Originally Posted by Sincitycycler
I saw some chick riding a recumbent today with her feet way in the air and it looked like one comfortable machine.
What's the history of these machines? Are they faster than roadbikes? Are they for people with back problems? I heard that you can't climb with these contraptions...Enlightenment please!
I believe that a street-worthy road bent (that is, any recumbent that can be ridden safely on the road, not radical lowracers and other extreme record-settings bikes) has a slight advantage over a road bike, simply due to the lower frontal area presented by the rider, and thus lower air resistance.
Due to their slightly higher weight, climbing with a bent can be marginally slower than with a road bike, but that difference is getting smaller and smaller as "serious" bents get lighter and lighter. At any rate, you make it up with a higher top speed than road bikes going downhill, so unless you ride up all the way in a race, you still have an advantage.
Finally, bents don't sap your strenght as fast as roadies do, due to the better seating position. On long rides, again you have the advantage, because you stay fresher longer than roadies.
BUT, and this is the big but, you have to train to get the best of your recumbent. Your leg muscles don't work the same on a road bike and on a bent, and so a roadie won't be as efficient on a bent without putting many miles on it first, and vice-versa. I think this bents-can't-climb myth originates from the experience of roadies who try a bent and get dissappointed, without realizing they need to retrain to get the best of the bent. All that I said above only holds true if you compare a trained roadie to a trained bentist.