On 28 jul, 12:56, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
snip
I think to be fair about this, you would have to pit a faired recumbent
against a faired upright in a largely mountainous terrain. Otherwise, you
are comparing apples to oranges and not getting to the heart of the
question, which is - can recumbents climb hills as well as uprights? I say
no.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Ed,
the going philosophy is that the size of the frontal area makes up
most of the aerodynamic advantage that a recumbent has. An upright
bike will possibly have a larger frontal area.
When you really want to compare the same rider should ride both
machines. In fact, the Chris Boardman and Greame Obree records are at
a high level and set at high altitude race tracks, these are not yet
broken by unfaired recumbent amateur riders.

Jack