John R
I've been peripherally interested in recumbents for a long time, even to the extent of trying to build a "tadpole" trike in the early 90's (which was dangerous and scrapped very quickly) and very rough SWB bike in early 2005 which was not much better but at least could be ridden without fear of fatal consequences.
The "success" of the SWB encouraged me to do some research into "real" bents on the web. I was looking for something that would be a "workhorse" commuter but reasonably cheap, and I ran across references and review of the SWB "PB960" or "Jetstream" model produced by China Mascot (TW-Bents) in Taiwan. I was impressed by the simplicity of the engineering and the price was good too!
I emailed the Taiwanese factory. They put me on to Australian retailers (Flying Furniture and Tri-Sled). As luck would have it, Ben at Tri-Sled had a demonstrator in stock at a price that I couldn't pass up, so after a test ride it was in my shed.
As I work from home it gets a major workout daily doing general transporting to suppliers, the shops, the gym and the video library, etc. I live in a very busy area so I wasn't comfortable about a trike for the application (although I know lots of trike riders will dispute the visibility issue.) So far it's acheived all objectives admirably, and freed me from the sore shoulders and neck that I always got on the upright. It's seen a few VICHPV B-Spon rides as well.
Hanging around HPV'ers and seeing all the nice gear makes me restless, so I've indulged my building bug with a few projects.
The first was an experimental electric front wheel setup, which worked well and makes hill climbing a breeze. Mostly I don't use it though, as my legs are still working fine... so far... however I'd really like to make an electric enclosed all-weather trike one day.
The second project was a foam rib tail fairing covered in aircraft fabric. This is just a whimsical project. I'm not a racer, the legs are too old for that, but it does make headwinds more bearable and the weight is so low it doesn't have significant penalty on the hills. My primary hobby is soaring aircraft, so the construction follows logically from that experience.
The third was to create a duplicate of the original bike for a friend to ride and to investigate the option of joining them to make a "sociable" tandem (side by side). The duplicate bike was made from parts from an old free Great Vic Bike Ride bike. It went together very quickly and has been a resounding success. I've also made a composite seat for it which is light and comfortable.
A lowracer with a considerable amount of carbon fibre is perhaps in my future, but as for trikes, this is the kind of trike I normally ride!
You can find out more about the progress of my ongoing recumbent adventure, including construction notes and performance testing on my web site: click here