Recumbent build, opinions?

[Eujangles]

Hi all,

I'm currently riding a 48v 1000w hardtail mountain bike and am thinking of putting together a recumbent for next summer, also looking at moving up to 60v or 72v and maybe around 1800w. I don't really want the super laid back posture, more the semi-recumbent style. My concern is even at semi-recumbent, is the bike so low to the ground that it will be dangerous for me to be going so fast in traffic as I will be much harder to see? I know that a lot of recumbent riders put up a flag so they can be seen by cars...but i'll be going a heck of a lot faster than most recumbent riders.

Is this a good idea? I love my current bike, but am just looking for more comfort as I ride the thing constantly. Also, should I be worried about recumbents being worse targets for theft? I live in Vancouver where bike thefts are a big problem, and I never see recumbents locked in public anywhere, which leads me to believe that the owners don't think conventional locks are safe enough for their bikes.

Any and all opinions welcome, thanks in advance!

[www.recumbents.com]

You should be fine with a recumbent whose seat height is about the same as a cars - about 18 inches. Make sure the wheelbase is at least 40". Try to find a cheap used one on craigslist or elsewhere. At least front suspension is recommended for e-bike speeds.

-Warren.

[dogman]

Once out dodging around in the traffic, going fast following another car for instance, you won't be seen on a regular bike, or even a harley. So going recumbent won't make you less visible than invisible already was. That guy will still left cross you thinking the car was the last vehicle.

Solution, be in front of the cars going that fast.

[StudEbiker]

Bike Es are a great option for electrifying. Very affordable if you watch the classifieds, great riding position (you are pretty much eye level to eye level with car drivers), it is available in an extended wheel base, and rear/full suspension models are common. I like the early extended CTs myself (eventhough I am not very tall) because it gives you more "tail" to play with. They chopped the tail off on the later models. I would go for an AT if I was doing a hub motor to get the rear sus., but since I am doing mid-drive I think the suspension parts would get in the way. The extended wheel base helps with weight distribution and helps to give a softer ride since more of the weight is between the wheels. Giant Revives have rear sus. standard, but they are 12lbs. heavier than a Bike E CT, AND they are more expensive. If you are interested in mid-drive, the Revive is not going to be very easy either. Matt recently did a left hand RC drive on one for his wife though, very nice build.

[Eujangles]

Thanks a lot guys, Dogman, I like your solution

Yeah I've been looking at the bike E as far as affordability goes, but I have not seen one with suspensions. I'll defintely be keeping an eye out on craigslist though. In your guys' experience, did you enjoy the recumbent more? Hehe, I'm guessing Warren does. I've never actually rode one before...they just look so damn comfortable.

[StudEbiker]

I haven't been able to ride the Bike E electrified yet, but it is very comfortable. Try to find one with the taller "sweet seat." The steering is a bit odd, but you get used to it. It is much more stable at higher speeds than slower speeds because of the small wheels. Have you seen Ypedals page where he put a Cyclone kit on one? With the Sachs 3x7 it is a great platform for a mid-drive. I haven't had a bike with an internal gear hub in maybe ever, but I really like it. I am building mine to be my car replacement uber-cummuter. It is very fun to ride (except uphill )and an incredible conversation starter. Everyone loves it. If you want a quick and easy mid-drive Bike E, the dual freewheel Cyclone kit would be pretty sweet, I wanted to do something a bit different so I am piecing it together with various components.

[amberwolf]

A good possibility is a semi recumbent like my CrazyBike2 is, or my new bike-in-progress. It leaves you sitting up a bit more (mine is about the same head height as a typical car driver's would be), but still has pretty much the comfort of a regular recumbent, as it is a suspended-sling chair.

I ride in traffic fairly often, and haven't been squished yet.

I also have full regular vehicle lighting, including turn signals, which lights me up about like a motorcycle (but brighter taillight than most, brighter than some cars). I don't trust taht this makes me visible to everyone, but it definitely does help.

[spinningmagnets]

I vote DIY full suspension longtail (Dogman), but making it one of the semi-recumbent variations (me)?

[amberwolf]

Oh, and regarding theft, looks is a big thing. Hopefully won't jinx anything, but nobody's tried stealing CrazyBike2 yet. Looks like a pile of junk, but gets me around, and isn't much of a target. (plus it's really heavy).

DSC04519.JPG (72.02 KiB) Viewed 645 times

(All the red stuff is cargo, some metal tubing I got as scrap to use for future builds. )

I expect one big reason you don't see 'bents locked up outside in most places is they're often tremendously expensive, compared to regular bikes. There also aren't a lot of them around most cities, so less likely to see them anyway.


My new one is to be FS, although it's most certainly not as simple to build as Spinningmagnets' or Dogman's.

file-1.jpg (39.82 KiB) Viewed 645 times

THe green is cargo rails, the red is proposed added battery/motor spaceframe volume. The seat would go on there rather like CrazyBike2's, and so would the handlebars.

[Philistine]

I don't want to get yelled down here by the trike/recumbent riders here, but I bought a tadpole trike and powered it up, but I don't use it anymore and am going to sell it because I did find that I was much less visible than on a regular bike. I had the orange flag, but I was always going so fast, that the flag was blown right down.

What brought it home to me was that two seperate car drivers took the time to pull in next to me at gas stations and note that I was not very visible. I think the thing is once it is electrified, it throws people's perceptions of you (because they don't expect you to be going so fast). This happens constantly on my regular ebike (ie people pull out, expecting me to be travelling at 20kph, not 50kph). But this is made much worse if you are that low to the ground (on a tadpole trike anyway).

Just giving you my experience. I loved my trike, it was heaps of fun, but in the end I got sick of people not seeing me in traffic, also, having bumper bars fly past your head height is freaky.

Just my two cents.

[amberwolf]

That's why I built CrazyBike2 taller. And it is one of the several reasons that my first 'bent, ReCycle, was never finished--it'd've been a lowracer, not quite a buttscraper but pretty close:

ReCycle_Painted_Frame1.JPG (70.03 KiB) Viewed 620 times

I sorta wanna go back and finish it someday, but I would need to work out the steering linkage and chainlines for pedals/motor. The one thing that would've made it visible to most drivers would've been the lighting module on the mast behind the seat--it'd've been a box over my head, at about driver eye level, with the headlights, taillights, and turn signals in it, as well as a fluorescent or UV light to shine down on the whole bike to help it with a bit of glow even at night.

But I would probably not have ridden it in traffic much...it's just too low.

[ebent]

Philistine,
If people catch up to you to tell you you are not visable then how do they know? They saw you! I've been riding a tadpole trike in traffic for 6 years. 1 1/2 years motorized. I have a large colorful flag and a large rear red led blinker. I know I have visability. The bigger issue is trikes take up more space. Wider. That means narrow sholders are out. But if you are going fast enough the you can take the space. But I wouldn't want to maintain upper 20's of faster unless I was suspended. At upper 20's and faster sustained it is too bouncey to be safe.

Good Luck

[Philistine]

If people catch up to you to tell you you are not visable then how do they know?

What they meant is, they only saw me at the last minute. They weren't being asses about it, they were just politely letting me know, that they didn't see me until the last minute, and were making sure I appreciated that.

I totally agree with what you say about the width thing as well, that, and not being able to mount gutters/lips at speed, and as you point out the skittishness at high speed (eg over 40kph) were also things I didn't like. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the trike and it was heaps of fun, I was just passing on my experience, which was that I always felt much less visible (and able to quickly get out of the way etc..) than I do on a standard bike. Was just passing on my experience, as I said, I am selling the trike now, purely because I just don't get out enough on it given the issues I have listed. I was also commuting through relatively busy peakhour, when out with some space they are insane fun.

[JimB]

Keep in mind that the BikeE is no longer manufactured and has some proprietary parts that can be difficult to find. I also found BikeE to be an uncomfortable bike. My wife's Sun EZ Sport is a higher. more upright recumbent with a cushy seat pad, and they are quite often available used, try Bentrideronline.com. I have a Rans V2 with Bionx. Seat is about 18" from the road. I have no problems being seen, but did with the trike I recently sold. I bought it for use in the winter to avoid possible falls on ice in this climate, but I found the 9-10" lower seat height to be intimidating out on the road with SUV's. Also difficult to see traffic approaching intersections in the winter with snowbanks and the reduced visibility. Don't get me wrong, the trike with Bionx was a real hoot, like a go-kart, but....
Actionbent sells some affordable new recumbents, and overall I have found them to have pretty good components. Have owned two. At least you get a new bike for the money, not someone else's problems. Have heard some horror stories about service however. Good luck.

[torker]

+1 on the Sun EZ Sport bike and the actionbent. Also Cycle Genius makes some nice low cost bikes. Expect to pay anywhere from 500 to 1000 dollars unless you find a great deal. Look for a dealer so you can ride a couple different models before you plunk down cash. I have a Sun EZ-Rider with rear suss. I paid 700 for. Not too many with suspension except the Bike E which as said is no longer in production. But a bike with a 26" rear like the EZ-Sport and a big cushy tire is not bad at all.

[Eujangles]

Thanks everyone for all the replies! Amberwolf and Spinningmagnets, I love those custom build recumbents! I'm certain however I don't have the skills to put something like that together hehe. Philistine, thanks for sharing about the trike...that was kinda how I though they might be. Looks like so much fun though
Jim B thanks for the warning about the bike E. Proprietary parts are a nightmare :S

Thanks for all the reccommendations guys, I will be looking those bikes up!

Cheers

[StudEbiker]

Jim B thanks for the warning about the bike E. Proprietary parts are a nightmare :S

I guess when your other ride is a Studebaker, the proprietary parts on a Bike E don't bother you too much.

[amberwolf]

I'm certain however I don't have the skills to put something like that together hehe.

That's kinda what Dogman kept saying, until he built his, and it turned out a lot easier than it seemed.

Same thing for me--CrazyBike2 (and even the new bike) was actually really easy when I sat down to do it, except for figuring out the motor power drivetrain, to combine with the pedals to get to the rear wheel. But if I had gone with a hubmotor to start with, or some kit like Stokemonkey or Cyclone, even THAT would've been easy.

Actually welding things together is hard, for me, because my house power is probably insufficient and my welder is crappy, but even so, it hasn't fallen apart yet. But Dogman's bike shows you don't *have* to weld it together--he could've bolted it all together and it likely would've been more than strong enough. And that was the plan with my new bike, but I decided on a space frame and stuff for batteries, etc, that can't be done just bolting it together with the stuff I have.

I will eventually do a bolt-together just to show how easy it can be, though it will probably be a hub-motor instead of thru-the-chain/gears.

[spinningmagnets]

A lot of the older thread pics are corrrupted after a website update. I will go back and fix what I can when I get some time. I have a welder, but one of the things that I wanted to show on the semi-recumbent was that it could be put together without welding or brazing, and its not really too difficult.

I did it all with a vice, drill, and a hacksaw. When I come to a stop now, both of my feet are flat on the ground, and I found the somewhat upright beach-cruiser posture to be much more comfortable for me.