WILL A RECUMBENT FIX YOUR HURTIN' BACK?
Mmm. Elsewhere people are talking about solving back problems by buying a recumbent. To them I say, from what little experience I have, A real recumbent will do your back absolutely no good, my old son. How do you think a guy with a bad back will even get into it, down there at the knee-height of fleas?
NO, BUT A SEMI-RECLINER MAY HELP: INTRODUCING THE LATE GIANT REVIVE.
A semi-recliner may be more like it, easier to get in (rather than on), better posture than on the drops (which is what killed your back, for sure), back support, plenty of padding, super ergonomics all round. However, there are downsides.
This one has seven hub Nexus gears. My memory is that mine had eight hub gears, but maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm thinking of another of my bikes (I have several bikes still with 8-speed Nexus hubs), maybe it was only seven gears. Whichever, it's about 300% gear range, just enough for my hills, and most people's I suspect, if you're young and energetic.
A derailleur model demonstrates one of the downsides: those small wheels put the hanging bits of derailleurs right into the edge of the first pothole you run through ... at the end of your street, before you even get into the country.
ON BEING OVERLOOKED BY MOTORISTS
There's another serious problem, for me at least, with even a semi-recumbent, never mind a recumbent. On my Kranich, and on my Gazelle, and on my Trek, I figure huge to a motorist, higher than a Range Rover, an eight of a ton of expensive damage. You can understand why I don't want to undermine the effect, which keeps me safe, by slinking around apologetically near the ground.
The Revive I had caused motorists to overlook me altogether. I felt exposed on it. That ruined the experience for me. The ride and the handling was good on the flat and especially on good tarmac. When somebody offered me a good price for it after a very short while, I was relieved to let it go.
Another fellow who had one and sold it on told me, "I felt like an idiot on it. It's a bike for exhibitionists." I don't care what people think, but that's probably a consideration for old roadies, in whom I perceive a powerful urge to conform to group norms.
THE UTOPIA PHOENIX, A SERIOUS SEMI-RECUMBENT TOURER FOR GROWN-UPS
Nevertheless, I was impressed enough by the unrealized possibilities of semi-recumbents to put a properly developed, grown-up, non-gimmicky semi-recumbent on my shortlist. Since my shortlist was only another Utopia Kranich, a Thorn Raven, and the Utopia Phoenix, you can see that only serious bike got on the list after serious consideration; as examples of it's status as a bike for adults, the forks are designed to take 60mm low-pressure balloon tyres, it comes with a Rohloff, of course, and serious disc brakes, and is capable of being electrified, and of course it will carry serious luggage including substantial panniers on a specially developed rack; note also that no component is so low that the first pimple in the road will destroy it; as I say, a serious semi-recumbent for serious riders. Utopia recently stopped making the Phoenix, presumably because sales were never high enough. Second-hand ones are tres pricey, but are usually in good nick with very low miles because they were bought as fifth or sixth bikes by people with several Utopia, and professionally serviced by factory-trained dealers. Click on the attachment below to see what a world-crcumnavigator's semi-recumbent looks like.
The reason I didn't buy one is the same I didn't buy a Thorn. The thing is welded, not brazed, which offends my aesthetic sensibilities.
