How did you come to be interested in Recumbents?

How I learned to give up DF's

Well my story is a bit short but sweet. My husband already had a recumbent that he had gotten from his friend and I thought it was silly. I went riding with him and some friends one day on my DF mountain bike. I rode 20 miles and realized that my butt, back, arms and neck were in excrutiating pain. I couldn't go much longer. When arriving back at home, I literally threw my bike down in the gravel driveway and informed me that if bents were that comfortable, he had better make me one because I was never getting on a DF again. So we set out to do just that. So over a years time of welding and me saving to purchase components...we finally had my bike built. I have enjoyed every minute of riding and see no more DF in my future. Oh well such is the life.

HB Buzz'n By...

 

All of my like I have ridden Df's. Up till a few years back I never had any problem with them. But after a few accidents and getting a little older I started having problems. During my usual 15 mile weekend ride, I found that my arms would go numb after about 3o minutes of riding. Then I wrecked my Df and seperated my shoulder. Ever since then riding a Df causes me large amounts of pain. I also did more damage to my back in that wreck.

I started doing some research on the web about comfort bikes. I had always ridden a mountain bike. I soon discovered bents. After more research I found my Bike E on eBay. I decided to go for it without ever riding a bent.

I got my Bike E in the mail and assembled it. I didnt have any adjustment period and have never looked back. In the last three years my mountain bike just gathers dust. I hope to soon get a second bent with a suspension, I miss my off roading with my mountain bike.


Chuck

 

well i rode the same DF for 20 years and put more miles on it than carter had liver pills, finally my old rollie began to change geometry on every down hill due to micro fractures in the carbon steel Around this same time i had begun to go numb on the inside of my thighs and in my groin, things got worse till it would take three weeks to get feeling back after a long ride. umm i didn't like this; so i went out and looked around and figured if i had to actually buy another bike to last me twenty years it had better be comfortable and durable. so i found whizwheelz and spent several months poking around till i found the best bike for me. i have not looked back.

 

I was interested in HPV design in college. Those were basically trikes with full fairings. Did a lot of concept work, but never built one.

A few months out of college I saw a hypercycle and after talking to the bike shop owner, I desperately wanted one. Couldn't afford it then. Flash forward to a few years later when I talked to my biking partner, Rob Clayton, about the recumbents. He was interested and we resolved to make our own. Years later we got BenTech plans and welded up four frames. He completed the first one and I still didn't have a bike built up. He later sold his to me and I built my frame up for my wife (Honeybee on this board). Since then, we have built several different bikes. Rob and I have built (so far) 2 SWBs, one leaning trike, one lowracer, and one Rotator Tiger clone. We have also been assisting a Rocket Rider member (Peter Matos) in building two SWBs.
Other friends that I talked to have turned to recumbents (like Will Jorgensen).
I hope to have a tandem and Tadpole trike in my stable so that all of my family members can bike together.
In the meantime, we continue building bikes. I have just a couple more insane experiments to try out.
My friends and I, along with my wife, tour extensively and look forward to our multi-hundred mile tours every year, with the Trans-America being a goal for the next couple of years.

Bill

 

WEll, for me it was almost a no brainer, the doc said after a surgery no more bike riding. After many years and many miles on DF bikes, he did not want me in the hunched position when you go to the drops on a road bike. After pootering around a bit, I decided to try an EZ-1 SC. 2400 miles later, I upgraded to a Burley Sandpoint, which (sigh) was stolen. I now own a RANS tailwind, which I found on Craigslist for a whole 375 bucks!! Plus some skillful wrenching to make it rideable. I also really started pounding miles when I joined BikeJournal.com, which is a GREAT website.

Sincerely

Paul

 

Here is my story. I was a jogger from high school until I turned 50. At that time my father and father in law both had their knees replaced and I knew if I kept this up, it would happen to me and I didn't want surgery! I already had knee and lower back pain when I ran.

I picked up a book by Dr. Bob Arnett. He was the CBS fitness guru several years ago on TV. In his book he states that exercise is important to stay healthy. The reason most of us don't exercise is because we don't find any exercise that is FUN! So he stressed the importance of finding a sport that you enjoy and because you will be exercising and having fun at the same time, you will do it!

In his book he listed all the exercises he had tried himself and researched. There was walking, jogging, snow skiing, roller blading, basketball, along with other chapters. Cycling was one of them. What caught my interest was the quote he said (I am paraphrasing here) "If you talk to any serious cyclist, you will find they were probably once runners." That caught my attention since I was a jogger looking for a new sport.

I used to live in Indiana and would bicycle with my brothers and cousins. A long bike trip for us was 30 miles. Indianapolis is a perfect cycling area because it is FLAT! It made bicycle easy. When I moved to Tennessee I started riding my bicycle, but the hills killed me. Also I got run off the road twice within a month. So I put my DF away and it sat for 15 years.

After reading Dr. Bob's book, I got my DF out and started riding the Knoxville Greenway. I love the ride, got good cardio vascular exercise and NO knee or back pain. I then joined the Smoky Mountain Wheelmen. There I went on my first 26 mile ride. I enjoyed the ride, but my elbows, neck and butt really hurt. In fact they hurt so much, it took away the pleasure of the ride. I ended up grumpy.

Afterwards, I was riding my DF in Florida when I was passed by a guy on a Rans Tailwind. I started asking him lots of questions. He asked me if I would like to ride it. I said YES!!! I wobbled down the path and back but I knew this could be the ticket. I went to the Google God and searched for recumbent bicycles. I hit that link and the world of bents was opened up to my eyes. WOW! I thought I had found the solution to my new bicycle pain.

I researched recumbents for 6 months. I decided on a tadpole trike as my first bent. I like the stability (Some of those 2 wheeled bents looked scary to me. How does someone keep from falling off???) I then choose Wiz Wheelz as my trike because I thought they had the biggest bang for the buck. I was daunted about having to put the trike together myself, but I was up to the Challenge. For Christmas 2004 Santa brought me my new red Wiz Wheelz trike.

I have over 3,000 miles on that trike and we are still going strong. I rode 1,500 miles the first full year I owned it and 1,725 last year. I would have never believed in a million years I would ride that much. (On my DF I would be surprised if I ever rode more than 500 miles on it in a year.) And I had a blast riding every single mile!!! Dr. Bob was right, if you find an exercise you like, you will be healthier.

I now experience NO PAIN at all because of the recumbents superior body position. I was so excited about this I formed Rocket (Recumbents Of Chattanooga, Knoxville and East Tennessee) Riders. We are coming to be 3 years old and have over 100 members on our Yahoo site. This year we have opened up our group to a much larger region and call ourselves Recumbent Riders International. This website is the results of our core RR members desire to share with other cyclists the fun and fellowship we share as a group. The best benefit of recumbent riding is I have made many new friends!!!

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

 

I was dragged into recumbents and I did not come wanting to. In my 63rd year I lived out a cycling dream of cycling coast to to coast. 100 days on the road on a DF with only numb hands at the end of the day. No other discomfort. Within 4 days of completing the ride I could not straighten up and each day the condition worsened until I could not bend down to tie my shoes. After a couple of visits to physiotherapist I was informed I could never ride a DF again.
I started to investigate recumbents. Recumbent dealers in the Northwest are few. I drove 3 hours to Seattle and visted a recumbent bicycle store. My mind was pretty well set on a Tour Easy as one of the cyclist on the ride rode one. However I was talked into a Bacchetta. A great bicycle but I never got into the high BB so my riding was vey limited. The next year I found a used GRR and my cycling life has completely turned around. I have toured Quebec and I'll head out again this year. Probably tour the San Juans and back to Quebec. My knees love that lower BB. God bless you Easy Racer. In fact I was so impressed with the lower BB I have just purchased a used EZ Sport for my local rides on the dikes surrounding my local cycling area. It is currently in the LBS being fitted for fenders and a rack.
Please rain and snow go away. I want to ride
I'm bent forever, no back or neck pain, no numb hands. I wish I had moved over to bents earlier

 

Wow...couldn't straighten up or bend eh? That is incredible! I have never toured on a DF, always on a Bent. I am glad that you are ok and able to ride. Maybe someday you can head a little further south and come ride with us.

Welcome to the group/forum

HB Buzz'n By...

 

I've ridden upright bikes all my life, including a Peugeot touring bike and a Giant mountain bike. But I suffered a car accident back in the 70's (a drunk driver hit me from behind when I was stopped), which injured my lower back. Over time I developed some herniated disks, so I finally had to give up riding uprights.

Then I started hearing about recumbents, the perfect solution for a cyclist with a back problem. I test rode a few recumbents at bike shops in Little Rock and Tulsa.

Now I live in middle Tennessee. Someone put me in touch with Art Hagood, too, A.D. .I drove up Signal Mountain and met him, we rode a few of his bikes. I was "sold" on them, and started saving money to get one. A closeout sale at Silver Comet Trail Bike Shop in Georgia put a RANS Stratus XP into my range, so I bought it.

I love it. I have a good riding partner here, a veteran 'bent rider named Bob Hopkins. I now have about 250 miles on my Stratus, which I've done in about four months.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

 

Back in 1989 when I was an avid DF racer, I was involved in an on the job construction accident. I fell through a floor and landed on my neck and did unforeseen damage to the vertebra of my neck. I was in so much pain I could no longer ride my beloved DF. For 10 years I was going to many different doctors and taking many different tests, including CT scans and MRI scans. Nothing was found that could cause the intense pain. I continued to work even with this disability. I wanted to get back into cycling and I knew I couldn't in the condition I was in. While talking to one of the doctors, he recommended that I look into a recumbent bike. I never heard the word before, but I do remember seeing some. So my started that day, and as I was looking I was asking many, many questions to members of this forum and those of the members of the MARS forum. I noticed that most of the SWB recumbents were very expensive and I couldn't afford a very expensive bike. I then sold my DF to finance the bike. I was speaking on line to a member of MARS who said he was selling his Trek R-200 and if interested he would meet me somewhere between my home and his. I couldn't wait for that morning to come. The day came and I had my chance to ride my first recumbent, and I immediately fell in love. I had a little trouble riding it at first, but in a few laps around the parking lot I was doing very well. I handed my new friend the money and headed home. About a year later the pain in my neck became so severe I could not work. I went to a Neurosurgeon who took another MRI, and found that I had multiple levels of damaged discs which needed surgery. I was riding my recumbent in three months after the surgery. I rode the Trek for a few more years, then my neck started giving me more problems which affected my left arm, and again I was out of work. I returned to the Neurosurgeon surgeon and again took another MRI, which showed another damaged area. After that surgery the doctors told me that I should give up the SWB! I was told that a fall from the height of the Trek would cause severe damage. I then sold the Trek and bought the ActionBent Trike. And that is how it all started. Sorry for the long drawn out story.

 

Well, Joel, at least you kept at it! That's what I admire--you didn't give up.

 

Recumbent riding has changed my life, I also find that when I ride the pain is greatly reduced. I guess it is the endorphins.

 

The pleasure is mine.