It is tough to generalize about recumbents and I saw some problems with the generalizations in this post. First of all, wide turning radius is associated with the long wheel base recumbent. The short wheel base variety has a turning radius less than most diamond frame bikes with the exception of a racing diamond frame, which will shorten the wheel base and to the point of toe/front wheel interference. This type of interference is what you will find on the majority of SWB recumbents.retcaveman wrote:While I never owned a recumbent, I rode with a few people who did. Two problems I observed, in addition to the hill and transporting issues, were a wide turning radius (need a lot of room to turn) and a little more difficulty getting started from a dead stop. On one occasion we were all waiting to cross a county highway and the recumbent couldn't get going quickly enough to make it across with the rest of us.
That aside, the people I know who rode them, loved them. Most all the people had back/neck issues.
I guess one other consideration is safety ie the low profile makes it a little more difficult to be seen. I know there are flags to help with this. Similarly, I also worry when I see parents pulling their kids or dogs in those little carts on public roads (trails are ok). I worry that they won't be seen and a driver, seeing the pulling bike pass will proceed and hit the kids. It looks like fun for the kids, but I think it is dangerous.
Re safety (I am wandering all over in this post) we just lost a club member due to an auto accident. While I wasn't on the ride, a 60 year old member of the club was riding with a large group and was killed by a driver. The driver claimed he just didn't see him.
caveman
As far as the visibility issue, unless you get into the very low vcg recumbent this is not an issue. In fact you will find, and this may surprise you, that for 90% of the recumbent geometries your eye level is above the eye level of a driver in a typical sedan. SUV's, trucks, etc. are another story. You will be below them. Additionally, you should be aware that the natural seat/head position for a recumbent rider is the same as it is when driving an automobile. One of the first annoying things you notice after some time on a recumbent is how often an approaching diamond frame rider looks at the front wheel rather than approaching traffic. For most recumbent geometries you cannot even see the front wheel. Your line of vision is the same as it is with a car, and this applies to practically all recumbent geometries.
Recumbents in general have a lower vcg than most diamond frames, and this leads to some adjustments, both in starting and tracking, and also in the types of accidents and injuries that are possible. What can I say, if you lower the vcg, you are going down faster given a loss of traction, and you have less time to reach the critical velocity for balancing when starting. This was an issue for me for about a week, and then it was gone. New riders will go down on their butts a couple of times starting, and that is the way it is. However, as I said this depends on how low the vcg of the recumbent has been placed. I finally bought what I consider to be a high end road bike, Euro-style recumbent and it has two 650cx23 wheels, similar to what you find on tri-bikes. The vcg of this recumbent is quit close to a typical diamond frame, but the Euro-style seat spreads my body along the length of the bike and this means of have to make other adjustments, but it is just a matter of getting used to it.
Now my last observation concerns accidents. I rode diamond frame bikes from age 5 to age 51, touring in southern Ontario, and all over Michigan's lower peninsula in the 60's into the early 70's. I have ridden the Erie canal from Buffalo to Albany and from Albany to NYC on a recumbent. You can be injured on either geometry, diamond frame or recumbent, but there are big differences in your possible injuries. On a diamond frame, the problem is going over the handle bars, and suffering head, shoulder, neck injuries. On a recumbent the only way you can go over the handle bars is to ride it off a cliff. On recumbent the risk is going down on your side by losing traction, and you lose skin, a lot of skin. Additionally, if your foot, which is out in front of you on most recumbents comes off the pedal accidentally, it hits the ground, and gets thrown behind you. The faster you are going the worse the injury. This is why you never, ever ride a recumbent without cleats, period. For me, as I get older, as far as risk of injury is concerned I would rather be on a recumbent. I have gone down and lost skin, but I have never been in a situation which would even remotely result in a head injury, neck injury, or broken collar bone. The skin grew back pretty fast; I went down on wet pavement when the rear wheel lost traction.
I have built two recumbents; which can be seen here,
http://www.bentechbikes.com/builders3.htm
I have owned a BikeE, now defunct, a Rans Tailwind, and now a Bachetta Corsa SS. I do not recommend that you start with the Corsa. The easiest bike to ride, transport, most maneuverable, etc. is the SWB Bentech in the picture above. That bike has a 451 wheel, and a rear 26-inch. It is the best maneuvering bike I have ever ridden. The most comfortable is the LWB, under seat steering, but as pointed out above, it has a large turning radius. That bike is a takeoff of the Ryan Vanguard, which David Gordan Wilson, and MIT mechanical engineering professor rode to class in the early 80's. He authored "Bicycle Science." If you are really interested in bicycles you should check out this book. I never had professor Wilson for any classes, but I remember seeing him on Massachusetts Avenue riding home from work. He never had any visibility problems, and his bike was very similar to the LWB bike I built, and shown in the link above.
Recumbents involve a bunch of design tradeoffs, just like mountain bikes. My own opinion as to why they have not gained wider acceptance is because, face it, most of them are ugly. However, like I said before, you can leave your special clothing, and butt-back-neck issues with your diamond frame if you go this route.
Sam