This recumbent racing bicycle

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NoDivergence@reddit

Obree for all his genius got rekt that year

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Old_Mousse_5673@reddit

Yeah he chose that style (Prone) as technically it’s meant to be the most aero. I think the main issue is it’s not the most optimal for power delivery

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pjakma@reddit

I suspect that system of delivering power to the chain rings is not very efficient either.

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Old_Mousse_5673@reddit

Yeah you’d think they’d be a few watts lost in all that

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More than a few. To start off with that push-tube assembly was not very stiff - you could see it was just a little rickety in the videos. Then that pushing mechanism itself - I doubt that was efficient. At a minimum, it's different from the usual circular pedalling motion, and you can't rely on the decades of neuromuscular adaptations - surely a few tens of watts lost just their.

Etc., etc. He still got up to some speed on it though!

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GhostPepperDaddy@reddit

Watt lost just their what? Cap? Life's savings? You're holding us in suspense.

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pjakma@reddit

haha. :) Sorry, should be "Watts lost there" not "their". ;)

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bajajoaquin@reddit

I didn’t see this comment or group of comments before responding. But I remember him being very gracious about his lack of success with his bike. He went out on a competitors bike and set a UK record

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ScottaHemi@reddit

I don't think that's recumbent as he's laying forward not leaned back.

but it is indeed quite weird.

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MilleniumPelican@reddit

ventral recumbent (lying face down). dorsal recumbent (lying on the back)

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tomato432@reddit

the types are recumbent and prone

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MilleniumPelican@reddit

See, the first thing I thought was "that's prone" when I saw the pic, but I was wondering if prone was the correct term, so I looked up "recumbent" and definition for "recumbent" included the 2 variants I posted.

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Gone_Fission@reddit

So a recumbent bike (where your seated with legs out) isn't truly recumbent? More of a reclined or repose bike? Maybe lounge?

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MilleniumPelican@reddit

It's literally dorsal recumbent. The seated position has your back to the ground, albeit at an angle. Dorsal=back. The adjective modifies, not negates. A black BEAR is still a BEAR, and so is a brown BEAR.

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tomato432@reddit

no it isn't

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Gone_Fission@reddit

No, I get that's what it's called. I appriciate you adding that to my knowledge bank. But occasionally misnomers work their way into language, like how a koala bear isn't a bear. The thing I was trying to to point out is that the angle matters at whether or not recumbent is a misnomer. Like this, that's not lying down, that's seated. This definitely is. Both are recumbent bikes by type, that's fine, but some are definitely more recumbent than others.

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MilleniumPelican@reddit

You are objectively wrong. Per the definition, both are equally recumbent. Face-down or face-up. Your brain is married to the concept of "recumbent" only being a sitting position or something. So was mine. That's why I looked it up. So there is no "more" or "less" recumbent.

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Gone_Fission@reddit

Dang, your still missing the point. One more shot, then I give up. Recumbent, as an isolated word, means "lying down". It's how you used it in your initial definitions. Are "seated" and "recumbent" the same thing? No. Synonyms for sure, but they're two different implied anatomical positions. Recumbent bikes are inclusive of riders in either position, and positions inbetween. So recumbent bikes that actually achieve recumbent anatomical positioning (whether ventral or dorsal) are more recumbent (literally, in two different ways, both by bike type and rider positioning) than seated recumbent bikes that are only recumbent by misnomer.

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Confident-Poetry6985@reddit

So a regular bike is neutral recumbent?

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MilleniumPelican@reddit

Nooooo, it's a sitting position, not recumbent. Not everything is recumbent. You really aren't getting this, are you? Doubling down on being confidently incorrect.

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Confident-Poetry6985@reddit

I was doing exactly that. I just thought it was funny that I understood that guys argument. Like there is "sitting" bikes and "laying" bikes. Recumbent, forward or backward. But then you doubled down on his "less recumbent" bike still being recumbent so i just thought it was funny. You got, belly, back, and neutral, and that's it.

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FartVirtuoso@reddit

Reread the comment you replied to. It’s recumbent. It’s a specific type of recumbent.

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mfinn999@reddit

procumbent?

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Orbidorpdorp@reddit

Incumbent.

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doned_mest_up@reddit

Cucumbent.

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UsedState7381@reddit

Cumbent

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Zephyr104@reddit

Bicyclists Cucumbentbatch

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Tiny_Twink@reddit

Precumbent?

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alfalfalfalafel@reddit

Cumbent?

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ComprehensivePin5577@reddit

Cum bending?

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Pooch76@reddit

Refriedcumbent

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josegarrao@reddit

Discombobulent

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MontyVonWaddlebottom@reddit

Can u get Precumbent..??

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CrustyHumdinger@reddit

KOMbent

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ukexpat@reddit

Prostrate…

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DIuvenalis@reddit

Weird, and appears to be a fantastic way to ensure your head and neck bear the full weight of your body in a literally head-on crash.

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boundone@reddit

Just holding your head up like that is going to suck. You wouldn't get very far.

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liberty4now@reddit (OP)

"Recumbent" means lying down, so doesn't it count if it's lying on the stomach? Oh well, too late to change the title.

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DIuvenalis@reddit

Prostrate Bicycle?

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potatopierogie@reddit

Prostate bicycle?

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DIuvenalis@reddit

Exactly what Google kept trying to correct me to...

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potatopierogie@reddit

This is a prostate bicycle (NSFW)

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ScottaHemi@reddit

honeslty not sure. i've never seen a bike like this before so i have no idea what it should be called.

i do like mfinn999's suggestio though

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NottingHillNapolean@reddit

I'm not mechanically inclined enough to figure it out, but does the cyclist just move his feet back and forth, or in a circle?

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liberty4now@reddit (OP)

I think it's more a stepping motion.

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bajajoaquin@reddit

I think that’s Graeme Obree. He had a recumbent he designed for human powered vehicle record racing. The crank system allowed him to just go straight back and forth with his legs and not in circles, keeping his frontal area low. If this is him, it’s without the full faring.

I read his account of the record run and it wasn’t very good. He had great ideas but it turns out that a standard layout with more room to move and breathe is more effective than a theoretical improvement in design. Dude is a legend, though. His innovative approach worked twice before, allowing him to smash the flying mile records.

If I remember correctly, he borrowed a competitor’s bike at the HPV trials and set a record for fastest speed for a a UK rider.

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No_Employer9618@reddit

He better watch his dingus

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Tango91@reddit

Imagine hitting something solid at speed, having your dick ripped off by the ‘seat’ would be the least of your worries

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Myriii1911@reddit

Interesting. Doesn’t look comfortable tho.

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JunkyJuke@reddit

Don’t accidentally drop your chin by an inch. That tire will drag your face right into the wheel. Ouch!

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tokillaworm@reddit

Except the tires rotate forward… not backward.

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JunkyJuke@reddit

Oh you’re right, I had it backwards!

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GoAViking@reddit

No, it's forward

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aphaits@reddit

Judging by the comments above, its recumbentward

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ziplague@reddit

😂

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Antal_Marius@reddit

Nah. It'd be your throat.

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CrustyHumdinger@reddit

Why's (s)he wearing bibs? There's no saddle

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underthebug@reddit

That can't be comfortable.

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MikeHeu@reddit

Weird design, but with the small wheels, long chain and multiple points of transfer of forces and links it wouldn’t be that efficient.

Something like a Cruzbike Vendetta V20c would be much faster and comfortable.

This brings me back 20 years when I owned two recumbent bikes and drove them everything day.

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After_Classroom7809@reddit

Just guessing, I think that this is testing the frame and drivetrain and the finished bike would be a fully faired velocimobile for HPV competition. Looks like attachment points on the frame for the lower half of the fairing, and a cable operated kickstand because the rider can't put an arm or leg out when faired. Plus, the gearing is way high, like 55mph (95kph) high, so it probably needs teammates giving you a push to get started.

Lots of strange compromises in design when aero is so important. All that mechanical inefficiency just to get a smaller cross-sectional area.

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MikeHeu@reddit

You’re probably right. I wonder if there’s a photo available of it with the fairing on.

The worn aero helmet is a bit odd in this instance. You wouldn’t wear it unless you’d be racing, but why would you do that on a naked bike specifically designed for a fairing.

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LetsTalkAboutGuns@reddit

Maybe it’s for the picture. Like a magazine shot that shows “what’s going on in there” for this sport.

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YeetTheElder@reddit

Man I would kill for a vendetta. I've got some spinal issues which mean I'm limited to recumbents and my archaic LWB Linear is fun but kind of slow and shows it's age.

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After_Classroom7809@reddit

It is a still from a movie as far as I can tell. It was discussed back when the movie first came out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/s/ZosdsAdJZg

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