Over, Under, Sideways, Down.

The question that always comes up with new recumbent customers. "What is better and safer? Under seat steering or above seat steering?" The question as many times as I have been asked it always throws me.
I enjoy both, although I now only sell Above Steering Recumbents. If I could, I would sell both, but my supplier only stocks the above style.
The difference is obvious, but the question gets asked anyway.
Bacchetta prefers above seat for the reason of aerodynamics, They feel that having both hands at your side has more wind resistance and a bigger silhouette of rider and bike. The wind "sees" more so by design, its slower. This is taking into account that the rider is riding with both hands. (I don't)
Its hard for me to say what I prefer. I love the under seat design. It gives you a better view and makes it easy to get on and off the bike. For years we sold the "ATP Vision" line of bikes, Most of their line was offered with both styles. I sold only under seat bikes except for the models that only had above seat offered.
The two styles offer two different feels of riding. The above seems faster, but the bikes became lighter in time with lighter wheels. The below always gave me the feeling of the perfect touring bicycle and having me want to slow down and enjoy the view.

What do you think? Most of the readers of this blog have had both or still do. I would like to see what people prefer and why.

Another Cool Bag

This one really strikes my fancy. I love the way it fits on the rack and how easy it is to remove it. Im not so sure how a laptop would withstand our streets and New England style pot holes, but would be willing to give it a try. Check this out:

Winter Time Blues

Its days like these that make living in New England tough. Salty, sandy roads are not good for Recumbent any way you look at it.
Damage creeps up so slowly, that you just might not notice. Pivot points on brakes and derailleurs are hard to clean and desalt.
I have no advice for dealing with the salted roads other then to find another bike to ride. Unfortunately recumbent bicycles are not usually found for cheap and sometimes free at the upright design.
Switching for the winter (if you can) may be the best plan. Cleaning of the bicycle will still be important, but an upright bicycle has some of the parts a little further from the road and free from the slop.
Sorry I don't have the perfect answer regarding Winter Recumbent riding, but warmer nicer days will be hear soon and allow us to enjoy the style of heads up riding we all know and love.

Getting Ready for the New Season

A trip to the bike shop could have you spending money on things you all ready own. For the most part, this could be a good thing. Over the past year, improvements in Lighting, Travel Bags and Tools could make cycling a little more easy. Here are some of my favorite.

The Topeak "Quick Track" system. This is a great way to deal with carrying your stuff. That said, Maybe you don't need to carry much on your Recumbent and your rides, but for those of you that live on your bike and need it to get around, this design is the best I have seen, Check out the video:



The MTX/Quick Track system racks will fit most recumbent bicycles. There is a great way to do this that I will show later. The "Explorer" rack has an old school spring clip to hold things down when you just dont need a bag.

There is a selection of bags to fit. One has fold out panniers to expand to carry larger loads when needed.

The second item, also made by Topeak, is a new larger version of their "Morph" frame pump. The New "Mega Morph" is a larger version of the Topeak line of Morph Pumps.

Bigger is better with bicycle pump design. This may not be the best pump for those of you wanting to save weight, but for riders that don't have enough strength to use a convential style frame pump and dont care about the extra size and weight, this could be the tool for the job.

The larger fold out gauge makes it easy to read and inflate to the proper amount

The "Smart Head" allows you to switch from Presta to Schraider valves with out dismantling the head first.

The fold down foot stand keeps the pump stationary while inflating.
Again, the extra size and weight may not make this the pump of choice for lightweight riders, but its design may be a good substitute for having to carry a floor pump on your car, cycling trips.

The third item that I really like is the new Serfas Thunderbolt USB Head light and Tail light.
The Serfas Thunderbolt has endless mounting options for a great price.

The headlight has 15-micro (double strength) LED strip puts out 90 lumens, giving you plenty of light to see and be seen.
The USB-rechargeable Thunderbolt can be mounted virtually anywhere on the front or back of your bike.
Charges from any USB port. The lights Feature a non-directional beam to cover a wider area
Modes: high beam, low beam and two flash modes
Run times: 1.5 hours (high beam); 6.5 hours (low beam); 3.5 hours (high blink); 9 hours (low blink)
Highly Water resistant
Weight: 50 grams
Comes in 7 different colors
Colors: Black, White, Red, Blue, Pink, Green, Yellow I have used these lights on a couple of different bike and love them.

The items I have written above are an improvement of what I already had. Making things safer and easier is always in my mind money well spent. Check them out in person and I think you will be pleasantly surprised of these 3 great designs!