Why aren't recumbent bicycles used in competition?

Answer 1

The International Cycling Union (the UCI, the Union Cycliste Internationale) has banned the recumbents from all the "big" races. They are simply not allowed to compete. The rules have been written in a way that precludes them being able to qualify. The efficiency of a recumbent would overwhelm the upright cycle riders. Read on.

AnswerThey have been, for a long time, but not in the same race alongside uprights.

On the 3rd of February in 1934 an international cycling congress voted after a debate amongst a few individuals to create a rule that a recumbent did not conform with what they referrred to as ' their usual regulations'. It was an Italian named Bertolini that himself decided that a recumbent did not conform to his definition of a bicycle. This definition excluded recumbents from competing. The definition used the reference to a bicycle as having a 'diamond-frame'.

Recumbents did still race though, albeit in their own category, referred to as 'for vehicles with aerodynamic adaptions'.

But really folks, from a recumbent rider's point of view, the upright riders simply couldn't compete against those new-fangled machines.

And so it came to be that on the 20th of February, 1934, the last 'mixed ' race took place. It was a race in which Frenchman Francis Faure rode to victory against the uprights. His speed record remained unbeaten until May 2005.

Current argument still hinges on the upright cyclists' views that a recumbent is too hard to navigate when down low amongst a group of uprights.