GamblerGORD53

I've seen most of these odd wheels around, row bike and all. There's 2 guys on Penny Farthings doing regular rides around. One of them was a ride along marshal for the marathoners run day a couple weeks ago. One old guy had a low rider no crank contraption.
A 3 yo kid on a strider made the national news this week, on a BMX dirt track. Dad says he gets to accompany him around the track too.
That treadmill bike has twin boat anchor roller brakes for the lose lose. LOL.
Looking at commuter routes this week a couple times, there were fewer walmart BSOs than there used to be. Half were women.

Hank McMauser

Years ago I would ride the Cuyahoga trail with my brother, he always claimed he didn't need a better bike than his yard sale huffy mountain bike that weighed in at 40+ pounds , for if he upgraded to a lighter more efficient design he would then lose a lot of the health benefits of pedaling harder. I didn't argue with him we were both enjoying the hell out of it.

tomato coupe

I heard Rene Herse is going to start building those.

SkinGriz

Best comment ever.

Jan will write some flowery piece about it’s Q Factor.

Grant will gush that it’s steel.

And with lacking the 2 triangles of a diamond frame (The loading mostly in compression or tension), Russ will call it supple.

SkinGriz

Penny farthings are at least visually interesting.
Everything else?

SkinGriz

The conundrum of modern first world life.
The vast majority of us don’t do physically strenuous labor. Then some go out of their way to put physical exertion back in their lives. A few of those get really stupid with it.

ofajen

I have a friend who is very tall (at least 6’ 10”) and he used to run and walk regularly but he has long had back problems and eventually neither running nor biking worked well for him.

Now he is one of several folks I see using an Elliptigo or other elliptical on our Katy Trail. That trail is relatively flat and straight and well suited to the less-than-nimble elliptical.

Last time I passed him up he commented that he was gathering all the headwind, which you can well imagine with someone his height on a standing bike. 😊

Otto

David_Harris

There are ability adaptive ‘bents that use hand/arm power. Suppose some of them could be considered “rowing bikes” if you squint hard enough.

Broctoon

Hand cycles are legit, not silly. A bike with the crank and pedals replaced by a mechanism similar to an elliptical trainer… that’s silly.

David_Harris

Didn’t say it was silly - just that if you want to look at a cycle that is a “rowing bike”, those have already been marketed.

cooker

Commuting often involves traffic lights and stop signs, and they're not all conveniently placed at the top of a hill. So you have to repeatedly brake and waste some of your earlier effort, and repeatedly accelerate back up to speed, sometimes against gravity, so the mass of the bike will have an impact.

My commute is slower on my heavier bike, even though the two have similar tire pressure and body position. And a long down hill section is messed up with construction and blockages, so I don't get extra coasting benefit on the beast.

cooker

That's pretty much the definition of a stationary bike.

cooker

Which is exactly what she's doing .

ofajen

Really? So for someone to use a hand cycle as an adaptive cycle is ok, but someone who has back issues and can’t ride a seated bike, using an elliptical as an adaptive cycle is somehow “silly”? What if it’s a standup bike with round cranks and no saddle? Is that somehow “not silly”?

I’ve used an elliptical trainer for more than an hour many times. I’ve ridden out of the saddle for sixty straight minutes a handful of times and it was very strenuous on my feet. I can see the preference for elliptical on a standing bike.

Otto

Broctoon

Correct.

Find a bike with geometry that your back can handle. Or use an indoor elliptical. Bikes are bikes, ellipticals are ellipticals, and trying to merge them into one is dumb. A tadpole recumbent is already different enough. It's in its own category. It kind of has more in common with a wheelchair than a conventional bike.

I'm not saying you shouldn't be allowed to use these things; you can ride whatever bizarre contraption you want. Just don't ask me to go along with it as a good idea.

ofajen

Noted. We can agree to disagree on this one.

Otto

Chinghis

On the annual July 4th ride up Glendora Mountain Road this year on my almost-antique StumpJumper, a guy says to me as he passes, "Mad respect, you're working harder up here than all of us."

At the time, I puffed up a little bit. But then I thought about it and realized that I was probably working as hard as I would have on my road bike - I just would have been faster and farther up the hill. So, I don't think you get a better workout, just more of it.