Re: Best recumbent exercise bikes for the home user who wants to replicate a gym experience?

Van Bagnol wrote:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Roger Carlson) wrote:
>
>
> > Hi.  I want to buy a recumbent exercise bike for my home.  I
> > want something comparable to the Star-Trac bikes at my gym.  I
> > do not want anything with a fan blade on it, as I prefer the
> > electromagnetic resistance mechanism of the electric bikes.  I
> > am willing to pay as much as I would for a gym-quality home (is
> > that an oxymoron?) treadmill, up to $2000.  Hopefully I won't
> > need to spend that much. Can you give me brands names to check
> > out?
>
>
> Forgive me for seeing irony in this, but for that money you can
> ride a _real_ recumbent bike which a gym experience can't
> replicate. You can probably also fit it with indoor mag training
> rollers so you can pedal indoors.
>
> Offhand I see a sale on a Giant Revive DX recumbent for $759 and
> a Travel Trac magnetic trainer for $109 at Performance Bicycle 
> <http//www.PerformanceBike.com>. The Bike "E" is also a popular
> brand.
I'll second that thought. Why get a piece of basement machinery when 
you can add a real bike to the stable? The one modification I'd make 
is to aim for a recumbent that uses a full-size (26") rear wheel. 
That will make it easier to put it on a trainer. If you get one with 
a 20" drive wheel, you will likely need to buy a special trainer. 
Additionally, many Bike-Es had 3x7 rear hubs, which complicated 
putting them on a trainer - they had a shift chain sticking out of 
the drive side axle.

Buy something like a Sun Easy Sport SC ($549 and available at ANY 
LBS willing to order it) and a really nice $200-300 fluid trainer, 
and you're still comfortably under $1K. The bike would be the 
recumbent equivalent of a hybrid, but performance wouldn't matter on 
the trainer, and off the trainer it would be *usable* as a bike. And 
of course you could always upgrade the bike if you were willing to 
spend more.
--

 John Foltz                       --- O _
 Baron --- _O   _      V-Rex 24  --- _\\/\-%)
 _________(_)`=()___________________(_)= (_)_____