As you can see, this is no ordinary bicycle. It is a recumbent, and it is made by a German company HP Velotechnik (http://www.hpvelotechnik.com/). At first glance it looks like if would be a challenge to ride. It is. Until you get used to it. Or so they say. Hopefully the bike should arrive this week (today is the 26th of Feb), so I will be writing up my findings later on.
2006/04/13 update: It has now been about a month since I first turned the pedals on this bike, and I can say that everything I read about it is true. An absolute joy to ride. Read all my comments on the bike in the recumbent category of my blog.
Everything I read about these bikes that eventually lead me to buying one made perfect logical sense.
The heralded merits of recumbents are as follows.
- Less pressure points to irritate. Your body weight is suported by a large seat, meaning that on long rides bottoms, backs, hands, wrists and necks do not get sore. Makes sense.
- Lots of space to store luggage. And the luggage is stored lower than an diamond-framed bike, meaning that handling is barely affected, even when fully loaded (apparently).
- With a fully loaded bike, I doubt this will make much difference, but they have a smaller frontal area, therefore are more aerodynamic than a diamond-frame bike. This could have at least a psychological affect when spending a day or so biking into a head wind accross the deserts of Turkmenistan.
2006/04/13 update: All true.
The 14degrees bike:
| ‘05 HPVelotechnik Street Machine GTe | (ref) | (comment) |
| Aluminium frame | (comment) | |
| Shimano 105/XT drivetrain | ||
| Avid BB7 Mechanical disc brakes | (ref) | (comment) |
| Schwalbe Marathon Plus and Marathon XR tyres | (ref) | (comment) |
| Alex DA-16 rims | (ref) | (comment) |
| DT-Swiss rear suspension | (ref) | (comment) |
| HPVelotechnik aluminium tube racks | (ref) | (comment) |
(the detailed version)
| Part | Piece |
| Frame | HPV GTe Aluminium 7005-T6 |
| Forks | MEKS Carbon AC (ref) |
| Rear shock | DT Swiss SSD 225 (ref) (review) |
| Front derailleur | Shimano 105 (ref) (review) |
| Rear derailleur | Shimano XT (ref) (review) |
| Crankset | Shimano 105 triple 170mm (review) |
| Bottom bracket | Shimano 105 BB-5500 (review) |
| Cassette | Shimano XT 11-34/9 (ref) (review) |
| Rear hub | Shimano XT disc 36 hole (ref) (review) |
| Front hub | Shimano XT disc 36 hole (ref) (review) |
| Rear rim | Alex DA16 26inch 36 hole (ref) |
| Front rim | Alex DA16 20inch (ref) |
| Spokes | DT Swiss 2.0/1.8 (ref) (review) |
| Headset | Ritchey Logic (ref) |
| Chain | SRAM PC 59 9-speed (ref) (review) |
| Shifters | Shimano Dura-Ace bar end (review) |
| Brakes | Avid BB7 mech. disk (ref) (review) |
| Brake levers | Avid FR5 disc (ref) (review) |
| Headset | Ritchey Logic (ref) |
| Seat | HPV Bodylink adjustable (ref) |
| Seat cushion | HPV Airflow cushion |
| Rear rack | HPV hollow alloy rear rack (ref) |
| Underseat rack | HPV hollow alloy lowrider rack (ref) |
