🚲 This Is A Sorry Joke And It Saddens Me Bigly

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #1

I just googled ‘recumbent bicycles for seniors’. What I got was page after page of ads and descriptions of stationary recumbent exercise devices. I think this is beyond pathetic. A bicycle is not a stationary exercise device.

I ride a recumbent bicycle. I have done so for 15+ years and wish I had discovered recumbents years previously. I would have spent a lot more time riding.

From my experience I think a recumbent bicycle is at least one of the best if not the best exercise machines for seniors. A recumbent removes all the downside for seniors of ‘upright/diamond frame’ bikes, ie perineal (and for men prostrate) damage, wrist injury and the occasional over-the-bars stop to name a few. For those with balance problems there are recumbent trikes. Add a mid-drive electric motor to the cranks and you’ve got an exercise machine that will get most folks out and about for hours daily having a grand time and benefitting enormously healthwise.

In my humble opinion.

PSMF with IF/OMAD (low calorie)?
#2

am I getting this right? You think recumbent stationary bikes are a joke?

they serve alot of purpose for those who can not get out in traffic, or ride a bike from their homes due to medical issues and more.

Not everyone is you and requires being out in the open, out on the road, there are many people who use a stationary recumbent for exercise cause it suits them…while not your cup of tea is it really a sorry joke and saddens you all that much that someone else takes pleasure from their stationary bike?

I don’t know on this one Michael :slight_smile: I get your humble opinion but you also just wiped out the opinions and needs of so many using a recumbent stationary bike for their personal needs.

Heck I own one. I also own a stand up 10 speed bike. I love both. I clock alot of miles on my recumbent stationary bike when it is pouring outside and I have no intention of taking out my regular bike :slight_smile:

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

No, you’re not. I said nothing about recumbent exercise machines nor their utility for those who use them for whatever reasons. In fact, I built a mount for my bicycle that enables me to use it as a stationary machine when I can’t ride for some reason, like it’s pouring rain and/or snowing.

My complaint is that a recumbent bicycle is not a recumbent exercise machine. They’re two very different things. Yet because they share the word recumbent in their names, finding the bicycle option online is difficult if not impossible unless you already know how to find it. Few folks know about recumbent bicycles and their inherent advantages for elderly riders. Too many folks just give up any form of exercise in their last years which is a very sad thing.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

If you are using Google for your searches, one thing to try is to include the term “-stationary” in your search. This should reduce the number of unwanted items in the results.

You might also consider using one of the other search engines out there. The reason is that Google has shown that it allows itself to be influenced in a number of ways, so that certain items show up with greater frequency than would occur with an unbiased search.

That said, no search engine is perfect, and it can often be difficult to weed out unwanted results. I once tried to do a search for the British actor and singer “David Burt” and found it impossible to weed out results having to do with Hal David and Burt Bacharach, which were very numerous, even with “-Hal David” and “-Burt Bacharach” included in the search terms.

(Joey) #5

Perhaps google has something to do with it? Sponsored ads appear first. If I were selling a recumbent-anything, I’d buy googleword ads for “recumbent.”

And then google captures your search history and monetizes it further.

Consider using DuckDuckGo? :duck:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

That’s what I use. It especially gives better searches for scholarly articles.

(Robin) #7

I’ve been considering getting a recumbent trike. I use a rowing machine daily because of arthritic knees (little weight or pressure) and it has helped TREMENDOUSLY. My husband has a e-bike and rides all over town and loves it.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #8

Thanks, guys. I just did the same search on Duck Duck and got the same results. Although Duck Duck showed a couple of pics of recumbent trikes. My guess is it’s not search engine bias or ‘pay to play’, so much as simply lack of awareness. I also tried searching for ‘bents’ which is a common term for recumbent bicycles and trikes among those of us who ride them - no better results.


50%20AM

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #9

Searching for ‘recumbent bicycle for seniors -stationary’ wasn’t much better, although it did up some ad/articles for a brand of recumbent trikes called ‘Mobo’.

Searching for ‘recumbent road bicycles for seniors’ was better, although still turned up mostly trikes and Mobo again. I suspect Mobo is paying for top ranking in Google.

Maybe the problem is that the search algorhythms interpret ‘bicycle for seniors’ to be a tricycle not a two-wheeled vehicle.

(Joey) #10

I wonder if “…for seniors” is the problem? When I do a duckduckgo search for “recumbent bicycles,” my top results are links for recumbent bicycles :wink:

Then again, what do I know? I use an elliptical machine for my cardio. :nerd_face:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

That’s a good point, unless the difference between bikes for seniors and bikes for everyone else is really significant.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #12

@SomeGuy I’ve included ‘for seniors’ specifically to determine whether or not recumbent bikes are generally recognized as suitable for senior riders specifically. I suspect most older folks doing an online search for a bike won’t know squat about recumbent bicycles but will understand that there must be some bikes better suited to seniors than other bikes. If none or very few actual recumbent bicycles are returned by the search, then they will remain in ignorance about them.

@PaulL The gist of what I’m getting at is that recumbent bicycles are, in my opinion, better suited for elderly riders than other styles/formats of bicycle. This for a number of design characteristics. But they remain relatively little known as an alternative. Recumbent bikes can be ridden by anyone of any age, but by design they are much better suited to accommodate the special needs of most elderly riders. Moreso than ‘standard’ upright/diamond frame bikes.

(Joey) #13

Ah, didn’t appreciate this was a fact-finding mission, not a shopping effort.
Outdoor biking of any sort seems more dangerous than vigorous indoor cardio.

For many years, my (senior-aged) internist would exhort me to stop using my treadmill as I’d damage myself over time. He was cyclist who awoke early to zip through our nearby canyons. I advised him to stop (no copay charged).

Four cracked ribs and a fractured clavicle later, he acknowledged that an indoor treadmill was safer :wink: To be safer still, I switched to my elliptical.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #14

That may be so, but if the design is the same for all people, even if a segment of the population finds them particularly useful, then adding the segment of the population to your search may well confuse the issue.

#15

Oh OK that is cool LOL I didn’t think that but it read that way to me but yea, I get what you are saying, thanks for being patient on my understanding of it.

(Bob M) #16

For me, it’s the traffic. I live in an area with very narrow, windy roads, and speed limits of 25 mph, where I’ll get passed (while in my car) doing 40 mph. Driving double the speed limit is common. If there were no cars, I wouldn’t be as concerned.

Though I also don’t jog on those roads, for the same reasons.

(Laurie) #17

In addition to using the minus sign (a hyphen also works, e.g., -stationary), another Google trick is to put an important word you do want in quotation marks (e.g., “bicycle”). Some undesired results will still appear, but it helps.

I used to cycle a lot, but gave it up for many reasons that have nothing to do with the physics of upright cycling: traffic, farmers’ dogs, bike thieves, apartment life, etc.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #18

Quotation marks help in DuckDuckGo, as well. It helps, for example, if your are looking for something involving men, but get a lot of results for women. The hyphen/minus sign, not so much.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #19

I just googled Recumbent Street Bike and they came up.

#20

Same here. Narrow windy roads with no shoulder. We need to pack up 5 bikes and drive to a park to ride outdoors.

I recently got a stationary “smart trainer” and hooked that up to my old road bike. Quickly realized I needed a fan because riding inside gets really hot without the wind in your face! Also I think my sweat will rust through the frame before long.