Silent

What would be the best bicycle type to tour mountainous area's? I always read that recumbents are poor in climbing. I can see how this would be, but at the same time I hear people deny it too. I'ld say a trike is good as no minimum speed has to maintained and no energy is lost in balancing, however a dealer told me that a trike tends too loose traction when it becomes steep probably other biketypes will perform better.

I've not yet learned to ride a recumbent and live in a flat area so it's hard to test properly. Is there someone willing to share their experience about bike types and climbing mountains. What will be better, a traditional bike, a two wheeled recumbent or a delta or tadpole trike? What are the pro's and con's of each bicycle type in climbing mountains?

antokelly

a mountain bike will do the job just fine.
only joking a touring bike with a good range of gears is what you want ,stay away from bents there a killer when the road goes up great on the flat though.

3speed

When you say climbing mountains, you are referring to still being on roads, right? In that case, I don't think the trike is going to lose traction. I still wouldn't take it, though. I'd think it might be a good choice for someone where balancing the bike or needing to take rests were a concern, but I wouldn't want to be taking up the whole lane with a wide trike with cars driving by on narrow mountain pass unless it were necessary.

Regular touring bikes seem to be working out just fine for a lot of folks for a very long time.

zonatandem

Triple chainrings and an 11/34 cassette will get you up most mountains/hills.
We are ages 80 and 78 and have a tandem with mega gearing; works fine although we ride a bit slower than we used to decades ago.
Have ridden as high as 9,200 ft. elevation and did fine.
Don't know if you consider that to be 'mountainous'.
In the longrun it's the motor (you) that does the work!

mev

My suggestion would be to get a reasonable range of gears as well as bike attributes good for touring, e.g. (1) racks and ways to carry panniers or tow a trailer (2) enough water bottle mounts and other braze ons (3) comfortable saddle and positioning, etc.

If you have a reasonable range of gears, I wouldn't use that to pick your choice of recumbent/trike/standard based on just that. Instead make that choice based on what you like to ride. I've done most of my touring on a standard bike. However, I also own a long wheelbase recumbent. As far as comparing the recumbent on mountains goes - my average speed isn't much different between recumbent or standard bike. I can't get out of the saddle and stand on the recumbent, but then I don't do that one my standard bike much either. The recumbent is heavier and hence a little tougher on lots of short hills. However, with long grades such as found in western US, it is mostly a case of getting in low gear and slowly riding up the mountain. For me, the recumbent is does just as well in that case and also feels at least as stable on the descents.

In summary, my suggestion unless you are going seriously off road, I would base my choice mostly on where you are cycling now - and then make sure I had enough range of gears to handle mountains too. No single right choice here between trike, two wheel recumbent or standard bike - but more figuring what works for you.

Silent

Yes, however on a regular basis this will be dirt roads. Think touring developing countries off the beaten track.


I've toured on a traditional bike for about 20 years. I gave up on it and switched to public transport for 3 main reasons. I felt I had more and more a hard time in the mountains as my fitness level decreased, started to develop saddle pains more quickly and I just felt it got "boring" as I did it for 20 years and wanted something different.

Now however I'm ready to go back to bicycle touring as it has so much more to offer then public transport and looking for a way to overcome the other two issue's. A recumbent (2 or 3 wheeled) seems to be the solution for the comfort and I thought 3 wheeled would be the solution to the climbing issue however when researching I get some different opinions.

The obvious way to solve the mountain issue would be to increase my fitness but I just don't have the time or interest to go biking for 20k km a year again. Alternatively I might choose a folder so it's much easier to take public transport for sections of the trip but I see this more as a way to skip 'boring' parts than to avoid mountains as I love mountain scenery. Also an e-bike might help negotiate the mountains, but these bikes tend to be heavier and more bulky and also introduces the challenge of keeping it charged in the middle of nowhere.

Now I think of it, maybe I should have limited the question to what is better in the mountains (regular dirt roads) a two or a three wheeled recumbent?

MichaelW

Alpine style switchbacks have steep and rapidly changing camber. Trikes respond very poorly to camber.
The best bike for touring in the mountains is the lightest touring bike with the lowest gears that you can fit, carrying the lightest load and the lightest rider.
I found that fitting an MTB chainset to my std touring bike enabled me to ride up the steepest of Alpine ascents.

Rowan

The recumbent forum might be able to give you more insight on how adaptable bents are to dirt/gravel roads.

I remember a journal on Crazy Guy on a Bike by a woman who rode a trike a long way, to Alaska and back from, I think, the East Coast of America. She would have encountered gravel roads along the way. A search for Heidi and recumbent on CGOAB might be useful for you.

The issues are, as I see them: Build of the bike to ensure longevity; availability of things like inner tubes if you use wheel sizes on, say, a trike, that are not common in your destination countries; ease of repair and maintenance (frame and components); and ability to handle steep, rough climbing as well as descending while loaded.

These issues also seem to be as important with a folding bike; the mechanism that allows it to fold is, to me, the weakest link. But climbing and handling with a load are as important in a folder as they on any other bike.

I won't go into frame materials -- that is a religious subject. Except to say that steel may have greater attraction than other materials for its "repairability" in remote regions.

zebede

Wisdom

rodar y rodar

+1 to recumbent subforum or bentrideronline.com

Lots of dirt. She uses her hands for "three wheel drive" mode.
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/direc...r=Heidiho&v=XC

The guy was brave enough to bring up two and three wheeled recumbents on a non-recumbent specific forum, and you warn him that frame materials are a religious subject? Wow.

Rowan

Yes!

And that's the Heidi I was referring to. Gee, now I feel really old referring to a journal created in 2004, having read it as it was posted.