Hi TT,
Have done 1000K so far
Hi TT,
Have done 1000K so far but it is not my favourite bike to ride, it is heavy and cumbersome to maneuverer and the handling is scary especially on fast descents, the thing won't turn when you want it to and won't go straight when you have a narrow path. But it is fast! Handles the a sea breeze gusting to 45KPH with relate ease and when I dare a fast powered decent I have easily exceed my 65 KPH limit on the DF racing bike (won't say how fast I went cause someone would kill me)
Part of this has to do with riding a short wheel base recumbent and part of this is because it is a MBB bicycle. Your mass is now much closer to the front wheel than you are used to for an upright bike. This makes the steering feel twitchy compared to a regular DF or long wheel base recumbent. Being a moving bottom bracket (MBB) bike means that when you are trying to steer, your feet are now entering into the equation.
For new riders, I'll tell them that if they feel like the bike is out of control to take their feet off of the pedals so that the arms can take over. If you have 1,000 km on the bike, then you are probably well past this point. For more experienced riders, I suggest clipping into the pedals. This gave me a lot more control over the bike and I really don't like riding not clipped in.
On my metric century ride last year, there was a humongous hill (that was a real b{#%^ to climb) that had a steep, long good visibility decent. I hit just over 42 mph (68 kph) on this hill (I stopped pedaling at 35 mph) and it felt extremely secure to me. This was a straight decent and wouldn't have like to been slaloming at that speed (or, falling over
), but I was happy how the bike was handling (I've got a Sofrider which is very similar to your bike).
Cheers,
Charles
p.s. I pretty much only ride the Sofrider. If you are switching back and forth between different bikes can make it more difficult to get use to a MBB bike.