TRAVELING RECUMBENT Optima Cycles has a long history of furnishing the perfect beast of burden for many extreme globetrotters. And the word 'extreme' here is not just a publicity word. Cyclists who have reached the highest, the most northern, southern, or most remote aeras of the planet in impossible conditions. We have seen the most daring projects. Off road, snow, rain, desert, the whole spiced with some pretty risky business, with custom officers or almost hostage situations in Irak or Pakistan, among other countries. Recumbents are certainly more relax and more efficient for long distance travelers. Most of all, a recumbent cyclist seems to be more, well let we say, on a holiday.. Anyway, a recumbent bike will enhance your project and matches the beauty of the landscape you will encounter. In this section, all travel related information on our bikes and customers.
Reasons to chose a recumbent to go far. -no more back and butt pain -farther and fresher each day than on a regular -great luggage capacity -see where you pedal : better vision of the landscape without neck strain -free publicity : nobody turns heads for a regular cyclist. -exit the suffering cyclist image : relax, holidays!
Some guys have all the luck : read here how Sas Scherrenberg rode a Baron in 2009 around Raratonga island... Probably the first recumbent ever on a poly or micronesian island. Enjoy your stay, Baron Aloha! "Rarotonga is the largest island of the Cook Islands which consist of 15 islands lying in the heart of the South Pacific Sea. Because the Cook Islands are south of the equator, there are no extremes in temperatures. The drier cooler season runs from April to November, the warmer and more humid season runs from December to March. We visited Rarotonga in February in the more humid season with daily small thunderstorms and temperatures between 24 and 29 C. The rear disk brake of my bike came bended out of the packing, so I had to do a small repair before I was ready for the first Rarotonga round. It was not possible to leave our Resort without being seen. None had ever seen a recumbent bike on the island before and people wanted to inform the local newspaper immediately. After we had calmed down the fuss they let me go. There are two main roads on Rarotonga, you can circle the island on the sealed road through the villages and past the beaches, 32 km around, or you can take the older inland road which winds through fields of taro, pawpaw, bananas and local farmlands. The sealed road is mostly extremely bumpy with here and there a flat piece of asphalt. The best option is driving in the middle of the road. There are many curves and the level goes up and down. And… forget the inland road. Cycling on a recumbent bike is a sort of attraction. All road-users are looking and waving, cars and mopeds keep on driving behind you or near you, astonished. People call attention to others and take pictures. Dogs are barking and follow you, sometimes as far as possible. Cook Islanders drive on the left-hand side of the road. The speed limit for cars is 50km/h out of town and 30km/h in town. For the very popular mopeds the limits are 40km/h and 30km/h. So, a well trained biker can easily overtake cars and mopeds in town. I did that and it was great fun! After a view days of acclimatizing and cycling some training rounds I did the Rarotonga round (31,95 km) in 58 minutes and 35 seconds. This must be a Rarotonga recumbent bike record! Cycling on Rarotonga was quite an experience and I enjoyed it very much but if you want to do a serious training: DO NOT TRY THIS ON RAROTONGA! Ssas Scherrenberg
Holy tatanka! An Optima Cougar spotted at a Blackfoot reserve : first they got horses, guns, now recumbents, call the cavalry!
Once again : this bike, our Baron, is designed for racing and sport cycling. The 7005 T6 frame can handle the exercice but we have other bikes for this (dragon, orca..). Well whatever.. : this Baron tours in Holland with a luggage compartment and an Optima Quikpak trailer, almost a 100 litres in volume... very aerodynamic. Don't try this at home. Hit the road.
Less island style and much more spiritual is the trip of Gabriel And Charles on their Optima Condors . They got home after 1 year: Read more.
Here goes Olivier Coulon to China in 2008.
Have a nice story, made a trip, took some beautiful pictures, and we ignore? Tell us!
Natalie and Michel send us a second CD from their trip all through Europe and Asia. We will shortly bring you a diaporama of these fantastic photographing cyclists. Meanwhile chill behind your screen with this frozen Dragon or buy their book
Planning for a special trip and need some help to make ends meet? Write us!
NEWS - MODEL RANGE - COMMUNITY - SPEED - DISTANCE - COMPANY - DEALERS - CONTACT - FILES - WEBSHOP Optima Cycles, manufacturer of recumbent cycles since 1995.
unlimited mileage unlimited speed
Liggecyklen Vélo couché RECUMBENTS OPTIMA BARON SPEED Bicicletas reclinadas CONDOR LIEGERADER Bici reclinate TRAVEL RECUMBENT NORD KAP OPTIMA DRAGON LIGFIETS Vélo horizontal Speed records TIBET ORCA
NEWS MODELS MODEL RANGE BARON BARON ELITE COUGAR 20-26 COUGAR 26-26 CONDOR DRAGON LYNXX ORCA STINGER RIDER COMPANY DEALERS COMMUNITY SPEED DISTANCE CONTACT FILES SHOP QUIKPAK