R
ecumbent.s can be dedicated speed machines, fast toure or high-profile city bikes. Some designers bring the rider
low down as possible to reduce the all-important aerodynarr profile for speed events, at the expense of easy balance. Oth bring the rider up to the level of the average car driver, for a safer feel in city traffic. Whether it is for record attempts, shopping or touring, recumbents are often a better choice th the traditional diamond frame bicycle. Recumbents are still a rare species. This is partly due to the U (the international cycle sport organisation) deciding in 1934 keep recumbents out of official cycle sport: this after the Frenchman Francis Foure took the world record for the 1, 5, 1 20, 30, 40 and 50 kilometre distances in the Velocar made by George Mochet. He also took a sensational hour record at o 45km. The UCI decision put the brakes on the development recumbents, and only a few cycle makers kept the candle burning. In the thirties there were more than ten recumbent makers in Europe, making over a dozen different sorts of bike could even be argued that there were recumbents before thE turn of the century. The 1970s saw a resurgence of interest in recumbent design following the 1973 oil crisis and the growing realisation of the destructive effects on the environment of motor-powered transport. In America the International Human Powered Veh Association was set up to encourage human powered machines without any restrictions on the form they took. Nc recumbent riders run their own races under the liberal regim of the HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) clubs. This encourages the development of recumbent design, and new lightweight materials for both frames and fairings have inspired yet more innovation. There are HPV clubs in The USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. They are springing up ir many other countries, too. National HPV have regular meetir where members can compete against each other, but there is also a strong sense of sociability and adventure. Because the recumbent is still a novel form it seems to excite designers from outside the field of traditional bicycle design. llyushin aircraft engineers in Moscow, an Australian sports ca enthusiast, a Danish electronics engineer, and a packaging engineer from Norfolk, England, have all got into the act.