Why does nobody believe me?

[yostumpy]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB. And the former have their frames made in Taiwan. HPV have one UK dealer (in Scotland) and AZUB have two UK dealers (one also in Scotland). Three of my bikes came from the USA as framesets.

Who’s the other Azub dealer?

[UpWrong]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB. And the former have their frames made in Taiwan. HPV have one UK dealer (in Scotland) and AZUB have two UK dealers (one also in Scotland). Three of my bikes came from the USA as framesets.

Who’s the other Azub dealer?

Freetrike in Exeter

[UpWrong]

There is also Velomotion in Poland I think. No dealers but you can buy direct. And the Pelso in Hungary similarly.

[Grldtnr]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB. And the former have their frames made in Taiwan. HPV have one UK dealer (in Scotland) and AZUB have two UK dealers (one also in Scotland). Three of my bikes came from the USA as framesets.

Who’s the other Azub dealer?

I bought my Azub direct, unseen ,untried a big risk, but it's proved fine.

Must task you regards recumbent builders , we have ICE in Britain, although they too have frames built in the far East, they only design and assemble in Cornwall.
Also there are anumber of other European brands, but I suspect they are primarily sourced in the east
AZUB do manufacture and hand build there own frames in Uhesky Brod , Czechia, it's the main reason I went ahead with my purchase ,luckily I bought before Brexit happened , and escaped paying hefty fees, but only just !

[Grldtnr]

And there are any number of Velomobiles being produced, but they are quite niche, and not really mainstream recumbents,big you can call recumbents mainstream?

[UpWrong]

And there are any number of Velomobiles being produced, but they are quite niche, and not really mainstream recumbents,big you can call recumbents mainstream?

I was specifically talking about 2 wheelers where supply and demand have imploded.

[pjclinch]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB.

I think M5 (meer meters met minder moeite) are still going in NL (website mentions new bikes appearing in June '23), but as far as I know they've never had a UK dealer.

Pete

[firedfromthecircus]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB.

I think M5 (meer meters met minder moeite) are still going in NL (website mentions new bikes appearing in June '23), but as far as I know they've never had a UK dealer.

Pete

Laid Back, no?

[UpWrong]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB.

I think M5 (meer meters met minder moeite) are still going in NL (website mentions new bikes appearing in June '23), but as far as I know they've never had a UK dealer.

Pete

Bram Moens is heading towards retirement:
"After more than half a million recumbent kilometers and a 66 years young body, it is time for others to continue development and production. Over almost 4 decades of bicycle design and lightweight bicycle parts in steel, carbon, aluminium and titanium, have been taken from prototype stage to serial production. Concerning the bicycle designs and the 2-Spoke wheels, efficiency tests, competitions and record attempts were leading in addition to the design. It delivered many international design awards and a large number of speed records, national, European, world, Paralympic and Olympic titles. The numerous advantages of recumbent bicycles are still solid, because

M5 Makes Much More Marvellous Miles

Of course I will continue to ride my M5 CHR recumbent as long as possible. And that also applies to photography, painting and design. After all, there is still more than enough to discover!

More practical news will follow on the M5 website in the near future.
I would like to thank all M5 customers/users in more than 70 countries!"

[a.twiddler]

I believe the same thing happened with Sinner/Drymer in February 2022. The Principals retired and there was no one to continue the business. Even though Velomobiles are a niche market of a niche market, it still leaves a hole.

[pjclinch]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB.

I think M5 (meer meters met minder moeite) are still going in NL (website mentions new bikes appearing in June '23), but as far as I know they've never had a UK dealer.

Laid Back, no?

I'm pretty sure not. David was a Nazca dealer back before Mnr. & Mvr. Nazca hit the retirement button in late '21 but I don't think I've ever seen an M5 there.

Pete.

[pete75]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB. And the former have their frames made in Taiwan. HPV have one UK dealer (in Scotland) and AZUB have two UK dealers (one also in Scotland). Three of my bikes came from the USA as framesets.

HPVelo have two UK dealers.

[UpWrong]

Sadly, european recumbent bicycle production consists of HPVelo and AZUB. And the former have their frames made in Taiwan. HPV have one UK dealer (in Scotland) and AZUB have two UK dealers (one also in Scotland). Three of my bikes came from the USA as framesets.

HPVelo have two UK dealers.

Ah yes, Freetrike along with Kinetics now. Used to be BikeFix of course.

[nobrakes]

Bram liked to sell direct but David @ LaidBackBikes was sometimes able to circumvent that and source M5s for customers. He got me my CHR frameset and had the Bicycle Works build it up.

[ajoten]

As may have become apparent from some of my postings I am a big fan of recumbent bikes. However convincing others of their manifest advantages in terms of safety, speed and comfort is a daunting uphill battle, especially in terms of safety.

My latest attempt to get a friend to try the 'dark side' is being thwarted by all his acquaintances telling him he mustn't ride them because they are so dangerous...

If I may return to the original post (just because that's how I found this thread a minute ago).

I am exactly one of the people being talked about. Well, nearly (it's the wife telling me I mustn't ride one, who's a bit more than a acquaintance <insert comedy remark here>).

I *really* want to ride a recumbent, am 100% convinced it will be a good experience physically and significantly better for my neck (the osteo recommends a low rider, but that's another thread altogether).

Why we are worried re safety, and I imply the word MIGHT here as I haven't been out on one to test:
- I won't be able to see as far ahead as on an upright
- roads are narrow and twisty round here with high hedges, and tbh I'm unnerved enough on my road bike at times wrt cars whipping round corners
- I can't imagine you can pull away as quickly at a junction
- being lower than other vehicles would make me feel vulnerable

But here's the thing. Fear has nothing to do with rationality, it's a personal and emotional reaction to things. Just because an aeroplane I've been on has never fallen out of the sky, and I'm not scared of flying, doesn't mean I'm not a tiny bit bothered on take-off. Same goes for many things... walking across Striding Edge or Crib Goch, theme park rides and so on. You can't remove fear through argument.

As far as I can see the only way to overcome these fears is through borrowing one for a reasonable amount of time*, for a decent length ride or two, say for a weekend. And then - as has been pointed out a few times earlier in this thread - you'd have to try different sorts to see how they feel. So that's borrowing others for other weekends. So this would require dealers giving you £3k bikes/trikes to faff about with over the course of a month or something like that. And then you might hand them back and say "nah" and they need to be happy about it. And even then that's assuming you can find dealers within striking distance at all.

* plus 2-wheelers have a bit of a learning curve I believe?

Where does that leave us? One needs to have a reasonable number of recumbent evangelists, within a 10 mile radius let's say, who are evangelical enough to lend you their pride-and-joys. I don't mean any of that in a pejorative sense.

Andrew.

P.S. I too am conscious of people thinking you're an eccentric clown. Same is true of said low rider, or Pashley Roadster stylee, which I also need to consider for dodgy neck purposes. (Roadster in lycra with clipless pedals of course.) Note that I favour the recumbent because one could actually have a Big Day Out, which I doubt the others offer.

P.P.S. I live in the Chilterns and you can't avoid 9% climbs, on which I would imagine grinding to a halt. Hard enough attempting in the saddle on a mountain bike with a light front end.