Recumbents have been around since
the mid 1800's with the Macmillan Velocipede and the
Challand Recumbent.
In 1933 Charles Mochet built a supine
recumbent named the "Velocar". Between the
years of 1933 and 1938 pro racer Francois Faure, while
riding the Velocar, set several speed records for both
the mile and kilometer. In Paris on July 7, 1933, Francis
Faure broke the 20 year-old hour record of 44.247 km.
by going 45.055 km.
Unfortunately Faure's hour record created a controversy
amongst the Union Cycliste Internationale (U.C.I.),
the governing body for bicycle races. The controversy
was based on whether the Velocar was a bicycle and whether
the time records were legal. In February 1934, the U.C.I.
decided against Faure's record and banned all recumbents
and aerodynamic devices from racing.
That is the reason why recumbents have
not gained popularity in the racing scene, and why they
have not been mass produced by bike manufacturers. For
over a century since the introduction of the Rover Safety
Cycle, built in England in 1884, the design of the basic
diamond frame bicycle has hardly changed.
The first recumbents came along
in the early 1900's but apparently were not accepted
because of the popularity of the diamond frame.
The recumbent design languished until 1974 when the
International Human Powered Vehicle Association (IHPVA)
in the U.S. began its series of open competitions, both
for racing and world speed records. These have been
dominated by recumbents bicycle since then.
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