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From: rh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Randy Haskins)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: Recumbents
Message-ID: <1657@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 22-Apr-84 10:56:42 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.1657
Posted: Sun Apr 22 10:56:42 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 23-Apr-84 07:04:36 EST
References: <391@iuvax.UUCP> <376@ucbvax.UUCP>
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 22

I have an interesting story about recumbents.  About 3 years ago, a Mech
E. friend of mine (you mean you hang out with non-computer people???)
was building a recumbent bike as his thesis.  So in and amidst his
researches, he was given the name of this somewhat radical guy that was
an MIT alum from the 40's or so (this guy drove a Hearse that was beefed
up to about 4 tons, and he used it for some crash tests....) who had
built a recumbent.  The interesting thing about this recumbent, however,
was that it was designed to be ridden BACKWARDS!!!!  Yes, folks, the
steering wheel was the one behind you (I tried riding it the other way,
but rear-wheel steering is highly unstable...), and there was a mirror
mounted over your head.  So the guy brought it over to MIT, and Dan and
I tried it out in a nice, wide open courtyard near our dorm.  It took a
little getting used to.  He had an arrangement that reversed the
steering (the handle-bars were under you, like "conventional"
recumbents), but I found myself leaning the wrong way to begin with.  It
was pretty fun, though.  Of course, I wouldn't ride down the rode only
being able to see a little of where I was going and not having my
peripheral vision going in the right direction.  But if the guy went
to market it, it would probably do okay as a novelty item (especially
in California :-)).
-- 
Randwulf  (Randy Haskins);  Path= genrad!mit-eddie!rh