About Bicycles > Recumbent Bicycles Online

Recumbent bicycles - more comfort more efficiency and speed... It's all about wind resistence.

Recumbent Bicycles offer quite a few advantages over traditional bikes. They are comfortable, easy on your back and easier to pedal (partially due to using the seat back for additional leverage support) and they can be much faster than traditional bikes, due to less wind resistance. Recumbents make nice road bicycles in addition to bike path bikes. I'm sure that you are seeing more of them now and you can find pretty extensive information about them online.

I have recently had the opportunity to ride a short wheel base (SWB) recumbent and long wheel base (LWB) recumbent. Personally I prefer the long wheel base and am planning on getting one later this year on next year.

The short wheel base bike that I have ridden was the Bacchetta Giro26 and the long wheelbase was the Tour Easy from Easy Racers. Both bikes belong to a friend of mine and I have ridden them quite a bit on side streets and trails.

Both of these bents are very comfortable, but the Bacchetta (SWB) "felt" a little less stable or controllable to me. In all fairness, I did not spend all that much time on the Bacchetta to really get used to it. On the other hand, I felt totally comfortable and in control on the Tour Easy (LWB) right away!

 There are much more extensive articles online but from first hand experience, I have found recumbents to be great road and touring bikes, they can also handle light off the road paths OK and the comfort and view from the riding position are great! On the down side, these bikes are much more expensive than most traditional bikes and a little harder to find...

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About-Bicycles - Recumbent articles:

Bents-Tour-Strada - First hand descriptions and candid comments about Tour EZ and Bacchetta Strada bents. Test rides at Amling's in Niles Il.

Bents-Giro-Force5 - First hand descriptions, candid comments and original photos of the Bacchetta Giro and Rans Force 5 le recumbents at Bike Rack in St. Charles, Il.

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Note:

As I mentioned above, the disadvantages with these types of bikes is that they are more expensive and harder to find. At the time of this writing (March 2003) this remains true online as well.

One of the reasons that I am keeping this section brief is that I have not found these types of bicycles available online (please update me, via the contact link) if you find a good online source.

I wanted to mention that I have spent hours looking specifically for recumbent bikes (for sale online) and did not find a site where you could buy them online.

Of course, this type of thing changes daily... SO...

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A great recumbent trikes resource:

Update: 6/5/05

OK, I've had some additional references, for recumbents (and tandem recumbents and trikes) since I originally put this page together and I have found a great resource for these bicycles:

Check out:  WizWheelz.com This is a great resource for recumbent trikes! Here's a testimonial sent in to about-bicycles from one of our visitors.

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More recumbents for sale online:

Just a reminder... You can always check out ebay for the latest used recumbents for sale.

 

Cycle Computers (bike speedometers, odometers) A good cyclecomputer is one of the most useful and interesting accessories that you can have on your bike. Speedometer, Odometer, Trip Meter, Date and Time, Riding time vs Elapsed time, averages... Many wireless models are available too!

Bicycle Clothing Mostly what you really need as far as bicycle clothing goes, of course, is what makes you comfortable (some people may require more style to be comfortable than others :-) ).

Bicycle Accessories Having the right bicycle accessories available when you need them makes the difference between just another ride and a ride that you don't really want to end. (bicycle lights, bags, mirrors, hydration packs and water bottles, locks, car racks...)

Bike Parts If you ride bikes, you are going to be needing bicycle tires, tubes, bicycle wheels, cables, chains and chain cleaner kits, brake shoes and other bicycle parts and accessories pretty regularly. Here are some great online sources.