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Introduction: Bicycle Design
Why Upright Bikes?
Why Recumbents Cost More
Types of Recumbents
Seat Height
Handlebars
How Much To Spend?
The Importance of Wheels
Types of Wheels
The Importance of Weight
Frame Materials
Frame Alignment
Parts, Derailleurs etc
Brakes
Suspension
Are Recumbents Invisible?
Acclimatizing to a Recumbent
Hills on a Recumbent
Clip-On Pedals
Racks & Mudguards
Bicycle Trailers
Trikes
How to Ride a Tandem
Credit Card Touring
Information Sources
Vancouver, British Columbia
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Why Are There Upright Bicycles?

Upright bicycles work very well. They are just a bit slow and uncomfortable. There are a combination of reasons to explain why everyone does not yet own a recumbent bicycle.

In wealthy industrialized countries, where most technological innovation in bicycle design has taken place, bicycles have been considered to be more of a discretionary consumer purchase or a children’s toy. Until recently, most bicycles were purchased for occasional recreational use and very few demands were placed on them because those bicycles spent most of their time collecting dust.

Today there are large numbers of people in wealthy countries who are using bicycles for more serious purposes such as transportation and touring. More and more people are riding to work and more are taking bicycle tours over large distances. Purely recreational cycling is also being taken a lot more seriously. Bicycle purchasers are now demanding technical innovation such as the recumbent cycling position. We are now seeing, for the first time, the recumbent bicycle making significant inroads into the mainstream bicycle market.

Although upright racing bicycles have little purpose other than bicycle racing, the upright racing bicycle has, to a certain extent, been driving the supply and demand for all bicycles. People have been buying what they see bicycle racers using.

Upright racing bicycles have little clearance for mudguards and a pannier rack and their handlebars are too low for most transportation and touring. Racing bicycles have skinny tires that are impractical for everyday use and short wheelbases and steep steering that are not useful for general riding. The best upright road bike for most people is actually a long-wheelbase touring bike with braze-ons for attaching mudguards and racks. The useful upright bicycle is most comfortable with dropped handlebars that adjust upwards to a practical position.

Most people do not realize that it is the strict rules of the sport of bicycle racing that determine what bicycle racers ride. If there were no bicycle racing rules, all bicycle racers would have been riding recumbent bicycles a long time ago. In 1935 the Union Cycliste Internationale banned the record-setting Mochet recumbent from competition after about 1000 of the bikes were sold. There was even concern at the time that the "Velo Horizontale" would make the diamond-frame bicycle obsolete.

In 2001 on a flat course near Battle Mountain, Nevada, Sam Whittingham, a Category 1 upright bike racer from Victoria, British Columbia reached 80 mph on a Varna recumbent bicycle designed by Georgi Georgiev.

Recumbent bicycles and many other speed-enhancing innovations are not allowed by the governing body of professional bicycle racing. Bicycle racing is a sport that is steeped in a glorious tradition that does not require that racers reach blinding speeds by utilizing recumbent bicycles. Part of the romance and allure of professional bicycle racing is the traditional nature of the equipment and the incredible suffering and sacrifice that surrounds the racer.

The Tour de France is arguably the toughest professional sporting event in the world. Professional bicycle racers push themselves to the absolute physical and mental limits of human endurance and pain. While we should admire the upright bicycle racer, we should not admire his equipment. We are free to buy whatever bike we like and there are compelling reasons that most of us should purchase a bicycle that is not used as an instrument of needless suffering in the interests of professional sport. As long as we are not competing in an upright bicycle race, we are free to ride recumbents.

The upright bicycle compromises rider comfort and aerodynamics to achieve structural and mechanical minimalization. The combination of mechanical efficiency, a small number of parts and the low manufacturing cost of upright bicycles is unmatched by any other form of transportation, except the recumbent bicycle.