Why akasha culver city are you surprised that there are few or no bents in an area that has no deale

I'm sick and tired of all the pains associated with riding a DF and am really interrested in switching to a bent. However, I am kind of leery to do so for maybe a dumb reason...hardly anyone in my area has one! I live in Roanoke, VA and can count on one hand the number of times I've seen someone riding a bent. Plus, no LBS is this area sells them, with the closest being 3 hours away in Vienna. akasha culver city Before I fork out a couple thousand portraits of George on a bent, I need to figure out why bents aren't popular in my area. I read over and over how great they are and how owners love them, so why don't I see more around here??
As a fellow who has been riding recumbents for more than 20 years, I can tell you that MOST recumbents don't climb hills as well as a diamond frame does. They will climb, but it just takes a low gear and spinning, as you can't get up and stand on the pedal in a climb. As I recall, akasha culver city Roanoke is pretty hilly, and that may be part of the issue. Another is, if there are no dealers within three hours of the place, akasha culver city you will not see a lot of 'bents. Where I live in Okeechobee, FL, I have the only recumbents in town (we have 3, two trikes and a LWB two wheeler), but know if I go over to Inverness for the bike path there, you see LOTS of recumbents as there are TWO recumbent dealers in that town. So availability has to be part of the equation as well. I was just at a weekend cycling event in Sebring over the Labor Day weekend akasha culver city and there was about 600 cyclists registered. Other than our two trikes, I saw two other trikes and maybe four or five other two wheel recumbents during the rides. It appears to me, these days, that in this part of the world, recumbents make up about 1% of the bikes out there, and trikes are maybe 20% of those, up from the 5% I saw a few years ago when I purchased my first trike.... TractorTom in Okeechobee, FL
I live in a similar situation - almost never see bents around akasha culver city and no dealers within 2 or 3 hours drive. Instead of forking out a couple of thousand akasha culver city to start off, though, why not start with a used one from eBay or craigslist? It's a much smaller gamble that way.
Roanoke does indeed have it's share of hills, but the guys on bents that I've talked to here have said they aren't a big deal on a bent. I'm still 4 months or so away from being able to afford a bent, so I still have time to do more research.
BlazingPedals Senior Member Join Date Dec 2004 Location Middle of da Mitten My Bikes Trek 7500, RANS V-Rex, Optima Baron, Velokraft NoCom, M-5 Carbon Highracer, homebuilt recumbent Posts 7,148 Mentioned 1 Post(s) Tagged 0 Thread(s)
If you want to climb well, don't get the cheapest bent you can find. Sun, in particular, makes nice-looking bents with good components; but even the aluminum models are actually made from pig iron and depleted uranium. Weight may not matter *as much* on a bent but it still matters.
VegasTriker Senior Member Join Date Feb 2006 Location Sin City, Nevada My Bikes Catrike 700, Greenspeed GTO trike, Wizwheelz 3.4 trike, Linear LWB recumbent, Haluzak Horizon SWB recumbent, Balance 450 MTB Posts 784 Mentioned 1 Post(s) Tagged 0 Thread(s)
Why akasha culver city are you surprised that there are few or no bents in an area that has no dealers? If there are none to look at and none to try out, only those people smart enough to have found out by accident how good they are will be riding them. Las Vegas also has no bent shops and hasn't had anyone who would order them for more than a decade. When I stated in 2000 there were a smattering of bent riders in the area but they were not common. In spite of that they have increased in number substantially and Utah Trikes opened a satellite store in St. George, UT about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. Suddenly trikes are becoming more common. I ran across a brand new trike rider just this past week and know of a sizable group of retired folks who ride regularly. I too would suggest you consider a used bent for your first one. It will give you the opportunity to figure out just what you like in bents and what you don't. Then sell the one you have and get one that fits you like a glove. I like lightweight recumbents. I like underseat steering. I like trikes. None of those were characteristics of my first bent.
I will join the chorus of those who tell you to buy used for your first bent. No need to shell out huge bucks on something you might not keep. I've been through 5 bents. Started out with a Sun EZ1-SC, moved to a Tour Easy, and acquired an ICE trike. All of those are now gone. My "stable" currently consists of a LWB bike with underseat akasha culver city steering (Longbikes Slipstream) and a SWB bike with above seat steering (Rans ti-Rex), both of which I acquired used. I've liked all my bents, but it's been a seven-year process of sorting out what suits me best. I think I've reached the end -- since I love both the Slipstream and the Ti-Rex -- but who knows? If you can get to Vienna or visit another shop a