dave lackey
Veteran
I love that 520....but still riding my old 660 when I can find the time. I resisted this thread for awhile thinking it might be another addicting bag thread and I would get hooked. Now that you mentioned the 520...well, I am!🙄
Touring Bicycles and Camera Packs and Kick Stands
- Thread starter Franz Elmar
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I love that 520....but still riding my old 660 when I can find the time. I resisted this thread for awhile thinking it might be another addicting bag thread and I would get hooked. Now that you mentioned the 520...well, I am!🙄
Benjamin Marks
Veteran
Lots of good info in this thread. I built myself a Rivendell Atlantis this winter -- a bike I have wanted for a really long time. It has a larger frame than many of the bikes in this thread (for the size). Only a fistful of seatpost between the top tube and the seat . . .
Edit: And a Tubus rear rack and front generator hub for lights. Albatross bars and cork grips. Mmmmmm. Gotta love the Schwalbe tires.
Edit: And a Tubus rear rack and front generator hub for lights. Albatross bars and cork grips. Mmmmmm. Gotta love the Schwalbe tires.
Highway 61
Revisited
Rodchenko
Olympian
Believe me - all recumbent bikes & trikes are highly visible! I commuted in London for a few months on an Anthrotech trike after I broke my wrist. It was a bit tedious being unable to overtake the standing motor traffic, but it was comfortable and I got plenty of room (almost all the time - there are always idiots wherever there are engines). Many of my friends have recumbents - two and three wheeled. Just a week or so ago I was riding round London with a guy in a velomobile. He got noticed, all right!
Trikes are an excellent touring option, especially if you want to stop regularly to take photos. The main reasons I haven't got one are:
1. I can't afford one! Sad, but true
2. I haven't got space at home for onw
3. Much of my touring is weekend cycle camping, and setting off after work to ride limits how far away I can camp (the further from London, the better, as far as I am concerned). It's all but impossible to persuade a train guard to let you on with a trike.
I think that's it, though. If I lived anywhere other than London, and had a bit more space and money (both likely), I'd want to be riding one. Tough going up hills, but very stable at high speed in a descent.
Trikes are an excellent touring option, especially if you want to stop regularly to take photos. The main reasons I haven't got one are:
1. I can't afford one! Sad, but true
2. I haven't got space at home for onw
3. Much of my touring is weekend cycle camping, and setting off after work to ride limits how far away I can camp (the further from London, the better, as far as I am concerned). It's all but impossible to persuade a train guard to let you on with a trike.
I think that's it, though. If I lived anywhere other than London, and had a bit more space and money (both likely), I'd want to be riding one. Tough going up hills, but very stable at high speed in a descent.
rogue_designer
Reciprocity Failure
What about a small trailer (modified toddler trailer or other)? Burley makes a nomad that is pretty lightweight for longer rides (but a bit spendy), or heavier but cheaper is the Croozer.
Rodchenko
Olympian
For upright bikes, I prefer single wheel trailers, such as the Bob Yak. I couldn't afford that, so used the Edinburgh Bike Coop equivalent. Worked excellently well. I didn't need to mess about packing up panniers and balancing them, and, if my tent was wet when packing up, I could lay it across the top and it coud dry better than being stuffed into a bag.
Same problem with getting on a train, though.
For recumbent trikes, two wheel trailers such as the Nomad or the CarryFreedoms seem to work better.
Same problem with getting on a train, though.
For recumbent trikes, two wheel trailers such as the Nomad or the CarryFreedoms seem to work better.
hepcat
Former PH, USN
Have you looked at the Greenspeed GT3, or the HP Velotechnik Gekko fx? And of course, the ICE Sprint/Adventure both fold as well. Both of my ICE trikes I bought used in nearly new condition for less than half the retail price of new. They still weren't "cheap" but used trikes can be surprisingly affordable. The folders make the space requirements pretty small, and you can easily carry a Gekko fx pretty much anywhere you could carry a Brompton.
hepcat
Former PH, USN
Both of my ICE trikes and the Greenspeed GT3 will both fit in a 31" pullman case. The GT3 takes a little longer to pack, but I can pack my Sprint in a suitcase in about 15 mins without tools. They're both train-friendly in that regard (probably not for daily transit tho.) I've not had a Gekko fx so I don't know how it packs.
hepcat
Former PH, USN
I have Schwalbe Marathons on just about everything I have with 20" wheels... except my wifes' ICE Adventure, which has BAs. Great tires.
Rodchenko
Olympian
I tend to ride Marathon Plus on everything. London has crap roads, and I don't like replacing inner tubes beside the road.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Not necessarily on country roads unless you use a tall 'aerial' and a pennant. This is one reason I stick with my Overbury.
Cheers,
R.
hepcat
Former PH, USN
Again, except for low-racers, that's sort of an urban myth that recumbents can't be seen as well as a DF bike.
Do you have a flag on your DF? At 100 yards, the difference in the height between me on a recumbent and me on a DF is (maybe 14 inches) is negligible. If they don't see me on my recumbent bike, they're not going to see me on a DF either. The only place where the flag is really useful is on hills, but that goes for all kinds of bikes.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Urban myths are one thing. Countryside realities are quite another.
Bear in mind that I am a Cornishman, where roads often have high banks on either side, and that I presently live in la France profonde, where in summer crops perform the same function. On top of this, bear in mind that differences in my own eye-line are very obvious according to whether I'm in my Land Rover Series III (high), on a bicycle (slightly lower), on a motorcycle (lower still) or in my wife's car (quite lot lower again).
In other words, 14 inches is in many cases not negligible. Ignoring the obvious dirty jokes, there's the simple truth that if I can't see you (because my eye-line is too low), or your vehicle is concealed by hedges, walls or crops, you're in more danger; and if you can't see me, I'm in more danger.
We don't all live in cities, nor yet on open plains with straight, flat roads running across them. At 100 yards (or more importantly, 200-300 yards at 50-60 mph on a country road) you may be around one or two corners from where I am, and completely invisible if you are in or on a low-slung vehicle.
Cheers,
R.
hepcat
Former PH, USN
Where I live, contrary to common misconception, isn't flat by any means. Most folks think I'm nuts riding here because of the hills. We have roads that have deep ditches on both sides and often one rides between cornfields that are 9' tall. They easily hide everthing but tractor-trailer trucks as well.
My point isn't that flags aren't a good idea; as you can see in my post above, I have two them on my recumbent trike. My point is that you're no more safe on a diamond frame than you are a recumbent with or without a flag. That 14" difference in height when triangulated from a distance, is negligible from the perspective of being seen. Neon clothing, flashing lights and flags are much more significant for being seen than the height of the rider. I even have a flashing light on the back of my helmet.
semilog
curmudgeonly optimist
Early-90s Kona Hot, handbuilt Tange Prestige, repurposed. CETMA front rack with Swift Industries Pelican Porteur bag. Panniers, when desired, go on the back. On the bottom of the Pelican's compartment is a double layer of the big-bubble bubble wrap atop a thin layer of closed-cell foam.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Not in my experience. I've MUCH more often been surprised by the (tiny number) of recumbents I've run into -- or rather, NOT run into -- when I round a corner than by conventional bicycles (which are very common in rural France).
(1) Have you any data on this, or are we merely exchanging anecdotes and impressions? I have to say that 'urban myth' is flat nonsense (and rather insulting nonsense, at that) as compared with my personal observation. I've been riding bicycles and driving cars for long enough that I do not come at this from either preconception or 'urban myth'.
(2) If flags make a negligible difference, why do you bother with them?
Cheers,
R.
hepcat
Former PH, USN
Roger, I don't know if you caught it in my earlier post, but as a former bike cop I have a little more training and experience on a bike in an urban/suburban/rural setting than perhaps some folks in the general bike-riding population might have. Not that I am claiming any divine revelations as a result, but I have a fair amount of first hand experience with both being purposely visible and being purposely as invisible as possible with a bike.
I'm not minimizing your experience, but suggesting that not only my experience, but the reported experiences of many recumbent riders is contrary to what you're reporting. Anecdotally, many recent converts to recumbents report how much they're surprised at how well other traffic treats them compared to when they ride their DFs.
This debate has raged among cyclists as long as there have been recumbe
nt bikes. There's no way to quantify any position here... each of us speaks from experience with anecdotal evidence, but I have heard the perspective you espouse passed as a truism by DF riders as long as I've been riding recumbents. To my knowledge there aren't any studies that either confirm or refute that perspective.
Many factors are much more significant in a rider being visible though including their behavior on the bike, clothing and lighting. Having ridden both DFs and recumbents for many thousands of miles I am reporting that I have been in many more situations on a DF where I felt I wasn't seen and I was endangered than I've been in on any of my recumbents.
I don't believe I've ever heard your perspective expressed by another recumbent bike rider. As a matter of fact, most recumbent riders express experience similar to mine; that they've had fewer "close calls" and almost never been "buzzed" while riding a recumbent. And I don't know a single recumbent rider who started riding bikes on a recumbent. Most of us still have DFs that they ride occasionally as well, me included.
That said, I have to make a distinction between mainstream recumbent bikes and low-racers and tadpole trikes. Low-racers and tadpole trikes are truly in a different position below door level on cars. That's why I have flags on my trike. I don't have flags on my ICE B1 recumbent bike, nor have I ever put flags on any DF bike I've had. I'm always a defensive rider, but I'm even more cognizant of my position below hood-level on the trike in traffic.
There are other differences as well; I actually feel more safe on my trike towing my trailer. Motorists give me much wider berth, but that's another issue entirely.
Rodchenko
Olympian
Overbury? That's a classic name evoking memories. I remember lusting after a Cross Fell, then seeing the Pioneer, which, for me, was the ultimate ATB. Never got to own one, sadly, but they were fantastic bikes.
Frontman
Well-known
My old touring rig was quite nice, and very inexpensive. I started with an 80's vintage Schwinn Voyager, which is a very syrong, but very comfortable lugged chrome-moly frame. I had the later version with th cantilever brakes, but regular calipers work quite well. The standard parts kit on the Voyager was made by Sugino, I upgraded most parts to Shimano XTR, and used Phil Wood hubs. The racks and panniers were Blackburn stuff.
At the time I built this bike, I worked in a bike shop, and most of the parts were second-hand (all my money went into my Pinarello Record racer). I rode the Schwinn on the California coast, and through the mountains and high deserts, often riding 200km per day. It was a superbly comfortable bike, with enough gear range for long climbs and steep descents. I carried a Nikon camera kit consisting of 2 bodies, 4 lenses, and a good tripod.
I am thinking of putting together another bike, and am hunting for another Voyager frame.
At the time I built this bike, I worked in a bike shop, and most of the parts were second-hand (all my money went into my Pinarello Record racer). I rode the Schwinn on the California coast, and through the mountains and high deserts, often riding 200km per day. It was a superbly comfortable bike, with enough gear range for long climbs and steep descents. I carried a Nikon camera kit consisting of 2 bodies, 4 lenses, and a good tripod.
I am thinking of putting together another bike, and am hunting for another Voyager frame.
