Recumbent Butt

First of all, I must tell you I am a loyal trike rider. I bought my Wiz Wheelz 3 years ago and have 3,500 miles on it and counting. I LOVE my trike. The learning curve is low, it is next to impossible to fall over, and it is just FUN to ride!!!

I bought HellBent (my V-Rex) at Christmas. I have had to do a lot of modifications to get it to work for me, but I am close to perfecting it.

I have been riding Hellbent, because I want to get all the bugs out of it by summer. I have had it to the shop twice now. Today was a BEAUTIFUL day. Hellbent was in the shop, so I took my trike out for a 15 mile ride.

Funny thing happened. The trike I love so dearly started giving me recumbent butt. : I have not had recumbent butt since I started riding my trike. I rode 250 in a week on the KATY trail and no recumbent butt. So you can appreciate when I rode my trike today and my butt hurt, I was really surprised!!! I couldn't figure out why I hurt. Then I realized I had been riding my V-Rex for the last two weeks and I got used to the RANS seat.

WOW! Can you imagine my confusion??? I must say though I thought you couldn't do better than my mess trike seat, the RANS seat maybe superior.

When you are a recumbent rider, a main reason for going "bent" is comfort. In the recumbent position, your neck, back, shoulders, wrists, and feet are comfy. Really the only pain you will feel is your butt or legs/knees (from working too hard.) So imagine my surprise when I had recumbent butt today!!!

So here is my question to you, by riding recumbent, what body parts are happy and what body parts are sad . And finally, what seat do you like the most??? Post your answers here! I am eager to see what others think.

 

Jon,

The Rans seat hasn't earned the reputation as the most comfortable 'bent seat for nothing. There are adapters to fit it to many different bikes including Easy Racers. That said the Rans seat can be more or less comfortable depending on the pad used and the recline angle. The more reclined the more comfortable, up to a point.

As for what's happy, everything. What's sad, my legs when they start cramping.

Mike

 

Yes, you've found the Holy Grail of recumbent seats in the RANS seat. Lotsa folks put a RANS seat on other bikes, and they're highly prized as marketable items on other boards. They do have their limitations though, and some folks get recumbent butt even on the RANS seat. They made some mods a couple years back to fix some of the problems people were having with the seat pan and the pad. But they're still regarded as the best out there.

Quite frankly, every trike I've ridden I've noticed the seat which didn't seem to fit me right. It's I think just the nature of the beast, with different manufacturers and different adjustability. Everyone has to tinker with their equipment some to personalize it, that's just a part of the game.

Regarding happy and sad body parts, another inherent issue with recumbents is numb toes/feet. Usually it's due a relatively high Bottom Bracket height vs. seat height, but some people get it and some don't. A contributing factor may just be the physiology of the individual rider. I've not had that problem on the V-Rex, but then it has a pretty moderate BB for a SWB recumbent. I've ridden some highracers before that I've felt would be a good candidate for numb toes. Art in Chattanooga (who loves high BBs) maintains it's a function of the tightness of shoes. May be a contributor, but folks who ride in sandals also have the problem. I think you either have it or you don't.

Also, I tend to get foot cramps more on my recumbents than on an upright, but I'm not sure that's directly related to the recumbent position so much as diet prior to the ride. It hasn't been a big issue.

Surprisingly, one thing I have noticed, and especially during/after an intense recumbent ride, is a bit of neck/shoulder soreness. If I'm riding hard, I tend to tense my neck and shoulder muscles, and have to remember to relax. It's hard to hammer without doing that. But it's still much less severe than the different kind of neck and shoulder issues I have when riding an upright!!

Don

 

I tend to tense my neck, too, Don.

Speaking of Art, he called me the other day...

...all the way from Australia. I had left a message on his answering machine in Chattanooga, somehow he retrieved it. He'll be back in a couple of weeks, he's visiting family over there. He says he can go anywhere in Canberra on his mountain bike over there.

When he gets back, I'm going to buy the special pedals from him. I know I'm wasting a lot of energy on my pedals, even though I have the ones with the strap across the top.

Cool runnings,
Larry

 

I want to add, after the Florida ride, Buddy and AD came up to meet me for the Tour de Georgia race. When I met them at the camp ground, AD was fast asleep in his hammock. He looked VERY COMFORTABLE in it.