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dk
Shkhara

Recumbent bicycles have been banned from competitions by the UCI since 1934 because their design has aerodynamic advantages over normal bicycles and competition results are thus distorted. Why does Strava allow a mix of recumbent bikes and regular bikes on the leaderboards for cycling activity type? With a normal bike (diamond frame design) in most cases you have no chance of getting first place in the leaderboard when you have to compare yourself to a rider on a recumbent bike who can achieve a higher sustained speed with less power, this makes the leaderboard unusable for activity type cycling.

28 Comments
Robcikas
Mt. Kenya

Hi, now Velomobile appeared in choice of activity, but Recumbent also would be good to have, as recumbent bike is "open velomobile", but not DF type bike. 

Mj
Mt. Kenya

Ridiculous to not make a difference between diamond frame bikes and recumbent bikes. 

The idea of Koms is to compete against others, but therefore fair and clear categories/ activity types must be defined.

There always will be possibilities to use advantages like drafting, wind, tt bikes, but to say every two wheel vehicle is equal, is ridiculous and not fair at all. 

MDtriker
Mt. Kenya

Absolutely agree.  We need both a recumbent trike and recumbent eTrike categories.  This is a growing sport and Strava would do well to embrace it.

95s10nj
Mt. Kenya

I'm in agreement as well. Recumbent bikes need their own category. There's a gentleman in my area that takes koms at significantly less power than everyone on a cruzbike v20. I've seen it first hand on a group ride and how aero it is. It's not even in the same league as a traditional road bike.

ARoger
Pico de Orizaba

Why wasn't this added yet? We even have velomobile. I'm sure there are a lot more people using recumbent bikes than velomobiles.

dk
Shkhara

@ARoger because Strava is not interested, they would then have to change the Strava terms of use so that velomobiles are no longer considered simple bicycles. Strava prefers to implement other features, although it would certainly be easy to add a new activity type, whatever.

ARoger
Pico de Orizaba

Yeah, I just don`t see what is the big deal in adding a new activity type. It should be so easy.

ReverendG-Bob
Mt. Kenya

I would like to reiterate a point made above, regarding recumbent trikes. 

I would like to suggest that "Recumbent Trike" be added as an item under "Sport".

Three reasons: 

1.  Recumbent trikes are heavier and much slower than their upright counterparts (either standard or recumbent cycles).  

2. Some athletes will be recording upright cycle rides which distort are statistics in the Trike Squadron Club, for example.

3.  Recumbent Trike are a growing segment of the cycle market and are increasing in popularity.

ReverendGBob_0-1704747126049.png

 

Strava already has made sub-categories of cycling including

  1. Mountain Bike Ride
  2. Gravel Ride
  3. E-bike Ride
  4. E-Mountain Bike Ride

The inclusion of Recumbent Trike under the sport category would be great for us and great for Strava!

Carey
Mt. Kenya

I would like to vote for the addition of Recumbent Trike category, and it will also need an E-Trike category. 

Recumbent Trikes are gaining popularity among people who can no longer safely ride a diamond frame bike. Many older people and people with balance issues can ride a recumbent trike. Strava should add the category to voluntarily comply with the ADA. 

EriconNeptune
Shkhara

It has been 17 months since the OP. Nothing has happened. I am disappointed.

Cessholden
Mt. Kenya

I just bought a recumbent trike because I'm long term injured and can't ride my bikes. I don't care who gets KOMs, I just want to record my stats more realistically than it just being "ride"

Engel
Mt. Kenya

Ik ben een voorstander om een aparte trike ligfiets groep aan te laten maken. Waarom niet, veel staande fietsensoorten zijn als groep opgenomen. Ik ben geen racer maar wil graag vergelijken met wat anderen doen. Fysiek ben ik gebonden aan een ligfiets.

TRANSLATION: I am in favor of having a separate trike recumbent group created. Why not, many upright bicycle types are included as a group. I'm not a racer but I like to compare with what others are doing. Physically I am tied to a recumbent bicycle.

Status changed to: Not Currently Planned
Jane
Moderator Moderator
Moderator

Hello and thank you to everyone who has taken the time to add your votes and comments to this request. 

We want to let you know that we do not intend to add more activity/sport types to Strava in the foreseeable future, and this feature suggestion will be moved to a status of not currently planned.

We appreciate and understand this is not the answer you were hoping for. We strive to be as transparent as possible and provide updates to our Community when they become available. 

Please remember that we receive a large number of idea submissions, and even some  popular ideas may not make it to the implementation stage. The number of votes an idea gets is one factor among several that’s considered when our product team develops the roadmap.

For more information, review our Guide to Ideas.

Additionally, a status of not currently planned does not mean this feature suggestion goes away. It will remain open to votes and comments, and may be revisited at some point in the future.

Lastly, we sincerely hope you will continue recording and uploading your activities to Strava. Here is a list of the Sport types that we currently support. It’s always an option to set your activity to sport type “workout” and indicate more specifics in the activity name.

Thanks again for your contributions.


Jane (she/her)
STRAVA | Community Hub Team