Reinventing the bicycle wheel

In my experience, recumbents are just as noticeable, if not more so. People may not know what it is, but they see it.

And awkward? No, it's like sitting in a big comfy chair. But so-called 'normal' bikes - all scrunched up and hunched over, looking at the ground, running into things headfirst - now, that's awkward.

 

We use two LED strobes on the back of our recumbent tandem, plus an orange dork flag. I worry about being seen on any bicycle, and sitting low doesn't help. Our area has twisty roads and tourist drivers.

Tom

 

Yeah, I thought my homebuilt Tour Easy was long. People have asked if it's a tandem (Uhhh...how many seats do you see? )


I suppose leaning a bit and then locking the rear wheel to slide it around might be a bit hard on the tire? (Not to mention the stoker's heart rate.)

 

I did that once in the main intersection of our village. There's a long downhill to a tee intersection. Due to the odd traffic system in our village, those turning right at the tee have right of way. We were turning, and I didn't want to give up all of that speed. I laid us out sideways in the middle of the intersection: don't think that my stoker (my wife) will *ever* let me forget that.

You mention dumb recumbent questions. Our tandem has under bar steering. I've had people ask me "Can you steer it?" Duh: "No, we just point it in the right direction and stop when we need to change the aim." Holy cow; what could they be thinking?

Tom

 

I mentioned your setup to my wife. She seemed, umm, unenthusiastic about the idea.

 

My wife would buy one in a heart beat, (MIT wheel, not the recumbent)