I'll just add my .02 cents. I owned a recumbent very briefly about four years ago. I was having a lot of problems with bike fit and getting a saddle that was comfortable for the kind of mileage I was regularly putting in - over 120 miles per week with weekend rides frequently 30-50 miles at a time. In a fit of pure frustration I sold my cargo bike and regular bike to help finance the ridiculously over-priced middle-of-the-road Bacchetta bike I ended up riding. I did ride that bike for about 7 or 8 months, going the same 120+ miles per week and all of the same kind of riding, which was basically a mix of multi-user path, and street riding in Chicago. While I found the riding on the path to be fun, the street riding was nerve-wracking, even with the higher ride-height of the model of Bacchetta that I owned. The bike put me roughly at the same eye-height as people in basic economy cars, but I found that all of the visibility and situational-awareness that I had on a regular bike was gone. In traffic I had no perception of oncoming threats, like pedestrians stepping out from behind larger parked cars, or cars entering or leaving alleyways. Additionally, when traffic became tight and congested, I lost all ability to split lanes like I could on a regular bike an so I was essentially losing my bike commuter advantages of being able to move to the head of the line, and instead I simply had to sit marooned in traffic like I was in a car. Additionally, despite all the claims of comfort advantages of 'bent riding over "diamond-frame" bikes, I had consistent issues with "recumbutt" and leg and hip issues. Whereas I only dealt with sit bone discomfort on a "diamond-frame" bike, I was now dealing with several different fit issues on the 'bent and having almost no way to diagnose or modify the fit except by lengthy trial and error and consulting with other 'bent riders on forums. Eventually, I gave up on the 'bent, sold it and got back into riding regular bikes again. Eventually I solved my saddle issues (my magic bullet seems to be the Brooks Flyer saddle - essentially a leather B17 model with large springs), and I've never looked back. I would never go back to a recumbent bike unless I developed some sort of physical malady that precluded any other type of riding. For open roads with little traffic I imagine they're fine, and while they have some aerodynamic advantages, I believe their host of drawbacks makes them little more than expensive, niche bikes, that are wholly unpractical for someone (like me), who is living a completely car-free lifestyle in a major city with the need to do LOTS of riding in heavy, urban traffic. Other issues I had with the recumbent - riding in pedestrian-congested areas was more difficult to nigh-on impossible as compared to a regular bike. Additionally, riding on things like group rides such as Critical Mass events was all but impossible again due to visibility issues, the need to regular ride at almost a walking pace. In short, the impracticalities outweighed any benefits by about 10-1.