Fast Freddy on the Javelin

The bike is a body-socked Easy Racers Javelin with a carbon fiber Double Bubble fairing. I think this is Fast Freddy's bike shown here. The picture is from the Easy Racers fairings page.

I've been very interested in the Javelin since I first saw it on the Easy Racers site. It seems to me sort of a long wheelbase bike with a Lightning-like riding position (but not bar ergonomics). I thought the Javelin might be the ultimate answer to my hill-climbing obsession (and was frankly surprised that no one mentioned it in this BROL thread that I started). The Javelin is fairly light, and the price is very attractive.

I had the great pleasure of talking extensively with Fast Freddy Markham this week about Easy Racers bikes. I'm in the market for a new recumbent, and the Gold Rush and Javelin were high on my list. Freddy was amazingly gracious and went well beyond the call of duty gaving me helpful advice about hill climbing on recumbents in addition to telling me about their bikes.

In the past, some comments about this bike have led to a bit of confusion and fuss in the forums. I think Easy Racers is being cautious in their statements about the bike now and are just waiting for the reviews to start coming in. So, remember this is just a conversation between two bike riders talking about what they like most to talk about. Well, one does happen to be one of the fastest human beings on earth (and the other closer toward the slowest). I did, of course, ask Freddy's permission to talk about our conversation on my humble blog.

After all that, you'll probably be disappointed by all the more I have to say, but Freddy did mention a couple things I hadn't seen elsewhere, and everybody (like me) is anxious for information about this bike.

Fast Freddy said that Easy Racers has shipped about 50 of the Javelins. He mentions on this Bentrideronline Forum thread which dealers that they've shipped Javelins to so far.

Freddy has a 15 mile climb up out of the canyon at Watsonville that he has done since the 70's. Back when he was in training on the road bike, he'd time himself between two fire stations on that ride. Freddy said, "If I could make that in an hour, I was really doing good. Last year I was mostly riding the socked Javelin and I was getting times of 1:01, 1:02, 1:03. I was amazed! True, I had the advantage of the body sock, but I'm 49 years old now."

He mentioned that the climb does have flat stretches where the body-socked Javelin really helps make some speed. Still, he seemed pleased to be coming so close to his times from 20 (more?) years ago; and who wouldn't be - Fred Markham was a very competitive racer well before he became "Fast Freddy".

Freddy certainly wasn't attempting to impress me with the bike; he'd already come to the conclusion that it was less than ideal to put my excess weight on a large frame Javelin. He strongly recommended the Gold Rush (or Tour Easy) for me. But, I'd heard mention of his great times on this ride on his Javelin and asked about it.

Easy Racers seems very intent on getting a person on the right bike, to the point of discussing not only what each bike does well, but what each does not do as well. Freddy mentioned what he has also said in the forums, that the Gold Rush is more comfortable, and corners and descends better than the Javelin. "I think of the Javelin like a sports car. It's probably not the bike you'd tour on, but to go out and really push it for a few hours-it's just fast. It will really take the power."

Does the Javelin climb better than the Gold Rush? He didn't seem to have a strong inclination either way. Would a comparably equipped Gold Rush be as fast for his timed hill ride? Maybe, maybe not.

"The Javelin's strength is its straight line speed." Not just the aerodynamics, but also the position. "You're really locked in there on the Javelin and you can really put the power to it. Once in a while I could feel in in my knees. It's not like I'm going to hurt myself or anything. but that never happened on the Gold Rush."

So there you have it. If you have an aero belly and ride a large frame (like me), you'll probably want to stick with a Gold Rush, etc. For the rest of you, the decision is going to be tougher. I say "Get both".