Rebel Cycles - How to Ride

There, now that that’s out of the way, we’ll continue on to two-wheel recumbents.

When people look at a recumbent bike, the first thought that usually pops into their heads is that it must be hard to ride. Well, they’re right, to a certain extent. For most first time riders there is a bit of a learning curve. How steep that curve is depends mainly on how much riding experience they already have. In general (but not always), if you can lean into turns and take corners at a reasonable speed, then you’ll probably be able to master a recumbent bicycle pretty fast.

The thing that makes recumbents “more difficult” to ride is something called “body English.” Or rather, the inability to use it as effectively. On a regular bike, you can shift your weight left and right to help keep the bike upright, but on a recumbent you can’t do this as much because of the reclined position. Instead, most of the balance comes from steering input, with only a small amount coming from the body itself. Your entire upper body should stay relaxed at all times, which will help tremendously in promoting a smooth ride. Keep this fact in mind when you ride a recumbent for the first time.

One aspect of riding a recumbent that throws people off (both figuratively and sometimes literally), is how to start. Without touching the ground, it’s nearly impossible to keep a recumbent upright while you’re not moving (see Body English, above). So, when you first start up it’s important to get both legs up on the pedals and moving the bike forwards. That’s the short answer, here’s a step-by-step:

Sit on the recumbent with both hands on the handle bars, and feet planted flat on the ground.
Ensure that one pedal is as close as possible to your body.
Lift one foot to the pedal closest to your body, keeping the bike upright with the other foot.
At the same time that you give the pedal a good kick, push off from the ground with the other foot.
Before the opposite pedal has time to rotate 180 degrees, bring the foot that just kicked off the ground up to meet it.
Immediately start pedaling normally, with both feet on the pedals
To stop, apply the brakes as you would on a normal bike. However, don’t let your feet touch the ground until you’ve come to almost a complete stop.

And that’s basically how you start. You may want to practice coasting down a gentle hill a few times, but you shouldn’t need to do this very often.

There are a few techniques that you must be aware of, that will make riding much easier. First of all, you must keep your upper body relaxed at all times. If your torso and arms are stiff, then the motion of pedaling will be transferred into the handle bars, causing the bike to weave and generally become unstable. Remember, balance on a recumbent is heavily dependent on steering, so it’s important to keep your arms relaxed and your grip on the handle bars light.

On a regular bike, you may be used to “mashing” the pedals, or pedaling with a lot of force. You can certainly do this on a recumbent, but it’s not a good idea (it’s not a good idea on regular bike, for that matter). Not only will mashing negatively affect your balance, but there is also a chance of doing damage to your knees. On a regular bike you can only exert as much force on your knees as what your body weighs, but on a recumbent you can push much harder, because of the large seat back.

Instead, try a technique called “spinning.” This is the opposite of mashing; the idea is to spin the pedals at a higher cadence, typically around 90 rpm. Not only is this a more efficient pedaling technique, it will also save your knees from damage. Spinning is also an excellent cardio-vascular workout, so if you’re riding to lose weight then this is the way to go. Clipless pedals [link] are highly recommended to get an optimum ‘spin’ while riding.

Climbing hills will be tricky to begin with. The biggest obstacle is probably remembering to spin the pedals, rather than mash them. Your new bike has 27 speeds, and the hills are where you must use them! Shift down to a low gear, and just spin those pedals until you’re at the top. Try to maintain a 75-85rpm cadence. With enough riding, you’ll eventually develop the muscles to climb hills with ever increasing speed.

Well, that’s just about all I can tell you. A recumbent bike will brake, shift and pedal the same as a regular bike. Steering will be a little touchy to begin with, but as you learn to relax your arms, everything will smooth out nicely. Take your time, and get to know your new bike. Learn your limits, and get to know the limits of the bike. It will probably take about a hundred miles to get used to how everything works, but after that point you’ll be just as capable as any other recumbent rider.

Good luck, relax, and have fun!

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