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The ActionBent Jet Stream III
USS
SWB; the picture is from a few model years ago. These value-price bikes are mass produced in Taiwan and sold direct to customers from Redmond Washington. |
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This is the ActionBent GC-24A
ASS SWB. |
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Bacchetta Giro 20 SWB. |
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Bacchetta Bellandare
LWB. |
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Before BikeE went out of business in 2002, of the then "top three" (with Rans and Vision) BikeE was the youngest make, and their CLWB bikes sold like hotcakes. The sliding seat clamped to the aluminum box-beam of the main frame, making them easy to adjust for different-sized riders. Pictured is the rear-suspension AT model. |
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Burley has been known for their reliable two-wheel child trailers for many years, and introduced their first recumbent in 2000. The Hepcat SWB recumbent pictured had the Shimano RapidFire trigger shifters I liked, special aero spoke wheels, and front and rear disk brakes. I think this was the slickest SWB 'bent on the market. See my
manufacturers page for info on the Burley reorganization. |
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Mainstream bike maker
Cannondale introduced a CLWB recumbent called Easy Rider in 2002. For 2004-2006 they had two models of the same design called Bent I and Bent II. It was a full-suspension, ASS CLWB design, with a sliding seat and a mid-drive, dropped for 2007. |
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Easy Racers is a mature, well-respected touring/performance LWB design. A fully-faired Easy Racers special is in the
Smithsonian now, after breaking 65 mph and winning a prize. Choose from the steel-frame Tour Easy (pictured) and the aluminum Gold Rush. |
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Easy Racers' newer Javelin LWB. |
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The Lightning P-38 is a reasonably-priced performance-oriented SWB ASS recumbent. They also have the 20-pound R-84 SWB with a carbon-fiber/aluminum frame. |
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The Longbikes Slipstream is the descendant and heir of Dick Ryan's legendary Vanguard touring paragon. I've always thought the front of these bikes is a thing of beauty, but the Vanguard seat height was too much for me. |
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Rans bikes have been around a while, and they make quite a selection of different wheelbases and configurations. The 2004 Stratus pictured is their classic LWB design. |
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The Rans V-Rex SWB has a 26-inch rear wheel. Rans bikes all have sliding seats and frame designs based on triangulated small tubes. |
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The Rotator Pursuit is a performance-oriented LWB with mid-drive and tall gearing; it comes with factory front and rear fairings. |
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Pictured: the Stein Trikes Nomad suspension tadpole trike; more pictures of the Nomad and their other models can be seen on their site. |
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The Sun EZ-1 CLWB is the most affordable entry-level recumbent these days, generally available new in the US in the $500-$600 range. EZ-1's have 20-inch rear and 16-inch front wheels and are well-made and serviceable. This niche used to belong to the BikeE CT. |
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The Sun EZ-3 is the most affordable recumbent trike I know about, and an example of the delta style of recumbent trike. Sun recumbents are designed by
Easy Racers and manufactured in Taiwan under license. |
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The Sun EZ-Tadpole is a value-priced tadpole trike, new for 2005, with a sliding seat and a chain path with just one idler set and chain tubes. |
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The Vision R50 series was full-suspension; pictured is the 2003 R50, with full suspension, non-rotating quick-adjust boom and return-side automatic chain takeup, arguably the most advanced ride Vision ever produced. Unfortunately Vision went out of business in early 2004. |
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The US$4200
Windcheetah tadpole trike is made of aluminum, titanium, carbon/kevlar. The original Ferrari of performance recumbents. |
