Thursday, October 14, 2010

Why Ride Recumbent Cycles?

Riders who know what is ergonomic for their body ride a recumbent or a bent. It started in the 1890's. After decades out of the public view, recumbent bikes are back. This bicycle model is available at more bicycle stores. What was invented before has come back to bicycling.
One of the first bikes was called a bone shaker. It was made of wood and the rider stood straight up and walked with the bone shaker below them. There was no peddling system. About the same time a recumbent was designed. The rider road in a reclined angle. The peddling was the same as a tricycle with the front wheel connected to the peddles.
An average racing cyclist was beating conventional upright racers easily. The racing body outlawed recumbent racers from their racing events. During the 1930's two records were made these bikes. One world record of 28 miles per hour was made in 1933. In 1938, an unofficial record of 30 miles per hour lasted until 1984. That record was on a conventional racer with specially designed disks covering the wheels. Recumbent bikes went out of the public view and resurfaced decades later.
Engineers, looking for a bike design, found recumbent aerodynamics satisfied the speed required. They wanted to win a prize contest by E. I. Dupont. He want a two-wheel, single rider, man powered machine to obtain a speed above 65 miles per hour. The $15,000 prize was won in 1984. That brought recumbent bikes back to the public view.
From this contest, comfort was found besides faster speeds. The recumbent design has a rider sitting upright in a padded chair. They have comfortable buttocks. Regular clothes can be worn. The sitting position causes no road rash. The rider pushes against the seat back creating more pushing force on the peddles. The lower back is not stressed sitting straight up. A rider can see with a relaxed straight neck. This is same seated position as driving a car.
The hands have no pressure because they are not leaning on the handle bar. No cycling gloves are needed. Recumbent bikes do require one or both hands on the bar. Conventional bicycles can be ridden with no hands but not on a recumbent.
The bent frame design is lower to the ground. The eye level is the same as a car driver. The seat being over the rear wheel, helps it to stop faster. If a spill occurs, the feet absorbed most of the crash rather than the head. You get a better all around tan with this seated position.
You will find during and after riding, you have energy for more activity. It is possible to ride all day and still feel energetic because there is comfort riding a recumbent cycle. Many mile and hours can be comfortably ridden.

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