Recumbent Cycle-Con

Recumbent conventions are rare beasts to begin with, but rarer still in the Midwest. This October 10-13 the Recumbent Cycle-Con was held at the DuPage Expo Center in St. Charles, Illinois, which qualifies as suburban Chicago.  I kinda had visions of McCormick Place in my head, but the convention was actually much smaller than that.  Luckily my brother-in-law was a fellow traveller and was interested in spending a day there.  Better yet, he lived about a half hour from the convention. So I left Minneapolis on Friday to attend the convention on Saturday. This is my first such conference after riding recumbents since 1994, and I’ve tolerated the looks and attitudes for twenty years now.  How odd to be in an environment where you are not the strange one.  In fact, I laughed when I overheard someone refer to another person as pretty geeky; high praise in this crowd. It was, in short, a lot of fun. I took a bunch of pictures available here . When I walked into the center, the first exhibit was on adaptive bikes. A Draisin bike that could contain a wheelchair. A Hase Pino tandem with a front recumbent and rear upright; I had always seen those in ads, but never in real time. A PetraBike designed for people who cannot straddle a “normal” bike.  Martin Rasmussen’s TRIOT, a power assisted trike with modifications that made me drool, including three disc brakes governed by a master cylinder so all three would brake evenly. This was going to be interesting. There’s too much to discuss in one sitting, so let me describe the recumbents that I actually took around the smallish and often crowded track. First, a Lightning P-38, a bike that I had tried once before and really liked.  Unfortunately no hills or long rides to really put it through its paces.  Just a light wisp of a bike with an upright seat and a scrunched feeling.  I wasn’t ready to spend $4000 for that, but the desire is there.  Tim Brummer was there, and it was fun to meet one of the industry legends who has seen many recumbent manufacturers come and go.  He is no relation, but joked that he could give me a family discount.  Someday, maybe... I tried to talk my way into a fully-faired, green Greenspeed, but that wasn’t going to happen. Next stop was a Bacchetta, which I own, but fitted with a Euroseat, which I have always wanted to try.  Surprisingly comfy.  Might have to place that on my list. Next up was the darling of the convention, an ICE FULL FAT.  Yes, a trike with fat tires! Evidently production models of this trike should be out in January, but there is a waiting list already.  No one that I asked had any experience with it in snow. Holy rolling resistance!  The Full Fat on a sharp turn was also an upper body strength test, but one really wanted to run over something or someone with it.  None of the other cyclists ventured too closely when that bad boy was on the test track.  I didn’t even ask what the entrance fee was to own that; one look at the Rohloff XL hub and that purchase would probably get the notice of any credit protection service. Next up was a Chameleon trike tandem with my brother-in-law as captain and me in the stoker seat.  Again, I really would have loved to get that bike up to speed, but we had to be careful with that much tubing on the test track.  I wanted to take the Azus two wheel tandem out, but was reluctant to negotiate that beast without a lot of straight track.  I figured that we had survived 400 miles on a Double Vision, so a stiffer tandem might be more relaxing.  Maybe next time. My final ride was on on a Cruzbike.  I had always wanted to try out a front-wheel drive, and here was my chance.  I was a little nervous because I had noticed that most of the spills on the test track had been on that bike, so I asked the representative for tips.  In spite of the advice, I was done after one circuit. As you pedal you have to get your upper body to hold the steering straight.  Essentially, your arms have to work with your legs to power and steer at the same time.  I thanked the rep for the chance and told her it had been on my bucket list.  She laughed and said something to the effect that I can die now.  I almost told her I thought I was going to on this bike, but let it go. Those were all of my rides.  In generally, the convention reflected what many dealers have told me: trikes are hot.  Oddly enough I have noticed few trikes on my commute in Minneapolis during the past two years, but perhaps they are not being used for commuting.  At the same time, I have seen very little of two-wheeled recumbents.  Time to comment on that later.