Saturday 10 July 2010

What bike & why?

I plan to ride on a Challenge Fujin SLII. Simply put, this is the best bike I have ever ridden....
This question might break down into 2 parts, however: why a recumbent; & why that recumbent. So I'll answer those one by one.

Why a recumbent
(the short answer)
Because it's more efficient. & why not?
(the long answer)
I got onto cycling as a roadie. Light-weight, Campagnolo-equipped bikes were what I rode & wanted more of. I got exceedingly fit (I was cycling 200+ miles a week), then had a freak accident & broke my wrist quite badly. The thought of not cycling for several weeks drove me mad, so I hit the interwebs. A good number of "Internet Forum People" (© Mark Cavendish) suggested that I try riding a recumbent, which wouldn't put any strain on my wrist at all....
After a few false starts, I found David at Laid Back Bikes in Edinburgh who took the time to teach me the differences and how to deal with them. With David's approach, it only took about 15 mins to get the basics. & how I enjoyed the differences!
After annoying David with numerous test rides & discussions over coffee, whilst still in a stookie, I decided to buy my first recumbent, a Nazca Fuego (you might need to click the flag icon to get it into English), which is a really good all-round bike. It was, however, 15kg. With my roadie head on, I objected to this. It is insanely good on the flat & downhill, but uphill was somewhere I couldn't hide my poor power-to-weight ratio.
So, rather than get fitter, I decided to try to find a proper roadie recumbent....
Simply put, recumbents are faster, more efficient & a lot more fun. They tend to be heavier, which offends my weight weenie instincts, so:

Why this recumbent?
I spent some considerable time trying to find a road-bike recumbent. There's a few of them around: this, this, or this, for example. Having checked out costs, I decided that I'd get a Challenge Fujin SLII. This is one of the few choices I've made that I've never regretted.
What a bike! It has incredible speed & handles amazingly well, it accelerates really quickly, is incredibly aero, is really light.... In short, it does everything that a road bike would want to do, but better.
If you have ridden a recumbent, but not ridden this model, then find your nearest Challenge dealer & ask for a test ride.
If you're still stuck on upright bikes, then find someone to teach you to ride recumbents....

Seriously, this is one hell of a bike!

(I must add that this is entirely my own opinion: there's no commercial interest in this expression at all)

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