My 'Bent Is Starting to Annoy Me

Remember who you are talking to Tim-
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota


Tim McNamara wrote:
In article ,
"Edward Dolan" wrote:

I have been around bikes for the past 35 years and consider myself an
expert on the subject of comfort. If you are young and physically fit
you can more or less be comfortable on an upright for several hours
at best, but even then you cannot be comfortable on them all day
every day for weeks at a time.

A recumbent is the ONLY way to go if you want TOTAL comfort. You give
up some speed, especially on hills, but the comfort is more than
worth it. This is actually a subject not even worth talking about as
anyone who knows recumbents can tell you.

Those of you presently on uprights who think you can live with them
will find out that as you age that you in fact cannot. At that point,
you will either give up cycling - or you will graduate to recumbents.

Oh bull**** as usual, Edward. I find my uprights comfortable enough to
ride up to 400 km in 24 hours. How much more comfortable do I need my
bike to be? I'm 47. I know people in their 50s and 60s and even 70s
who do this kind of riding on uprights quite comfortably.

Once again you are overgeneralizing. What is true for you may not be
true for others. If recumbents keep you riding I think that's great and
more power to you. If I develop some kind of health problem which
results in a choice between not riding and getting a recumbent, I'll get
a recumbent. A few friends of mine ride recumbents because they just
like 'em. Two friends of mine with cervical disk problems have gone
this route quite happily because they don't aggravate their proximal
and/or distal pain. I have a cervical disk problem of my own and who
knows? I might be on a recumbent one of these days too. It's great
that there are options!

As far as the comfort question goes, for some reason most people I see
on recumbents around here are middle aged guys who are 50-75 pounds
overweight. I think I have spotted the problem with normal bikes being
uncomfortable for them. I hear a lot of complaints about "recumbent
butt" to make it clear that recumbents are no panacea.

If I can ride a bike for 4-6 hours I consider it comfortable. My
Lemond road bike and C;dale cross bike fit that bill fine. I have the
bars only slightly below saddle, a Brooks seat and I;m fine. My MTB's
are torture machines and cannot ride for more than an hour before neck
shouler wrist pain start!!


Edward Dolan wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Get a real bike and more people can fix it!!!

Big Jim has a good point here, but he does not realize how much we recumbent
cyclist insist on comfort, something that you can never get on an upright.

When I ride an upright and it starts to cause me pain I get so freaking mad
I could kill myself for being so stupid as to think an upright could ever be
comfortable for more than half an hour. Screw all uprights all the way to
hell and back! The g.d. things are nothing but torture racks. One thing is
for sure, they were never designed for the human anatomy.

Regards,

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




Prisoner at War wrote:
Okay, so I've been putting through my HP Velo SMGTe through all kinds
of conditions around town for almost a year now. After all the
potholes, rain, mud, grit, heat and cold I finally managed to really
**** it up Sunday. A chainring got bent slightly, and eventually the
chain itself broke and messed up some drivetrain components in the
process!

I only wonder how folks manage to take this model 'bent on them Third
World tours if I'm having issues with it from simply riding around
town! From the beginning the rear air shock suddenly stopped working.
In another two weeks I managed to shred the top teflon tube somehow.
Then the front disc brake rotor became permanently warped. Then the
back ones. Did I mention the rear mudguard cracking in two? Sunday,
about the whole drivetrain came undone: broken chain, a bent chainring,
the idler spring clamp kaputt. Interestingly, the Thracian wheelset
has held up just fine, AFAIK.

Good God, but this is starting to be like dealing with your PC: "now
what???" comes to mind more and more. And this seems to me
recumbency's fatal flaw preventing it from wider adoptation: it's too
****ing complicated! And I can't believe how many of the nuts and
bolts on my SMGTe do not seem to be off-the-shelf stuff you can get at
a hardware store. Also, there should be a re-assembly instruction
sheet for owners included with the bikes, since not all LBSes know or
care about servicing 'bents.

Recumbents are fun when they work, but mine is finally going to make a
grease-monkey out of me! The HP Velo SMGTe is still the most
comfortable 'bent around, but it requires a lot of attention, not like
my other bikes which I just ride and take to the shop maybe once or
twice a year. So far, I think I've spent $250 getting my 'bent
serviced and refitted in one way or another. JFC!!

I've now almost completely disassembled my 'bent, so as to clean out
all the grit and grime and reinstall the chain, etc. Damn, this is
going to be some education in bike mechanics! I'm really learning the
hard way...on my own. I'm kind of looking forward to it, out of
curiosity. Just wish I had the space to lay things down properly and
leave them around.

Mark the biker wrote:


The only thing I can add is that you,re the only guy I know who bought
a bike made out of German cheese.
I have all the confidence that your machine will be running smoothly
before too loog.
Happy new year


That's my New Year's Resolution: to learn to fix my own bikes!

BTW, it's only component failure here -- the frame itself is fine (and
made in Taiwan).

Happy Trails in '07!

Edward Dolan wrote:
"Gareth" wrote in message
...

ALL TOP POSTERS ARE IDIOTS!

Can you guys take this off the R.B.M list please?

What the **** for? There is nothing on RBM except a bunch of idiots
blathering away about nothing at all. All cycling newsgroups are equally
stupid. The sooner you learn this, the better.

Regards,

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


If your postings are any example, I'd have to agree.

However, I should have been more specific. Please take this discussion
off rec.bicycles.MARKETPLACE. It is creating a lot of noise, rivaling
the guy posting about M.I.5.

As for your remark about top posting, that is a religious issue, no need
to shout.

wrote:
If I can ride a bike for 4-6 hours I consider it comfortable. My
Lemond road bike and C;dale cross bike fit that bill fine. I have the
bars only slightly below saddle, a Brooks seat and I;m fine. My MTB's
are torture machines and cannot ride for more than an hour before neck
shouler wrist pain start!!



I can ride my uprights all day continously and be comfortable.

The problem is that within two weeks my back will be aching like crazy.
And I am likely one of the few young 'bent-riders around at age 34.

I never had a problem with my wrists or shoulders from upright biking,
though. I do change hand positions for comfort, but no regular problem
has ever developed. It's only my back that's really affected. I agree
that frame geometry and a proper saddle do a lot for comfort on an
upright, and I don't blame bike-riding per se for my bad back -- it
kind of started in childhood and was really messed up in the Army but
upright bikes and even jogging exacerbates it.

My sports doc recommended a 'bent, and that was my excuse to splurge
thousands.

It's been great fun, but getting annoying now with all the break-downs.

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
news:6dSdnZrjUMDqhA_YnZ2dnUVZ_s6onZ2d@prairiewave. com...

"* * Chas" wrote in message
...

"KERRY MONTGOMERY" wrote in message
ink.net...

snip
I've been around bikes for the past 40 years, around this world for 56,
and
in fact can live with upright bicycles.
Kerry

Sniveling, dirty legged kid, 55 and 63 respectively.

I tried riding a bent for a few minutes about 30 years ago and I just
felt
to [too] uncomfortable trying to keep it balanced.

I can appreciate that for some people with physical limitations, a bent
is
the only way that they can enjoy cycling. That's great for them.

Chas.

It has nothing to do with physical limitations. It has everything to do
with
comfort. What an idiot you are!

Regards,

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


Uffda!

Chill out dude and have some more lutefisk and lefse.....

Go ride your 2 wheeled piece of lawn furniture in peace!

Also, learn to follow a thread. My comment was a response to KERRY
MONTGOMERY not YOU.

Chas.

Prisoner at War wrote:
wrote:
If I can ride a bike for 4-6 hours I consider it comfortable. My
Lemond road bike and C;dale cross bike fit that bill fine. I have the
bars only slightly below saddle, a Brooks seat and I;m fine. My MTB's
are torture machines and cannot ride for more than an hour before neck
shouler wrist pain start!!



I can ride my uprights all day continously and be comfortable.

The problem is that within two weeks my back will be aching like crazy.
And I am likely one of the few young 'bent-riders around at age 34.

I never had a problem with my wrists or shoulders from upright biking,
though. I do change hand positions for comfort, but no regular problem
has ever developed. It's only my back that's really affected. I agree
that frame geometry and a proper saddle do a lot for comfort on an
upright, and I don't blame bike-riding per se for my bad back -- it
kind of started in childhood and was really messed up in the Army but
upright bikes and even jogging exacerbates it.

My sports doc recommended a 'bent, and that was my excuse to splurge
thousands.

It's been great fun, but getting annoying now with all the break-downs.

I do better with the sore back issues if I keep up with core muscle
training. I got a pretty sore back on an 8 hour mountain bike ride/race
but part of that is a way to tight left quad. I need to stretch that
muscle more. Massage therapists have said I have tight hamstrings. I
need to a lot more stretching I guess.

My cross bike is more comfortable than my road bike. I need to get a
shorter stem and maybe raise the stem a bit on the road bike. Little
things can make big differences.

"* * Chas" wrote in message
...

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
news:6dSdnZrjUMDqhA_YnZ2dnUVZ_s6onZ2d@prairiewave. com...

"* * Chas" wrote in message
...

"KERRY MONTGOMERY" wrote in message
ink.net...

snip
I've been around bikes for the past 40 years, around this world for
56,
and
in fact can live with upright bicycles.
Kerry

Sniveling, dirty legged kid, 55 and 63 respectively.

I tried riding a bent for a few minutes about 30 years ago and I just
felt
to [too] uncomfortable trying to keep it balanced.

I can appreciate that for some people with physical limitations, a bent
is
the only way that they can enjoy cycling. That's great for them.

Chas.

It has nothing to do with physical limitations. It has everything to do
with
comfort. What an idiot you are!

Regards,

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


Uffda!

Chill out dude and have some more lutefisk and lefse.....

Go ride your 2 wheeled piece of lawn furniture in peace!

Also, learn to follow a thread. My comment was a response to KERRY
MONTGOMERY not YOU.

Chas.

I do suffer from nasal mucus (bad sinuses), but my legs are dirty only
because I never chose to shave 'em, even during the racing years. The only
recumbent I've spent much time on is the one on this web page (it's the one
with large red spoke protectors). I found it a trifle heavy and slow
compared to the uprights I usually ride, but exceptionally easy to balance
;-)
Kerry

"KERRY MONTGOMERY" wrote in message
ink.net...

"* * Chas" wrote in message
...

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
news:6dSdnZrjUMDqhA_YnZ2dnUVZ_s6onZ2d@prairiewave. com...

"* * Chas" wrote in message
...

"KERRY MONTGOMERY" wrote in message
ink.net...

snip
I've been around bikes for the past 40 years, around this world for
56,
and
in fact can live with upright bicycles.
Kerry

Sniveling, dirty legged kid, 55 and 63 respectively.

I tried riding a bent for a few minutes about 30 years ago and I just
felt
to [too] uncomfortable trying to keep it balanced.

I can appreciate that for some people with physical limitations, a
bent
is
the only way that they can enjoy cycling. That's great for them.

Chas.

It has nothing to do with physical limitations. It has everything to do
with
comfort. What an idiot you are!

Regards,

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


Uffda!

Chill out dude and have some more lutefisk and lefse.....

Go ride your 2 wheeled piece of lawn furniture in peace!

Also, learn to follow a thread. My comment was a response to KERRY
MONTGOMERY not YOU.

Chas.

I do suffer from nasal mucus (bad sinuses), but my legs are dirty only
because I never chose to shave 'em, even during the racing years. The
only
recumbent I've spent much time on is the one on this web page (it's the
one
with large red spoke protectors). I found it a trifle heavy and slow
compared to the uprights I usually ride, but exceptionally easy to balance
;-)
Kerry


The famous Irish racer, Patio Furniture..... ;-)

Chas.

Prisoner at War wrote:
Okay, so I've been putting through my HP Velo SMGTe through all kinds
of conditions around town for almost a year now. After all the
potholes, rain, mud, grit, heat and cold I finally managed to really
**** it up Sunday. A chainring got bent slightly, and eventually the
chain itself broke and messed up some drivetrain components in the
process!

I only wonder how folks manage to take this model 'bent on them Third
World tours if I'm having issues with it from simply riding around
town! From the beginning the rear air shock suddenly stopped working.
In another two weeks I managed to shred the top teflon tube somehow.
Then the front disc brake rotor became permanently warped. Then the
back ones. Did I mention the rear mudguard cracking in two? Sunday,
about the whole drivetrain came undone: broken chain, a bent chainring,
the idler spring clamp kaputt. Interestingly, the Thracian wheelset
has held up just fine, AFAIK.


Gremlins. You've got gremlins on your ****.

Something about bents attracts them. Good luck.