I spent 5 days on Complan recently due to a stubborn bout of diarrhea. Lost 8 lbs without any adverse effects. Not rocket science, but not eating and not cooking leaves a lot of time to be filled. Bored rigid
This is exactly what many use them for. The interesting thing is, once you start using it, you get exercise anyway, as you're still pedalling along, albeit with assistance. It all counts. Even when I'm bowling along at 26mph, I'm still stoking it a bit with my feet.
It makes naff all difference. So little as to be useless and the regen actually is a hindrance on most downhills or coasting.
What about those with knackered knees, then?
You're a plonker.
Have you considered the non-hi-tech approach, i.e. get a tandem?
That would avoid battery problems; you become the battery and motor.
Or is your own fitness not quite up to the task of getting both of you home again? (Mine quite possibly would not be, but as I only have an ex, for me it doesn't matter).
I injured my knee running. The physio recommended the bike to get things back in line and it worked.
You're making a rather sweeping assumption that all knee injuries and damage are the same. It's a hugely complicated joint and goes wrong in many different ways.
Tim
do physios have shares in bicycle factories? I too was recommended a bike, to sort out a foot circulation problem. It worked, but then some idiot motrist knocked be off my bike and had ended up with a badly smashed right arm. I've still got the scars where plates had to be inserted.
I made no such assumption - I merely reported the slightly unexpected advice from the NHS podiatrist which worked. Certainly, I am not overweight and my injury was probably caused by taking a kerb at an awkward angle which seemed to shift the knee cap sideways. " Knackered knees" is not a diagnosis - and is seldom caused by exercise (that's sweeping) - although injuries caused during exercise are a problem. The human body is still in its hunter-gatherer form where running, often long distances, is a designed-in function. That is how we were meant to survive, not by browsing DFS for ever larger sofas.
You made my point - the bike is a useful adjunct to taking exercise.
Of course that will work, for an injury. My electric bicycle was necessary to give me back the range I used to have when my knees weren't knackered by arthritis (brought on by years of injury and exposure). I can now cycle 30 miles again. The result for my knees has been beneficial too, as the gentle non-stressful movement engendered by electrical assistance has definitely improved the mobility and ease of motion of said joints.
Don't worry, we don't plan to use them on the roads any more than absolutely necessary,
The other thing she loved about the dutch/german bikes in their native country was the well thought out cycle paths everywhere, proper cycle paths raised/separated from the road, across fields etc, not just a white line painted along the road making it even narrower for motor vehicles like they do over here.
Lots of cycle paths in Scotland.
Ok, i'm now thinking of buying her a half decent quality dutch style bike, then adding lecky assistance later on,
But this powered by pedals thing, i assume that means directly powered by a chain or belt link???
i've been thinking about a recumbent for my self, but f*ck me are they expensive, then i found an ozzie site 'cruzbike' that sells conversion kits to turn a normal Y framed full suspension MTB into a front drive recumbent style thing,
I am not keen on the front drive part, especially as your legs have to turn with the steering, something i know i will struggle with even without arthritis.
But it's shown me it's not that hard to convert a normal bike into a recumbent style, and i was thinking that rather than fanny about with driving the front wheel, needing adaptors to allow the rear wheel to fit the front forks and all that, i'd weld on a downtube cut from a spare bike to the headstock of the bike, giving me a bottom bracket to mount the pedal crank in sticking out in front of the bike, then faff about running a bloody long chain between the back wheel and front crank.
then i thought about adding electric assistance with a hub motor, and thought of another way to transmit the drive from the front mounted pedals to the rear wheel.... electricity,
Mount a motor to the front crank, hub motor rear wheel, bit of cable between the 2, turning the pedals turns the motor working as a generator, which powers and turns the hub motor,
I know there'd be losses to faff about with, and most likely a box of electronics to control the motor, stop the hub motor powering the crank motor etc, and it probably wont work anyway,
but i was wondering if it's a non starter because it wouldn't be classed as a bicycle if there's no physical link between the pedals and drive wheel, (i could always leave the pedals and chain etc connected from when it was an upright bike, even if they can't be used when sat on the recumbent laid back seat?)
absolutely necessary,
Compared to what? Near where I live lots of crap cycle paths, a few good ones. More than in the rest of the country? I don't know.
Tim
And then think about driving in traffic lying on your back steering with your hands behind you. I doubt your cycling idyll will last long in that position - go back to basics, buy an ordinary bike and ride about. It is much more fun to do it than to talk/fantasise about it, like sex.
There are at least two people round here who regularly commute on their recumbent - and they don't half manage a lick with muscles only.
Partner, however, has muscle issues which mean that a recumbent is appealing in lots of ways and an ordinary bike is out of the question - but she would need electric to be sure of being able to return home, as well as it being desirable for enhanced speed (compared to what she could manage).
However, other traffic is a real issue both perceived and real. The two mentioned have some sort of flag pole thingy which makes them more visible, but not enough in my view.
Holland is starting to have considerable appeal...
Odd this discussion isn't happening in uk.rec.cycling.moderated where the delights of recumbents are a regular feature. That group is admittedly more for mamils. I have cycled down Princes Street in a procession of bikes in which the recumbent was the last - quite terrifying to watch, surrounded by double-decker buses.
Lots compared to a few. The Scottish Government spent a fair bit on grants to Sustrans to build many of (of a lot or a few) them.
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