BoiseRecumbent

Frequently Asked Questions

	What is a recumbent bicycle? A bicycle where you sit back in a full seat with your legs in a horizontal position. This puts the body in a position where there is less wind drag from the legs, but still maintains the optimal angle between back and legs as on a conventional bicycle, provides a more comfortable riding position with no weight on the wrists, and provides a natural view looking forward. Recumbent tricycles are more like a human powered Go-Kart. People that can not ride a traditional bicycle or a recumbent bicycle because of balance issues usually have no problem mastering our tricycles. So far, we have had children as young as 3 ½ and adults as old as 84 riding our trikes. You are never too old to ride a trike. One recumbent convert Says: "Bents don'™t get the visibility they deserve in bike mags but that is true about a lot of things. Problem is that a lot of time it is the new bent rider, riding with his old buddies that is trying to explain why he shifted. Because he is new, he can'™t really demonstrate the plus's to a bent except comfort. By the time he has ridden enough to really hammer, he has usually been riding alone for quite a while. I have only been riding a bent for a little over two months and just stating to get better but I usually ride alone. I did just ride in the A1A scenic ride in Florida this past Sunday. There was maybe a dozen bents there out of a couple hundred bikes I guess. I finished 64 miles in about 3hr 40min. for an average of 17+mph. I rode for a little while in a line but when they stopped at a rest area I kept going. I never felt the need to stop. The bike I rode was a Giro. This is a commuter bike set up for commuting. I have racks and a bag on it plus a fairly large MP3 player with speaker to listen to music. I have fat tires on it and brought along food, extra water, tools, etc . . . The rig in total probably weighed between 35 and 40lbs. I finished pretty respectively with people who had been riding a lot longer all on racing style bikes. I did not see any commuter/dirt rode bikes finishing with me or before me. There were however a fair number of very nice DF bikes who did finish before me or with me, and many more who finished after me. You might get the idea from that, that the DF was a better bike to ride unless you give me a chance to put it in perspective, and no one ever does. Here is the perspective I would have liked to pass along: - My bent was near twice as heavy as everyone else who finished with or before me. - I had been riding this bike for a little over 2 months. - I am almost 51 years old. - I didn'™t have to stop at any rest stop or anywhere else to œshake anything out. - Nothing hurt at all or was even uncomfortable when I stopped (and I mean nothing at all). - I did about 75% of the ride solo, no drafting. - My bike was a commuter, not a racing bike. I'™m not saying any of this to brag at all. I'™m just saying if you measure a bent against a similar DF and rider, I doubt there is much of a comparison. How many 50+ year olds do you see comfortably completing a 64 mile organized ride on a commuter style DF that weighs in at over 35lbs and average over 17mph on a very hot day and finishes with no discomfort at all after only riding about 2 months. If there are any they are very rare unless someone here has seen differently. I don'™t think my story is all that unusual if you look into the bent world." "Take care" Jake
	Are they very fast? Yes they are, though I don'Ùt suggest speeding but I have pedaled them to 26 mph on several occasions (faster down a hill)
	How easy are they to ride? Children that have never ridden a traditional bicycle have ridden these with ease. These are exceptionally easy for people with balance issues.
	Aren'Ùt you afraid you won'Ùt be seen riding so low to the ground? It is normal to fear being so low but, people notice you easier because it is not normal to see a trike like this. You just have to be weary in parking lots; I encourage sticking to the bike trails.
	Where can I get one of these? I hope to have a retail store one day but I can get new ones in for you and occasionally have used ones for sale.
	How much do they cost? Like all specialty bikes or trikes, they can have a diverse range. Some of my standard answers are: "about 5 months of gasoline" "less than my heath care deductable" "about as much as I used to spend on cigarettes in a year" "less than a good treadmill" I can come up with many things I have spent more on but I haven't found anything that has given me the benefits my trike has. I try to ride it every day and actually feel guilty when I don't ride. I can't tell you haw many exercise machines I have bought that I didn't use. Let me mention, The childs size trike is adjustable from a 4 year old up until an 11 or 12 year old. Traditional bikes are not. If you think on how much you will pay every year your child is growing, The KMX trike will cost a lot less and they use standard bike parts so replacing parts is easy. The Adult sized costs around the price of a good road bike.