"Peter Clinch" wrote in message
...
DougC wrote:

notice that most-all recumbents (at least, the ones with small front
wheels that I rode) could not be ridden hands-free. So I think a tiny
front wheel just does not stabilize as well as a big wheel does.

I think it's probably more to do with fork trail than directly with wheel
size.

that, I would get a LWB or CLWB. The longer bikes feel much more stable
overall, the SWB's are very jittery.

Though the longer wheelbase machines I've ridden have been /more/ stable,
that's not the same as SWB machines being problematically unstable by
design IME. I've ridden very jittery ones and many very much less jittery
ones. Having ridden a Speedmachine with two different handlebar styles on
an otherwise identical bike I know that jitter can be caused in part by
the rider and how they personally interface with the cycle: I don't get on
that well with tiller steering, but I know that's me rather than the
system being fundamentally hopeless.

Beware of those who think it is the rider who is at fault when a bike does
not perform as promised. The fact is that LWB is a much better design
overall than is SWB. This is the universal experience of all those who know
both types of recumbents. But let's face it, after you have spent a couple
of thousand for a SWB, you are going to defend your purchase no matter what.

Tiller steering is a non-issue and even idiot kids learn how to handle it in
minutes. Quick steering SWB on the other hand never gets overcome. It will
plague you forever.

The present fashion for SWB will soon pass and we will all go back to LWB.
We should never have left it except for the desire to have a recumbent that
was more easily transportable.

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota