Everyone knows the first and second best reasons to ride a bent or trike, is comfort and view. IMO the third best reason is you dont have to wear an expensive kit to protect you from you bike. With bents or trikes you can wear almost anything. I for instance wear rugby shorts that are really short sweat pants. On sale they are $15. And---------------my summer attire is a T-shirt and these rugby shorts. So to take off and ride, all I need to do is put on my bike shoes and ride off.
Location: Northern Florida, USA
You do not have to wear special clothing to ride a road bike either. Kits that many "sport" cyclists wear are just emulating what the pros wear. It is often just an ego thing. The majority of recreational cyclists do not need to wear skin tight clothing. I regularly wear button-up cotton "dress" shirts and T-shirts for comfort and cooling. I am still riding 25+ miles at speeds averaging over 17mph, but aerodymanics are not a concern for me; there is no medals being given at the end of my ride so why wear competition kits. I started serious cycling wearing sweat pants, gym shorts, and t-shirts. I do not wear padded shorts nor chamois lined shorts. I do wear normal briefs (essentially cotton bike shorts) under my bike shorts which apparently is a no no, but I suffer no ill effects. I even ride in jeans occassionally with the drive side leg wrapped for safety. My prime wear are cycling tights or knee length cotton shorts, and long sleeve cotton shirts to avoid sun exposure; the tights also avoid chain interference in an open drivetrain without guards. I feel like fool wearing wearing a racing kit just to ride 10 miles; but high end bike shops think you are somewhat of a bum if you do not dress the part like the pros and have treated me like I do not know anything even though I have decades more knowledge and experience than their staff combined. I look at people on the 70s age F-book cycling group and they are almost always covered in lycra. I guess when buying their $2k-$3k carbon fiber bikes they also got sold on the idea of needing to wear a specialized cycling kit costing hundreds of $. There are padded bike shorts made for touring that are quite suitable for hiking also. I find it interesting that most commuters do not wear cycling clothing regardless of the bike they ride. I still see plenty of folks riding recumbents (2 and 3 wheel) wearing cycling kits. To each his, her, or their own. Its all about one's personal preference and I don't care what folks wear as long as it makes them happy wearing it.
Edit: I think semi and full recumbents are great, but regarding the view you may have a better view of the ground, but you are often blocked by obstacles (fences, rails, walls, hedges, etc.) due to lower head level that on a road bike I am more often able to readily see over (plus I can easily stand on the pedals to gain more height which I have never seen anyone do on a recumbent if it is indeed even possible to do). My view is only inhibited when riding a lo-pro bike due to extreme body angle, but riding my standard road frames does not affect my view whether in the drops or not.
Regarding comfort; that is a personal preference. If someone is uncomfortable on a bike then either their body cannot adapt to the style of bike (due to anatomy, injury, and/or age), or the bike and/or set-up was not correct. I will ride an upright bike until it is uncomfortable because I like the design and handling. If I doubt the majority of recumbent designs can corner ad fast while handling as well as my road bike. Even my old 3 speed roadsters take corners fairly well at speed.
I am ReapThaWimpWind and I view the world from a plexiglass window in my lower abdomen because my head is a sigmoidoscope always shoved up my....
Location: Northern Florida, USA
(09-24-2024, 09:57 AM)rydabent Wrote: Comfort? On my Trike my weight is spread across a measured 280 square inches. On a DF bike it is at best maybe 15 square inches. No amount of "bike fitting" is going to overcome that fact.
No one is trying to overcome any mathematical fact, but that does not mean the everyone will be comfortable just because of a larger surface area. It winds up being an issue of one's unique physiology and anatomy, and riding preference aside from injuries and/or age in general. How come I can sit on a bike saddle for hours and be more comfortable than I am sitting in a car seat (which has ample padding and surface area support) for less than an hour. I just happen to be uncomfortable in a recumbent position over my standard saddle.
As I stated, comfort is a personal thing. That is why I will not fit riders anymore. There are thousands of saddle and bike/trike types trying to cover millions of body types. I am certain that there are some recumbent seating designs that are more or less comfortable than others to those who prefer that style of bike/trike transportation; but it only means it is more comfotable to that specific individual and not the whole of the biking population. I doubt that there is a comfortable recumbent made that I could ride for hours that would climb steep hills (lowest gear F39 x R24), descend and corner at 40 to 50 mph, and perform on pavement, gravel, grass, and single track that I comfortably did on my road bike (and also comfortably put in the cab of my vehicle when needed to). If someone has a comfort issue it may not be equipment related at all; it could be the correct equipment but improperly adjusted, and/or an ill fit (right bike/trike but wrong size) regardless of upright or recumbent design. If it were easy to make a bike comfortable than why are there so many means to adjust and/or select custom parts to fit one's individual needs regarding comfort regardless of the bike/trike type being used.
I am ReapThaWimpWind and I view the world from a plexiglass window in my lower abdomen because my head is a sigmoidoscope always shoved up my....
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