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What’s it like to ride a recumbent?
Your head is up in a natural position, giving you a
great view of your surroundings and the road ahead. No
more neck and back pain from being hunched over. Hands,
arms, and wrists are comfortable because they are not
supporting your weight. You slice through the wind
faster and easier, due to reduced frontal exposure.
Handling, cornering, and stopping are more assured due
to a significantly lower center of gravity. Saddle
soreness is not a problem, even at the end of the
longest rides.
The bike seems to vanish beneath you as you cruise
along, experiencing the scenery (and potential hazards)
as never before. You'll find yourself cycling
longer and farther than before, and arriving at your
destination refreshed. Once you've experienced a
recumbent, it's difficult to ever go back to a
conventional bike!
You may as well be driving a Ferrari for all the
attention you receive. Motorists, pedestrians, and
other cyclists do double-takes as they watch you breeze
by -- seemingly without effort.
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Doesn’t the position slow you down?
Did you know that a recumbent bicycle provides between
fifteen to thirty percent lower wind resistance over
the typical racing bike. With less wind resistance,
friction, and rolling resistance there’s less
effort.
Recumbent Safety?
Again, the lowered design offers advantages. Most
obvious is that you can easily place both feet down to
the ground! Recumbents tend to stop faster and smoother
than typical designs. Their enhanced handling and
cornering provide superior accident avoidance
capability. In an unavoidable accident situation,
rather than taking a long head-first spill over the
handlebars as with a conventional bike, a recumbent
rider can simply roll over sideways and can better
avoid head and shoulder injuries.
Recumbent Serviceability?
Although the overall designs of our bicycles are
exotic, their components are not. In fact the chain,
brakes, grips, shifters, pedals, wheels, tires, and
other components are the same as those found on other
elite road or mountain bikes. This means that your
recumbent can be serviced at any of thousands of bike
shops throughout the world.
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How’s Visibility on a Recumbent?
Visibility in traffic is a concern for any cyclist.
Many recumbent riders indicate that they are generally
better seen than other bikes because they are noticed
more. Furthermore, the "head-up" position
lends itself to making better eye contact with
motorists. Nonetheless, use of safety reflectors,
markers and flags is recommended for riding in traffic.
Helmets are a must for any bike rider!
Do recumbents climb hills well?
In fact, recumbents do climb well provided they
are geared to do so (as with any other bike). Despite
the fact that you cannot stand on the pedals, you can
leverage power against the seat. Different muscle
groups are employed, and a short period of adaptation
to recumbent climbing should be expected. Shorter
wheelbase versions tend to do better at climbing than
longer models. Cornering and overall control is
enhanced by the recumbent's lowered center of
gravity. Many riders report feeling that the bike seems
to be "running on rails."
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