Artkansas 

Well, I haven't figured out the bunny hop, but I never bunny hop my upright bikes either. I'm eye to eye with the driver, and it's unique design makes it more likely for them to see me. To avoid potholes and sticks, I merely use my handlebars and maneuver around them. Rapid dismount? I just drop my legs to the pavement and stand up.

cudak888 

Dutch bike/three speed roadster, as Giffen points out. Ideal to train someone uncomfortable with a road bike; once they're comfortable on the roadster, the transition should be quite easy.

-Kurt

kludgefudge

Actually, no, not really, as long as you like riding the road bike and are willing to go through the effort of learning to use it properly.Which you appear to be. I just believe vintage road bikes are a bit harder to master than some others.

kludgefudge

Thats how I got my girlfriend on the bike. Olive drab 1973 raleigh superbe, 3 speed hub, integrated rack and working hub dynamo front light. once she got used to that I got her an old apollo ten speed, She found it a little daunting, but getting generally comfortable with bikes on the raleigh first helped. she likes riding both types of bikes now.

CB HI

Actually, that is a very unsafe bike, as it contributes to thousands of heart attacks each year.

hotbike

I agree. A ladies frame (step-thru) and cargo boxes front and rear.

Leo H.

Well, let's start with the last...why would I want to be able to do a fast dismount, unless I'm riding a fixie? I don't recall doing them when I was younger riding 26" single or 3 speeds.

Potholes, might be an issue, but I make the effort to look where I'm going.

How do I see over cars? I don't mean this to sound snotty, but have you actually seen a recumbent or ridden one in the flesh? A highracer or a 26/20 lwb puts an adult rider no lower than any of us were on our Stingrays and there was never a thought back then that we weren't 'seen' in traffic...just that we didn't look for cars as kids riding in traffic. Let's also consider one of the most common bikes next to a mountain bike, a 20" BMX bike. No one thinks twice about whether a kid is riding a 20" bike in traffic, they seem to be 'noticed' without any issue, but if a 6' tall, 190# adult is riding on a 20 or 26 inch recumbent, he's suddenly 'invisible' to surrounding traffic.

We can quibble about lowracers or trikes, but I have an lwb with 20" tires, bags and a rack. If you can't see me, you're clearly paying too much attention to your texts than your surroundings, but that's partly my job, to look for you doing such stupid things.

I really think my several motorcycle safety courses have given me a very solid set of principles to use in traffic even on a bicycle. Not the be all and end all, but a good foundation. I have no problem with df riders, it's just that, for me, and for how and where I ride, I didn't feel safe or comfortable on one anymore. Actually, I stumbled on to recumbents after looking into velomobiles, which is backwards from how that usually progresses.

Leo H.
Sun Valley, NV

dougmc

Oh yes they do! "What is that kid doing out there, without any adult supervision‽‽‽‽ He could get hurt there in traffic!"
"Can you see potholes?" "Well, yes ..." "Well, I'm much taller and bigger than that!"

Leebo

The question was about the safest bike. The only recumbents I have seen commuting are the low rider types. I know they come in lots of flavors. Who commutes on a bmx bike? Here in the Boston area, there are pot holes and road hazards everywhere, sometimes it is helpful to hop over them, not possible on a bent.

Leebo

And this rapid dismount, its a mountain bike term for endo or OTB. When the bike stops or hits something unmovable, it is sometimes helpful to be able to jump off your pedals. You can then land on your feet or execute a shoulder roll. I have done both. I can't ride a bent, my aero belly isn't big enough and I don't have a beard }

Leo H.

I rarely see any 'bents locally. Most of them have been either EZs like mine or full sized lwbs. That said, there are loads of kids, adolescents and those of adolescent mentality around here who get about on 20inchers, the majority of the cyclists are on a mtb with knobbies that, like 95% of Hummers, have never seen dirt. Of course, a majority of that majority are on bicycles 'coz they've got driver's license issues....

I still stick to the premise that the safest bike is a lwb. I will accept that, in certain parts of the country, road conditions might make them problematic. I lived in Cincinnati for 25 years and there isn't ANY type of bicycle I'd feel safe on commuting in that city, for a myriad reasons.

Leo H.
Sun Valley, NV

rnorris

Sounds like this bike is in good shape and you can learn on it... but you may want to graduate to a bike with a larger frame size once you learn to ride. I ride a 48 and I'm 5'3".

Best wishes and welcome to the two-wheeled world!

mlh122

I'd like to put in a vote for mountain bikes. When I ride my road bike it is definitely faster and smoother, but if i accidentally hit a pothole or a rock or something it can really throw off my control, though I have not wiped out yet because of that. My wife has a flat-bar road bike that is a little more stable if she hits an obstacle. My favorite bike is a hardtail. It isn't as efficient as the road bike by far, but the front shock helps me keep in control if i go up a curb or accidentally hit a rock or stick or something. My wife also has a full-suspension mountain bike, which can basically float over a lot of obstacles, but it is so inefficient it is not fun to ride on the roads. So I vote hardtail with road or hybrid tires. Once you get comfortable with your area and riding ability you might want to upgrade to a road bike, but i still like my hardtail for the option of cutting across fields or rough dirt roads, and the disc brakes help a lot in rain and snow.

Tsuru

If you are a roadie, I say road bike... If you are a roadie and the route sucks, then maybe a cross.

1989Pre 

I have found the road bike to be both the most stable and the most maneuverable, at least on tarmac. It takes high speed corners better than my mountain bike and as far as hybrid bikes go, I will never ride another one.
I rode a Bianchi Boardwalk for a few years in the mid-90's, which is a hybrid. There was some construction up ahead, on the right lanes of a bridge. The cop waved me ahead, so I went out into the (normally opposing) lanes.
When I turned (somewhat hurridly) back to the right side of the road after I was past the construction, the bike slid out from underneath me. The conditions were dry, the road was clean and it was sunny. I was severely scraped up. My road bike (or my mountain bike) would never have done this.
There are several conditions that I ride my mountain bike, instead of my road bike, though; at night (suspension front fork dampens any potholes or bumps I might hit), in wet conditions (I just don't like to get my road bike mucky), when carrying a backpack full of groceries (2.9"-wide tires spread the load out more evenly) and when I anticipate riding on roads that have not been maintained.
I don't know how cruisers perform.

cudak888 

^
Bad tires?

-Kurt

UnsafeAlpine

This really makes no sense. If you turned sharply enough to cause a crash on a hybrid, you would have crashed on any other kind of bike. Sounds like either poor tires or rider error to me. I doubt the style of bike made a difference.

apricissimus 

Why would a rapid dismount be more desirable on a fixed gear than a geared bike?

Tsuru

Popped chain + no brakes??

apricissimus 

Well, I'm of the opinion that a FG without at least a front brake is pretty foolish, so that hadn't occurred to me. But is a dismount at a high rate of speed desirable? Maybe in some situations, I dunno. And maybe at lower speeds it's doable. This has never happened to me, but I think I'd be more inclined to stop using the Fred Flintstone method in most cases.

Tsuru

I was being kinda silly, I have no idea why you'd need to dismount a FG faster. CX, sure, part of the race, right? Maybe for FG tricks? And yeah... no brakes & "foolish" is being kind!

AndrewP

The safest type of bike is one that fits. Otherwise safety depends on how it is ridden rather than the type of bike. Road bikes and folders have a slight advantage in manoeuvrability which can be used to avoid a right hook collision by countersteering.

Sixty Fiver

For beginners a relaxed geometry, set back position, and higher placed bars can really help one learn skills... you can brake harder without as much risk of going otb, steering response will be less twitchy, a higher comfort level will mean you ride more and get in better shape, and wider higher volume tyres will suck up the bumps and won't get stuck in small cracks.

Sounds like a Raleigh Sports or a modern comfort hybrid to me... or a 20 inch folder as these will forgive you for many transgressions.

Although my daughter could ride a 26 inch bike now she prefers her lady's Raleigh Saffron (shopper) with it's 20 inch wheels. high bars, and step through frame as it gives her a great deal of confidence to ride such a stable bike.

Bents are wonderful to ride but there is another learning curve here... I's say my friends cat trike is pretty safe and very easy for anyone to ride but riding a trike won't teach two wheeled skills.

Giffen

I think that road bikes are (relatively) unsafe for several reasons:

1. They are ridden faster. Speed is the most important factor in bicycle safety.
2. The hunched over position decreases visibility.
3. On some road bikes, the brakes are not available in all hand positions.
4. Narrow tires are more prone to wheel diversions. (Is this true?)

mikeybikes

+1