I feel like an ambassador! Or a traveling circus...so many have wanted
to take a picture of my bike...I've now taken to just referring them to
the google keywords of "smgte" and "recumbent"...too bad I'm not in
business!

Just as well: most folks won't be able to afford it -- they'd think a
$600 ActionBent is crazy, never mind ~$3.5K for a souped-up HP Velo
SMGTe!

Wish I'd thought of getting air-sprung suspension for the front, too,
like with a White Bros. fork or something...seems silly having a
basically regular steel spring up there when I've got a nice air shock
in the rear. My front brakes keep getting misaligned or something on
account of all the potholes I go over...no problem at all with the rear
disc!

I wonder what it takes to be an HP Velo dealer...NYC certainly needs
one! It's amazing the anti-'bent bias from the LBSes...it's mild, but
definitely the one guy (the snarky racer guy I'd mentioned in the
old thread about bad bike shop manners) said to me yesterday, "Dude!
What happened, the last time I saw you, you were insisting on a Trek,
and now you've got into this...this whole sub-culture...!" Another
bike shop was only mildly interested in helping me with mechanical
issues on it.

Interestingly, I see a 'bent-rider almost every time I go out for a
ride! Unfortunately, I don't really see them on the streets, but in
parks. I can't wait for the day when I can be just another bicyclist
on my 'bent! Though I'd miss that "respect" and wide berth motorists
give as they slow down to gawk. I still haven't had any honk at me for
being slow starting up on a hill or for taking up the whole lane!

Also can't wait for them hydrogen fuel cell cars so I am no longer
about eye-level with the exhaust...blech!