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When I was sixteen and a half I got my driver's license and set aside my beloved 12-speed Fuji Grand Tourer. Over the course of the next thirteen and a half years I gained about forty pounds. So, for my 30th birthday, I bought myself a 27" Univega and began riding for exercise as well as commuting to work. However, I soon grew tired of the discomfort I experienced in my neck, shoulders and butt.
Then I recalled seeing a news story about MIT Professor David Gordon Wilson and his recumbent bicycle. I began doing research and discovered that recumbent bikes came in a great variety of configurations. The major catagories being combinations of short and long wheelbase with above and below seat steering. Recumbent enthusiasts have created a lexicon of acronyms to describe the various types; LWB, SWB, CLWB, USS, and ASS.
I eventually settled on a Ryan Vanguard, an ancestor of today's Longbikes Slipstream and a direct descendant of the Avatar 2000. This is a long wheelbase recumbent bicycle with underseat steering. A couple of years later I purchased a copy of the Easyracers plan set and built one from the remains of a couple of old ten speed bikes. I liked this bicycle so much that I ordered a factory built TourEasy a couple of months later.
While I like the TourEasy very much and still put over 75 miles per week on it - allowing me to shed that 40 pounds and returning me to what I weighed in college. I feel that I haven't quite found the perfect bike for me. I've made modifications, built accessories and made complete bikes and I still haven't got it yet. This site is all about the things I've tried and the things I've yet to try, enjoy.- Jake