Recumbent Bikes

Because of my injuries I have been looking for a way to start pedaling again without harm my wrists which are still very fragile. I have started with a static recumbent bike but I missed the open air and the wind on my face. Then I started to search for any type of bicycle that do not put pressure under my wrists and I found out recumbent bikes!

Recumbent bikes are bicycles where you stand almost lay down without putting any pressure to your wrists. The back of the rider is supported and the rider's legs extend forward to pedals that are at about the same height as the seat. Steering is made using a handlebar in front of the rider, or under-seat steering using a handlebar under the seat that extends to the sides. The wheels are often smaller and/or farther apart than on an upright bicycle.

They also have the great advantage of reduce the wind resistance as well as being very comfortable. Recumbent hold the world speed record for a bicycle and were banned from international racing in 1934.

This kind of bike it is not very usual here in Portugal but it is very common at countries like US, Germany, Nederland, France, Czech Republic and at many others.

Many people still think that recumbent bikes are just ready for asphalt roads and flatlands. But this could not be more far from the true as you can confirm in the next video.

Recumbent bicycle designs date back to the middle of the 19th century. A couple were patented around 1900 but the early designs were unsuccessful.

Before the shape of the bicycle settled down following Starley's safety bicycle, there was a good deal of experimentation with various arrangements, and this included designs which might be considered recumbent. Although these dated back to the 1860s the first recorded illustration of a recumbent considered as a separate class of bicycle is considered to be in the magazine Fliegende Blätter of September 10 1893. The Challand designs of 1897 and the American Brown of 1901 are both recognizable as forerunners of today's recumbent.

On 1 April 1934, the UCI published a new definition of a racing bicycle that specified how high the bottom bracket could be above the ground, how far it could be in front of the seat and how close it could be to the front wheel. The new definition effectively banned recumbent from UCI events and guaranteed that upright bicycles would not have to compete against recumbent. For all intents and purposes, the ban is still in effect.

The UCI ban on recumbent bicycles and other aerodynamic improvements virtually stopped development of recumbent for four decades. Although recumbent designs continued to crop up over the years they were mainly the work of lone enthusiasts and numbers remained insignificant until the 1970s.

While developments had been made in this fallow period by Paul Rinkowski and others, the fathers of the modern recumbent movement are usually said to be Chester Kyle and particularly David Gordon Wilson of MIT, two engineers working in the USA.

A number of records are recognised, the fastest of which is the "flying 200 m", a distance of 200 m on level ground from a flying start with a maximum allowable tailwind of 1.66 m/s. The current record is 130.36 km/h (81.00 mph), set by Sam Whittingham of Canada on a fully faired Varna Diablo front-wheel-drive recumbent lowracer bicycle. The official record for an upright bicycle under somewhat similar conditions is 82.53 km/h (51.29 mph) set by Jim Glover in 1986 with an English-made Moulton bicycle with a hardshell fairing around him and the bike.

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• AZUB - Made For Having Fun

  Very fun recumbent bikes from Czech Republic. (the ones on the recumbent downhill video)

• Bacchetta bikes

  High standard performance recumbent bikes.

• Bentech bikes

  Build-It-Yourself Recumbent Bike Plans.

• Cycle Genius

  Bikes you want to ride at prices you can afford.

• Ecobent

  Italian manufacturer of very low-cost recumbent bikes (from 495€).

• Linear Recumbents

  Linear recumbents has been making perhaps the most comfortable and relaxing recumbent bicycles available in the America.

• M5 Lightweight

  M5 is established in 1983 and is therefore one of the oldest recumbent companies in the world. (the ones from the World's fastest bicycles video)

• Nazca Ligfietsen

  Very comfortable recumbent bikes from The Netherlands.

• Optima Cycles

  High quality recumbent bikes also from The Netherlands.

• Radius Liegeraeder

  Only in German!

• RANS bikes

  They started to built Sailtrikes in 1974 and they grow to became one of the world leaders in recumbent bike and kit plane industries.

• Rapto bike

  RaptoBike is a young Dutch company that focuses on building qualitative yet affordable and practical recumbent bikes.

• Rotator Recumbent

  Quality recumbents made in California. Several models both in chromoly and Titanium.

• Slyway Projects

  From Italy comes this great project which is guided by a steady and intense passion, a powerful attitude toward innovation, design and quality.

• Toxy

  Designed and manufactured in Germany for your personal comfort.

• Turner Recumbents

  With over 30 years experience in recumbent bicycle manufacturing, Turner it´s now a worldwide known company.

• Varna Bicycles and Tricycles

  Varna also build handcycles which give people with disabilities an opportunity for physical activity, freedom, health and happiness.

• Volae Recumbents

  The future of traveling is here today with the NEW VOLAE ES frames.

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Right now I supose everyone already know what I will be riding in the next few months! I just do not know if I ever will want to seat on a "normal" bicycle again lol.