Perineum-crushing bike seats give cycle cops "penile numbness" and erectile dysfunction

A study by Dr. Steven Schrader of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati and others concluded that the "nose" of a bicycle seat was implicated in "penile numbness" and erectile dysfunction in bicycle cops. It's been a decade since I was a regular cyclist, but I'm here to tell you that the "perineal discomfort" of a bike seat was no fun at all.

“For the first time, we have a prospective study of healthy policemen riding bikes on the job, using wider, no-nose bike saddles for 6 months. Not only did their sensation improve, their erectile function also improved. Changing saddles changed physiology. This is a landmark study for our field that that is important for future riders, and modification of lifestyle showing improvement without any active treatment.”

No-nose Bicycle Saddles Improve Penile Sensation And Erectile Function In Bicycling Police Officers

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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acb

A policeman from Kew Junction
Had lost all sexual function
For the rest of his life
he deceived his poor wife
with the skilful use of his truncheon
Bobdotcom

Taint.

C’mon, you know you’ve been wanting to say it.
Sebas van den Brink

Oh come on!

This is ridiculous. Coming from a nation where 99% of the people own a bike (2 or more) and use em daily (I do, anyway, I don’t even have a driver’s license) this just sounds pathetic. They’re cops! They’re made of solid steel, aren’t they? “Oooh eee, my balls hurt man.” In Holland there are bicycle cops, I can’t remember reading anything about this here.

If “penile-numbness” were anything else but a case of “tweak that saddle, boy” – then half of Holland would be sterile by now.
Anonymous

Oh look. Yet another study that ignores women (it happens to women, too).
Takuan

you last longer since everything has been so crushed down it barely functions. In a normal, healthy human male, ejaculation should happen within fifteen to twenty seconds of onset of stimulation. Remember ladies; if you have one of those “sixty second wonders”,keep it a secret so no one tries to steal him away from you!
bobk

How can you all be so insensitive?

Oh, I get it. Sorry!
muchfuninc

just get a saddle with the channel. really. and bikes with an upright posture so you’re not leaning on your tween.
really, this scared the heck out of me, back when I heard this issue 15 years ago. I mean what guy wants to take any risk being able the raise the flagpole.

if I was more paranoid, I’d think this was a conspiracy to stop the huge upsurge in cycling that is redefining public space. but I know all conspiracy theories are made up by the government.

i’ve been cycling for 20 years and whenever I look at those new retrovelo bikes, i know all the plumbing is clear.
Anonymous

Get properly fitted to your bike… the bars, saddle and pedals in relation to each other is critical.

There are many saddles now that claim to be designed to address this problem. You need to try as many as you can because there isn’t one that’s perfect for everyone and some aren’t cheap.

I like the SMP4Bike from SMPsaddle – the channel instead of hole and the beak shaped nose suit my riding well.

Cheers
Anonymous

The reason cycle cops have problems is how fat many of them are. Seriously. It’s a question of the PSI exerted on a limited area of saddle (and vice-versa) by the porkmeisters.

In fact, the problem is easily solved, even if you can’t be bothered to find one of the many, many saddles with cutouts for this purpose, by (a) adjusting seat angle on the seatpost so your weight is on the hipbones or (b) standing up regularly.
ROSSINDETROIT

I rode yesterday for the first time this year. Usually the first hour is ass torture before my fleshy parts adapt. My new seat (we used to call it a ‘saddle’ in the olden days) is semi-rigid with the taint-channel described above. This is the most comfortable seat I’ve ever ridden. I need a carton of these for my other bikes.

That Scottish comic… wossaname… Billy Connolly has a funny routine about ‘penile numbness’ due to cycling and the recommended ‘discreet massage’ to relieve it.
eeustath

Hmmm.. How in the world did I stumble upon this website posting? Anyway, as far as coincidenceâ€™s go, I’m an almost elite triathlete, usually finishing in the top 10. Friends of mine shave of some seconds using those racing saddles and have not been able to make families. I have had no problem with this as I have chosen to be a few seconds slower and opted for the soft saddle, coincidence?

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jonnybndc

When did bicycle seats become saddles?
markfrei

Yeah you think you got it bad, try it with a guiche.
buddy66

The great Nobelist poet Pablo Neruda wrote a poem about having sex on a bicycle, which I ”translated” and then lostâ€”both the original and mine. Adios, Pablo.
RJ

“Fixies?” No kidding? When I was little, we called them “one-speeds,” and it’s what most kids my age learned to ride on.

So now there are grown men going out in public and riding these one-speeds around in traffic, with no brakes, telling themselves they’re better than me?

Well okay. My goofy little outburst of laughter at that doesn’t really translate to text.
robin_hood

hence why ive been riding a recumbent 100+ miles a week for 5 years
RJ

I’m not much of a cyclist, so I don’t know how this would work for long rides. Why not use a larger saddle; something similar to the saddles you see on antique Indian and HD motorcycles? Seems like that would provide more even weight distribution. Or maybe I’m way off. I’m a hiker, not a biker.
Elvis Gump

I have one of these on my bike:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Seat-Ultimate-by-Ergo/dp/B000PDCB6S/ref=pd_sim_sg_37

Not having a horn on the seat took only a tiny bit of getting used to but the crappy seat that came with my cheap K-Mart bike was hard on my ass cheeks. By the time I ridden for an hour I was very glad I had bought one of these.

I would never go back to a regular seat again, but then I don’t bike down mountains or anything, I just ride around on roads and such for fun.

FWIW
Anonymous

1. Thin saddles support your bones and not your whole rear. Much better, less friction in the long run. Noseless saddles give you less control on teh bike. You do a lot of steering with the saddle. Really.
2. Bad bike fit is the issue, not the seat.
3. At well over 7000 miles last year I can assure you there are no “issues.” Heck, all that riding has me in better shape an able to rock quite well, thank you.
Anonymous

In the 80s, when mountain biking was first taking off, this was a big problem for women using saddles designed for men (and road bikes on top of that). It received little attention beyond the occasional snicker from the overwhelmingly male bike culture, and when women-specific saddles with cutouts to reduce the pressure were introduced there was a lot of laughing and talk about how silly women were.

And then the same thing started to happen to male genitals.

Now it’s a HUGE CONCERN and there are dozens of designs of saddles to take the pressure off the poor widdle wee-wees, as well as adjustments (cf. Sheldon Brown, above) and advice from other riders. Someone tell these cops to join the 21st century–the excuse doesn’t cut it any more, there have been solutions for this for twenty years now. Honestly.
fatcat1111

Fixed gear bikes are fun and just the thing for developing riding skills. Like Mr. Brown says, coasting is a pernicious habit.

Regarding braking, contrary to #32, “Now, this is terrible for your legs, the chain, and the back tire, but hardly ‘No-brakes’,” fixed gear bikes actually improve the overall strength of your knees, and I have no idea how it could be terrible for your back tire unless you were constantly skidding. Further the load on the chain is greater during acceleration than under braking simply because of biomechanics.

Speaking of which, after riding for a while you learn exactly how much you can brake before skidding, which is the optimal stopping power. This lesson can then be applied when riding other bikes.

Yes the top speed is reduced, and acceleration under load (e.g., climbing) is hampered by not having a range of gears. This is not a problem unless you assume that the goal of riding is to get to your destination as fast as possible. I have a race bike for that, and a mountain bike for going off road, and a commuter for commuting and shopping. But there is no better feeling than a hard, smooth, quiet ride on a fixed gear to put yourself in touch with a bike.
redsquares

padster123 wrote: “because he can’t stop or accelerate due to the lack of brakes or gears on his absurd vehicle”

Now I hate fixed-gears as much as the next, they are annoying as hell to ride, but to padster123 and the ilk alike:

Why can’t you wrap your head around the idea that a fixed gear comes with brakes BUILT IN. See, when you put pressure backwards on the pedals, the chain, and THUS the back wheel, begin to go in reverse, OPPOSITE of the way they were currently going, thus SLOWING the spin of the wheel. Now, this is terrible for your legs, the chain, and the back tire, but hardly “No-brakes”.

And I won’t even try to understand the concept of accelerating because of lack of brakes or gears. Unless I missed something about gear ratios increasing acceleration intrinsically.
fatcat1111

Buddy66 @65:

Pablo Nerudaâ€™s
Ode to Bicycles

I was walking
down
a sizzling road:
the sun popped like
a field of blazing maize,
the
earth
was hot,
an infinite circle
with an empty
blue sky overhead.

A few bicycles
passed
me by,
the only
insects
in
that dry
moment of summer,
silent,
swift,
translucent;
they
barely stirred
the air.

Workers and girls
were riding to their
factories,
giving
their eyes
to summer,
their heads to the sky,
sitting on the
hard
beetle backs
of the whirling
bicycles
that whirred
as they rode by
bridges, rosebushes, brambles
and midday.

I thought about evening when
the boys
wash up,
sing, eat, raise
a cup
of wine
in honor
of love
and life,
and waiting
at the door,
the bicycle,
stilled,
because
only moving
does it have a soul,
and fallen there
it isnâ€™t
a translucent insect
humming
through summer
but
a cold
skeleton
that will return to
life
only
when itâ€™s needed,
when itâ€™s light,
that is,
with
the
resurrection
of each day.

â€“Pablo Neruda
mortis

Hopefully it doesn’t interfere with their new mission of hunting down Pets.

^m^
catcubed

@RJ larger seats chafe and also tend to put more stress on the taint rather than a good smaller seat with a channel where the preassure it more on the seat bones.

As other’s have said the channels are pretty good. Even better is learning how to sit right and riding hard so that more of your weight is in your feet and hands.

@redsquares the problem with fixies is that they are relying on the back wheel only to break. Most of a bike’s stopping power is in the front wheel. That’s why fixies ridden in traffic should really have a front brake.

Just watch a fixie try and stop on a downhill. They end up having to skid and fishtail the whole way. And then watch anyone with real brakes easily come to a screaming halt right at the bottom.
Anonymous

When I read many of the blogs or running commentaries I am amazed that how many people do not understand the difference between opinion and fact. Everyone has their opinion and has the right to express it but just because your anatomy works today does not mean it will in the future. The dysfunction issues presented in this research are due to cumulative trauma. The data have never indicated that if you sit on a bike saddle you will immediately become impotent or that all cyclists will be have sexual dysfunction. The data are very compelling that using a bicycle saddle with a protruding nose increases your chances for discomfort and sexual dysfunction. This research is very clear that there is a very easy solution to greatly reduce the chance of these health issues — no-nose saddles. This is not a bike fit issue! Bicycle police officers are trained in bicycle fit by either by the International Police Mountain Bike Association or the Law Enforcement Bicycle Association. When you ride an average of 25 hours a week, you do not ignore bike fit. You may not have a problem yet and may never have it, but that does not trivialize the real sexual health issues of other cyclists. â€œI donâ€™t have it so your health issues are not realâ€ reminds me of smokers mocking cancer research. I smoke and donâ€™t have lung cancer so your lung cancer could not have come from smoking! Scientists do not wake up one morning and say today I will… This research is based on a complex set of studies since the late 1990s with over 35 research reports. The pieces fit together and are based on physics, ergonomics, and biomedical science not naysayers opinion. It is your penis and your choice to ignore it. If you are a cyclist and want to be proactive in your sexual health check out no-nose saddles.

P.S. there are scientific studies on women as well. Women should also consider no-nose saddles.
Takuan

“Plato drew a sharp distinction between knowledge, which is certain, and mere opinion, which is not certain. Opinions derive from the shifting world of sensation; knowledge derives from the world of timeless forms, or essence”
mdhatter

Have they tried the little blue seat?
horsepj

A lot of fixed gear bikes I’ve seen here (Bloomington Indiana) have front brakes. The coaster brake on my back wheel simply wasn’t enough, so I added a front brake. Oh the joy of being able to stop at slow speeds!
buddy66

fatcat1111.

Thank you very much. It’s not the one I remember mangling, but any Neruda is better than none.
catcubed

Many have mentioned the perineum channel seats that this research didn’t seem to mention. I also noticed that this research also doesn’t account for the fact that bike police often ride different than others. They ride slower and more upright for long hours; thus putting more weight on their perineum as opposed to other riders who ride faster and in a different posture who’s weight rests more on their hands and feet and seat bones.
Anonymous

I would not want to try a tricky technical descent with a no-nose saddle. On race bikes, the nose is there for a reason.

Perineal numbness can be resolved though having a bike that fits and having the right saddle in the first place. I have a custom saddle with no padding whatsoever and can easily go over 100 miles with no numbness or discomfort. It’s all about the fit.
Anonymous

Joel Barker (The Business of Paradigms)solved this one back in the 1970′s with his new bicycle saddle.
Who knows what happened to that?
Anonymous

Hobson Associates makes a two-part seat that supports each side of your pelvis with zero pressure on the perineum. I’ve used one for 3 years now and it’s great.
http://hobsonseats.stores.yahoo.net/index.html
Snowrunner

As others have pointed out, the bike fit is probably more of an issue than the sattle itself. I have several bikes and easily can put a few hundred km on it in a week and aren’t aware of any problems.

What I do see regularly though are people who have the sattle set too low, literally sitting on it. Then, when they feel pain they end up buying those “squishy” covers and just make it worse.

Bikefit really is the answer, you know very quickly if you are seated correctly if you have ever been dialled in on a bike.
Massage Music

I definitely agree.
Mithrandir

f nly ths hd bn nvntd rlr, hlf f th BngBng stffrs wld hv nvr bn brn dnj krf t th dfk.
Gilbert Wham

The correct word, sirs, is “bummel”
Anonymous

Several posters seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that having no brakes is what makes a fixed wheel bike. I ride fixed with a disc brake (and mudguards and a rack). It’s still a fixed wheel bike and I can also stand up to pedal without having to coast.
redsquares

@ catcubed
Fair enough. I live in the hill-less Midwest. My argument wasn’t saying that the brakes don’t suck, but that they simply exist.

I know plenty of people who have front brakes that probably shouldn’t be used in traffic areas anyways.

My problem is if someone’s gonna hate on something, at least have a legitimate reason for it and not because you like waving your cane out of your Buick at those “gosh darn kids!”

As for this article, it’s giving me pain!
Anonymous

what about bike messengers? I know for sure they ride their bicycles more than any other bicyle related occupations. And they don’t have ANY erectile dysfunction.
Daemon

This is new? I heard about bike seats causing this years ago…
Takuan

speaking of canes, one should always carry one. It enables the free offering of speedy brakes to any passing fixy.
Modusoperandi

Pah! Back in my day, bicycle cops didn’t go riding around with erections, and we were happy, dagnabit!
minTphresh

maybe this will keep them from breeding..
Steiny

You need that bit in tip-top working order to flash at Starbucks for free coffee!
doctormatt

@#52

The “seat” on a bicycle has been referred to as a “saddle” for a very long time: saddle really is the standard term, among bicyclists at least. Consider for instance, H. G. Wells’ terrific novel, “Wheels of Chance”, from 1895, which contains such sentences as

“…but his pocket handkerchief might have been in California for any good it was to him while he was in the saddle.”

“He struck this with a terrific impact and shot forward off his saddle into a clumsy entanglement.”

and

“A neat packet of American cloth behind the saddle contained his change of raiment, and the bell and the handleâ€“bar and the hubs and lamp, albeit a trifle freckled by wear, glittered blindingly in the rising sunlight.”
Nword

I remember reading an article about the damage bicycle seats do to your genital blood flow (this counts for women too), and the doctor who did the study said the no tip seats were better, but even they damaged the area, just less quickly..

So it’s a solution, but only partial.
Nword

I read an article on this a few months ago, the doctor said the no tip seats were better, but they only slowed the damage, they didn’t prevent it.

It also said that some 30 year old cyclists have the erectile blood flow of 70 year old men.

P.S. it damages the female parts too.
Cpt. Tim

and thats why i ride BMX
Lauren O

This is why testicular cancer was actually an asset to Lance Armstrong.
druranium

They should just take the whole seatpost out and ride trials all day. Much better. NO DANGER!
Bill Basso

Agree with Beanolini, it’s all about position but I’d also add it has as much to do with riding style which relies on a good position. You need to fit your bike and you need to ride with your legs not your ass. Both are interdependent to efficiency and avoiding injuries.

The bike seat is to give you support so you can pedal nice circles, it’s not a sofa you just plop your butt on and push the pedals down like it were an accelerator. Pedaling a bicycle is an unnatural act, but with practice one can learn the fine motor motions required to pedal perfect circles and avoid all the sore butt and numb nuts that afflict novice cyclists.

To the posters like Padster123 who are uninformed about fixed-gear riding (and there is a lot of misinformation out there) and quote these unreliable sources, riding a fixed gear bike is the best way to learn how to pedal perfect circles since the direct drive nature of the machine forces you to pedal and teaches you how to remove dead spots from your stroke.

Coasting reinforces bad form and allows you to accommodate bad positioning. With a freewheel you can get away with a bad position, whereas a fixed gear will make you feel that your seat is too high since your hamstrings will hurt much sooner. Alternately if your seat is too low your butt muscles will hurt. So on a normal bike you might coast out of the saddle every once in awhile and not notice bad technique until you’ve gone as far as impotence. With the fixed gear, you might have adjusted your saddle properly weeks before you were seeking viagra.

And just for clarification’s sake, the fixed gear is not a brake (or break) and while you can use it to slow down it really shouldn’t be seen as one. In their natural environment, the velodrome, their use is mandated since the fast, tight pack racing on steep banking would be dangerous if someone were able to slow unpredictably due to freewheeling. In fact the use of a bicycle with any type of brake is explicitly outlawed in the rules of velodrome racing.

While a fixed gear can be used to control speed it is essentially the opposite of a brake: it encourages momentum. For this reason time trialists sometimes opt for a fixed gear in these type of road races. Individual time trials are the only road events in which a fix gear is allowed, however the rules stipulate that the bicycle must also be equipped with a brake for safety purposes.

If you ride a bike and aren’t willing to put in the effort to learn how to do it right hearing you complain is similar to listening to people who won’t RTFM and then complain about the “stupid computer”.
muchfuninc

let’s not digress into cycling camps just yet. cycling and virility or lack thereof, that’s a great topic.
as a cyclist, I can tell you: i have steel between my legs!
col

Stop whining. Grow a pair and ride one of these.
padster123

@ #32 posted by redsquares

Isn’t it obvious why have a single fixed gear wrecks your acceleration? I mean – when the lights go green (assuming the fixie rider has stopped at a red) I am half a mile up the road while the guy on the fixie is puuuuuusssshing on his pedals to pick up a little speed. And that’s because I select a low gear, pedal til my legs are going pretty fast, shift up, pedal again etc etc. Basic, basic gear stuff. Is there anything to understand here, that a bright 7 year old doesn’t understand? Would you be happy with the acceleration of your car if it was stuck in 4th gear all the time?

Regarding the braking issue – Yeees, I have “wrapped by brain” about this, thanks very much for your concern.

I know that fixies *kind of* have brakes, in that you can try to stop the bike by pushing on the pedals, and attempting to slow the bike that way. Doesn’t work too well, though does it? Compared to proper caliper or disc brakes. How well does it work if the rider is standing up and leaning forward? Not at all for about half a second? I would dispute the description of this as brakes, to be honest. It’s an absurd, primitive, and largely fashion-based approach to a simple problem. Unsafe, verging on dangerous. I know it doesn’t work because I see it on the street every day.
padster123

This chimes with something else I read the other day, about how the riding style encouraged by those ludicrous “fixed gear” idiot-bikes means that those that ride them run the risk of impotence!:

“Because riders can’t stand up in the saddle to coast, long rides can result in reduced blood flow to the reproductive organs, which studies suggest may lead to impotence.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060708/news_lz1n8read.html

So, next time one of the little dorks sails through a busy intersection at high speed, because he can’t stop or accelerate due to the lack of brakes or gears on his absurd vehicle, I can calm myself with the knowledge that, quite possibly, he can’t get it up.
Beanolini

Shame the exact nature of the ‘no-nose’ saddle wasn’t described; presumably something like this.

‘Real man’ joke (as linked by #9, COL) notwithstanding, Sheldon Brown’s site has a page relating to comfort & health issues on saddles. He seemed to think that incorrect adjustment was the major part of the problem.
catcubed

Medicine.net has a good writeup that talks about research on the difference in saddle types and body position.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=84072

They recommend that the handlebars be slightly lower than the seat in order to shift weight more on the hands and angle the weight on your seat back rather straight down. Also, the saddle nose should be angled slightly down to push the rider more onto the sit bones.
WalterBillington

Agh this is such a false problem. Specialized have been selling seats with the appropriate perineum valley for at least 10 years. I used to cycle 8 hours on the trot, perineum happily nestled in the right place, and had no such dysfunction as these policepeople.

If they are however enormously overweight and miserably out-doing the efforts of seatmakers to assist them in their quest for nocturnal amour, then perhaps there are alternatives for returning to their adolescent invigorated state.

Honestly. Is this all we can talk about? You’d think there wasn’t an imminent terrorist threat to all our healths. How times change.
Takuan

maybe South Park’s Mr. Garrison could offer a solution.
Anonymous

If your junk goes numb, adjust your seat and maybe bars as long as you have a decent seat. Jeez, shouldn’t cops that work on bikes figure this out? I’m a full time bike messenger and have no problems with my wang because my seat/saddle is adjusted properly.
TimJFowler

If riding a bike isn’t comfortable then something is wrong! If you get numbness or discomfort from riding a bicycle then that means you’ve got the wrong saddle or a poor bike fit.

Go to a bike shop and get properly fit for the bicycle. That can mean changing the saddle, saddle position and angle, bars and stem, or a different frame size entirely. People sometimes pick a big, cushy saddle because it looks “comfy” when in fact all that soft padding can actually squish around and cut off blood flow. Often the thinner, “harder” saddle is more comfortable in the long run.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html
acx99

maybe that’s why they feel the need to go round executing people’s dogs and tazing the helpless – it’s to reinforce their manhood!

So remember, next time a cop shouts at you and treats you like shit, it’s because he can’t get it up.
blueandroid

I recall a seeing a video presentation, I think of a urologist, on the subject of erectile dysfunction and bicycling. I don’t remember who the presenter was, but he made a few interesting points.
Bicycling-related erectile dysfunction is normally temporary. It’s caused by bad bike fit. Getting exercise improves erectile function. Bicycling may not have as positive an effect on erectile function as other forms of exercise, but fear of erectile dysfunction shouldn’t keep anyone off a bike.

Googling around, it looks like this is a bit controversial in the urological community, but my personal experience is that the more I ride, the better I feel, and function is no problem.

If your bike fits right your weight should be supported primarily on your sit bones (ischial tuberosities), not on your perineum. Squishy, padded saddles are bad because they push into soft tissue. Hard saddles take a little getting used to, but are more comfortable on long rides and don’t crush soft tissue.

Ride bikes! Have fun! Stay hard!
padster123

@44 posted by Bill Basso

Perfect circles? Bad position? Oh puh-leeaze.

I’m just happy that my bike can pick up speed nice and easy, ride down long fast inclines without having to pedal my legs off, and can stop sharply in an emergency.

You can keep your cycling aesthetics, I’ll just stick with 20th/21st century engineering, efficiency and design.

FWIW, in traffic, the fixie riders are usually among the slowest of cyclists. Their only advantage is when then run intersections. Speed obviously isn’t everything, but I’ll settle for getting to my workplace quicker, while they can get pleasure from their perfect pedalling circles and great posture.

Thanks for the confirmation that many of the fixies one sees on the road have next to no braking performance.

All my irritation about fixie riders is prompted by my observation every day of how their unfit-for-purpose machines directly encourage them to ride like complete arses.

Dreadful acceleration = great incentive never to stop (“Busy pedestrian crossings? Red lights? Fuck ‘em.”)

Dreadful braking = choices about whether to run into the back of that truck or make sudden sideways swerves.

In a velodrome – yeah, whatever. Just not in the city.

Anyway – they annoy me the way an SUV does: dumb, unfit-for-purpose, selfish, fashion driven.
Anonymous

Gilbert Anonymous here:

I can attest to the numbness in the groin area. But what really was bizarre was the pin-and-needles sensation when circulation was restored. I have to admit I kind of enjoyed it.
padster123

@ #51 posted by redsquares

I too apologise for harsh words.

I can see that riding a fixed gear bike on flat, empty roads might be a reasonable thing.

@ #53 posted by RJ

Oh yeah. You have NO idea. There’s a plague of them. Though describing them as “grown men” might be going a little far.
craniac

Recumbents.com has a nice database for comparing recumbents based on weight, price, etc.

I rode one into work today. Mine is cheap and heavy but gloriously pain free. No wrist, neck, back pain or numbness. It is dork city, of course, but I am monogamous, so I can let my dork flag fly.
Pipenta

The hell with it.

Rollerblade.
wingbatwu

angusm
So … recumbent bikes for everyone?

If you have good balance and don’t really need to see where you’re going, you could probably even have sex while you’re riding a recumbent, just to show those traditional bike riders that your erectile function is unimpaired.

I had sex on a recumbent trike, once.
redsquares

@padster123
Fine enough, but while gear shifting helps with post shift acceleration due to mechanical advantage, your sentence appeared you thought it physically caused acceleration to happen.

I apologize for the harsh words, I’ve just been reading a lot about people hating on fixed gears and while impractical machines, the arguments are generally uninformed and more based on the types who ride them and not the machines themselves, which pisses me off more than anything.

Anyway, I ride a single gear bike, since I live in flat plains, and for the most part I’m ahead of most cars when the light turns green. Maybe it’s just practice.

I’m not gonna stand here more and defend fixies, I really can’t stand most of the people who ride them and their ‘holier-than-thou” attitude. I would like to comment that I do feel that anything that hinders forward movement within a contained system (not running your car into them) can and should be seen as a brake, no matter how “absurd, primitive, or largely fashion-based approach to a simple problem” it is. While many dimwits ride them for fashion, there is something to be said about riding a bike where you don’t have to worry about your derailleur snapping and having to spend 5 minutes putting the chain back around it.

And this, my friends, is why I enjoy single speed coasting bikes. Plus it’s damn good exercise.
blackboar

Now that’s an excellent motive to brutalize cyclist… it was PTSD all the time!
blackboar

*cyclists
pjone001

i ride bikes. the longer i ride, the longer i last having sex.

coincidence?

wheres the research on that?
angusm

So … recumbent bikes for everyone?

If you have good balance and don’t really need to see where you’re going, you could probably even have sex while you’re riding a recumbent, just to show those traditional bike riders that your erectile function is unimpaired.
acb

@10: Doesn’t cocaine use also cause impotence? With the hipsters (who do a lot of coke) having adopted fixed-gear bicycles en masse, your hypothesis could be doubly likely.