Urb Anwriter wrote:
[...]
'Bents' fit different. A one hour test ride will only reveal (and no
dis-respect to original poster) that your muscles have not acclimatized.
One guy (and, wait for it, the 'guy' has a name), Brock Davis, and I
were having a conversation one day about 15 years ago. 'How long to
acclimatize?' I asked? "Six months I guess" was his reply. And he was,
and is, a 'high-mileage,' no-car, bicycle shop owner.

Indeed.

I rode, in their day, Ryans, R-20s, Linears, a singular Windcheeta (sp),
a number of Rans, Easy Tour, and Easy Racer. I, meaning me, was slower
up hill on every single one of them. A couple, the Ryan (with stock bars
narrowed), and the R-20, were measurably faster downhill. The Windcheeta
wasn't mine, and I couldn't afford the goofy 17" tires, let alone the
machine, which compelled me to not try testing it's limits.

What is a "Rans"?

ATP Vision R-20?

And, it occurs to me, will your jacket be completely zipped while
testing the aerodynamics of various machines in the negative-incline
phase?

The current 'fastest' bicycle (just check the definition of 'bicycle'
before you start flaming, or you'll lose, I guarantee) is a recumbent,
built in Canada, ridden by the winner of the 2008 NAHBS, on a US road,
built by, more or less, a sculptor. I don't think Sam would claim that
it's a bike faster up hills...

My apologies if I posted above, or below, the right person, the wrong
person, or if your mileage varies, your opinion differs, or you have
never actually ridden a recumbent.

Never apologize on Usenet!

Some of the most prominent recumbent "experts" have never ridden a
recumbent.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
1999 RANS Wave to Tailwind conversion
2000 RANS Rocket