven't had our Trice out in bad weather to test its traction. One possible issue is the chain length - lots of pedalling to spin on the spot with 10ft of chain. The bike spends most of its time sat ON the bonnet of the Merc in the garage (alongside 4 bikes and a scooter - a very full single garage).

The best reason to own a Trice - ride it downhill - apply the brakes (effective front drum !!) at the same time as turning into an entrance (eg - our local garden centre). Its a '(hand)brake turn' - a few inches off the ground - at over 20mph - wicked!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesuggitts/275127129...
Added some threaded bar and pipe clamps to the rear triangle since the photos were taken - for strengthening. Recommended by the guys at Trice as this is an early example and strength was not the best, given the excess body weight carried in our household.

[AndrewM]

You don't need £5k for one of these - check out: http://www.recycledrecumbent.com/

All you need is a welder and a bit of imagination!