How to Buy a Recumbent Bike for Touring You want choices? Boy, do we have choices! Imagine sitting back in your most comfortable chair as the mountains and rivers glide by. While your legs move at the effort level of a brisk walk, every muscle above your hips is relaxed, your fingertips occa- sionally flexing to make a steering correction. At the end of the day, you experience almost none of the stiffness and soreness that “regular” cycle- tourists suffer. This is why recumbent cycle tourists are fiercely loyal to their bikes. “I enjoy being comfortable. I enjoy being able to see and experience By John Schubert things,” said Hans van Naerssen, a Philadelphia-area management consult- ant. “Touring means just enjoying getting there, in addition to being there. For me, the real defining quality of a recumbent bike can be the comfort. On a normal bicycle, you’re trying to convince yourself that all those hurts don’t exist.” Van Naerssen is an Adventure Cycling Association member, a veteran of numerous long tours over many decades, and owner of single and tandem recumbents since 1996. “I can ride and see a hawk, because I naturally look up and out. I see the clouds,” van Naerssen said. “I see around the corner. I can feel the wind, because I’m sort of upright. That’s part of this experience of getting places and enjoying the moment. “At the end of the day, even with lots of hills, I’m not sore. I’m able to enjoy the moment. That, to me, is the redeeming feature of a recumbent. It’s so much more comfortable.” Recumbent touring is a fabulous way to see the scenery. You will see more of it than on an upright bike, because your head is naturally in a more upright position. The days are less stressful because fewer body muscles are GREG SIPLE GREG The Bike E The Bike Friday Sat R Day 16-inch frame on this pop- inches, and in one extreme case overlap, and a quick visit to your local store wheels help this model fit in a suitcase. Hey, is that enough choice ular model is made (the RANS Stratus XL), 71 is likely to find bikes that contradict these for you? of aluminum. inches. Insiders refer to long- general numbers, or simply fall outside of So far, only two major con- wheelbase recumbents as these categories altogether. That’s the ventional bike companies have “LWB.” Unless, of course, you nature of recumbents. dipped their toes in the recum- use small wheel size to allow And, if you want to have your cake bent market. Trek did, with a rea- you to reduce the wheelbase to and eat it too, recumbents from Burley and sonable-but-not-fantastic design, 50 inches, in which case you Vision can be switched from long wheel- and discontinued it after two have a compact long wheel- base to short wheelbase. years, amid trade press reports base, or “CLWB.” Another choice is where to put the that many in the company didn’t Or you can put the front handlebars. Most recumbents you see have support a recumbent. More wheel behind the pedals, giving handlebars in front of the rider, but a recently, Cannondale has a you a short wheelbase of charming minority have handlebars below option, a large spandex thing you use to Tandem Rider Magazine. These magazines recumbent with many promising design tensed all day long. And you have a guar- around 40 inches, and sometimes less. the seat. (“ASS” (above-seat steering) and increase aerodynamics even more. are absolutely stunning in the amount of features. But other than those two, this is a anteed conversation starter whenever you These bikes are much more maneuverable. “BSS” (below-seat steering), respectively) Recumbent frames can be welded information they present in each issue, by business of little companies. hop into a small cafe. Whether they’re sufficiently stable is a Your wheel diameter can be 16 inch- from steel or aluminum (the conventional the way. I don’t know how many recumbent All that said, picking a bike for recum- matter of personal preference. Say “SWB.” es. Or 26 inches. Or anything in between. way of making a bike), extruded from alu- Different recumbents have different companies there are, and some of the bent touring offers you far more choices Or you can put the front wheel direct- Most recumbents can accommodate minum (as is the enormously successful seats. I’ve sat on dozens of recumbent smaller boutique companies straddle the and significant decisions than picking an ly underneath the ped- Bike E), or, for the well heeled, made from seats, and never found one I didn’t like, but line between hobby and business. Even upright bike. Upright bikes have become als. You then either raise Cannondale The only mainstream manufacturer carbon fiber (the 19-pound dual-suspen- that doesn’t stop the manufacturers from though you’ll be buying your recumbent so standardized that you find yourself dis- the pedal spindle to keep of recumbents. sion Lightning R-84) or Titanium (Easy trying to build even more comfort into from a small firm, many of these compa- cussing the virtues of millimeter-small the pedals clear of the Racers’s TI-Rush). their seats, and designs and features vary nies have proven their staying power and changes, but recumbents have dimensions wheel in sharp turns, or There are recumbent tandems from substantially among the brands. their ability to service a national distribu- that vary by feet. you instruct the rider to makers too numerous to mention; fold- And, for those of you who want to tion chain and customer base. In the brand Moreover, these big choices show no manage this occasional into-a-suitcase recumbents from Bike ride Adventure Cycling’s rugged Great names mentioned in this article, I’ve made sign of becoming standardized. The choic- interference by thinking Friday and Lightning; three-wheel recum- Divide route on a recumbent, the Lightfoot no attempt to mention every worthwhile es have been with us for 20 years now, and ahead (not unlike riding bent trikes from a growing legion of manu- Cycles Ranger is a LWB recumbent company, or every company above a cer- no one choice has proven superior in all an upright bike with toe facturers; and the unique Bilenky View- mountain bike specifically designed to be tain size. circumstances. Each choice is the right clips that overlap the point tandem, in which the captain rides in good enough over uneven surfaces to do Let’s return to the choices. What choice for some riders. So don’t think you front wheel). These back, in an upright position, while the loaded touring on the Great Divide route choices should you make? can wait until next year to see what the bikes can have good stoker rides in front in recumbent position. and similar trails. “There is no right recumbent for marketplace decides. weight distribution and If you need a magazine as your recum- On a more prosaic level, recumbents touring. There is a right recumbent for you The first choice is wheelbase. maneuverability, with bent accessory, the Easy Riders also vary in those minor details that for touring,” said Rick Comar, director of Recumbents can put the front wheel way more stability than pure Recumbent Club chronicles the traveling upright bike riders obsess over: gearing, marketing for Vision Recumbents. Comar out in front of the pedals, resulting in a SWB bikes. “MWB” joys and competitive successes of Easy tire width, number of water bottle bosses, has done 500-plus miles of touring in the steady ride, excellent comfort and lots of recumbents, as these are known, have an aftermarket fairing, the better to make Racers over their 20-plus years. For press and so on. Recumbents vary substantially Washington State mountains, and he places to put panniers and other bags. wheelbases in the 40-to-50-inch range. you aerodynamic and protect you from coverage of all the brands, there’s in the choices they offer for mounting pan- favors his company’s short wheelbase These wheelbases are commonly over 60 You’ll note that these dimensions weather. Some have a “body stocking” Recumbent Cyclist News and Recumbent & niers and other accessories. Model 44. Vision Vice President Grant 16 ADVENTURE CYCLIST APRIL 2002 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST JULY 2002 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 17 Greenspeed Trike The big advantage Bower favors the long wheelbase, full sus- Fender Stratocaster of touring recumbents, ▼ Where to put the handlebars? Most here is stability, says the manufacturer. Who you gonna call? pension Model 54 for his 15,000 miles of it’s the long-wheelbase Easy Racers Tour customers vote for “up where you can see BIKES/FAIRINGS touring. Easy. That bike’s wheelbase has its roots in them,” but think twice before blindly ■ BikeE, 5125 SW Hout Street, Corvallis, OR So with Comar’s apt disclaimer in the cut-up tandem that was designer accepting this advice. I’m partial to below- 97333; (541) 753-9747; www.bikee.com front of us, and knowing that every view- Gardner Martin’s first prototype, back in seat steering (whoops, BSS), which allows ■ Bike Friday, 3364 W 11th Ave, Eugene, OR point can be argued without malice, let’s the 1970s. both arms to be completely relaxed. As you 97402; (800) 777-0258; www.greengear.com explore conventional wisdom: The conventional wisdom is that long cruise down the road, steering and balanc- ▼ ■ Bilenky Cycle Works, Ltd., 5319 N. Second Wheel size: Most recumbents have wheelbases mean secure, sedate handling.