Honestly, how difficult are recumbent bicycles to learn?

I can ride an upright bike well. I was reading on Wikipedia about recumbent bikes, and they said that they take an amazing amount of balance skill to master in order to start and stop properly, stating that it may be several years before you get comfortable on them.

However, other websites and bike dealerships say that it takes anywhere from two hours to two weeks to be able to ride them at an okay level and be comfortable with them (even if at a lower skill/strength level due to the different feel/muscles involved).

So, honestly, are recumbent that hard to ride, or can you get used to them pretty quick? Do you need any professional training to get used to them?

Contributions from those experienced in the transition from upright to recumbent are greatly welcomed!

No, not hard, just different.
I have a Cycle Genius (Falcon)
The biggest problem is you want to oversteer
when starting.
Just set back and relax.
They do not climb hills as well as a regular bike.
You can not stand up and pump.
My recumbent is a LWB.
I have heard the SWB is harder.
I have about 75 miles on mine.
I would say a week of riding (5 miles a day)
The LWB is not as good on sharp corners.
More like a Semi truck.
I love my LWB Recumbent.

Check out:

www.bicycleman.com

You know, the problem with Wikepedia is that anyone can write just about any nonsense they want on it.

If you know how to ride a bike, then it should take you roughly 5 minutes to learn how to ride a recumbent. "Amazing amount of balance skill"--my a**!

As far as how much time it takes for you to get comfortable on them? Well, to me, that's kind of like asking how long it took you to get comfortable sitting on a chair, because that's pretty much it. Recumbents are actually rather comfy!--and a whole lot more comfortable than uprights.

I actually have a side-by-side recumbent tandem--which I ride with my mom who has no problem riding it--she's in her 70s. OK, so a regular recumbent is a little different, but really, not that much.

My husband and I go bike touring and although we're currently riding uprights, we've been running into quite a few older retired couples riding their recumbents cross country (meaning California to New York). Why recumbents? Because they're far easier on your back, arms, legs, and oh, they go a whole lot faster! Maintaining a speed of 30 miles per hour is realistic on a recumbent--in total comfort.

If people in their 70s can learn to ride them with great ease, I don't think it should pose much of a challenge for you.

Enjoy!

(Below Copied from a question asked about recumbents several months ago. My response to that question seemed to be what you might be interested in.)

Yes you get in tune to recumbent riding, or at least 80% of people do so rather well, another 10% have some difficulty, and maybe 5% dont get " recumbent legs" or dont want to. I was a 10%'er.

Many folks say that a LWB is easier to get accustomed to. the twitchy steering can be temporarily decreased by putting a wider front tire on the bike and a little lower air pressure, but just for training purposes.

It took me 3 days at 2 hrs a day in a huge parking lot before I felt safe on city streets.
Now I am fine. "Muscle memory" of riding an upright has to be reprogrammed to the bent geometry; on some folks it happens faster.

Starting from a dead stop up steep hills is the hardest.

Go onto some of the 'bent sites like RBR on- line and look for ones that are easy to ride.

HOWEVER, easy to ride initially does not always mean easy to ride forever- heavy long wheel base (lwb's) can be quite difficult to climb hills until you develop your strengthened recumbent leg muscles.

I help out with electric bikes and many 'bent riders end up with a small motor just for climbing hills. Keep this in mind, but dont jump to it right away.

Another thing to try other than the full recumbent, is "semi-recumbents" such as the Giant Revive. Sun also has one, as does Rans and Day 6.

Depending on what you are getting the bike for; some things to be aware of:

small 16" front wheels make for a rough ride on rougher city streets.


20 inch rear wheels have good hill climbing, but are hard to get good speed out of with standard gearing.

Light weight bikes with real strong booms (swb) make for better hill climbers. Lightweight wheels help.

'Bents are rarely as nimble in city situation for dodging traffic, taking sidewalks and driveways. semi bents are better at this but still not quite like a MTB.

'Bents are for some reason seen by traffic much better than uprights.

contact your local bike club, or the big one for the state, and ask for some advise from their recumbent riders.

Plan on how you are going to transport the bike. Real long LWB's can be problematic on small cars.

good luck

While it can take several miles of riding to become proficient, the average cyclist can comfortably ride most recumbents within minutes of getting a feel for it. My recumbent, a Vision R40 is a short wheel base (SWB) with under-seat steering (USS). I have read on many a forum that both factors increase the learning curve and the combination of the two greatly increases the difficulty. For me the biggest challenge was overcoming the fear I had from what I read. Now with maybe 200 miles on this particular bike, I am able to ride confidently anywhere I would ride a diamond frame road bike and I can tell my performance and proficiency has already improved.

I had one. The CG was lower so everything happened much faster. It was no fun to ride so I gave up after a lot of miles and getting dropped by all my riding buddies. Too slow on hills and although theoretically faster they are not faster in reality.

If you have any riding skill at all, you'll take to a bent like a duck to water. Start your search at a recumbent shop, where the dealer has multiple kinds of recumbents, swb/lwb/clwb/tadpole&delta trikes, and is willing to let you test the bikes to your hearts content.

Once you hop on a bent, that smile that hits your face is called the recumbent grin!.;-)

Google Hostel Shoppe as an exapmple of a good shop with lots of bike choices, and then go to the site and see how many different types of bents there are. This particular shop has a test track right out the door....

Recumbent two wheeled bikes, can have a feeling referred to as recumbent wobble. That goes away fairly quick. The geometry of the bike causes this affect, but experience riding the bike makes it go away fairly quickly.... Like suggested, learn what it takes to ride your bike on a wide area such as a school parking lot before going out to ride trails or streets.

Speeds you can average, well that depends on the motor, and that is you!... The real difficulty with recumbents, is owning just one!.....