Why People Don't Buy Recumbents

Ergoman

I'm a pretty intense cyclist, a Cat 2 racer who has also done some serious touring. Unfortunately, I'm also getting to the age where my body has stopped ignoring abuse. I want to go farther, faster and be comfortable doing it, and after a little research I decided to give recumbents a try. I studied the reviews, read up on the subject all I could and picked a few models that might interest me, the Challenge Fujin, the Optima Baron, the VK2, etc. (yes, I want to go fast and I don't mind working at it)

Now, here's why people don't buy recumbents. A two-hour (one way) drive to a shop that assured me they had all the models revealed that they had nothing but used, rusty and broken lawn chairs with wheels. Of course they'd be happy to order what I wanted, and if I wanted to wait around for a few hours while their mechanic made their rusty, flat-tired, old Baron rideable, I could go for a test ride in the parking lot. I had called ahead to let them know what I wanted to see so it wasn't like my visit was a surprise.

Frustrated, I got on the phone to every major recumbent dealer in the U.S. The story was the same everywhere. No models of interest in stock, but if you want to order, we can have it for you in a month or two.

Here's the crunch: Before I lay $2000 to $3000 out for an unknown bike, particularly a recumbent with which I have NO experience, I want to ride it. I really need to check it out and see if I'm going to love it or hate it. If no one has the models I'm interested in, how can I do a test ride. If I can't do a test ride, how can any dealer in his right mind expect me to buy? It's a chicken and egg type thing. People don't buy recumbents because the models they want aren't available, and the models they want aren't available because people don't buy them. Wake up dealers! You might be on to something good, but unless you make it possible for sane people to buy, you're going nowhere.

END OF RANT

Now, can anyone tell me where I can find a road-worthy low racer in reasonable condition, new or used, anywhere within a 200 mile radius of Washington D.C.?

blazingpedals

I'm sorry to hear of your sour experience trying to get a test ride. It's kind of a catch-22 proposition - bents aren't common enough for most shops to bother carrying them, but they'll never get more popular if the shops aren't out there selling them.

Having failed in your first attempt, I'd suggest another try, this time to contact some of the DC area's recumbent riders. WHIRL (Washington's Happily Independent Recumbent Lovers) has a web page here. I've found that most recumbent affecionados will allow at least short test rides, given venues where the tester and the bike aren't likely to disappear forever. And their bikes are more likely to be well-maintained than some old consignment in the back of a shop. I don't know what kinds of bents are popular with that group, but maybe a few of them will have lowracers. Although I'm partial to lowracers myself, don't rule out highracers such as the Bacchetta Aero. If you can finagle a test ride, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck with your hunt. I hope you bag a trophy!

Ergoman

blazingpedals,

Thanks for the response and the info. I'll check out the web page you suggested and see what I can find.

Aeliel

I dont know what he has now but The Bicycle Man usually has a wide selection of bents. He's more than 200 miles away but he is accustomed to shipping bents all over the world so that shouldn't be an issue.

His website is one of the better I've seen too.

http://www.bicycleman.com/recumbents/recumbents.htm

Ergoman

Sorry, but no cigar. Bicycle Man is very informative and helpful but does not have any of the bikes I'm interested in but may have something to demo in a month. Then it would take a month or more to get what I might decide to order.

Aeliel

Yeah coming from a background in retail sales I can tell you why nobody stocks them. They cost a fortune to keep on the floor for the occasional sale. Most people don't walk into a shop and want to walk out with a 2.5-5k bike. Especially something as unique as one of those.

I thought Bicycle Man might have one only because he does do quite a volume (especially considering he's in the middle of nowhere) and I have seen them there in the past...

Ergoman

Yeah, like I said above, it's a "chicken and egg" thing. If you don't have a bike in stock, no one will buy it, and if no one will buy it, why keep one in stock? Someone somewhere has got to be smart enough and rich enough to break this cycle (no pun intended). It's not like stocking a few $3,000 recumbent bikes is more than most shops could do. There are five shops within 20 minutes of me that stock inventories of $50,000 to $100,000 in conventional bikes.

blazingpedals

My LBS has a Burley on the floor, which has been on the floor for almost 3 years. Granted, they don't know how to sell 'bents, but that bike is a money loser for them, taking up floor space and not generating any revenue. Burley's not even in the 'bent business anymore, so their chances of ever selling it become smaller all the time.

MoeJoe

NORECUMYET

I'm glad that I stumbled upon this forum. It's been very educational. I decided about two weeks ago that I was indeed going to buy a recumbent. I won't get into the reasons why but they are common. Unfortunately, all the models I'm really attracted to are the very hard to buy kind. Velokraft, M5, etc. The only shop close by doesn't carry any low racers so my next attempt is a shop about seventy miles away. So far, their site insinuates that they have these exotics on hand. I haven’t spoken to them yet though. They're called Bentupcylcles I believe and reside in Van Nuys California. Does anyone know anything about them?

I don't think I'll be going back to a "normal" bike. I just really find the whole low racer recumbent idea to be a very powerful one. I am however getting pretty discouraged reading all the negative feedback. I had decided on an M5 carbon low racer. Then I read a post that said this guy's club had three of them and they're all three falling apart. To top it off they apparently are having a terrible time getting the maker to honor the warranty.

If I have to I guess I could "settle" for say a Lightning P38 or similar. I'm like most of you though. I'm having a hard time with the idea of spending up to $6,000 on something I can't try out first. What if my body just doesn't fit the seat correctly? Then what do I do?

If I have to I'm willing to travel just about anywhere in the country to try out recumbents. Does anyone know of a shop/s that carry a real inventory? Even though I understand the problems involved for shop owners, how do the manufacturer's think they'll ever sell in larger quantities if people can't even touch something that costs so much money?

Wouldn’t it be prudent to at least pepper the major metropolitan areas with some demo bikes? I know many of these makers are pretty small, but they can’t be the first business with similar problems in showing their merchandise. HELP!!!!

blazingpedals

I'd still call ahead, but Bentupcycles should have at least one or two lowracers hanging around. If nothing else, Dana has one that he rides himself.

I hear ya on the availability. Dana does a mail-order business in lowracers, so he can afford to have a few in stock. In a regular brick-and-mortar shop, floor space has to pay for itself by way of turning over the stock at regular intervals. Even with better availability, the market for lowracers would still be pretty small, and shop owners would be hard-pressed to turn them over fast enough to make them profitable. And of course, shop owners aren't interested in promoting lowracers or even bents in general; they're only going to carry what people want to buy.

Ike90

This is probably the best and most complete recumbent shop in the nation:

http://www.hostelshoppe.com/

MoeJoe

Dana at Bent Up Cycles sells (among others) the Velokraft line of bikes, which includes some beautiful lowracer style rides. I'm almost positive that he'd be able to set you up with a test ride. Here's a link to the Velokraft web page so you can see the bikes I'm talking about:

http://www.velokraft.com/

As far as M5 bikes falling apart, I've been riding a Lightning U2 for quite some time, which is essentially a Lightning modified M5 lowracer, and I've had no problems with the bike. Of course, my bike is steel, and an older, tried and true design, so it could be that they're having trouble working the kinks out of some of the newer bikes like the carbon lowracer.

Saxon

Hostel Shoppe is a great source for recumbents and gear, but I don't believe they sell any lowracers. Most lowracers are made by small companies in Europe, so that's another thing that cuts down on availability. Over the years, a few places have tried importing them into the U.S in number, but I think they're just too extreme and require too many compromises for the average rider to deal with. Barcroft is one of the few making a U.S. lowracer. http://www.barcroftcycles.com/

I've never heard of M5's falling apart. Their lowracer is the prototype that most other euro makers copied.