Recumbent bikes might look goofy, but they sure do fill a niche in the market. Sometime in early 1982, three of us were on a tour of New England. Headed up the Kancamangus westbound one morning, we caught and passed an older fellow on a recumbent, complete with whippy flag, Samsonite suitcase on the rack, dressed in an oxford shirt and khaki slacks. It’s about a 2000 (I think) foot climb, then down again over about 30 miles. In Lincoln NH on the western end of the pass we found a laundromat, so stopped for lunch while we washed our clothes. Around the last spin cycle (but before the dryer) this fellow came pedaling past, and we flagged him down for a conversation. It turned out he was on his way from the coast to Burlington Vermont to see his son graduate from law school. He expected to be there (100 miles farther) before dark that day. I was in my late 20’s at the time, as were my companions, and we were pretty happy with ourselves, having just done a 2000 (?) foot climb in the morning, thinking we would maybe ride another 50, before stopping to camp. There is no doubt this guy was pretty fit, but as he told us, that easy chair on wheels sure made it easy to keep going.
The image of the recumbent with the full fairing is wrong. With the window up front, the height of the recumbent would be the head height of somebody riding a long wheel base recumbent. If you keep the height of the last recumbent in the cartoon, there would have been a bubble sticking up near the tail and that is where the window would be.
I have a recumbent AND I work at a VR company.
(I also have a Brompton)
I was hoping we’d get past this dissing other riders choices thing.
Anyone liking something other than what I like somehow diminishes my false joy in my material possessions…or something like that….
Joe, the character, mock recumbants, not the author…
My guess is that, for better or worse, recumbents will always be considered fair game for ridicule both by this comic and by cyclists everywhere.
Do not diss the recumbent. It is evolution.
http://john-s-allen.com/humor/images/Evolution3.gif
-“BB”-
Recumbent bikes might look goofy, but they sure do fill a niche in the market. Sometime in early 1982, three of us were on a tour of New England. Headed up the Kancamangus westbound one morning, we caught and passed an older fellow on a recumbent, complete with whippy flag, Samsonite suitcase on the rack, dressed in an oxford shirt and khaki slacks. It’s about a 2000 (I think) foot climb, then down again over about 30 miles. In Lincoln NH on the western end of the pass we found a laundromat, so stopped for lunch while we washed our clothes. Around the last spin cycle (but before the dryer) this fellow came pedaling past, and we flagged him down for a conversation. It turned out he was on his way from the coast to Burlington Vermont to see his son graduate from law school. He expected to be there (100 miles farther) before dark that day. I was in my late 20’s at the time, as were my companions, and we were pretty happy with ourselves, having just done a 2000 (?) foot climb in the morning, thinking we would maybe ride another 50, before stopping to camp. There is no doubt this guy was pretty fit, but as he told us, that easy chair on wheels sure made it easy to keep going.
The image of the recumbent with the full fairing is wrong. With the window up front, the height of the recumbent would be the head height of somebody riding a long wheel base recumbent. If you keep the height of the last recumbent in the cartoon, there would have been a bubble sticking up near the tail and that is where the window would be.