[sci.misc] recumbent bicycles - Then and Now?

tedk@ihuxv.ATT.COM (Kekatos) (04/07/88)

This is a re-post of a reply message to Clark Anderson.
I am posting it here, because I feel that there may be
some additional interest out there in netland.
See the questions asked below.

.To: cbosgd!sun!apple!anderson
.Subject: Re: Recumbent bikes

Clark,

A friend of mine, Gerry Gleason [ihnp4!sfsup!glg] and I owned a 
recumbent several years ago. Gerry is a reader of rec.bicycles.

We  have been active cyclists for most of our lives. 

We had aways been interested in science and engineering, so when
the first recumbents came on the screen, We got involved.

At first We wanted to build one ourselves. We took ideas from the 
design that started at MIT. I collected parts for
a while, and it never happen. But one day Gerry and I where riding
somewhere and we stopped in to visit a bicycle shop along the route.
It was intended to be a "social" stop. But this shop was selling
recumbent kits as mentioned in my previous articles. We talked it
over for a few minutes, and made a "impulse" purchased of the kit. 

We couldn't carry the box while riding, so we opened the box  and
each of us carried the parts. The kit contained the frame, seat, handle
bars, and some special parts. Between the two of us we had most of the 
parts required to finish the kit. We did go to a CYCLE-CROSS bicycle shop
to get a Five-Spoke 20 inch plastic wheel, a 20 inch tire, and some other
parts. 

We rode the recumbent for about 2 or 3 years. It was great fun. We made
a few custom changes and adjustments.  Both of us owned other bicycles,
so the recumbent was a TOY. 

We dreamed of owning INFINITY (sp?) recumbents, which seem to be the
best of the recumbents. 

My Questions: 

I wonder if there have been any great steps in recumbent bicycles. 
Which is the best now? 





Ted G. Kekatos
backbone!ihnp4!ihuxv!tedk                     (312) 979-0804
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Indian Hill South, IX-1F-460
Naperville & Wheaton Roads - Naperville, Illinois. 60566 USA