oilfreeandhappy wrote:
I test rode a recumbent the other day, and I loved it. I'm hoping to
make it my next toy. Is there anybody out there who has test-ridden
one of these, and actually not liked it?
Jim Gagnepain
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

I tried a Lightning P-38 a few years ago. I am glad the shop had a
bike path/wide sidewalk near it. That thing was very twitchy. No
striaght line riding for me in that 3 mile test ride. Maybe after a
few hundred or thousand miles on non car bike paths I could ride it
straight enough to ride it in traffic. Long time for training though.
And of course there is the fact recumbents cost about twice what an
equivalent diamond frame bike costs. The marketers know recumbent
riders will pay anything, and they make sure to get everything out of
their wallets they can.

I'll agree with Mr. Chisholm, recumbents are wonderful for people who
have a physical reason for not riding diamond frame bikes. For people
who have no physical reason preventing them from riding a diamond
frame, why ride a recumbent? Why pay double the money for an
equivalent recumbent bike?