# arm powered recumbent



## shimano (1 Aug 2008)

saw the most amazing (to me anyway) recumbent yesterday - the guy was about 6 inches off the ground with his legs straight out in front and powering this bike (trike?) with his arms. I'm guessing he was disabled somehow but it looked fantastic - his power came from rotating each arm in a shoulder width rotation (not a hand crank between his knees) I couldn't really see much detail as he was past me and off up a hill (!) before I could see much. It was in Edinburgh near D'Mains so if anyone knows anymore about this guy please pass on my respects.


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## mickle (1 Aug 2008)

Sfunny, I saw a guy riding a low hand crank yesterday too. In Stourbridge W midlands. Gets about doesn't he?


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## zimzum42 (1 Aug 2008)

You can rent these in one of the beach parks in Singapore.

Look quite cool, but I reckon you're buggered for the hills.....


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## Riding in Circles (1 Aug 2008)




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## mickle (1 Aug 2008)

Catrike UK said:


>



Nice! Would those discs fit my Speedy?


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## Night Train (1 Aug 2008)

shimano said:


> saw the most amazing (to me anyway) recumbent yesterday - the guy was about 6 inches off the ground with his legs straight out in front and powering this bike (trike?) with his arms. I'm guessing he was disabled somehow but it looked fantastic - his power came from rotating each arm in a shoulder width rotation (not a hand crank between his knees) I couldn't really see much detail as he was past me and off up a hill (!) before I could see much. It was in Edinburgh near D'Mains so if anyone knows anymore about this guy please pass on my respects.


That sounds like a rowing action to me, could be quite effective.


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## domtyler (1 Aug 2008)

I saw that guy cruising the beaches in Playa de las Américas last year, looked like he was totally paralysed from the waist down.


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## Arch (1 Aug 2008)

Night Train said:


> That sounds like a rowing action to me, could be quite effective.



I think he just means the standard handcycle round and round action, like those you and I were minding at the Get Cycling Show, only on a really recumbent handcycle as opposed to a wheelchair with hand cycle attachment.

We did review a rowing action trike a little while back, in Velo Vision. The one drawback is that a flexible bar for pulling on in a rowing style, means that steering becomes more complicated, which led to some interesting trike/ditch interfaces...

There's also a chap on the VV forum who was told no pedalling for a few months, by his doctor (leg injury) and was so miserable at the thought that he hired a handcycle to commute - 8 or 9 miles. Which is pretty hardcore for a cyclist normally used to using their legs...


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## byegad (1 Aug 2008)

I've seen a couple of guys racing hand powered trikes at BHPC meetings, they keep up with quiet a lot of leg powered HPVs and beat some too .


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## Arch (1 Aug 2008)

byegad said:


> I've seen a couple of guys racing hand powered trikes at BHPC meetings, they keep up with quiet a lot of leg powered HPVs and beat some too .



I'm sure a fit handcyclist would beat me on my trike, easy!

I wonder where the balance lies. I mean, you can be an out and out cyclist, with legs like chiselled tree trunks, or a handcyclist with enormous upper body strength, but can you have both? (I don't mean to use arms and legs at the same time, I know that has limited gains in power), but could you be equally as good as the best of either, but at both (whichever you happened to do on a given occasion)? Or would you necessarily become a compromise.

Does that make sense? I know what I mean, but it's hard to put in words!

I guess rowers are to some extent a compromise, as they use their legs as well as arms, but I'm thinking of a cycling motion, not a rowing one.


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## Night Train (1 Aug 2008)

I wonder if it is possible to use both arms and legs together in some sort of geared and coordinated way to get maximum power output?


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## BentMikey (1 Aug 2008)

Night Train said:


> I wonder if it is possible to use both arms and legs together in some sort of geared and coordinated way to get maximum power output?



Why would this boost power output? There's a reason the fastest bikes (std or HPV) only use leg power.


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## byegad (1 Aug 2008)

Night Train said:


> I wonder if it is possible to use both arms and legs together in some sort of geared and coordinated way to get maximum power output?



Over a very short distance this is possible. AND keeps getting re-invented! 

However ANY reasonably fit (or better condition) cyclist can produce so much power from their legs alone as to put themselves into oxygen deficit. 
I [an overweight, over 55 year old, experienced (5000 miles a year) leisure cyclist] can do it in a VERY few yards up a steep hill for instance.

This is also true of professional (Tour de France type) on riders on an hors categorie climb. 

That said, the quad powered cycle is, as I said, re-invented every few years. 

The only one to have lasted more than a few months is the row bike. If you look at a true rowing action, replicated on the row bike, it seems to use arms, and legs very efficiently, but I think it is always going to be a minority niche of the cycling world. For the rest of us it is not worth the extra mechanical drag and weight involved in supplying the means to use four limbs.


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## Night Train (4 Aug 2008)

I suppose it makes sense that there is only so much energy available and that if it is already being used efficiently then there is little to be gained by added complexity.


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## byegad (4 Aug 2008)

It's all about oxygen take up and lactic acid in the muscles. If you think about it we evolved to run away from hunting animals and after prey. Running being the way of covering as much ground as possible. When you look at a Human Powered Vehicle the legs are an obvious first choice.


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## Arch (5 Aug 2008)

Night Train said:


> I suppose it makes sense that there is only so much energy available and that if it is already being used efficiently then there is little to be gained by added complexity.



Just think - you have a battery and a light bulb. Add another light bulb, and you get some more light, but the battery runs out quicker...


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## byegad (21 Aug 2008)

Here's a picture of three arm powered riders with a leg powered trike in close company. They were doing bit and bit for almost the whole race!


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## Arch (21 Aug 2008)

Nice pic! Taken at Bentwaters? I gather the Brits did well there last weekend...


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## Hoolie (22 Aug 2008)

*Yes, it is possible to use both your arms and legs!*



Night Train said:


> I wonder if it is possible to use both arms and legs together in some sort of geared and coordinated way to get maximum power output?



Check out the trike I ride, the "Rowcumbent" by Beanzbikes. You pedal like a conventional bike and row with your arms as an assist. You don't have to use your arms, but when you do you get a great full body workout and burn twice as many calories. This recumbent trike is so stable and fun to ride, plus the added arm power makes the hills easier. It also works for some physically challenged riders. I met another owner of a "Rowcumbent" and they had Polio as a child, so their legs are weaker. The added arm power lets them get out on the road and ride.


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## byegad (22 Aug 2008)

Yes indeed, not my picture so Shh!


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## Andy in Sig (26 Aug 2008)

I saw a bloke on a "rowing" bike (not trike) in Hyde Park on Friday morning. He was on one of those high, chopper style recumbents where your feet are lower than your bum.


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## ColinJ (26 Aug 2008)

When I was doing the Fleet Moss Randonee in 2006, I stopped for a drink at the top of Fleet Moss. Those of you who know the 25% climb up from Hawes in Wensleydale will understand why I needed to catch my breath !

I was admiring the scenery down the other side towards Wharfedale, when I spotted a group of riders on hand-cranked recumbents coming up towards me. It was a pretty humbling sight - take a look at the profile of the hill that they'd just climbed...







I am not worthy!


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## Riding in Circles (26 Aug 2008)

Andy in Sig said:


> I saw a bloke on a "rowing" bike (not trike) in Hyde Park on Friday morning. He was on one of those high, chopper style recumbents where your feet are lower than your bum.



I saw a chap on one of those when I was cycling in Essex once last year, he whizzed past me on a corner and fell off and I ran over him on the trike, luckily it was just hurt pride for him and we had a laugh about it, when he passed me I was so amazed at the contraption that I did not brake when he fell off until to late, he said that when he saw me he was determined to pass me and overcooked the corner, ah the joys of not racing.


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