[OHPV-list] wedgie vs. bent...

[Jim Pedersen]

I loaned out my panniers to a friend for a tour and subsequently have been 
riding my old road wedgie to work lately (as I can't seem to sling the 
messenger bag on my recumbent).

The scary thing - I have determined that me on my wedgie get to/from work 
FASTER than me on my recumbent (even after having not ridden the road bike 
for years).  I find that I'm consistently pushing taller gears on the wedgie 
(old Peugot road bike) than what I can use on my 'bent (home-built SWB with 
near-P38 geometry) with similar effort.  I also feel like I'm consistently 
spinning faster with less effort.

The differences, wedgie vs. recumbent:

Shorter cranks (170 vs 175)
Skinnier tires
Less weight (~15lbs less than the bent)
Less aerodynamic (~40% more frontal area)
A lot less comfortable

Can all this possibly add up to the ~5 minute difference I'm seeing on a 
lousy 5 mile ride?