Quote from TonyWard on Aug 7^th, 2013, 6:23pm:

You can find as much BS and disagreement on BROL as anywhere else. So much of the arguing there is done by engineering types who don't ride enough miles to really have a clue.
 
My own experience is that the high racer platform is the best combination of speed and comfort. Of course, YMMV. Mark L does pretty well on his Baron, and Paul gets around smartly on his Xstream, too. What kind of bike a rider likes best makes a big difference. But, if I had believed what I was reading on BROL at the time, I would have thought that a P-38 was faster than my Corsa. That was disproved, riding with Greg. He was faster than me on any other bike he rode, other than a V-Rex, but he was slower than me on his P-38. Any bike that puts you sitting very upright without a fairing will be slower than something more aerodynamic.
 
But you have to be fast enough to take advantage of the aerodynamics. Every year at HHH, I see riders on velomobiles and fully faired and socked bikes creeping along. If you average 11 mph on your bike, a very aerodynamic bike won't help much.
 
If you run small wheels, run wider tires. Small wheels with narrow tires don't handle rough roads well at all. And don't underestimate the comfort factor, especially on longer rides. It's a big player in my calling my Corsa the best combination of speed and comfort around. The big wheels do help, especially on rough roads. But, I've seen people saying that 700C wheels make a bike a lot faster (even Greg is guilty of that claim).  
 
I call BS on that. My own experience is that once you get up to 559 (26"), the gains from bigger wheels are very small. When he rode RAAM solo, John Schlitter chose Corsas with 650C wheels.  I'll put his ultra distance racing knowledge up against that of any recumbent rider. If you are a heavier rider like me (185 lbs) and you do end up on rough roads quite a bit, then a 700C bike is probably worth considering. But don't expect the 700C's to be a magic bullet.
 
There are those who think the LWB bikes are as good or better than high racers, but I don't share that view. The Xstream is probably the fastest of the non-faired LWB's, but if you recline the seat enough to be as aerodynamic as on a Corsa, the handling suffers. I can balance my Corsa perfectly at 3.5 mph on a steep climb. I couldn't do that with the seat really reclined on my Xstream.
 
I've liked my Xstream better since I put a more upright Sling Mesh seat and a fairing on it. But with most of my weight on the rear wheel, rough roads really jar me. I love that fairing in the winter, and the Xstream is a blast to ride, but I'll never use it for the long rides where I love the Corsa.
 
There are also people who prefer the low racer platform over everything else, but I never liked my view of the road well enough on something really low to want to do lots of miles on it.
 
The other thing that people argue about is what material a bike should be built from. Steel tends to make a bike heavy, but gives a great ride. Carbon fiber makes for a lighter, but very stiff, bike. Aluminum is a good compromise, but has a reputation of not lasting as long as steel. I now have well over 20,000 miles on my Corsa, so I'm saying a well built aluminum bike can last pretty well, and I'll likely be shopping for another aluminum bike when the Corsa frame finally does give it up. My thoughts are that for light weight riders, the light, stiff carbon fiber bikes may be best, but for those of us my size or bigger, the speed gain from a bike lighter than 24 lbs is virtually zero, and we're better off with either aluminum or steel.
 
So there are my thoughts. Take them for what they're worth, which may not be much, but still more than most of what you'll read on BROL.

Wouldn't mind, not would mind!!!    ooppss

And I love my Lightnings It appears that everyone likes their own bikes.

Quote from AustinSkater on Aug 8^th, 2013, 4:56pm:

 

I don't have near the experience of Jay or Bud, but I've got some opinions too - My Xstream climbs much better than my heavier V2. I'm a fat guy at 190 lbs, and the 26/20 on the V2 did well for me. When I got the XStream with dual 650C's on it, I learned all about pinch flats. Those mostly went away once I got smart enough to run 125 psi in the tires, but that made the ride pretty rough. Eventually, I had some really nice 26" wheels built for the Xstream and run 1.25 wide tires on them. For me, that makes the XStream a really nice riding bike. If I had a motor like Paul, my XStream would be way faster for me than the more upright V2 - it is faster for me, but I'm slow enough that the better aero only helps a little bit.
 
I do like having to carry only one spare tube, but that's a minor concern to me (I don't Rando). My 2 cents...

I wouldn't think there would be much perceived rolling speed difference between 650 and 700 wheels in normal or even energetic riding - but the 700 does give you higher "top end" speed when you reach spinout, simply due to the larger diameter...
 
I'd like to see RANS do a 700 Xstream, to have that higher top end - and to make tire/tube exchange with other riders simpler. There's certainly no issue with reach to the ground - but they would need to modify the frame to allow sufficient recline of the seat.  
 
The downside to this would be that I'd have to purchase ANOTHER Xstream...  gawd...    

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Aug 12^th, 2013, 1:27pm:

After doing race after race with JS in 2011 when he was on his CA2-700 and I was on my old CA2-650 and us being pretty close to neck and neck when were working it together I thought the same thing. Then I moved to the CA2-700 and discovered the 700 really is faster, even at speeds in the low 20's and even though the CA2-700 frame is most likely less aero due to the greater inclined angle of the frame. The speed increase is both perceived and actual. In my case, the only difference was the frameset and the wheels. Not only that but when JS, Jac and I all moved to the 700s we all had a tendency to mash more because it was easier to get a little more speed out of the 700s when you did than when on a 650. So we had to teach ourselves to try to resist the temptation to get that little extra speed when doing a longer race and go back to spinning as we did more on the 650s. I suspect that the 'wall' is not quite as steep on 700s as on 650s.