CycleBanter.com - View Single Post - Recumbent Bicycle made from a Tree Trunk Pic

**Tom_Sherman**

wrote:
On 18 ÍÁÊ, 01:00, SMS wrote:
Tom_Sherman wrote:
SMS aka Steven M. Scharf wrote:
Mark Franzels wrote:
On May 17, 10:37 am, SMS wrote:
I saw this today at the USGS Open House in Menlo Park:
"http://i41.tinypic.com/ouz91t.jpg"
Later I saw the owner riding it.
If collision occurs and the chain goes off, the sharp
slicer disc at the front can slice the person bottom
wide open. Dangerous.
There are a lot more dangers in a recumbent than that unlikely scenario.
No dangers that are not also common to uprights.
No, that's not true. Recumbents have some inherent dangers that don't
exist in diamond frame (or other upright) bicycles. There are visibility
issues, both seeing and being seen. There's the danger of leg suck.

I googled some and still don't get what leg suck is. What is it?

Catching a foot on the ground while in forward motion.

Unrelated (I forgot or never knew):
are recumbents faster downhill than uprights?

Conditionally, yes. Some recumbents with a high seat, upright seating
position and higher rolling resistance may be no more aerodynamic than a
rider on the "hoods". On the other hand, a recumbent with a highly
reclined seating position will easily out-coast an upright tandem.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
LOCAL CACTUS EATS CYCLIST - datakoll