Sure, it has probably been a long time since you pulled the sticker out of a pack of cards and slapped it on your books, backpacks, and bikes.  You might think you're too old for stickers these days, but I'm willing to bet you'd feel differently about vinyl decals of recumbent bikes, trikes, and tandems.

Denny Vorhees, long time BentRider and RBR regular, supplied RBR with a few sample decals some months ago.  They were a hit at the rally.  The news now is that Denny has ramped up production and is selling the decals through his website.

Tim Blangger of The Morning Call, an Allentown, PA newspaper, contacted RBR about a month ago with questions about recumbents.  He was looking to do a piece on our bikes/trikes of choice and that piece is now available online.

The first half of the article hits on all the common reasons why recumbents are not quite perfect, though some of the points are strained at best.  The second half hits some of the benefits and also focuses on RBR's contribution to the article.

To say that some recumbent riders are displeased with the tone would be an understatement.  One has only to look at the comments attached to the article to see that riders have already started firing back.

RBR customer Jim T. sent us an image a while back of his Optima Baron sporting Bacchetta tweener bars.  You might have seen that pic in our Customer Photos gallery.

Jim recently wrote RBR to divulge a bit of what went into his custom modification.  I have to admit that I am still in the infancy stage when it comes to my technical knowledge of recumbents and cycling, so I'm going to just spit this out and leave it to your interpretation:

• Replacement handle bars – bacchetta 22” (I like the wider bars for my wider rear end!)
• Riser 10.5” – cut down 4.5” (this gives me a ½ inch knee clearance on my upstroke)
• B-Pivot
• Spacer for fork stem – 29 mm ID x 40 mm OD x 41.5 mm L – In a perfect world I would have cut down the stem on the front fork that 41.5 mm – making the spacer was easier – If I ever change out the front fork to a carbon one – then I’ll make that change and eliminate the spacer.

So there you have it, the ingredients of a successful conversion. And what does Jim think of his Baron? "This bike is FAST!!!!"

Not too long ago, a customer came to the shop looking to trade in an old trike towards a newer long wheelbase bike.  The trike had seen better times and was covered with dust and grime, but the 700c tire on the rear revealed that it wasn't just any piece of kit.

A little research showed it to be a circa 1990 ICE Trice, one of the earliest models to be sold in the US and the first Trice to feature 20" fronts and the 700c rear.  It was also the last model of Trice to feature their fiberglass seat, which was amazingly intact (with original seat cushion!) on the trike that was traded in.

Not everything survived the years.  The original steering bars had long since been replaced by a standard set of handlebars and some custom bar ends sporting hand rests.  The idler also had been replaced by one intended for BMX bikes.  While the front brakes were still functional, the rear brake was shot.

Still, there was a lot of promise in the 18 year old trike, so Rob took it in and handed it over to Oliver for reconditioning.