bike - Recumbent bicycle
Photograph by f650bikeron Flickr.
These typically have two 20 wheels or a bike 26 wheel at the rear and 20 wheel at the front. Chopper-style bars are sometimes seen on LWB bikes.
These have the same comfort advantages as road-going recumbents. Another cyclist, Paul Morand, won the Paris-Limoges race bike Bicycle racing in 1933 on one of Mochet s recumbents. On 7 July 1933, at a Paris velodrome, Faure rode a Velocar 45.055 km (27.9 miles) in one hour, beating an almost 20-year-old hour record held by Oscar Egg, which attracted a great deal of attention.
Georgiev s Varna bikes have been well represented over the years (see also Records below) and in 1995 Jacob Heilveil achieved 52.47 km/h (32.60 mph) in the flying 200 m. Handcycles have also been used for touring, though few designers incorporate mudguards or luggage racks. In addition to the much shorter chain, the advantages to PBFWD are use of a larger front wheel for lower rolling resistance without heel strike (you can pedal while turning) and use of the upper body when sprinting or climbing.
On a traditional upright bicycle, the body weight rests on a few square inches of the sit bones, the feet, and the hands. Most recumbent models also have an aerodynamic advantage; the reclined, legs-forward position of the rider’s body presents a smaller frontal profile. A recumbent holds the world speed record for a bicycle, and they were banned from international racing in 1934. Recumbents are available in a wide range of configurations, including: long to short wheelbase; large, small, or a mix of wheel sizes; overseat, underseat, or no-hands steering; and rear wheel or front wheel drive.
Like a regular stationary exercise bike, these stay in one place and the user pedals against some kind of resistance mechanism such as a fan or alternator but in a recumbent position. Also, the gear ratios of standard handcycles tend to be less useful for long steep climbs. Recumbent cycles offer the possibility of combined hand and foot power inputs, and thus the potential for a full-body workout, and the option for persons with a weak or missing leg(s) to power a cycle.
PBFWD bikes may have dual 26-inch (660 mm) wheels or larger. Steering for recumbent bikes can be generally categorized as OSS/ASS is generally direct—the steerer acts on the front fork like a standard bicycle handlebar—but the bars themselves may extend well behind the front wheel (more like a tiller); alternatively the bars might have long rearward extensions (sometimes known as Superman or Kingcycle bars). Hard-shell seats predominate in Europe, mesh seats in the USA. With the right equipment and design, recumbent bikes can be used for riding unpaved roads and offroad, just as with conventional mountain bikes.
The seat is positioned between the wheels rather than above them. This mainly affects off-road riders, and can be ameliorated by shifting the weight forward, applying steady pressure to the pedals, and using tires with more aggressive tread.
Kyle and his students had been experimenting with fairings for upright bicycles, also banned by the UCI, leading in 1974 to the International Human Power speed Championship, from which the IHPVA grew. In 1978, the Vélérique is the very first commercialized recumbent bicycle (fully faired), by the Belgian Erik Abergen. The Avatar 2000, an LWB bike very much like the current Easy Racers products, arrived in 1979, and is often considered A parallel but somewhat separate scene grew up in Europe, with the first European human power championships being held in 1983. They usually follow a delta design with front wheels driven by standard dérailleur gearing powered by hand cranks.
Stein has launched a range of budget recumbent trikes made in Eastern Europe, the KMX Kart stunt trike, and others. Delta trikes also offer the possibility of expanded cargo capacity; the Lightfoot Cycles line includes several delta recumbent trike models which provide cargo capacity from 6,000 cubic inches (100 L, for errands or touring) to as much as 35,000 cubic inches (575 L, for cargo delivery). The popularity of trikes has grown significantly over the years as aging baby boomers discover the benefit of continued riding without the issues of balance and pain mostly associated with traditional upright bikes. In order to accommodate paraplegics, quadriplegics, and other individuals with little or no use of their legs, many manufacturers have designed and released hand-powered recumbent trikes, or handcycles. Although sold as an electric car , the C5 could be characterised as a recumbent tricycle with electrical assistance. A study by Bussolari and Nadel (1989) led them to pick a recumbent riding position for the Daedalus flight even though the English Channel crossing was accomplished in the Gossamer Albatross with an upright position.
The entire crank assembly and the front wheel turn together, allowing the rider to steer and crank simultaneously. Although arms are less strong than legs, many hand cyclists are able to make use of the power of the whole upper body. In one recumbent tricycle design the user makes the two front wheels change direction by shifting his center of weight, and moves forward by rotating the rear wheel. As with upright bikes, there is a subculture of recumbent builders who design and build home-built recumbents.Often these are assembled of parts from other bikes, particularly mountain bikes.
Although recumbent designs continued to crop up over the years they were mainly the work of lone enthusiasts and numbers remained insignificant until the 1970s. While developments had been made in this fallow period by Paul Rinkowski and others, the fathers of the modern recumbent movement are usually said to be Chester Kyle and particularly David Gordon Wilson of MIT, two engineers working in the USA. The maturation of fully-suspended conventional mountain bikes has aided the development of these designs, which often utilize many of the same parts, suitably modified for recumbent use. Some riders fit their bikes with aerodynamic devices called fairings.
Lightfoot Cycles offers this hand-and-foot option on many of their recumbent trike models. The European scene was more dominated by competition than was the US, with the result that European bikes are more likely to be low SWB machines, while LWB are much more popular in the US (although there have been some notable European LWB bikes, such as the Peer Gynt). In 1984, Linear Recumbents of Iowa began producing bicycles.
A couple were patented around 1900 but the early designs were unsuccessful. Recumbent designs of both prone and supine varieties can be traced back to the earliest days of the bicycle. As the market expands, costs continue to drop.
Patent applications for a number of recumbent designs exist in the late years of the 19th century, and there were discussions in the cycling press of the relative merits of different layouts. Another advantage of both wheels being the same size is that the bike requires only one size of inner tube. The most common arrangement is probably an ISO 559 rear wheel and an ISO 406 (20-inch) front wheel.
A recumbent bicycle is a bicycle that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position. The front wheel is commonly smaller than the rear, although a number of recumbents feature dual 26-inch (ISO 559), ISO 571 (650c), or ISO 622 (700c) wheels.
Mochet then experimented with a three-wheel design and finally settled on a two-wheel design. To demonstrate the speed of his recumbent bicycle, Mochet convinced cyclist Francis Faure, a Category 2 racer, to ride it in races. Most recumbent riders choose this type of design for ergonomic reasons; the rider’s weight is distributed comfortably over several square feet of the back and buttocks.
Stationary recumbents almost always have a fairly upright seat and the pedal crank is lower than the level of the seat. After adaptation, a PBFWD recumbent can be ridden in as straight a line as any other bike, and can even be steered accurately with the feet only.
Trikes come in two varieties, the delta, with two rear wheels, and the tadpole, with two front wheels. Three remarkable characteristics of recumbent trikes include: (1) the rider does not need to disengage from the pedals when stopped; (2) the trike can be geared very low to enable mountain climbing while heavily loaded and at a slow speed, without losing stability; and (3) trikes are capable of turning sharply without leaning, producing lateral g forces similar to sports cars. The new definition effectively banned recumbents from UCI events for a combination of tradition, safety, and economic reasons. After the decision, Faure continued to race, and consistently beat upright bicycles with the Velocar.
Crank-forward designs that facilitate climbing out of the saddle, such as the RANS Dynamik, also can be used off-road. Lowracers are a type of recumbent more common in Europe among racing enthusiasts. Less than two months later, on 29 August 1933, Maurice Richard, riding an upright bicycle, also bettered Egg s one-hour record. When the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) met in February, 1934, manufacturers of upright bicycles lobbied to have Faure s one-hour record declared invalid.
These generally are intended for casual use and have comfort and ease of use as primary objectives, with aerodynamics sacrificed for this purpose. Just as with upright bicycles, recumbents are built and marketed with more than one seat, thus combining the advantages of recumbents with those of tandem bicycles. Notable among these are highracers , such as the Bacchetta Corsa and Strada or Volae Team, or the LWB-style RANS Stratus XP.
(For example, balance is not an issue on tricycles.) Advocates cite a number of advantages over traditional upright bicycles. Critics of the recumbent design counter the claimed advantages with a number of disadvantages: Recumbent bicycle designs date back to the middle of the 19th century. These have two main benefits: they reduce wind-drag (typically increasing average speeds by around 2mph), and they keep the rider warmer and drier in cold and wet weather.
Coil, elastomer, and air-sprung suspension systems have all been utilized on recumbent bikes, using oil or air-damping in forks and rear shock absorbers. The equivalent record for an upright bicycle is 49.700 km (30.882 miles), set by Ondřej Sosenka in 2005.
The small front wheel and large rear wheel combination is used to keep the pedals and front wheel clear of each other, avoiding the problem called heel strike (where the rider s heels catch the wheel in tight turns). Highracer aficionados also claim that they are more stable, and although bicycle stability increases with the height of the center of gravity above the ground, the wide variety of recumbent designs makes such generalizations unreliable.
The extreme reclined position, and the fact that the rider is sitting in line with the wheels rather than atop them, makes this type the most aerodynamic of unfaired recumbents. Highracers are distinguished by using two large wheels (usually two ISO 559 or 26 ). Large-diameter wheels, mountain gearing and off-road specific design have been used since 1999 on the Lightfoot Ranger.
Racer in the name implies that this will often be the case, since these bikes strive for speed. Highracers are generally more maneuverable than lowracers since their higher center of gravity allows stability at lower speeds (see Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics). USS is usually indirect—the bars link to the headset through a system of rods and bell cranks.
On 1 April 1934, the UCI published a new definition of a racing bicycle that specified how high the bottom bracket could be above the ground, how far it could be in front of the seat and how close it could be to the front wheel. In 2002, Linear Manufacturing s assets were bought by Bicycle Man LLC and moved to New York.
Velocars sold well to French buyers who could not afford a motor car, possibly because of a poor economy during the Great Depression. However, the injuries are very rare and seldom serious. Bicycles that use positions intermediate between a conventional upright and a recumbent are called semi-recumbent or crank forward designs.
A variant with three wheels is a recumbent tricycle. Recumbents can be categorized by their wheelbase, wheel sizes, steering system, faired or unfaired, and front-wheel or rear-wheel drive. Long wheelbase (LWB) models have the pedals located between the front and rear wheels; short wheelbase (SWB) models have the pedals in front of the front wheel; compact long wheelbase (CLWB) models have the pedals either very close to the front wheel or above it. Recumbent trikes may also be more suitable for people with balance or limb disabilities. The Windcheetah, designed by Mike Burrows and one of the first commercial tadpole designs, is often credited with kicking off the recumbent tadpole tricycle boom. At present, the tadpole trike market is represented by companies such as Catrike, TerraTrike, Inspired Cycle Engineering (ICE), Greenspeed and HP Velotechnik, with touring being a strong market but sporting use also being common.
Examples of PBFWD recumbents include Cruzbike, Flevo Bike, and Python Lowracer. Modern recumbent bikes are increasingly being fitted with front and rear suspension systems for increased comfort and traction on rough surfaces. Drela in 1998 confirmed that there was no significant difference in power output between recumbent and conventional bicycling. A number of recumbent manufacturers went out of business after the 1990s, including BikeE (August 2002) and Vision. Over distances recumbent bicycles outperform upright bicycles as evidenced by their dominance in ultra-distance events like 24 hours at Sebring.
These are often found in gyms but are also available for home use. Since recumbents vary widely, the advantages and disadvantages listed below may apply to different types to different degrees or not at all.
On 5 March 1938, Faure rode a faired Velocar 50.537 kilometers in an hour and became the first cyclist to travel more than 50 kilometers in an hour without the aid of a pace vehicle. The UCI ban on recumbent bicycles and other aerodynamic improvements virtually stopped development of recumbents for four decades. Beginner riders tend to swerve along a serpentine path until they adapt a balanced pedal motion.
In 1938, Faure and Mochet s son, Georges, began adding fairings to the Velocar in hopes of bettering the world record of one hour for a bicycle with aerodynamic components. Brake levers are usually mounted on the hand holds, which are usually set with no offset rather than the 180° of pedal cranks.
In order to keep the wheelbase from being any longer than absolutely necessary, tandem recumbents often place the stoker s crankset under the captain s seat. Recumbent tricycles (trikes) are closely related to recumbent bicycles, but have three wheels instead of two. The Challand designs of 1897 and the American Brown of 1901 are both recognisable as forerunners of today s recumbents. A four-wheeled pedal-propelled car called the Velocar (or Vélo couché ) was built in the early 1930s by French inventor and light car builder Charles Mochet.
The four-wheeled Velocars were fast but didn t corner well at high speed. Center steered or pivot steered recumbents, such as Flevobikes and Pythons, may have no handlebars at all. As with upright bicycles, most recumbents are rear wheel drive.
Boardman s Monocoque bike was designed by Mike Burrows, whose Windcheetah recumbent trike (see above) also holds the record from Land s End to John o Groats, 861 miles (1,386 km) in 41 h 4 min 22 s with Andy Wilkinson riding. In 2003, Rob English took on and beat the UK 4-man pursuit champions VC St Raphael in a 4000 m challenge race at Reading, beating them by a margin of 4 min 55.5 s to 5 min 6.87 s - and dropping one of the St Raphael riders along the way. In 2009 Team RANS won the Race Across America (RAAM) on recumbents. As well as road-going recumbent bicycles with wheels, stationary versions also exist. Another disadvantage of PBFWD for some riders is a slightly longer learning curve due to adaptation to the pedal-steer effect (forces applied to the pedal can actually steer the bike).
This necessitates a higher bottom bracket than on a lowracer so that the rider s legs are above the front wheel, and this in turn requires a higher seat. This year also saw what is considered the first genuine recumbent, the Fautenil VĂ©lociped.
Since then owner Peter Stull has been working with senior engineering students at Alfred University, local engineers and machinists utilizing available technology including computer FEA testing to improve their recumbent bikes. In the UK in the 1980s, the most publicised recumbent cycle in the UK was the delta configuration, sometime electrically powered Sinclair C5. For many builders, the engineering and construction of the bikes is as much of a challenge as riding them. It is possible to add couplers either during manufacturing or as a retrofit so that the frame can be disassembled into smaller pieces to facilitate packing and travel. The striking difference in appearance between recumbents and upright bikes begs comparison.
The UCI no longer considers the bike Chris Boardman rode for his 1996 record to be in compliance with its definition of an upright bicycle. The official record for an upright bicycle under IHPVA-legal conditions (but at sea level, not high altitude) is 82.53 km/h (51.29 mph) set by Jim Glover in 1986 with an English-made Moulton bicycle with a USA-made hardshell fairing around him and the bike. The IHPVA hour record is 87.123 km (54.136 miles), set by Damjan Zabovnik on July 12, 2008.
The main disadvantage to all FWD designs is wheelspin when climbing steep hills covered with loose gravel, wet grass, etc. Before the shape of the bicycle settled down following Starley s safety bicycle, there was a good deal of experimentation with various arrangements, and this included designs which might be considered recumbent.
A pivoting-boom front-wheel drive (PBFWD) configuration also overcomes heel strike since the pedals and front wheel turn together. Fairings are also available for upright bikes, but are much less common. The seats themselves are either of mesh stretched tightly over a frame (as in the Gold Rush pictured) or foam cushions over hard shells like the Stinger pictured, which might be moulded (as here) or assembled from sheet materials.
Faure was highly successful, defeating many of Europe s top cyclists both on the track and in road races, and setting new world records at short distances. A good hand cyclist can still achieve a respectable pace in competitions.
Most tadpole trikes are USS. Although these dated back to the 1860s the first recorded illustration of a recumbent considered as a separate class of bicycle is considered to be in the magazine Fliegende Blätter of September 10 1893.
The frame designs may be as simple as a long steel tube bent into the appropriate shape to as elaborate as hand-built carbon fiber frames. Larger wheels generally have lower rolling resistance but a higher profile leading to higher air resistance.
The seat is normally adjustable and is adjusted by sliding it along a rail. . Given the same seating position they may be faster than lowracers, since it is widely believed that larger tires have lower rolling resistance, although good data on this subject are scarce. Hip and elbow injuries are more common on highracers than on lowracers due to the greater height from which the rider can fall.
Because of their longer wheelbase and the manner in which the rider is confined to the seat, recumbents are not as easy to use on tight, curving unpaved singletrack. The seating position may be otherwise identical to that on a lowracer allowing similar aerodynamics.
However, due to the proximity of the crank to the front wheel, front wheel drive (FWD) can be an option, and it allows for a much shorter chain. ICE has produced a sub-20 lb trike - all the more remarkable for being steel framed and fitted with a hard-shell seat, full mudguards, and luggage rack.
Within these categories are variations, intermediate types, and even convertible designs (LWB to CLWB) - there is no standard recumbent. The rear wheel of a recumbent is usually behind the rider and may be any size, from around 16 inches (410 mm) to the 700c of an upright racing cycle.
