Hi
@gaspi101,
Sorry I am a little late to this thread as I have been a bit busy to catchup on here lately. I thought I would chime in as you seem in a similar situation to me about 18 months ago. I have ridden road bikes regularly since my early 30s and I am 49 now. I have done club level racing up to cat 1, and plenty of riding in fast bunches. My lower back got to the point that I was not enjoying my road bike anymore as I could only ride for about an hour before the pain became unbearable. So I found myself in a similar situation to you about 18 months ago. I test rode a few RWD recumbents (performance oriented so fairly reclined), and picked them up quickly like you. I liked the idea of a V20 as it used the same components as my road bikes so I could run my wheels/groupset etc. on it. I bit the bullet and got one taking the risk of whether it would work for me.
Maybe I was lucky, but I picked it up pretty quick. I was riding my normal bike path (avoiding busy roads) within a couple weeks, and my normal roads within a month or so. My good road bike is a Specialized Venge which is a pretty fast road bike, so I had a bit of a need for speed, and also good wheels and groupset. Needless to say, my V20 now runs Ultegra DI2 11X2 groupset, some narrow road bars, a set of 90mm deep fast wheels with tubeless tyres etc.
These days I ride both my DF and the V20. I have found that the V20 is great on the fast roads, but not so great on the hills around me (I live in Sydney and most of rides have 1000m elevation per 100km, so itS fairly hilly where I live). By using my DF only on the hilly rides, I am not bent over in the drops as much, and also less frequently on the DF bike, so my back is coping a bit better on the DF. The V20 rides I do also have some hills to get to the flat roads, but then are mainly rolling hills/flat, and it is fast!! I can cruise at 40kph (25mph) at about 180W which I can do for hours. Here is a ride I just did in my lunch break on it:
https://www.strava.com/activities/7794172449 . The middle bit is pretty quick, but I have hills to get to/from my house.
Here are my observations of the V20 from a serious road bike rider:
* It is very fast on flat roads... anywhere you were going >30kph on a road bike, you will be going 5-10kph faster on the V20.
* It is also very fast on rolling hills where you are not climbing for longer than a minute. Longer steeper climbs are harder and slower than DF.
* Really steep climbs are tough (>10%). It is much less stable than DF and wheel slip is an issue. I can't stay in the full reclined position and it is just hard! On the DF steep stuff is hard but much more managable. There are some riding loops near me I won't do on the V20 as the have >15%.
* Medium steep climbs are OK for stability, but they are tough just because you can't stand up and move around to mix up the muscle use.
* Less steep climbs are OK, and probably as quick as the DF up to about 3% for me.
* The v20 is very fast through a corner, but you have to commit to it early, and difficult to adjust mid corner. This makes me back off more than DF on blind corners as I cannot see a car coming. On the DF I can adjust my line if I need to.
* Clipping in and getting going is not as easy as DF. Fairly easy on flat roads. Worse on hills. I find I have to pull myself forward to get going, and it gets tiring doing this with lots of traffic lights. I tend to try to do my V20 rides on roads without much interruption. On the DF I don;t even think about clipping in and don't need to pull my body forward to get going.
* The V20 is very compatible with road bike stuff. I have used all my road bike stuff on my V20... from wheels/groupset, shoes, power meters, cycling kit, helmets. I think the V20 is probably the Bent that is closest to road bike. Bib knicks work fine. The padding does nothing, but causes no issue for me. I where the same everything and can get dressed and go out to my garage and select which bike I will use.
* I don't intentionally ride my V20 with other DF riders. Sometimes I get into a dice with one because we met out on the road. Where I live is hilly, and in a bunch I would be fast on the down hills and slow on the up hills. If it was flatter, I would consider it, but I know my mates will cruise on the down hill and then hit it up the hill to drop me, and then they will roll turns at 25-30mph to make sure I don't get back!! I ride the DF for my bunch rides. Local bunchs near me can easily do 45+kph if motivated to do so.
* The V20 is very easy on my back... I can ride for hours and have done up to 200km on it. But long endurance rides is not my thing. I prefer 1-2 hour big efforts.
* Training routines are the same as what I have always done on the DF... the body works the same!!
* I am about 15% down on power on the V20 compared to my DF. I think it is a combo of just not have as much strength in the reclined position, and the fact I cannot adjust my muscle usage by moving around like I do on the DF. This is the one of the reasons I am slower climbing, but the aero efficiency more than makes up for the power loss when going fast.
I think you are heading in the right direction with the V20C. It is similar to my V20. I expect you will have a similar experience to myself.
Cheers!