The 'bent scene today: still a fever for coroplast? : )

I think the Internet and sites like E-bay will have a great effect on
recumbent sales. I bought my Trek recumbent through E-bay and so do a
lot of people.



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watsonglenn wrote:
I think the Internet and sites like E-bay will have a great effect on
recumbent sales. I bought my Trek recumbent through E-bay and so do a
lot of people.



I think that this is very true. I've been curious about recumbents
for over a decade, but it's only in recent years that I've been able
to learn about them, thanks to the internet. I don't think that I
would have bought one without being able to research it first thanks
to the net.



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Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com

watsonglenn wrote:
I think the Internet and sites like E-bay will have a great effect on
recumbent sales. I bought my Trek recumbent through E-bay and so do a
lot of people.



I think that this is very true. I've been curious about recumbents
for over a decade, but it's only in recent years that I've been able
to learn about them, thanks to the internet. I don't think that I
would have bought one without being able to research it first thanks
to the net.



--
--------------------------
Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com

Let's not forget COR-X made by Primex, see
http://www.primexplastics.com/products/corx.htm
"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...

wrote:
... What is coroplast? ;p

For those who actually do not know, see http://www.coroplast.com/ .

Tom Sherman - Near the confluence of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers

Let's not forget COR-X made by Primex, see
http://www.primexplastics.com/products/corx.htm
"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...

wrote:
... What is coroplast? ;p

For those who actually do not know, see http://www.coroplast.com/ .

Tom Sherman - Near the confluence of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers

What about some pictures?

Herman

Gary Mc wrote:
Jeff,

I recently bought a Mueller Windwrap fairing for my trike. Great
device that meets lots of criteria: aerodynamics, weatherproofing,
adjustability, good looks etc. But, it did not cover my feet well
enough for the winter.

The Mueller mounting hardware seemed the best half of the product as
it is so adjustable, so I just made my own coroplastic fairing to be
mounted on the Mueller Hardware from some sign board sized pieces.
Coroplastic (forgive the trademark violation Tom) is great stuff as it
is stiff and strong enough to act as it own external frame.

I am waiting for cold weather before I say for sure how well I did.

Gary McCarty, Greenspeed GTO, Salt Lake City

Jeff Potter wrote in message ...

Anyone care to take a stab at what they think the bent scene is like
today? How has it changed recently?

I'm also wondering if people are as coo-coo for coroplast as they were a
few years back.

I think it's great stuff, but offhand (I'm a bit out of the loop) it
seems like not as much is being done.

Sadly, homebuilder stuff seems to have really lost steam over the last few
years. This could be do to lots of low end recumbents available.

Also, it appears that the recumbent sales leaders are changing. This
year's
Interbike show was different. For me, a positive change. This was odd
considering we're in a down market.

It will also be interesting to see what happens with Vision. I'm also
wondering
how BiGHA will do.

I guess I'll write that article.

Bob Bryant
http://www.recumbentcyclistnews.com

Speaking for local experience in the small area of a few hundred kilometers
north of Toronto ON, the homebuilding scene is picking up.

In our area (can't speak for Toronto) bent/trike dealers are few and far
between, and the prices are so high (to most of the bike riders I talk
to/meet) that they aren't even worth a second thought. This really is too
bad as they start up north here around the $4000 mark and no, I don't have
any specific brands although I think one of the trikes might be Swifts. All
the people that take my trikes for a test ride love them, but again, shy
away from the cost of buying a commercial version of the popular trikes and
bents.

In our area, there are about 14 trikes, all home built, and 1 bent. A blue
Tour Easy, I think. I think the price is working against bents/trikes. I
understand only too well the amount of work and cost that goes into them, as
I build them from scratch. I have orders for three right now and would like
to go into a small production run, but time is not an ally at the moment.
If people were given the option of buying a trike/bent that had standard,
inexpensive components for a base model, people could upgrade them later on
their own - which is how myself and three others are building trikes.

It's good that bigger, more mainstream DF makers are trying bents and
trikes - might bring the price down. This of course, is also bad news for
the specialized trike and bent makers as they likely can't compete with
multi-million dollar production facilities.

I think there is also a pretty strong home builder group in Toronto as well,
with one individual selling his custom bents out of a bicycle shop there -
Urbane Cyclist, I think it's called. Not sure on the price, but his bikes
look pretty nice once built. I believe there is also a bent rider's group
in Toronto although, again, I am not sure on the status of it. Maybe
some/one of the builders or group members reads this NG as well.

It's interesting how people will complain about bent prices then pay $500 for a
set of upright wheels that hardly make a difference to their ride. Or they'll
pay thousandsUS$ for an upright that's hardly different from any other. Without
blinking an eye. Bents actually cost less than many deluxe uprights and deliver
far more in the way of performance experience. Sure, their parts/tubes may not
be as fancy, but these things actually affect the ride far less than things
like position, which bents offer HUGE variety in. I guess benting just appeals
to a different demographic than uprighting. Maybe it's something like XC
skiing: in downhill skiing people gladly pay jillions, getting new stuff every
year, all of it very similar. XC hardly touches on this market style. It's a
very flat market: yet in XC the right wax often makes a HUGE difference: but
people complain about wax price. In alpine wax hardly matters yet I suspect
that people pay freely to have shops apply it. In XC far more people do their
own base-prep. It's weird how markets work.

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of outdoor/indoor do-it-yourself culture...
...offering "small world" views on bikes, bows, books, movies...
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plus national "Off the Beaten Path" travel forums! HOLY SMOKES!

"Jeff Potter" skrev...
It's interesting how people will complain about bent prices then pay $500 for a
set of upright wheels that hardly make a difference to their ride. Or they'll
pay thousandsUS$ for an upright that's hardly different from any other. Without
blinking an eye. Bents actually cost less than many deluxe uprights and deliver
far more in the way of performance experience.

I was a spectator at a 30 klick timetrial this summer.
Was quite fun really cause noone even blinked when you mentioned
the price of the bike. I guess we had some of the cheapest ones there.

A tailfaired old Baron was still faster than the y-frame carbon bike
the fastest upright rider rode though. Very nice event. They had a separate class
for recumbents.

Mikael

Jeff Potter wrote:
It's interesting how people will complain about bent prices then pay $500 for a
set of upright wheels that hardly make a difference to their ride. Or they'll
pay thousandsUS$ for an upright that's hardly different from any other. Without
blinking an eye. Bents actually cost less than many deluxe uprights and deliver
far more in the way of performance experience.

Not necessarily deluxe, either.

Case in point: Last month, I stopped at a Chicago bike shop for some
cable housing. While I was there, I took a look at some of the bikes
they had on display. One of them was a single-speed, coaster brake,
Chinese-built *REPLICA* of the old Schwinn Black Phantom cruiser.

The price tag said $1800.

There are a lot of nice 'bents available for less than that...
--
Russ --kill the wabbit to despam
"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me -- imagine how much
deeper the ocean would be if they didn't do that." -Steven Wright