Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 19:18:56 +0100
     To: <hpv@ihpva.org>
   From: ____HPVert Alert____ <ianf@ihpva.org>
Subject: Re: WYMS - Zen of bicycling YEA [hpv] Re: Flevo NEVER

Writes Bill Patterson in regard to my "what's wrong with the Flevo"

>>    if riding a bike has to require ALL of my abilities, incl.
>>    100% mental attention just to keep in balance, then there
>>    is something wrong with the concept.

> It is definitely not a mental exercise to ride. Front wheel drive > is similar to transitioning from a sailing yacht to a sail board. 

Well, I read it as yet another logic proof for what I said: that riding a Flevobike is not for everybody, just as sailing a yacht, let alone a much- harder- to- master sailboard, is not for everybody. Also I do not accept Bill's implicit argument in defense of his FWD, the unique WYMS tandem, to be equally valid for the Flevo. The two may be related in concept, but are two very different bikes where riding characteristics are concerned. (When I say "Flevo" here, I mean it in a generic, FWD-like the Flevo sense, just as I'd say "Vespa" instead of a "scooter.")

For one, the WYMS (which I know as well as can be learned about from snapshots sent to me by Bill, and other sources) has a generous amount of trail and pretty angled steering column, all of which, I suspect, helps him to stabilize it on course. For another the WYMS is not a solo bike, but a tandem, meaning presence of an not inconsiderable, if "petite", mass of the stoker (the "Main Squeeze" in WYMS ;-)) to provide the necessary inertia stabilizing it further when starting from a standstill.

In addition Bill seems to forget, that, as FWD riders go, he's quite an unique fella: a former jet and helicopter pilot, ergo presumably still having enough of the Right Stuff of the Flying by the Seat of the Pants variety. Except that not everybody, actually few, rather than most, people, tend to have these body- control qualities.

Compared to that the Flevo has generous amounts of negative trail, and highly dangerous mass of the "swing frame", the gears and the drivetrain up front. And no easy maintainable center of gravity of rider and bike.

Dangerous, you say; dangerous, how? Well, if I personally know two people, who own a Flevo, one a very advanced recumbent rider, the other then- novice, and both of them suffer the same kind of injury within the first year of their ownership of it, the front of the bike falling over and crushing their ankles (in both cases: leg in cast, steel spikes through the foot, two operations each, moving on crutches for a couple of months, other nasty effects), then I feel entitled to consider it a trend. End of argument. That's how dangerous.

I'd like to point out, I NEED TO SHOUT IT OUT ALL UPPERCASE, that my intention is not to declare the Flevo unfit to be ridden or anything like that; quite the contrary. Having visited the factory, seen it in action on a number of occassions, and admired the challenge-y aspects of it, I admit with a certain sadness, that it is not for me. Just as --I CLAIM-- it is not for the vast majority of potential recumbent converts out there.

Before all you Flevo riders out there start unloading your wrath on me head, just as if this was a religious war or something (well, perhaps it is, a little ;-)), I want you to read, AND REFLECT UPON the following. Then wait 24 hours, then write, if at all.

We, the recumbent riders (here on the HPV mailing list, but also in general) are an elite bunch, the only recumbent advocacy forum there is in this universe (well, this side of Jobst Brandt and his fundamentalist cohorts at least). All the recumbent manufacturers out there are pushing their own products, Flevo included, because that is their meal ticket , diggit? It doesn't necessarily mean that they're right, or that their commercial (or other) success is a proof that they're must be doing something right (e.g. to have unloaded coupla thousand frames over the years or something). Nothing wrong with that. But one has to keep that constantly in mind.

Thus, in "Flevo's" case, I'd like to advance a thought, that

each sold Flevo is a STEP BACKWARDS for the recumbency

(see? I even boxed it for you for E-Z Comprehension[tm] ;-))

The motivation is simple: for various reasons, which we need not go into here, the two-wheeler/ single-track recumbent bike ALREADY has an image of being harder to ride, more difficult to control, maintain balance, more unstable when starting, a vehicle for the handicapped in short. Think how many times each of us riding such has met uncomprehending adults, who reacted with a mixture of disbelief and horror, that one would voluntarily  subject oneself to that kind of body abuse. Think also of all the times, when you were able to explain, and/ or allow a bystander to test- ride it --shakily but safely-- in the parking lot, thus unimpeachably demonstrating, that it isn't at all that strange, only different.

Now exchange that generic recumbent in the parking lot for the specific "Flevo" in the same setting, and start counting the casualties, the Reaffirmed in Their Previous Beliefs Lot. Because I can vouch that for each recumbent- wannabe who CAN mount and ride a Flevo, there will be an army out there of those who will fail miserably on their first and ultimately sole attempt.

Ergo, encounter with a Flevo will strenghten their stereotypes about the unrideable, instable, unsafe recumbents, rather than work to disspell these. Oh, yes, please try to convince me now, that I've gotten it ALL WRONG , these people will come out ALL SMILE  at these damn bikes, which they could not ride, therefore hold them in  p e r p e t u a l   a w e.

So, in a sense, dramatics pared down to a reasonable level, each time someone unconvinced tries and fails to ride a Flevo (if s/he dares to attempt it in the first place) we should consider it a Sad Day  for the recumbency. Because not only does it not advance "our cause," but actually makes it harder still. The recumbent riding position, despite all its advantages, hasn't got it easy. So we need such narrow- appeal, hard to ride bikes like the Flevo like yet another flat in a pourring rain. End of rant.

That is solely why I consider the Flevo to be an, from the advocacy point of view, COUNTERPRODUCTIVE ODDITY at best. And the history will prove me right, when these words will be quoted in 300 years' time in then- equivalent of a PhD disseration on the origins and causes of current craze of nulgravitballet. Anyone want to bet?

__Ian