Issue No. 73 January/February 2003 CyclistNewsstevebriggs.netfirms.com/rcn/RCN_073.pdf · Your Mailing Label “72 LAST ISSUE” means that RCN 72 is the last issue of your current

RecumbentNewsC y c l i s t

2 Editorial License:

Recumbent Road Bike Rant

3 Recumbent News

8 Road Test: The Bacchetta Giro:

Kudos for the new kid on the block

12 Road test: Bacchetta Strada

Open-Road High Roller

The Bacchetta Ti Aero

18 RCN Interview: Rich Pinto

22 My Dream BIke:

The Bacchetta Ti Aero

27 Rotator Ti Pursuit 700/20 Nexus

29 CatEye LED Light Review

Issue No. 73January/February 2003

What’s Inside

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2 Recumbent Cyclist News 73

Editorial License

RecumbentRoad Bike Rant

By Bob Bryant

Are you ready for a total anti-roadie recum-bent rant? Well, you’re not going to get it fromme. I have to say that these new Euro-inspiredhighracer recumbent road bikes are the singlemost exciting thing going in our cycling nichetoday. Surprised you, didn’t I?

Interest in recumbent road bikes reallyseemed to catch fire this season with theBacchetta Strada (dual-26 SWB ASS), theCorsa, and now the slick new 21-pound tita-nium Aero. I haven’t seen a bigger buzz for anew recumbent in years. Everybody seems tolove it—and they’ve already sold out the firstbatch of the $3,900 Aeros! Though there areother recumbent road bikes, and Bacchettadidn’t actually invent the concept (nor did theyhave the first one on the market—Vision did),the Bacchettas have become the hot buzz bikesthis season and we feel they deserve kudos.

I thought it was just a bunch of roadie con-verts who were buying these things—andmaybe some are—but the majority of peoplebuying these bikes might be riding a well-usedV-Rex, Lightning, or Vision and looking totake the next step. And we can thank three ofour own—seasoned recumbent enthusiastsJohn Schlitter, Mark Colliton, and Rich Pinto(and all the folks at Bacchetta—for bringingthese excellent bikes to us.

Nothing Bacchetta has done is really all thatnew. Some have argued that M5, Ross, someof the other Euro designers, and others havedone most of this before. The trick was to in-tegrate all of it into a new line of readily avail-able high-performance recumbent bicycles forJohn or Jane Average Recumbent Rider.

So I’m trying to figure out what it is aboutthese bikes. I didn’t get it. So after a phoneconversation with John Schlitter, I decided thatI need to get my hiney down to Las Vegas andcheck this stuff out.

Like many of you, I went through theBacchetta demo ride process. Lucky me, I hadJohn Schlitter, Mark Colliton, and Rich Pintohelping me get set up on each of the bikes. Irode the Giro first, then the Strada, then theCorsa (no Aero ride yet). Each bike is a bitmore extreme than the other, and each one felta bit faster than the previous model. When Irode the Corsa, I even stopped on the test routeto lay the seat back a bit farther. When thesebikes are set up correctly, there’s nothing likethem. They’re aggressive, stable, and stiff, butthey ride nice and seem fairly versatile given

their mock- Italianheritage. Yeah, imag-ine me zooming downBlue Diamond Roadoutside Las Vegas ona screaming yellow Corsa. This was myfavorite ride of the show (see RCN 74).

Another item of note is the passion this com-pany has to do it their way. Hey, I scoffed atthese ideas a few years back. I just didn’t buyinto it. I was kind of cranky and thinking oldschool. I, for one, am certainly glad that theybuilt this line of bikes based on their exper-tise, not asking a bunch of other people to helpdesign a new bike by committee. Passion oozesfrom these new bikes.

We all know that many roadies don’t seemto care much for recumbents. They expect usto be slow, or they see a fairing or a body stock-ing and think “cheater.” These new recumbentroad bikes are a bit different. The wedgie racerrides up alongside the roadie recumbent, looksover, and sees a full-size wheelset (and nogeeky tiny front wheel), road componentry,roadlike tires, and maybe even a carbon fiberfork or aero-type wheel. All of a sudden theriders have something in common, they speakthe same language. With the titanium versionsof these bikes, road bike-like weights are evenachieved (the Aero is 21-22 pounds). Perhapsthey’re not so different after all.

So, have I become a roadie recumbentconvert? Perhaps I’m headed in that direction.I haven’t been riding my recumbent offroadlately. Does that count? I still like fat tires (theGiro’s and Strada tires are fat enough for me).I still need to carry some cargo. John Schlittershowed me a great little bag by Radical thatcaps over the Euro seat, and Angletech offersa cool aero trunk for larger loads. We have onehere now. So, am I selling out my urbancyclist ethos? Well, maybe I’m trading themin for a faster model. Perhaps I just got bittenby the recumbent performance bug after ridingthe Strada and Corsa (and a long dry spell formy performance riding). I can undoubtedly saythat there’s a room for a bike like this in mystable. There’s something to be said in beingable to use the roadie and triathalete parts, andespecially those very fast Vredstein Fortezzasuperlight 145 psi 650c tires. Hey, everyoneneeds a good sunny-day bike, right? I surren-der. Rich Pinto and the Bacchetta gang havewon me over. ◆

SubscribeA newsletter by recumbent bicycle enthusiasts,for recumbent bicycle enthusiasts, since 1990.

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Fine PrintRCN is copyright © 2002/3 by RCN. Contentsmay not be reproduced in whole or part unlessexpressly authorized in writing by the editorialoffice. Although we make every effort to pro-vide useful and accurate information, we do notclaim to have definitive answers particularly withregard to safety, technique and equipment.◆


January/February 2003 3

Recumbent News

Middleville, MI—June 15-16, 2002—A WizWheelz recumbent trikeestablished a new distance record in the National 24 Hour Challenge(N24HC). The record of 253 miles was set by first-time Challenge riderDavid Lawson of Santa Barbara, CA, riding an aluminum version ofthe WizWheelz TerraTrike 3.3. He overcame numerous obstacles alongthe way, but finished strong and refreshed.

The TerraTrike 3.3 is the latest version of the high-performance re-cumbent trike made by WizWheelz, Inc. of Hastings, MI. The TerraTrikewas designed to provide a really fun way to ride and exercise in com-fort.

The N24HC brings riders from all over the US and the globe to con-verge on Western Michigan for a 24-hour test of endurance. The riderscompete against the clock to either attempt a new record, set a personalbest, or just enjoy themselves. Many of the better riders pedal the equiva-lent distance from Cleveland to Chicago (approx. 350 miles).

David withstood thunderstorm delays, cold temperatures, brutal 25mph winds on much of the route, a fairly hilly course, no sleep, shoeproblems, and a tire failure to claim the record. For David, a collegelab manager in his mid-501s, riding the trike turned an almost impos-sible feat into a reasonably attainable goal. His distance of 253 miles isby no means the best a human has ever done in a 24-hour period on anybike. The overall distance record for any single rider is 493 miles, setby a 39-year old male rider in 1996. But what is significant aboutDavid’s accomplishment, is the fact that he accomplished this withoutthe normal pains and discomfort that accompany an extended ride on aregular bike. While other riders had sore rears, necks, backs, and handsduring the nonstop 24-hour ride, and could hardly walk at the end,David remained fresh and comfortable for most of his ride. The fol-lowing day David was asked how he felt. His reply was, “I feel Great.”

David trained intensively for 7 weeks prior the event, putting in wellover a thousand miles on his personal TerraTrike. He utilized a cy-cling coach and Lance Armstrong’s book, “Seven Weeks to the PerfectRide.” David says he’s had so much fun that he intends to continuewith occasional morning rides in addition to his daily trike-to-workcommutes. “In addition to feeling so much better, and losing weight...I’ve learned so much about optimal cycling and correct eating habits.”

WizWheelz, Inc., a manufacturer of exceptional human poweredvehicles, has been in business since June of 1996. WizWheelz pridesitself on personalized customer service, the highest quality craftsman-ship in the industry, and an aggressive approach to continuous improve-ment. ◆

Source: WizWheelz, www.wizwheelz.com

The objective has been to create an aerodynamic tailbox that adds speed(2-3 mph according to our 2 real-world testers of our last prototype),has considerable utility, requires no additional support structure, am-plifies sound less than the coroplast or fiberglass examples, and has ahigh-quality finish and level of materials.

The tailbox is made of slick urethane-coated nylon pack cloth on topand perimeter, ABS and nylon internal stiffeners, ballistic nylon bot-tom and front panel (at seat end), with mesh mounting pocket. It hastwo YKK zippers, covered with silent rubber tabs to eliminate clatter.There is 3M Scotchlite reflective tape on perimeter top edge of trunkand a loop for flashing LED light at top rear. There is a 4” x 14” trans-verse mesh pocket at bottom of front panel. The box comes off the bikeand can be carried with a shoulder strap that fastens to 2 “D” rings, andthere is an easy-on-the-hands rubber grab handle. The tailbox weighs 3pounds and has a capacity of 2,850 cubic inches.

Inside, the box is fully lined in gray nylon. A bladder pocket at thefront end of the bag has an exit slot at the bottom for a hose. A 14 x 12x 4” compartment closes at the top with Velcro. It is laptop computercompatible. It has a built-in wallet with additional zippered mesh pocketand a snap fitting for your keys, and there is a mesh cargo floor netwith two Fastex buckled straps to anchor your gear. The Aerotrunk fitsall types of recumbent mesh seats and there is an M5 carbon seat op-tion. It comes in black, red, and yellow and sells for $184.99. ◆

Source: www.Angletechcycles.com

WizWheelz Trike sets DistanceRecord in comfort!

David Lawson with medal (WizWheelz)

The new Angletech AeroTrunk

Angletech IntroducesAeroTrunk Tailbox

David Lawson —a smiling recumbent rider(WizWheelz)


The Bacchetta CorsaThe new 2003 Bacchetta Corsa is a cross between the Ti Aero andStrada models. The Corsa has a CroMoly frame with a 650c wheels,an M5 (fiberglass) Euro seat, Kinesis “Carbon Road” 650c fork, aTerraCycle GlideFlex stem and an Ultegra drivetrain with a FSACarbonPro triple crank. The Corsa weighs in at 26 pounds, which is 4pounds heavier than the Ti Aero, and 2 pounds lighter than the Strada.The bike comes in Corsa Competition Yellow and sells for $2,600. ◆

HPV Racing DVD Now AvailableNow available is an hour-long DVD disk of the 2002 World HumanPowered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain. Includes the streamlin-ers launching and running with Sam Whittingham's 81-mph worldspeed record run, closeup of Rob English's dramatic 70 mph crash inthe Kingcycle Mango, interviews with Gardner Martin (on his nextstreamliner project, the “Backwards Bullet”), Sam, Rob, Matt Weaver,

woman's champ Andrea Blasecki, MilesKingsbury (Mango builder), Sean Costin, SteveDelaire, Garrie Hill, others. See Barcroft Cyclesweb page, www.barcroftcycles.com, for order-ing info. (Tentative price, $19 plus postage). ◆

Don’t Miss RCN74 Our 2003

SeasonPreview Issue


Recumbent MailBurley ResponseThanks for the thorough and positive reviewsof our bikes and trailer in the current issue ofRCN. I suppose we’re still a newcomer to themarket in the eyes of many, and your recogni-tion of our efforts is bound to lend credibilityto our designs. I for one also appreciate thecriticisms, which, coming from a rider withyour experience, help make my case that ourbikes are still a work in progress and Burleycan’t afford to sit still.

John Morris

Heckman UpdateI’m writing to follow up on the article“Stranger in a Strange Land,” which appearedin RCN 71 and detailed the injuries I sustainedwhen I was struck by a car while riding as partof the National Bicycle Greenway (NBG) na-tional relay ride. After several weeks of recov-ery at local hospitals and rehab clinics, I’mconvalescing at my parents’ house in Dixon,Illinois. I’m happy to report that, to the amaze-ment of my doctors, I’m able to walk usingonly a cane. I’ll need a hip replacement some-time in the future, but with continued hardwork and therapy I should be able to walk with-out a cane, and, I hope, continue to bike. I justwanted to thank everyone for their cards, let-ters, and e- mails. The encouragement of bi-cyclists across the country has been a great helpand comfort to both me and my fiancée. Youcan read more about the NBG atwww.BikeRoute.com. If you like, you can getthe latest about my condition at my Web site,www.patfuel.com.

Incidentally, I was riding a Penninger Voy-ager trike, which was reviewed in the last is-sue, during the relay and I concur with thepoints made in the review. The bike is solidlybuilt, well designed, and easy to ride evenwhen heavily loaded—I highly recommend itfor touring.

Thanks again everyone,Andrew Heckman

[email protected]

Port Townsend CruiseMy wife, Trudie, and I just returned from a 3-week vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Wetook our small motorhome with our RANSScreamer stuffed in the back door. As my unclelives in Port Ludlow, we had a chance to touryour riding environment on our RANS. Westarted in Port Hadlock and rode on into PortTownsend from there. We enjoyed visiting theold county courthouse, the waterfront (with thewooden boat festival) and the nearby fort thatwas used to film An Officer and a Gentleman.We then headed back, taking a side road to tryand find a winery (which we never found).Your hills don’t last forever, but they are nu-

merous and can get your attention! Some ofthe roads away from the main arteries werereally scenic and pleasant to ride.

Anyway, next time I read one of your roadtests, I’ll have a better appreciation of the con-ditions that you are subjecting the test ’bentsto. Those endless “rolling hills” definitely willgive a thorough workout to any machine youmight be sampling.

Sincerely,Kirk and Trudie Newell

Kirk’s Bike Shop, Ramona, CA

Big-Wheel LWB’sI thoroughly enjoyed your examination of theRotator and Lightfoot dual-26 LWB’s. Thecare you took to describe the different mis-sions of the two (utility vs. road running) andthe admonition to decide which one a poten-tial buyer really needed before buying wasparticularly enlightening.

Thanks,Carl Rush

[email protected]

SWB Chainring as a Weapon?The following message I sent out to recum-bent manufacturers and got back a mix of re-plies: I have concern about the hazard pre-sented by the design of some recumbents; thosehaving the crank and front sprocket mountedout front. Uncovered as they are they couldinflict serious, even fatal, damage to a pedes-trian or another cyclist. Not covering themprotectively amounts to the kind of neglectpracticed by Detroit auto manufacturers in the50s and 60s when their designs featured allmanner of protruding and sharp edged formsand embellishments.

Respectfully,Storie Mooser

Editor Comments: I have not heard of any se-rious or fatal damage caused by crank sprock-ets in the SWB position, though I suppose itcould happen. I have heard of this being a con-cern where recumbents wanted to race withupright bicycles. If any manufacturers wouldlike to comment, please feel free to do so.

Haluzak SlightedI ran into a guy on a Haluzak Hybrid Race re-cently—which made me recall mine. We bothagreed that the HR is a great ’bent. Both of usthought that RCN has slighted the bike in thepast few years. In two years, I rode mine 4,000miles; I would have ridden it more, except thatI also have a V-Rex that I rode regularly. Butfor a big ride—like say the Slumgullion tour—I rode the HR. So consider taking a look at theHaluzak.

Carl SmithAlbuquerque, NM

Editor Comments: We have reviewed the Hy-brid Race only once, back in 1998. It is a finebike which also got a fine review.

Recumbent GrinMuch of the debate about numb toes and “re-cumbent butt” seems to be a means to con-tinue the discussion of preference for shortwheelbase or long wheelbase and their respec-tive pluses and minuses. I find it reassuringthat different things work for different folks.

But there is a serious ache that seems to af-fect all recumbent riders, and it begins themoment you get on, no matter what configu-ration. In extreme cases it could lead to tem-poromandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ),which is not something to be taken lightly. Thecondition in question should perhaps have aname, so let’s call it Recumbent Grin.

In mild cases it just tends to make riders lookmildly silly, but every single recumbent riderI see in Bellingham has it, and for some rea-son wedgies just don’t get it!

Long may you ride,Jeremy Brown

[email protected]

RCN 71 Stem ArticleI’m sorry, but I couldn’t let this go withoutcomment. Re: RCN 71 article “TerraCycleFold-Forward Stem” by Shari Bernhard. I hopeI’m correct that the author meant no disrespectto the rider of the vehicle that she mentionedin the first paragraph of her review. However,I do believe she owes a great number of peoplean apology. “One of his special-needs trikespowered a rider to two silver medals in the2000 Sydney Paralympics.” I think not. Thetrike may have held, or perhaps even carriedthe rider, but that incredible athlete did everybit of the powering required to win those med-als. Thank you.

Sincerely,Jules DeGiulio

[email protected] Comment: At first I thought I shouldhave caught this, but after looking it over. Ican’t imagine many readers failing to under-stand what the writer meant—(i.e., thinkingthat the bike had an engine of some sort.)

RCN LayoutI like the new look, it is cleaner and crisperlooking, the layout is more interesting, but stillhas that homey, one-or-two- person-working-to-put-out-a-great-newsletter feeling. Keep upthe good work.

I work at a publishing company (driver,warehouse guy, and bindery worker) here inthe Midwest, what a place to ride, flat, well atleast here in central Illinois.

Thanks for RCN, it has taught me a lot about


Send Letters to the Editor of RCNIf you have something to say, a differing viewpoint or experience—we want tohear from you! Please limit letters to 300 words. RCN reserves the right to editsubmissions for clarity, content, and space limitations. Please send [email protected] or RCN, PO Box 2048, Port Townsend, WA 98368

’bents, and is entertaining. I just got done read-ing, for the 3rd time, issue no. 70, of course Iread all issues 2 or 3 times.

Mike SylvesterEditor Comments: Thanks for the comments.It’s still mostly just me doing RCN. We’ve hireda freelance copy editor, but it’s added time andcosts to our production process. We’d still liketo bump up to more issues per year. As for thenew layout, this template is far easier to layout, use, and hopefully navigate.

Recumbent ButtMy experience with “recumbent butt” mayhelp Doug Merrill [letter in RCN 71—Ed.].My first recumbent was a RANS V-Rex. I rodethe bike for two months but couldn’t ride veryfar without butt pain. I was getting really dis-couraged. On a trip to Milwaukee to visit fam-ily, I visited the Wheel & Sprocket store inHales Corners. I explained my problem toHarry, Wheel & Sprocket’s recumbent special-ist, and he wanted to see how I had my bikeset up. The first thing he said when he saw mybike was to recline the seat . . . a lot! He alsosaid that when I mount the bike, I shouldscrunch my butt forward so that it is centeredon the seat pad. He went on to say that I shouldbe able to slip my hand between the seat backand my butt. In this position, pressure is ap-plied to the upper back and shoulders ratherthan the butt and lower back. Because the morereclined position seemed too extreme to me, Ionly half-followed his advice. The pain con-tinued. I ended up selling the V-Rex and buy-ing a RANS Tailwind, thinking that the lowerbottom bracket position would help the buttpain problem. I still had pain, but if I wouldrecline the seat some, the pain went away. Tomake a long story shorter, I really didn’t likethe CLWB/low-BB bike. I much prefer the feeland quickness of a SWB. I am now back on aV-Rex, and I’m following Harry’s recommen-dations. I’ve gotten used to the more reclinedposition and have ridden over 3,500 milessince March, including three centuries. I hopethis helps.

Mike [email protected]

Finding the Right RecumbentI’ve written you in the past the problems I’vehad trying to find the “right” recumbent. I be-gan with a Vanguard, too slow and I had thisuncomfortable sensation when I was travelingdown a steep hill. Then a Gold Rush Replica.I developed recumbent butt. A RANS Rocketthat produced numbness in my toes after sevenhours of cycling across Georgia during a 1997BRAG ride. A Haluzak, which is fine until youhave a stop at a traffic light, and just as youdescribed, you have to be quite tall to be ableto reach the ground comfortably. I’m only 5’9”.A RANS Stratus. Again recumbent butt afterseveral successive days on the bike. An

Angletech Altitude, which I think is too heavy,the bottom bracket is too high and the RANSseat frequently slips. A Longbikes Slipstream.heavy and also recumbent butt after severaldays in a row. A Burley Limbo, heavy and theseat back became uncomfortable on long rides.A Vision R44, it is difficult to make the seatcomfortable and the bike is squirrely.

The reason for this prolonged rant is thatmy main complaint is that all these bikesseemed fine when I first tried them. Also eventhe first few short rides at home did not revealthe problems that arose. For some reason,recumbents seem to require a longer period oftime to evaluate before you make this veryexpensive purchase. There should be a placewhere one can try many of these bikes out forextended periods of time before having tomake a purchase. I am willing to contributemy bikes for such a worthwhile purpose if thereis an organization that can undertake such aventure. I think you should spearhead such anorganization, or at least put your support be-hind it so that people will take such an ideaseriously. Also, which bike should I buy next?

Yours in recumbency,Erwin

Editor Comments: Having a good, well-stocked recumbent dealer who offers long testrides for serious customers is probably betterthan an organization. An organization in PortTownsend probably wouldn’t help too manypeople. I couldn’t afford to run such an orga-nization unless it was a nonprofit with somevery solid financial backing (I’m ready to gowhen you are!).

I think you need to decide what seat worksbest for you (sounds like a full mesh) and thenfigure out what design format works best. Thedilemma for many is that upright positions cansometimes lead to recumbent butt, while veryreclined positions may lead to for neck painand toe numbness (high bottom brackets). Ev-ery rider needs to find their perfect position.

Every rider’s needs, terrain, and ride de-mands (length of time on bike, etc.) will vary.Often a rider’s needs will change from time totime, as will the bike that works best for them.

Over time, you will be able to predict howyou will react to certain recumbent styles. I’vebeen riding for 15 years and can almost pre-dict my reaction from a photo. I don’t do this,because once in a while I am surprised.

Happy Lightning CustomerI am now the happy owner of a Lightning P-38 with the F-40 full- fairing option. This bikeis fantastic. I have ridden it 2,300 miles in thepast seven months. The extra 4-8 mph the fair-ing gives you is a real blast when going downhills, or cruising on the flats at 25+ mph withbursts of up to 28-30 mph (that will put yourheart rate at your maximum). This bike is abargain if you enjoy going fast. I am an aver-age rider who rides 2,000 to 3,000 miles peryear, about to turn 50 next year. This bikemakes you feel 20 years younger. I rodeTOMRV this past June, along the bluffs of theMississippi River and I felt pretty good afterriding 106 miles, with 60 of those miles beinglong hills. I coasted down some hills at 49 mph,and the bike felt rock solid on high-speed de-scents. A fellow rider pedaled on this descentand reached 55 mph on his P-38. I’ve nevergrinned so much in my life while on a bike.

When I’m asked by other bikers about theloss of hill- climbing speed on a ’bent, my re-sponse is always the same: I pass them goinguphill. After you’ve ridden a fully faired ’bentyou will know why this happens.

I was pretty impressed with the paint andfinish on the bike as it has really tough paint. Ithink Lightning has improved this bike overthe years, as I recall they had some issues afew years back on the lack of a quality finishon their bikes.

The only disadvantage to this bike is thatyou end up riding much of the time by your-self, out front by yourself, if you consider thatto be a disadvantage. <grin>

Ken LeiboldWaterloo, IA

Greenspeed GTTJust got a copy of RCN 71 and was stoked tosee the GTT on page 1! I got us (me, my 8-year-old, and my 2-year-old) a GTT lastMarch. Red wasn’t bright enough so we gotorange with yellow seats. I have to agree withthe comment that I have NEVER, in my life,received SO many positive responses, smiles,waves, politeness, and room on the road as wedo riding our GTT.

Please let our advertisersknow that you read about

their products inRecumbent Cyclist News.


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Call or Visit the Recumbent Headquarters

It gets even better when we attach the Burleytrailer. Had to have that as the twins will bearriving any day now! Of course we’ll have towait a few months until their little heads fit ahelmet before they can join the “parade.” Andthat’s what someone said about our trike, wewere a parade unto ourselves. And parade itwe do. Oliver (8) and I took it to the Fair OaksFiesta Parade where we were hoping to hookup with the Recumbent Riders of Sacramento.We rode but didn’t find the rest of the groupuntil after the parade.

We live on the Monterey Peninsula but havetaken it all over northern California to ride.Oliver and I won the unfaired tandem race atthe Hellyer Park Velodrome a couple of monthsback. That was an IHPVA event in San Jose.We also took it over to Santa Cruz for the Na-tional Bicycle Greenway Festival where manypeople got to demo the rig. After the festivi-ties we rode up to Felton and hit a new topspeed of 48 miles per hour! Oliver said he hadto close his eyes it was so scary! But he is areally good sport about Dad’s need for SPEED!Other than that we keep to mellow cruisingdoing anywhere from 14 to 30 miles at a time.As a note Oliver hadn’t ridden a bike beforewe got the GTT. That was one of the main rea-sons we got it, to introduce him to the won-derful world of cycling. And it HAS beenworth it.

As for lugging such a behemoth to all theseevents you would think that we own some sort

of monster SUV. Not so! We haul it aroundatop a Honda Accord. And we don’t even usea roof rack. How is this possible? A $69 Hol-lywood folding trunk rack!!! The GTT rearwheel sits on the roof of the car just behindthe sunroof. The trike’s front axle rests on theends of the rack’s bullhorns. Tie-downs arehooked over the “oh shit” handles in the backseat and run to the opposite side of the car, outthe window and up to the stoker’s handlebars.Then I use toe-clip straps around the GTT axlebar and the rack’s horns. Two more around thehandlebars and the horns to keep the wheelsfrom flapping around. As an extra precautiona toe-clip strap goes around the GTT frameand the top crossbar of the folding rack. Toget the trike on, I simply lift the GTT rearwheel onto the trunk lid and then umph thefront end up and roll the trike wheel up ontothe car’s roof and set the trike axle onto therack. Attach straps and you’re all set. And Ihave road- tested this setup at a little over 90mph and it’s good to go.

So there it is, a rundown on our life as tan-dem trike recumbent riders. We highly recom-mend that YOU DO get yourselves “a big, longTRIKE!” So now I’m gonna put a check inthe mail to get our subscription going so I canread more about our favorite kind of transpor-tation. Keep up the good work!

MarkP.S.: I have a GTT available for rent, seewww.abent4rent.com.◆

Easy Racers · Vision · LightningGreenspeed · HP Velo · RANS & more

For test rides & showroomCALL Tel. & Fax: 973-239-8968

9 Wayland Drive, Verona, NJ 07044

Atlantic Bicycle is one of the east’slargest recumbent dealers offering

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RCN Road Test

The Bacchetta Giro: Kudos forthe New Kid on the Block

by Shari Bernhard

I had read a smattering of comments regard-ing a new recumbent manufacturing companystarted by John Schlitter (currently of X- eyedDesigns and formerly of RANS) and MarkColliton (designer of the V-Rex among oth-ers) on the hpv mailing list. Someone postedthe Bacchetta website, so I took a look at theGiro SWB/ASS 20/26. Sleek. Simple. Racy.Okay, that’s nice—so? I wasn’t particularlyimpressed, but I wasn’t in the market for an-other recumbent either.

Then my friend Jose Hernandez, formerlyof BentRiderOnLine, received a Giro fromBacchetta for a road test, but he was going outof town for the next couple of weekends. Itseemed a shame to let the poor bike sit in hisgarage all that time—would I mind test-ridingit while he was gone? It took me about twonanoseconds to answer in the affirmative.

Bottom line: it’s now my bike, and I’m hereto tell you why. First, the objective stuff (witha little opinion thrown in).

SystemsThe frame is made in Taiwan of 4130 CroMolysteel with an aluminum fork on a 47-inchwheelbase. The boom tube has a unique tear-drop shape, rounded at the top and coming toa rounded point at the bottom.

Wheels—The rims are 32-hole Alex DA-16’s (406 front, 559 rear) with a nice aero pro-file (they lack eyelets for the spokes, however,which can increase the chance of rim cracks).

The Giro is spec’d for 100 psi Kenda Kwesttires, but they were not available at the timeso the bike was shipped with 65 psi Kwest tour-ing tires. I soon switched to Schwalbe Stelvios.The Kwests are good touring/commuting tires.They performed surprisingly well, but on abike like this that screams for speed, higher-performance rims and tires would be my pref-erence.

Seat—The seat, one of the primary featuresof any recumbent, is reminiscent of the well-loved RANS seat but is modified to include aperfectly aligned lumbar and shoulder curve.The seat can be laid back much more than I’mused to because the shoulder curve supportsmy upper back very well. The seat attachmentsystem also sets it apart from the RANS line.The rear struts are the same design as RANS,a set of aluminum tubes with holes every inchheld in place with a detent pin. However, theframe attachment is new and a definite im-provement, made possible by the boom’s dis-tinctive teardrop shape. Instead of a squareslide rail attached to the frame and a pair ofbrackets on the seat bottom, it uses a Delrinbracket shaped like the frame, with a quick-release skewer as a tightening mechanism.Very simple, very slick. Complete seat removalis, however, not quick. It requires removing acouple of bolts and is actually not recom-mended if it can be avoided.

Steering—The steering system is my favor-ite feature of the bike. First, it has the innova-

tive TerraCycle GlideFlex stem, and second,it has the most comfortable set of handlebarsI’ve ever tried. It’s a U-shaped bar that putsmy hands and arms in the most natural posi-tion next to USS. The bars are separate fromthe riser, allowing for infinite rotational posi-tioning to provide a wide range of hand/armplacement.

Finish—My 2002 model’s frame is powder-coated in a bright green with black accents.The other black elements (cranks, steeringriser, seat, tire sidewalls) give it a snazzy lookwithout being ostentatious. The finish is lovely,although the weld beads are not as clean andeven as I would like. In the bike’s defense, itwas born in a relatively early model run.

Weight—The Bacchetta website lists theGiro’s weight at 29 pounds, and that’s exactlywhat my scale showed after I added pedals,waterbottle cages, and a mirror.

Sizing—The Giro comes in three framesizes, fitting riders from 5’ (154 cm) to 6’6”(198 cm). Not all recumbent manufacturesmake a variety of sizes, so this is welcomedby those outside the “norm.”

DrivetrainThe components are a Shimano mix—derailleurs (Deore LX), 9-speed cassette,brakes and brake levers (Deore V-brake), hubs,and Hyperglide chain. The crank and bottombracket are TruVativ, and the shifters areSRAM Attack Shorty twist- grip.

Chain Management—The chain is handledby an amidship mounted idler. The drive sidecrosses the return side before and after theidlers, forming a double X (x-path). Havingdeflection in the drive side is supposed to con-tribute to power loss, but I can’t detect it. It’san extremely quiet system, thanks to the large-diameter Delrin double-wide idler. TheHyperglide chain is a big step up from theKMC chains that are stock on most recumbentsat this price point.

Brakes—The braking system was veryquiet. I’ve always had problems with V-brakessquealing, no matter how much I cleaned therims, sanded the brake shoes, changed thebrake shoes, adjusted the toe-in, lit a candle,prayed, and sacrificed a stuffed goat at mid-night. In several months of riding the Giro, thebrakes haven’t made a peep.

The standard front brake noodle on my bikehad been replaced by an “articulated” noodle.The reason given was the lack of clearancebetween the boom and the brake, causing thenoodle to rub against the chain. It’s my under-standing that Bacchetta will be equipping fu-ture bikes with a smaller noodle. I never oper-ated the bike with the original equipment, so Ican’t comment further, but the modified brakenoodle works well. However, front wheel


removal and replacement means rubbing yourhand against the chain—keep some wipeshandy for cleanup.

Additionally, the rear brake has a travel con-troller inserted in place of the standard noodle.It’s there because the brake cable stop is lo-cated close to the caliper arms, but it made fora difficult time adjusting the brakes. I’d rec-ommend Bacchetta move the cable stop for-ward a few inches and dispense with this com-ponent.

ComfortOne rider’s comfort is another rider’s hurt. Imentioned that the seat is among the most com-fortable I’ve sat on. My husband has the op-posite view. For his particular physique, theshoulder curve caused discomfort in his upperback. I don’t doubt that that’s his experience,but since it is my bike and my article, I standby my opinion of the exceptional seat. On theplus side, I know I won’t have to fight him forthe bike.

Allow me to pick one little nit with the seatstruts: the inner strut tube is just a teensy bitshort. When I adjusted the seat-back angle, Ihad trouble aligning the holes in the outer struttube with the single hole in the inside tube. Ithought I had it right, but when the seat backmoved, I realized that I had inserted the de-tent pin above the inside tube, missing the hole.On my V-Rex, the inside tube is just longenough to see half of it in the hole above theone where the pin needs to be placed. It’s aminor thing, but it makes a difference.

The seat base is generously sized. The foamis dense and cushy, and I felt so at ease on itthat it didn’t even register as an issue. The seat-back mesh is of fine quality, although I’vefound that it’s stretching over time, so in asprint, when I put a lot of pressure on the seatback, I can feel one of the cross rails. This canbe alleviated by simply tightening the zip tiesthat hold the edges of the fabric together inback.

One clever little detail: the bottle cagemounts are welded near the bottom and inboardof the seat-back frame. There were little holespoked in the seat mesh for the bolts. Now, that’sforethought.

Adding to the overall comfort of the Giro isthe handlebar setup. I said it before, but it bearsrepeating: these U-shaped bars are as optimalas you can get. This is enhanced by having anindependent riser with a GlideFlex stem so youcan adjust it incrementally until you find yourvery own sweet spot. The position in which itputs my arms, wrists, and hands makes it aneffortless endeavor to keep the bike steady asshe goes. As much as I’m enthralled with thissystem, there are those who do not care for“tweener” bars (where the knees fit betweenthe handlebars). It might take some people alittle more time to get used to them. For me, itfelt as comfortable as an old pair of slippers.

ErgonomicsThe possible exception to superior comfort forsome might be the high bottom bracket heightin relation to the seat. I’ve never had a prob-lem with this, and I’ve ridden SWB bikes withhigh BB’s (bottom bracket) since 1996. TheGiro has a higher BB than any of the ones I’veused (Vision R-44, V-Rex, and Screamer tan-dem), but when I’m in the Giro cockpit it justisn’t a concern. For riders who have troublewith high BB’s, it’s possible that the otherpositive ergonomic aspects of the Giro won’tbe able to overcome that. For me, riding theGiro feels like a natural state of being.

At 5’6”, I’m on the short end of the spec-trum. I have the standard-sized Giro frame, andI have no problem sitting on the bike with myfeet flat on the ground. The seat height is 22.5”,about 1.5” lower than the V-Rex. The smallframe seat height is 22”, and the large frameis about 23”.

The only trouble I can envision is if the riderhas short arms in relation to very long legs. Inthis case, it’s conceivable that the reach to thehandlebars might be a stretch. The GlideFlexstem doesn’t provide a super-steep angle.

Performance and ReliabilityI’m not sure there are enough superlatives inthe dictionary for this section. The Giro’sperformance is astounding. I’m a weekendwarrior, and if I’m lucky (and I’m not always)I can ride every weekend. I hadn’t riddenfaster than 18 mph for months, yet I rodethe Giro 45 miles at 19-22 mph, including 17miles into a headwind, smiling all the way.And that was with the lower-performance

Kenda Kwest 65 psi tires.For SWB riders, this has to be one of the

most user- friendly, stable, and solid-trackingbikes on the market. My V- Rex has all that,but the Giro takes it a step beyond. The han-dling is stellar, just begging you to lean it overinto turns at high speed.

How about climbing, you ask? We don’tsport many hills in south Florida, but I actu-ally accelerated the Giro while ascending high-way overpasses. That said, I still feel that theV- Rex has a slight edge over the Giro in thisregard, as well as when it comes to starting upfrom a complete stop. The difference herecould be the V-Rex’s triangulated frame vs.the Giro’s straight boom. The added frame flexof the Giro takes away just a little power.

The oh-so-comfortable “tweaner” bars haveone slight disadvantage: they are wider thanthe more common T-bar style, especially if youhang a mirror off the end of the handlebar. Ithasn’t stopped me from riding between twoparked cars, but it does require a good eyewhen moving through tight spots. Overall, themaneuverability of the Giro is first rate.

This bike can accommodate any riding need.Want a bike for commuting? This is it. Fastclub rides? Oh, yeah, baby! Touring? Runningerrands? Centuries? Absolutely!

AccessoriesFor accessories, there’s X-eyed Designs cus-tom Mid-Ship rack, as well as braze-ons forfitting a standard rear rack. A variety of seat-back bags will work fine also. I use the Light-ning seat- back bag for club rides. A larger bag,such as the new RANS Tailpack seat bag, is

Shari on her Giro


great for day-long trips. X-eyed Designs alsohas special light mount that is cleverly de-signed to position the headlight forward andbelow the spin of the pedals.

Market CompetitionThere is some excellent competition out therefor the SWB OSS configuration. The ones that

INFO AT A GLANCE

SpecificationsModel—Bacchetta GiroType—SWBSteering—OSSWheelbase—47”Seat height—22”-23”Bottom bracket height—26”-27”Frame sizes—Small (5’ to 5’8”); standard (5’6”-6’4”) and large (5’10”-6’6”)Weight—29 lbs.Weight limit—#275

Frame—CroMoly steel custom XX tube setFork—Bacchetta 20” aluminum, polishedRiser Base—TerraCycle GlideFlexRiser—Bacchetta top loadHandlebar—Bacchetta 47 mm “tweaner”Seat—Bacchetta “re-curve” mesh back

ComponentsCrank—TruVativ 32/42/52Bottom bracket—T.H. ISISHeadset—T.H. Th-858 1” threadless1

Derailleurs (front)—Shimano Road FD-443Derailleur (rear)—Shimano Deore LXShifters—SRAM Attack ShortyCassette—Shimano Ultegra 11-32 9-spd.Chain—SRAMGear inch range—25.4-120Pedals—Wellgo LU-996Wheel (front)—406 mm 20”Wheel (rear)—559 mm 26”Hubs—Shimano DeoreRims—Alex DA-16 32 holeSpokes—Stainless steelTires—Kenda Kwest 1.5” 100 p.s.i.Brakes—Shimano Deore V-brake

1 T.H. is the house brand for FSA

IncidentalsPrice—$1,550

Warranty (frame)—Lifetime (orig. owner)Colors—Powdercoat BP GreenOptions—Coming soon: One Armed Light Mount, Bacchetta Mid-Ship rack, M5 Carbon seat and an M5 seat bag

ProExceptional valueSpeed, comfort and stabilityAdjustability, versatility, maneuverabilityFine road manners, superb handlingFirst-rate customer service, growing dealer network

ConHigh bottom bracket might not work for allHandlebar reach for long-legged, short- armed riders could be a problemNo disc brake option

ContactBacchettaTel. 727-341-1881Web: www.bacchettabikes.com

Bacchetta Ergonomics101: the “tweaner” bars.

The TerraCycle Glide Flexstem allows the Bacchettariser to recline. Optimumergonomics on a Giro,

Strada or Corsa requirethat your knees just clearthe bars during the pedal

stroke. The system isunique and works verywell. (Photo courtesy of

Shari Bernhard)

The TerraCycle GlideFlex stem

Bacchetta’s X-path idler and seat adjuster

come to mind are Lightning P-38, RANS V-Rex, Vision R-44/45, HP Velotechnics SpeedMachine, Barcroft Dakota/Virginia, andBurley Hepcat/Django. All of these are greatbikes; however, if you compare performancevs. component spec vs. price tag, the Giro, at$1,550 MSRP, comes out on top in my view.The only factors that need to be overcome arepersonal opinion and customer loyalty.

Bacchetta is just starting out. They’ve al-ready developed a network of dealers in manyareas, and that is sure to grow as word of thisbike and its siblings gets around. I’d heard ofsome problems with the first production runof the bikes, so I e-mailed a sampling of deal-ers listed on Bacchetta’s website. All repliedthat either none of the bikes they sold werebrought back in for repair or that there weresome minor shipping- related or other first-model-year issues that were quickly and eas-ily taken care of by either the dealer or themanufacturer. In fact, the dealers were quitepleased with Bacchetta’s fast attention to anyand all glitches they came across.

VerdictIn case you couldn’t tell, I’m completely smit-ten with this bike. I have had a lot of ’bentsunder my butt over the years, and the Giro trulyhas the most natural feel I’ve experienced. Iwas planning to wait till the honeymoon wasover and reality set in before writing this re-view, but it looks like that ain’t gonna happen.The Giro may not be the perfect recumbentfor everyone—nothing is ever perfect—but it’sthe closest I’ve found so far. ◆

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RCN Road Test

Bacchetta Strada:Open-Road High Roller

By Bryan J. Ball

The Bacchetta Strada is a new concept for theAmerican market. European manufacturerslike M5 and Challenge have been producingbig-wheel recumbents (often called highracers)for years. However, with the exception of afew one-offs and Rich Pinto’s Aerocycle line,highracers have been pretty rare in the UnitedStates. Rich has since joined the Bacchettagang and added his high-octane Ti-Aerocycle(now dubbed the Aero) to the Bacchetta line.

This seems to be the year of the highracerin America. While Vision has produced a semi-highracer for the last couple of years in thedual-24 Saber, they have upped the ante for2002 and increased the Saber’s wheel size to650c. George Reynolds has also entered thefray with his new T-Bone titanium dual-big-wheel ’bent.

As of now, the new Strada is at the head ofthis American highracer pack. It preceded theSaber into the market by a few months, andthe T-Bone isn’t produced in very high num-bers. The Strada’s own stablemate, the Aero,costs twice as much and really isn’t even inthe same category.

HistorySome of you may not recognize the names ofJohn Schlitter or Mark Colliton. John workedat RANS for many years. You can give him atleast partial credit for bringing to life many

RANS models. Mark is the co-designer of thelegendary RANS V-Rex. He helped to con-vince RANS to jump into the SWB market.He also has co-designer credits on the BarcroftDakota and the Angletech MC2.

When these two guys got together and de-cided to start a new recumbent company oftheir own, people got excited. The buzzreached a deafening level just before the 2001Interbike trade show. John and Mark debutedtheir new baby, Bacchetta Bicycles, to theworld at that event. Their new line included ageneral-purpose 26/20 SWB called the Giroand a dual-26 showstopper dubbed the Strada.

Mark Colliton has long been a fan of big-wheel ’bents. His customized dual-big wheelV-Rexi have been featured here in the pagesof RCN. For those of you who know Mark, itwas really no surprise to see a high-perfor-mance high roller in the Bacchetta line.

SystemsFrame—The Strada, like all Bacchettas, usesan ovalized monotube frame. The Strada andGiro use a CroMoly version, while the Aero’sis titanium. The ovalization helps the Stradaavoid the frame flex problems that plague somemonotube designs. I found the Strada’s frameto be plenty stiff while sprinting and climb-ing, but it didn’t beat me up on rougher roads.This probably has as much to do with the big

wheels as it does with the frame design. Thewelds on the Taiwan-made frame looked prettygood—right on par with other frames from thatcountry.

Fork—The Strada uses an aluminum Kine-sis 650c road fork. Kinesis has a reputationfor making great products, and this fork isbased on one of their most proven and widelyproduced designs. It works very well on theStrada, tracking well through the corners witha minimum of flex and not chattering too muchover the rough stuff. Forks seem to be an af-terthought on most recumbent designs, so it’snice to see that Bacchetta took the time tochoose such a well-known and proven piecefor the Strada.

Paint—Bacchetta chose a love-it-or-hate-it shade of mango orange for the Strada. Thepowdercoat is thick and evenly applied. Thesticker kit on the Strada looks a bit more flashythan some of its competition’s and really addsto the bike’s highly finished look. Bacchettathoughtfully added a large black patch rightwhere your foot would hit the frame whenmounting/dismounting the bike.

Steering—This has been one of the mostcontroversial parts of the Bacchetta designs.When Mark Colliton designed these bikes, hechose a very European handlebar setup. Therider sits with arms fairly well extended andplaced next to his or her knees. A few ridershave expressed a dislike for this position. Manyhave also expressed fears of knee interferenceduring tight turns. I never really have any prob-lems with that on the Strada. Like heel inter-ference (the Strada has a small amount of that,too), it’s one of those little quirks that you justget used to and begin to subconsciously workaround in a short amount of time.

The handlebars themselves are custom-made tweaner (legs go in between) bars andare mounted to an overseas-produced versionof the TerraCycle GlideFlex stem. This is prob-ably the slickest folding stem I’ve ever seenon a recumbent. Its only flaw is that you haveto keep an eye on the bolt that tightens the tilt-ing mechanism. The stem did work its wayloose and develop some play a couple of times.

Weight—Our Strada test bike weighed inright at Bacchetta’s claim of 28 pounds—prettyrespectable for a mass-produced SWB.

Drivetrain —The Strada uses a road-ori-ented drivetrain. Most of the running gear—derailleurs, hubs, and 12-27 cassette— is madeup of Shimano 105. The FSA Gossamer triplecranks are not as well known but just as roadie-oriented. They use 30/42/52 rings and a verynice ISIS hollow-spindle bottom bracket. Theyare less expensive than Shimano crank andbottom bracket combos, but I did find theirperformance equal to that of the Shimano 105cranks and bottom bracket on my own bike.


Bacchetta uses SRAM Rocket Shortie shifters.I’ve long been a fan of the Rocket/Shimanocombination. The only low point of the driv-etrain was Bacchetta’s choice of a Shimanochain. Ours had a bad link from the factoryand never really performed up to same stan-dard as the rest of the components. Shiftingperformance improved exponentially when wereplaced it with a SRAM PC99 (Bacchettasare now shipping with SRAM chain).. TheBacchetta uses a single crossover idler (x-path)to manage the chain. These are becoming quitepopular on American SWB’s and work great.The Strada was among the quietest recumbentsI’ve ridden.

Braking—When choosing the braking com-ponents for the Strada, the guys at Bacchettacreated an interesting problem for themselves.One of the coolest features about the big-wheelBacchetta is that it can use either 559 mm or650c wheels. In order to facilitate this, Markand John had to develop a couple of uniquesolutions. The first was a dual-pivot road brakefor the front of the bike that had enough ad-justment to accommodate both wheel sizes andhad cable routing on the left side to avoid chaininterference problems. Quite frankly, onedidn’t exist. Bacchetta contracted Alhonga tomake one for them. The hybrid unit was surelynot cheap to produce, but it works great and isa perfect front stopper for the Strada. Unfor-tunately, this solution created a problem.

The Strada’s front brake necessitated the useof a standard- pull brake lever, whereas its rearAvid V-brake needs a long- pull lever. Ratherthan spending an inordinate amount of moneyon another custom machined part, Bacchettaattempted to use a travel-enhancing roller onthe Strada’s rear brake. This hybrid systemdoes provide adequate stopping power, but itdoesn’t have very good feel or modulation.Initial setup can also be a problem. Bacchettahas found a source for matching levers thathave different amounts of travel, and these arenow being spec’ed on the bikes.

Wheels and Tires—The Strada rolls onShimano 105 hubs laced to 32-hole Alex DA-16 rims. The rims are fairly light, look great,and stayed round and true throughout the du-ration of my test. The 105 hubs are a provencommodity and are very reliable. The mostinteresting thing about the Strada’s wheelsetis the tires. Bacchetta chose 26” x 1” Special-ized Turbo ATB with their Flak Jacket Kevlarpuncture protection. Turbos are very popularwith the roadie set, and the one-inch versionseems like a very appropriate choice here. Theyroll and corner very well and have a very niceride. Roll down tests showed the SchwalbeStelvios to be a bit faster, but the ride qualitywas compromised a bit.

ComfortSeat—For all the things the Strada has goingfor it, the Bacchetta “re-curve” seat may be

its best feature. If you’re familiar with RANSbikes, imagine the RANS seat optimized for ahigh-BB, laid-back bike. The “re-curve” seathas a taller back than the RANS, and it has aslight forward bend at the top. This shapecradles your back and helps to keep you fromslipping up the seat when pedaling. The baseis also smaller than the RANS so that it won’tinterfere while pedaling. Don’t worry, though,the base is still plenty cushy and very support-ive. I was very pleased with the Bacchetta seat.Overall, it’s probably the most comfortablerecumbent seat I’ve been on. However, it prob-ably wouldn’t work as well with a more up-right, lower-BB bike.

Bacchetta’s seat mount is also fairly unique.Most sliding seat mounts travel on a track ofsome sort. All Bacchetta models use a Delrinclamp that wraps all the way around the bike’sframe. The ovalized tubing makes the use ofthis type of mount possible. The tube’s shapereduces the possibility of the seat rotating un-der heavy pedaling. I was just as happy withthe seat mount as I was with the seat itself. Iclamped it down good and tight from the startand never had any slippage.Both the seatand the mount combine to make a very lighttotal package.

Ergonomics—Many high-performancebikes suffer ergonomics issues of one sort oranother. Most often these idiosyncrasies arerelated to the height of the bottom bracket inrelation to the height of the seat base. Mosthigh-performance SWB’s have rather highbottom bracket (BB)/seat ratios, and the Stradais no different in this regard. Some riders ex-perience problems with foot numbness onhigher-BB bikes, so if you’re one of thesepeople, be advised.

The Strada’s seat is also very laid back. Ifyou suffer from neck problems on laid-backbikes, you will definitely want to test-ride theStrada before making a purchase decision.Fortunately, the shape of the seat turns the en-tire upper half of the torso up slightly and al-leviates more neck stress than some other laid-back designs.

The arms-outstretched position on theStrada did not lessen the bike’s comfort levelfor me at all. In fact, it actually increased thepleasurable experience. Some riders will un-doubtedly hate it, but so far reviews have beenpositive from owners and people who haveactually ridden the bike. Most of the criticismhas come from people who either haven’t rid-den the Bacchettas at all or from those whohave very limited experience on the bikes.

All in all, this is a very comfortable high-performance bike. However, it does make afew ergonomic concessions in the name ofspeed and may not agree with everyone.

Ride and HandlingFor a big-wheel bike, I give the Strada highmarks for stability. It’s really not much moredifficult to manage at low speed than a Light-ning or any other high-performance SWB.That’s quite an accomplishment for a dual-26bike. The only real flaw I found was a slighthint of something that felt like wheel flop anda bit of heel/wheel interference.

At higher speeds, the Strada is rock solid.This baby is meant to fly. Keeping the bike ina straight line at 20-25 mph is nearly effort-less. Descending at 40-plus mph was also apleasurable experience.

Speed and Efficiency—Just by countingthe number of times I’ve used the term “high

Mark Colliton and the Strada (Bryan Ball)


performance” in the preceding paragraphs, youcan tell that I found the Strada to be a veryfast machine. On the open road, it can hangwith anything out there. The big wheels andfast tires roll along with a minimum of resis-tance, and the bike’s aerodynamic position cutsthrough the air like a knife. The bike’s fairlylight weight also allows it to climb withaplomb. It’s one of the few recumbents I’vebeen on that allowed me to climb with theroadies.

Comparing the Strada’s performance to thatof other recumbents, I would say that it fallssomewhere between a LWB (with front fair-ing) and a lowracer. I found it a little bit fasterthan an unfaired conventional SWB—by prob-ably 1 or 2 mph in average speed. The Stradacan also run with any LWB out there, but themargin may be a bit closer. The only bikes thathave faster times on my test course are alllowracers. On that same flat course the Stradalost about 1 mph to the three lowracers whosetimes I’ve documented (Challenge Jester, M5Low Racer, and Optima Baron). The coursehas some pretty rough pavement in one longstretch, and I think the Strada’s big wheelshelped out there to keep the margin close. Ona track, I think the gap would be wider. Con-versely, I think the Strada would be capable ofoutrunning most lowracers on a hilly or par-ticularly rough course, as it certainly climbsbetter than any lowracer I’ve ridden.

User-friendliness—While the Strada is notan EZ1 or EZ Sport by any means, it’s not asintimidating as it may appear. As I said above,the big Bacchetta is really not much more dif-ficult to live with than a V-Rex or P-38. Theseat height is just a bit higher than these afore-mentioned machines, but not by much.

Fun Factor—Fast bikes are fun. Whetheryou’re competitive or not, every recumbentrider gets a grin from smoking the unsuspect-ing roadie. Fun time can quickly be ruined bydiscomfort, but the Strada is plenty comfyenough to let you enjoy your amusement forhours on end.

Owning and PurchasingVersatility—The Strada probably falls a bitshort of being called an all-purpose recumbent,but it’s much more versatile that other bikesin this performance category. The stock tiresare by no means wide, but they’re beefier thansome other high- performance tire choices, andthe Strada is capable of handling larger rubberif you so choose.

Shipping and Assembly—Bacchetta hashad some packing problems at their Taiwanfactory, which has caused some early problemswith the bikes. By the time you read this, theseissues should be corrected.

Quality and Durability —The Strada’sbuild quality was fairly typical of Taiwanese-made recumbents: welds, paint, and fabrica-

tion were on the same level as its competition.Long-term durability is unknown with this newmodel and new manufacturer.

Cost and Depreciation—At $1,850 theStrada is pretty fairly priced for a bikeequipped at this level. Its closest competitor,the Vision Saber R65, is similarly equippedand costs $1,995. The Strada is currently a verydesirable bike and is selling well.

Options and Accessories—Fast Backmakes an excellent seat bag/hydration systemfor the Strada, and X-eyed is working on anunderseat rack. Fenders are not yet available.

Market Competition —The Strada’s clos-est competition comes from Vision in the formof the R60 Saber series. The Sabers are a bitmore expensive and come stock with a moreunique 650c wheel size. They are just becom-ing available as I write this, and I can offer nodirect comparisons. Some Strada customers arealso considering the new Reynolds T-Bone.

Bacchetta is hoping to gain a good share ofthe crossover market with this bike. Crossoverriders are those coming over from the uprightworld looking for a fast recumbent that per-forms like their road bike. The Strada definitelyhas the potential to attract those customers. Thebike drafts well with upright bikes, climbswell, and has two big wheels just like a “real”bike. It also has a lot of components thatroadies will recognize. When riding the Stradaat a large organized century, I was asked manyquestions by the assembled mass of roadies.Rather than focusing on the recumbent stereo-types, most people were actually wonderinghow they could get one. The most commonquestion wasn’t “How do you get up the hillson that?” but rather “How much does that costand where can I get one?”

AnalysisVerdict—Bacchetta has definitely come outof the blocks strong with the Strada. It givesthe new company the buzz generator that allnew manufacturers need. It’s very fast, verycomfortable, user-friendly, and not outra-geously expensive. It’s a bike that absolutelyloves the open road and will suck up miles withthe best of them. So far dealers are selling themas fast as they can get them, and most of theowners seem to be very satisfied with the prod-uct. This one’s a winner in my book. ◆

Update: After the review period was up, I didbegin to experience assembly related problemswith the bike. After doing some research, Ilearned that broken chains, squeaky idlers anddamaged rear drop-outs were somewhat com-mon in first run Bacchetta Strada and Giromodels. I had a lengthy conversation withMark Colliton about these problems in whichhe outlined Bacchetta's plans to remedy theseflaws. Later shipments are much improved.

INFO AT A GLANCE

SpecificationsModel—Bacchetta StradaType—SWB HighracerSteering—OSSWheelbase—47”Seat height—24”-24.5”Bottom bracket height—32”-32.5”Frame sizes—Standard (5’6”-6’4”) and large (5’10”-6’6”)Weight—28 lbs.Weight limit—#275

Frame—CroMoly steel custom XX tube setFork—Kinesis Classic 650c aluminum roadRiser Base—TerraCycle GlideFlexRiser—Bacchetta top loadHandlebar—Bacchetta 47 mm “tweaner”Seat—Bacchetta “re-curve” mesh back

ComponentsCrank—FSA Gossamer 32/42/52Bottom bracket—T.H. ISISHeadset—T.H. Th-858 1” threadless1

Derailleurs (front)—Shimano Road FD-443Derailleur (rear)—Shimano 105Shifters—SRAM Rocket ShortyCassette—Shimano Ultegra 11-32 9-spd.Chain—SRAMGear inch range—24.75-117Pedals—Wellgo LU-996Wheels—Dual 559 mmHubs—Shimano 105Rims—Alex DA-16 32 hole 559 mmSpokes—Stainless steelTires—Specialized Turbo ATB 26” x 1”Brake (front)—Bacchetta dual pivotBrake (rear)—Avid Single Digit 7 (V-style)

1 T.H. is the house brand for FSA


Warranty (frame)—Lifetime (orig. owner)Colors—Powdercoat Crimson RedOptions—M5 seat option is $375. Coming soon: One Armed Light Mount, Bacchetta Mid-Ship Rack and an M5 seat bag

ProFastExciting new SWB designTerraCycle GlideFlex stemDual big wheel handling feel (26” wheels!)Easier to ride than you may think

ConSome first year glitchesMushy rear brake on 2002 modelsHigh bottom bracket might not work for allHandlebar reach for long-legged, short- armed riders could be a problem

ContactBacchetta BikesTel. 727-341-1881Web: www.x-eyed.com;www. bacchettabikes.com


2930 Campton Hill Rd. St. Charles, Illinois 60175

www.thebikerack.com

We Ship World Wide

Let us build the recumbent of your dreamsBacchetta • Penninger • RANS • HP Velotechnik

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Bacchetta BluesBy Bob Bryant

For the first few months of Bacchetta’s newrecumbent deliveries, the internet was a vir-tual love fest of positive comments aboutthe bikes from both dealers and ownersalike. Now that people have been ridingthem all season, some problems with thebikes have surfaced. Here are the problemswe’ve had reported to us by owners anddealers:

• Poor packing by the factory in Taiwan.To keep this from happening in the 2ndand 3rd batches, Bacchetta was repack-ing bikes in the states.

• Assembly woes: There were complaintsof over-tightened components.

• Idler : The idler spacing needs to be ad-justed (spacer installed or idler replaced).Bacchetta’s John Schlitter told RCN,“There is no need to replace the idlerunless it wore out because of improperspacing.”

• Chains: Some chain pins were installedincorrectly and broke. Bacchetta’sJohn Schlitter told RCN, “It was only

Shimano chain on the first load of bikes.If anyone has a chain problem they cancontact us for replacement of the Shim-ano chain.”

• Wheels: The hard plastic rim stripmoves around and can cause flat tires.

• Brakes: There were some of mushy rearbrakes on the Strada. Bacchetta’s JohnSchlitter told RCN, “This is mostly amatter of adjusting the rear brake cor-rectly. To remedy this issue we had amatch set of brake levers made. The leftlever is made to pull a dual pivot brakeand the right lever is made to pull a V-brake. We will trade Strada ownersShimano brake levers if they would likethe new Bacchetta levers.”

Despite these problems, all of the deal-ers we spoke to remained optimistic aboutthe company and how they are managingthe problems. Bacchetta’s John Schlitter went on tosay, “ the 3rd batch is 99% good” and thatthe problems are being corrected. ◆


Interview

An RCN Interview withBacchetta’s Rich Pinto

RCN: Tell us what brought you to theBacchetta Aero design. What other bikes didyou own before you began building your own?Rich: Late in the fall of 1989, my friend JohnFournier told me of a chance encounter he hadon his road bike, getting passed by “an old,kind of heavy guy” on a “lawn chair withwheels” (Dick Ryan later told me this guy wasa 15,000-mile-per-year rider on a Vanguard!).I was immediately fascinated, and saw it asthe solution to my back and hand problems,which had plagued me on uprights for most ofthe 1980’s.

I immediately went looking for any recum-bent dealers in the area, found a Linear LWBUSS first, and bought it without a test ride!The next day I took it down to Sarasota,Florida, for a week-long vacation with mywife. I did my first few yards in the parkinglot of the condo we were staying at, and nevergot off it! I was completely hooked onrecumbents from that point on. I later got apair of Infinity’s for my wife and I, and rodethose from 1992 to 1994.

During that 1989-1994 period I had beenriding with my local group of roadie friendsand having a rough time keeping up, and get-ting beaten pretty badly in coastdowns withtheir uprights. I thought, if recumbents heldall the speed records, how could this happen?

It got me to do some library work to try toget some basic bicycle science information,which is when I found the early 1980’s ChetKyle Scientific American article on basic HPVphysics. This led me to the first fast ’bent thatstarted to turn the tide of opinion with myroadie friends, the Lightning P-38. I rented onefor a week in the fall of 1994, and shortly afterthat two of my local riding buddies bought P-38’s.

In the spring of 1995, I built a Kingcycle-like aluminum design that had been on papersince 1993. The Kingcycle was, with somereservations, one of Mark Colliton’s and myfavorite bikes (Mark is a former RCN contribu-tor and now Bacchetta president). I was in-trigued by its design and rider position frommy first test ride in 1992.

The first aluminum bike I built comparedvery favorably to the P-38, and shortly afterthat I started getting many requests frompeople in our group to build them a bike. Whilelooking for an experienced bike welder, I metand became friends with George Reynolds inlater 1995, and he started welding up myCroMoly Aerocycles from that point on.

RCN: How did you come to be part ofBacchetta?Rich: Mark Colliton called me in the earlysummer of 2000 and asked me to write an ar-ticle about wheels for RCN. Mark had been alongtime “big wheel on ’bents” advocate andhad heard about the dual-650c Aerocycles thathad been around since mid-1998. My interestin bigger wheels didn’t really develop untilearly 1998, when one of our local groups rid-ers, Dean Sgouros, asked me to build him adual 650c because of the faster forks, wheels,and rubber available in that size. I had beenbuilding 700c/20” and dual-24” Aerocyclesup until that point.

Mark and I became fast friends during ourmany phone conversions, and in September of2000 he came up to meet and ride with mylocal ’bent group, and bought a dual-650cAerocycle from me in the fall of 2000. We alsotalked about getting together in a future recum-bent bicycle company, and I told him aboutwanting to build a CroMoly round-tube bikewith the same general rider geometry as theAerocycle.

My interest in titanium as a material wasdeveloping, and Mark and I decided to go offon separate but parallel tracks using CroMolyand titanium. All the time Mark’s friend andX-Eyed business partner John Schlitter (myfavorite recumbent manufacturer/designerwhile at RANS) was working with Mark toturn all these recumbent dreams into reality,just as they had successfully teamed up in thepast with bikes like the V-Rex.

Fast-forward to Interbike 2001 in Las Ve-gas. I brought my titanium Aero prototype tothe show for Mark and John to see, and a part-nership agreement with Bacchetta was reachedon day two. I also got to meet Mark Swanson,our financial and computer guru at Bacchetta,and sales/marketing guy Mike Wilkerson—therest of our Bacchetta team.

RCN: What is your mission at Bacchetta?Rich: John, Mark, and I want to design andmanufacture the cleanest-looking, lowest-drag,yet comfortable and very practical streetrecumbents that we can. My mission is to keeplooking for the next efficiency or ergonomicsimprovements and to help our company de-velop new products.

RCN: What are your average speeds and dis-tances?Rich: I’m just average as a 49-year-old engine!

I’m reluctant to state average speeds becausethey are so dependent on the road surface, hillsand wind, group drafting, time, etc. It’s notunusual for unfaired guys in the ’bent group Iride with to spend a lot of time at centuries inthe 24-28 mph zone in our small packs of twoto five riders.

RCN: How are you treated by the uprightcyclists?Rich: Not bad on average, but “serious”cyclists can get pretty tribal! I think six yearsof going to events like local centuries andshowing what a fast recumbent can do—andtrying to keep a sense of humor about our bikes(and theirs!)—has changed the attitudes ofmost of the hard-core roadies in our area. Wetry to be friendly and helpful to all on the road,regardless of their speed or choice of HPV. It’sjust really nice to see people out getting someexercise and having fun on any bike!

RCN: Are there many recumbents on theserides?Rich: Typically the crews we have for theseevents or group rides are less than five. Oneevent that we have been going to since 1997(and my first century), the Bangor Maine Cen-tury in September, has steadily seen an increasein the number of recumbents, and a big de-crease in the number of uprights! Recumbentshave been the fastest finishers in this time trialevent every year since 1997, and almost threat-ened to be a majority of the riders in 2001!RCN: Why do you think there aren’t more

Rich Pinto on his Aero Cycle (Bob Hicks)


recumbents riding with fast upright groups?Rich: The speed potential of the fastestunfaired recumbents closely resembles tandemuprights in my experience. When you ride withthe fastest upright racers in my area, you maywork to stay with the best climbers on thesteeper uphills, but just go blazing by packsof them, or tapping your brakes, on the down-hills and flats. This makes participation withfast upright groups more difficult for many onrecumbents, depending on the hill speed dif-ferential mostly.

RCN: Which models at Bacchetta have youhad a hand in designing?Rich: Mark and I had agreed to follow sepa-rate but parallel paths in titanium and CroMolyafter the discussions we had in the fall of 2000.Mark and John took those concepts about bikeand body geometry, added many other newfeatures like our custom- shaped tube anddelrin seat clamp, a great new seat design, andmany other custom touches taken from their35-plus combined years of recumbent riding,design, and manufacturing experience. TheStrada and the Giro resulted from their fineefforts over the last year and a half.

RCN: Besides componentry, what are the dif-ferences between the Strada and the Aero?Rich: Mostly in adjustability and total weight.With the Aero, I’m really trying to get the riderinto the more laid-back seat range, with a fairlystraight-arm, lowest-drag position. The stockStrada has more seat and steering adjustability,a stiffer, higher-weight CroMoly frame, and afull mesh and foam seat.

RCN: Who is the target market for the Stradaand the Aero?Rich: Anybody who is interested in a higher-performance, good-looking, practical, androad-worthy performance recumbent.

RCN: Is there a theory about the laid-backposition and high bottom bracket, or is theriding position primarily a result of the wheelsizes and quest for aerodynamics?Rich: I’ve always tried to get to the most laid-back position that I could comfortably adaptto without a headrest or sacrificing the rider’sview of road hazards. I’ve also felt I was sac-rificing hill-climbing power with a larger hip/torso angles, something many have reported.The high bottom bracket/laid-back seat designshave the smallest frontal area possible, sim-ply because they have the spinning leg and footcircle inside the reclined torso shadow, whilestill maintaining a relatively closed trunk/thighangle. This type of design totally dominatesunfaired HPV racing for these reasons.

RCN: What kind of performance can ownersexpect?Rich: They can expect a high-end upright time

trial bike’s overall drag, with all of the usualrecumbent benefits, in a higher position theycan feel comfortable with in traffic.

RCN: What are the factors that make this bikeperform so well?Rich: A low frontal area combined with verylow rolling resistance tires, the two major fac-tors in any bicycle’s speed potential. And us-ing the feedback of my riders to tweak the de-sign over time. Arm position is critical . . . youcan’t eliminate the shoulders, so having thehand and arm directly in line with the shoul-der makes for the lowest frontal area, and alsokeeps the arms and hands out of the rider’sroad sight line. I also like the upright-like arm-width spread and straight position for steeringcontrol and minimizing any tiller effects.

I have also found benefits to having somevertical frame flex in the feel, comfort, andhandling of the bike. This makes running high-pressure, very low rolling resistance uprightroad tires possible and comfortable for most.I’ve seen it with the evolution of my lighter-frame Aerocycles: frame compliance makes ahuge difference in rider comfort—it’s not justthe tire pressures.

Over time, Mark, John, and I have alsostretched out the wheelbases of our SWB bikedesigns for better handling, and all three ofour models are in the 47-inch range now.

RCN: One of the benefits seems to be that thelarger wheels allow you to use some cutting-edge components on the bike. Can you explainthis?Rich: The upright industry and national teamshave spent millions of dollars researching theeffects of aero drag and rolling resistance ontheir high-end racing bikes. If you are goingto build a higher recumbent bike that has asimilar amount of wheel exposed to aero drag,you can learn a lot from their research intoforks, wheels, and tires.

The Aero will use the same fork as the fast-est upright time trial bikes (the Kinesis Car-bon Airfoil) and stock Velocity Spartacus aerowheels, equipped with the blazingly fast anddurable Vredestein Fortezza tires. With thedual-650c format you will also have access tothe fastest aerodynamic wheels (HED), whichare used on all the top time trial uprights.

RCN: The use of the big wheels and skinnytires makes the bike go fast. What about onrough roads?Rich: Rough-road performance on uprights or’bents will depend on how stiff the three ma-jor springs between the rider and the road are:the seat padding/cushioning, the vertical framecompliance (passive or active suspension), andof course the tires.

I see the recumbent advantage over uprightswhich have similar wheels and tires in that wehave significant “springs” between the road

and rider at the seat and frame. Upright stan-dard frames have almost no vertical compli-ance in their very deep truss frames, and mostof the road-style seats have little cushioning.On recumbents we have no weight on ourhands, the rest of the rider’s weight distrib-uted over square feet instead of square incheson the upright, and a more comfortable headposition. Even with identical tires and wheelson both ’bent and upright, a recumbent withsome vertical frame compliance and a cushyseat is going to allow much less vibration toreach the rider on rough roads than the equiva-lent upright bicycle.

RCN: There seems to be some debate betweenthe lowracer riders and highracer riders aboutwhich is fastest. Can you comment on yourpoint of view?Rich: Lowracers will dominate the track rac-ing scene for the foreseeable future. Most allof the strongest HPV racers are on lowracers.In the group races, all the main draft is downat a level under my bottom bracket center!

My point in this debate has been just to saythat it is possible to build a bike with equiva-lent total drag and power requirements in manyreal road cases, with a much higher rider posi-tion that many feel more comfortable with.

RCN: Have you guys had any rough spots get-ting up and running?Rich: Yes, the normal stuff when you haveparts coming in from all over the US and over-seas. You always have to have a backup planfor unexpected delays in components.

We did have several delays with the Aeroframe production. We chose the best overseasand American titanium frame manufacturers,and the American factory had delays that wentinto April for our project. Our overseas frameshad some initial minor problems that wecouldn’t straighten out in time for early- sum-mer production, so we went back to our Ameri-can manufacturer for our frames (frames arebuilt in the Seattle, Washington area).

RCN: Tell us about the Aero componentry.Rich: The components will be Ultegra triplefront and rear derailleurs, SRAM 9-speedchain, Velocity Spartacus aero wheelset, FSAcarbon triple crankset, American Classic bot-tom bracket, and our proprietary reverse bot-tom-pull front and matching rear dual-pivotbrakes.

RCN: The Aero has an M5 seat (Euro ergo-shell style); can you explain why?Rich: The M5 seat is great, 1.5 pounds of car-bon and epoxy shaped into a high-performanceand comfortable seat. I also really love the re-ticulated foam cushioning we use, which islight, very cushy, breathes well, and absorbspractically zero water.


RCN: I noticed that the Aero has a fixed riser (instead of the TerraCycleFlexStem). How do you make handlebar/riser knee clearance adjust-ments on the Aero?Rich: Right now they are set so that owners can clear the handlebarswithout any problem. Riders with long x-seam to arm length ratiosmay have problems reaching the bars, so we do offer the Strada/Corsastem to Aero customers only to use on the bikes if this turns out to bean issue for them.

RCN: Will fairings be available for the Aero?Rich: Rear fairings have been of interest to me for a couple of years,and I’ve had good results with them in the Powertap power-measuringhub tests I’ve done with them. Our January 2002 John Cobb/UTexasA+M wind tunnel trip got canceled because of illness at John’s com-pany, but I should be at next January’s tunnel. I’m hoping to get somegood data about the rear fairings effects on the Aero, among manyother things. But yes, hopefully we can have something official avail-able after this hectic season is over!

RCN: Would dual big wheels adapted to typical SWB like the Visions,V-Rex, etc. improve performance? Is this a worthy experiment?Rich: It’s possible, and guys like Mark and his mentor Warren “bigwheels” Berger have done it successfully. I think the bikes that havebeen purposefully designed around big wheels will do best. As far asperformance, it depends on which tires and wheels you select. Tirescan easily cost you 2-3 mph depending on your average speed.

RCN: Is there anything we’ve missed?Rich: I just wanted to thank all those dealers and customers who havesupported us!

RCN: Thank you for your time.Rich: Thank you, Bob. ◆


HistoryThe first Greenspeed Touring Trike, GRT 20260001, wasbuilt in 1990, and was used on the 1990 Great VictorianBike Ride, from Bairnsdale to Melbourne. Orders followedimmediately, and in 1993/4 Val Wright and Eric Butcherrode their Greenspeed GTS trikes right around Australia. In1997/8 Jeff McLean rode his early model (1991, #10) GRTtrike from China, through Asia and Europe to London, U.K.Our GTR Touring Trike was selected “Best Trike” byRecumbent Cyclist News in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000,and 2001.

DevelopmentContinuous feedback from hundreds of Greenspeed owners,worldwide, who use their GTR Trikes to the max, hasresulted in the GTO Trike. The GTO has the same high-backed seat as our popular GTR Trike, but is a little lower,giving even better road holding and handling. Yet with theuse of a single S&S coupling, it will pack down into twosuit cases for aircraft, train, or coach travel.

Interested?To find out more about our exciting range of trikes, pleasevisit our website, or write, fax, phone or e-mail for a freeinformation package.

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Before I describe my dream bike, I have totell you about my nightmare. In my nightmareI’m riding my ’bent and pull up to a light. Apack of uprights—well-toned racers in brightteam jerseys—pulls up next to me. “Nicebike!” the leader says, looking down at my’bent. I beam with pride as he takes an eyefulof my gorgeous bike. “Did you build that your-self?” he smirks. “Nice and comfy?” I slump.I want to shoot him a snappy retort, but in mydream, for some reason, I can’t make a sound.It’s like I’m gasping for air. I want to screamhow recumbents are the fastest bikes on theplanet, about all the world speed records theyhold, but when I try to speak not a sound comesfrom my mouth.

Suddenly the light turns green and the packrockets off. While I’m fiddling to get my feetclipped in, they streak up a steep hill and aregone in a flash. That’s when my voice sud-denly comes back. I shout, “My bike is reallyvery fast! Really!” But it’s too late. The up-rights have rocketed out of earshot. They can’thear me. And while I continue to fumble withmy cleats, the light turns red. A new pack pullsup, and the whole thing starts over again.That’s when I wake bolt upright, drenched insweat, and realize it’s only just a bad dream.

The Tortoise and the HareMy dream bike is a recumbent that needs noapologies riding next to an upright, one thatcan outpace the roadies uphill and down. Sure,

My Dream Bike:The Bacchetta Ti Aero

by Matt Schneps, [email protected]

when it comes to higher speeds, recumbentsare indeed the fastest bikes on the planet. Atspeeds of 25 or 30 mph and up, the recumbent’saerodynamic advantage really kicks in, andthere’s hardly an upright around that can touchthe speed of a strong rider on a well-built ’bent.But, when it comes to club rides mostrecumbents just don’t make the grade. What’sironic is that the reason isn’t because uprightscan go faster than recumbents. They can’t. Thereason uprights dominate the road is thatthey’re much better at going slow. It soundsbackward, but it’s true.

Imagine you’re riding your recumbent up asteep hill at 4 mph, taking ten thigh-burningminutes to reach the top. At the top, you turnaround and jackrabbit back down the same hillat 40 mph, completing the descent, whiteknuckles, in one minute. Now, imagine a strongroad racer does the same course on an upright.The roadie gets up off his or her seat and—barely breaking a sweat—pumps up the hill at8 mph. At twice your speed, he or she makesit to the top in half your time (five minutes),then coasts down the hill at a leisurely 20 mph(half your top speed), sipping water, eating abanana, gliding down the hill in two minutes.Roundtrip time? Seven minutes. Yours?Eleven. Diamond frames rule!

The point of the story is that when it comesto real road conditions, it’s slowish but steadythat wins the race. The bike that rocks in theslow parts of the ride—the one that keeps its

bottom-most speeds closest to the averagespeed—is the one that’s most likely to win therace. The recumbent, while fast, is sleepy inthe starting blocks and often dozes up the hills.The upright, on the other hand, can’t hit thesame top speeds, but because it rocks whengoing slow, and keeps going strong, it beatsout the recumbent. This is why the diamond-frame bikes dominate the typical club rides.

Every Roadie’s NightmareThe 21-pound titanium Bacchetta Aero, de-signed by Rich Pinto of X-eyed Designs, isamong the first in a new breed of recumbentsdestined to take the roads back from the up-rights. It’s been designed from the ground upto compete head-to-head with the roadies. TheAero builds on the latest technical advancesthat make high-performance uprights superfastand melds these with the aerodynamics andcomfort of a recumbent platform.

HighRacerThe Aero is one of a new generation ofrecumbents that is being characterized as a“highracer” (see page 18 of this issue for aninterview with Rich Pinto). The highracerresembles its lowracer cousins such as theMoens M-5, Barcroft Oregon, ChallengeJester, or Reynolds Wishbone in that the bikeholds the rider in an efficient aerodynamic tuckthat minimizes drag. The difference is thatwhile many would consider the ground-hug-ging lowracers to be pretty extreme bikes—best suited for off-road (race track, not ondirt—ed.) racing or use on rural roads—theAero is made for riding the streets. You ridehigh in traffic so you can see and be seen,riding safely among the cars and other riders.And because you ride higher, and you ridemore like an upright, the Aero fits right into aclub ride. An upright can even draft off of this’bent—assuming it can be caught!

It Doesn’t Look Like a ’BentIt’s easy at first glance to mistake this bike fora custom time- trial racer, or maybe a Merlin,a Litespeed, or a Seven. With its titanium fin-ish and sleek lines, its matched set of large(650c) aero wheels, it really doesn’t look likea ’bent. But the Aero is all recumbent allright—one built for speed and performance,designed to chew up hills and leave the roadiesgasping for air.

The brainchild of New Hampshire designerRich Pinto, the Aero evolved over years ofcareful design and testing. Pinto originallybuilt this bike for himself, to make a bike thatwould allow him to ride the hills of NewHampshire and still keep pace with the fastestriders around. Inspired by research in bicycleaerodynamics, he designed an innovative steel-

Photo courtesy of Bacchetta Bicycles

RCN Road Test


frame highracer recumbent that he called theAerocycle. It turned out to be so fast and com-fortable that Pinto’s upright riding buddiesbegan asking him for copies of the bike, and asmall business was born. Pinto’s quest for per-fection led to his current titanium design.

Last fall Pinto partnered with Bacchetta’sJohn Schlitter and Mark Colliton, themselvesmajor forces in the development of popularrecumbents like the RANS V-Rex, and theAero joined Bacchetta’s stable as its top-of-the-line model, a family of innovativerecumbents that includes the Giro and theStrada. Designed and built entirely in theUnited States, the Aero is arguably among thehottest new bikes to come out of this conti-nent in the past few years.

Like a Fine Italian Road BikeNow, I have to be honest. Although I wouldn’tadmit this to any of my ’bent-riding buddies, Isecretly covet the fine craftsmanship and sleeklook of finely made road bikes. When I go to abike store I’m always annoying the sales staffby hefting their $6,000 Cinellis or Pinarellosto admire their lightness and feel. Of course,if any of my ’bent buddies are with me I pointand laugh, “They call that itty-bitty thing aseat!” but secretly, inside, I’m thinking, “Man,that upright is one cool bike!”

Of all the recumbents I’ve seen, the Aerocomes closest to the look and feel of a high-performance road bike. Though its lugless ti-tanium frame gives it a highly technical look,it’s a beautifully crafted bike. The titaniumwelds are among the cleanest I’ve seen, andall parts are fitted with precision and care. Thedesign is elegant and simple throughout, rightdown to the detail on the rear stays.

The 3.9-pound frame is so light, and the bikeso well balanced, you can grasp the bike bythe boom and lift it with one hand. It is amongthe lightest ’bents on the market (the Light-ning R-84 is comparable). And though thereare other titanium recumbents around (the Vi-sion Saber, the Easy Racers TiRush, theReynolds T-Bone, to name a few), and thoughit’s not the only highracer design (the Saberagain, and several by Challenge and Optima,in Europe), there’s no question in my mind thatthis is the one that best approximates a dia-mond-frame bike in its appeal.

The RideTo begin our road tests, I took the Aero to thetown green in Concord, Massachusetts, cho-sen for this test ride because it also happens tobe a magnet for Boston-area roadies. RichPinto joined me for the fun. Sure enough, assoon as we unloaded our bikes, it took justseconds for curious roadies to start gathering—I didn’t even have to bait any traps. I rested aflashy-looking Euro-bike, my fully suspendedChallenge Wizard, right next to Rich’s Aero.Usually my Challenge draws all the attention,

but this time the roadies made a beeline forthe Aero. They were drawn by the dual time-trial wheels fitted with high-pressure (145 psi)Vredestein Fortezza 650c tires, attracted by thebeautiful detail of the FSA Pro carbon fibercranks and the Kinesis Carbon Airfoil fork—the same kind Lance Armstrong used in his1999/2000 Tour De France time trials. Noquestion this is one recumbent the roadiescould understand.

And you could tell from their questions thatthey got the picture right. Instead of the usuallitany (“Did you build it yourself?”) they wereasking, “How fast can it go?” Just the look ofthe bike inspires speed. In fact, it’s hard toimagine a frame design that’s simpler or moreelegant than the titanium Aero. The body ofthe bike is a straight fixed-length titaniummonotube stretching from the beautifullyformed chainstays in the rear, straight and un-interrupted up to the bottom bracket in front.The seat stays make an eye-pleasing trianglewith the seat back and the frame to give thebike a finely engineered look.

The handlebars, seat, and fork are vital tothe Aero’s design, and each is carefully opti-mized for performance. The bars hold therider’s arms out straight in the direction ofmotion so as to minimize drag from the armsand upper body. The fork’s knife-edge profilekeeps drag and weight down while maintain-ing strength. The superlight carbon fiber seat,imported from Holland, is the same one usedin all of M-5’s famous racing bikes.

Like Sitting on a “Bike”When I first saw the bike (almost a year ear-lier, when it was only a prototype), I felt in-timidated by its high bottom bracket and largewheels. I have a short X-seam—I’m too shortto fit even a RANS V-Rex—and I had visionsof my feet dangling off the ground. But, I waspleasantly surprised to discover I could com-fortably straddle the Aero with my feet plantedfirmly on the ground. When your feet are onthe ground, your legs go straight down, ratherthan shooting forward as they do on many’bents. Sitting on the bike felt strangely famil-iar: I felt more like I was on an upright thansitting on a ’bent. Still, once I clipped my feetinto the pedals, it felt like a ’bent. It was likesitting on a lounge chair with my feet proppedon an ottoman. The grip on the bars was natu-ral and comfortable, with the wrist held lightlyin a relaxed thumbs-up position.

I found the Aero’s low-speed handling tobe excellent. Since the bars and stem connectto the fork in a straight line through the hub—just like an upright—there’s no tiller effect.Perhaps because of this, or because of the largefront wheel, or maybe because of the bike’sevenly balanced geometry, I found that the bikehandled more like an upright, responding tosubtle shifts of my body. Unlike some ’bentsthat require extreme concentration just to keep

the bike in line, the Aero barely needs a feathertouch—I was even able to ride short spurtshands-free. I felt like the only reason I had tohold the bars was to keep my hands near thebrakes.

I had no problem with heel strike on theAero. Even so, maneuvering tight corners tooka little practice. The bar’s design holds yourarms straight out, boxing in your knees, mak-ing it tricky to perform sharp turns. Rich taughtme a technique for gliding through theseturns—dropping the knee that’s trapped by thebox. This technique wasn’t much differentfrom what I normally do to deal with heel strikeon a SWB, except that the action was in theopposite sense. It didn’t take me long at all tofeel in command of the parking lot.

Turning Hills to RollersThough Rich Pinto was generous and patientanswering the questions from the roadies gath-ered around, I was eager to get on with ourride and tackle the scenic hills of Concord. Ichose this route, in part because it’s a favoritefor roadies, but also because I knew it like theback of my hand. The route consisted mostlyof rollers, passing through some gorgeousriding stables and farms, bordered by stonewalls dating back to the American Revolution.The route includes two short but challenginghills, including one formidable enough to earnmy respect, a hill I usually go out of my wayto avoid.

Setting aside the “big hill,” we tried theeasier route first. Here, I was curious to seehow the Aero would do on the smaller hills Iusually have to chug up in my granny gear.Although I thought I knew this route byheart—the road was essentially a straight shotwith no turns—I was surprised when we cameto the end of the “hilly stretch” and I still hadn’tchugged the hills. I thought maybe we hadsomehow gotten lost. I kid you not, I actuallydoubled back to see if I had somehow missedmy hills. The hills were still there all right,only the Aero turned them into rollers! I sailedup the slopes without even noticing.

The “big hill” was still a big hill even onthe Aero. I found myself going up this slopepretty slowly, but I did notice that when I madeit to the top I wasn’t nearly as tired as usual.The combination of the Aero’s low weight andlow-rolling- resistance tires seemed to helplevel out the hills.

High-Speed PerformancePinto is a designer who understands that highperformance is attained not by any singledesign element, but by the sum many of smalldetails that add up to make a difference.He methodically tracks down the sources ofpotential power loss and goes the extra step tokeep these losses low. All this attention todetail is what adds up to high performance.

The Aero is designed to punch a very


INFO AT A GLANCE

SpecificationsModel—Bacchetta Ti AeroType—SWB HighracerSteering—OSSWheelbase—46”Seat height—23”Bottom bracket height—31”-31.5”Frame sizes—Standard (5’6”-6’4”) and large (5’10”-6’6”)Weight—22 lbs.Weight limit—#230

Frame—3/2.5 Titanium customFork—Kinesis Carbon AirFoil 650cRiser—Bacchetta top loadHandlebar—Bacchetta 47 mm “tweaner”Seat—M5 Carbon

ComponentsCrank—FSA CarbonPro 32/42/52Bottom bracket—American Classic ISISHeadset—American Classic 1” threadlessDerailleurs (f/r)—Shimano UltegraShifters—SRAM Rocket ShortyCassette—Shimano Ultegra 12-27 9-spd.Chain—Shimano CN-HG73Gear inch range—29.33-109.31Pedals—N.A.Wheels—650c (571 mm x 23c)Hubs—American Classic MicroRims—Velocity deep sectionSpokes—Bladed stainless steelTires—Vredestein Fortezza 145 p.s.i.Brake (front)—Bacchetta dual pivotBrake (rear)—Shimano Ultegra dual pivot


Warranty (frame)—Lifetime (orig. owner)Colors—Brushed TiOptions—Reynolds AeroPro fork, HEAD “Alps” wheels

ProUltralightFastBeautiful (brushed ti is excuisite)Highly optimized designedRivals the highest-quality road bikes

ConExpensivePossible fit concerns for shorter ridersFewer adjustment and fit options (as compared to the Strada/Corsa)

ContactBacchettaTel. 727-341-1881Web: www.x-eyed.com;www. bacchettabikes.com

A ride through historic Concord,Massachusetts. Rich Pinto on his 21-

pound titanium Bacchetta Aero.(Photo © 2002 Randy H. Goodman)

The Aero strives for perfection throughattention to detail. Notice the quality of

the welds on the chainstays.(Photo © 2002 Randy H. Goodman)

smallhole through the air as it moves forward.Its handlebars are designed to hold the rider’sarms straight out to minimize the arm’s cross-section against the wind. The bottom bracketand seat are positioned to prevent the rider’sheels from dipping below the line of his or herbody. Cables are neatly tacked to the bike tominimize drag. The components are chosen tominimize wind resistance and weight.

My tests (which include coast downs, andcomparisons against a variety of ’bents ingroup rides) confirm that this bike is one fastmachine. In moderate descents (around 35mph) it easily outpaces popular ’bents like theRANS V-Rex or the Vision 44. My ChallengeWizard, which is more aero than bikes like theV-Rex, is able to keep pace with a faired RANSV2 on a downhill at 35 mph, but it couldn’tcatch the Aero (though once speeds go to the40 mph mark and up, the V2’s faring does seemto provide an advantage over the unfairedAero). According to Pinto, who has done coast-down tests against the fastest ’bents around,the Aero matches or beats virtually everythingon the market—including lowracers. Pintofound that the Aero met its match only whencompared to the fastest lowracers that weredecked out with disk wheels and a tailbox,bikes few of us would feel safe riding in roadtraffic.

Fit and SizingOne of the things I like the most about the Aerois how I look on the bike. While some ’bentsmake the rider look awkward, as if you’reriding a unicycle, the Aero holds your body ina graceful racing position that makes you looklike you really mean business.

The Aero has a fixed boom and accommo-dates different-sized riders by moving the seatforward and back (at predrilled intervals) on amounting plate. Riders much shorter thanaround 5’6” may have trouble reaching theground comfortably. The bike is spec’d for anX-seam range of 40 to 45 inches, but it ac-commodated my X-seam of 38.5 inches withno trouble at all. Seat angle is adjusted by tele-scoping the seat stays RANS-style, held bypins. The M-5 seat comes in two size options.

The shorter seat fit me well, but riders withlong torsos will want to make sure they orderthe larger size. The bike is designed to handleeven fairly large riders and is rated for a maxi-mum weight limit of 230 pounds.

Though the bike is built stiff for climbinghills, I found the titanium frame surprisinglypliant when it comes to road bumps. Since mytest bike was equipped with a Pantour suspen-sion hub (offered as an option), it was diffi-cult to distinguish how much of the shock ab-sorption was due to the hub and how much tothe frame, but my sense was that the Aero’sframe flexes well on bumps. One thing wascertain: the large front wheel handles roadirregularities well, and I felt much safer ondownhills than I do with the smaller 16- to 20-inch front wheels I commonly ride.

The Aero’s high bottom bracket worked wellfor me. Though I didn’t have any trouble my-self, I imagine that those who suffer from prob-lems with numb toes or feet may want to lookinto other designs.

ComponentsThe bike’s component package is of a qualityyou’d expect in a bike of this caliber. I’ve al-ready mentioned the carbon fork and cranks.The FSA 30/42/52 triple up front is mated to a12-27 Ultegra rear cluster, giving the bike agearing range typical of high-performance roadmachines. The chain is the highly rated SRAMPC-59. A concentric pair of idlers located un-der the seat is used to hold the chain neatlyand quietly in check, keeping the chain tautand the shifting crisp. The rear brake is Ultegra,while the front brake is a custom-built bottom-pull design similar to Ultegra in appearance,built by Bacchetta to keep fork clearances tight.The brakes provide stopping power to spare,and even with the Pantour hub on my test bike


The Aero’s frontal area (left) is almost 20% smaller than that of typical ’bents(Challenge Wizard, right). Air resistance is kept low by holding the rider’s arms, legs,

and feet within the area of the rider’s body and by optimizing the aerodynamicsof the fork and wheel. (Photo © 2002 Randy H. Goodman)

they kept the bike in control at all speeds.If there is one fault I found with the Aero it

is the bars. As mentioned, the Aero is designedto hold your arms straight out in order to re-duce air resistance. The position is more ex-treme than most riders are used to, and I couldimagine riders will want the ability to dial inthe arm position. And yet, the bars offer onlya single provision for adjustment. Much moreis needed. (In fairness, my test bike wasn’tequipped with the bars as they will be finallysold; perhaps this will be resolved by the timethis article goes to press.) According to Pinto,Bacchetta is addressing this concern by offer-ing the bike with an optional TerraCycleGlideFlex adjustable stem like the one pro-vided on the Strada and Giro. At least this willprovide some measure of adjustment, but atthe expense of a half pound in weight.

Aero uses SRAM Rocket 9-speed twistshifters and Shimano flat-bar road levers forthe brakes. Though the shifters were respon-sive and accurate, I really didn’t care for theirfeel. The click stops felt harsher than I’d ex-pect on bike of this quality. The brake levers,on the other hand, were well chosen to matchthe ergonomics of the bars.

Quest for PerfectionIn introducing the Aero, Bacchetta is taking arisk forging a new market for ’bents. Wherethe Aero comes up short is in adjustment andfit: performance riders will be looking for abike that fits them like a second skin. I can’timagine that a rider who buys a $4,000LeMond, for example, will accept a seatpostthat adjusts only at predrilled intervals, orhandlebars and stems that come in only onesize. At the edge of performance millimeterscount, and one-size-fits-all fits no one when itcomes to a high-end machine.

In years to come we can count on RichPinto’s continuing to modify his design to getthe most from the bike. Even now, he is col-laborating with John Cobb and Steve Hed toput the Aero in a wind tunnel at Texas A&MUniversity, to find ways to optimize perfor-mance even more. The Aero is likely to winover a lot of converts from road bikes to

recumbents, as strong riders discover that theyneed not sacrifice lightness, efficiency, or re-sponsiveness to gain the speed and comfortrealized by a recumbent design. It’s the inno-vation in recumbent design many of us havebeen waiting for. A dream come true. ◆

Matthew H. Schneps, a physicist and recum-bent enthusiast, is director of SportSmarts, ascience education program of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Photo Credits: Randy H. Goodman, Copyright© 2002. All rights reserved.

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Reader’s Bikes

A Ti Pursut 700/20 with DualShimano Nexus 7’s

by Steven [email protected]

Steve Delaire is a master recumbent craftsman.My new titanium Rotator Pursuit reflects hisexperience and passion for his bikes. I recentlyordered and picked up my “dream bike” fromRotator. It is equipped with two ShimanoNexus internal geared 7-speed hubs. One is amid-drive and is laced into the 700c rearwheel. The rear hub has an internal “Inter-M”roller brake. The front wheel is a 20-inch.

As one who has ridden many ‘bent milesover the last five years, I agreed with much ofof Bob Bryant’s RCN 70 Rotator review. I’dlike to share my observations on several as-pects concerning buying and owning one ofthese bikes. I don’t know a lot about some ofthe technical aspects of recumbency but I knowwhat is comfortable, enjoyable riding for me,both in the busy, bumpy streets of Los Ange-les and on the open road for touring.

I once owned a Vision (SWB USS) and Icurrently own an early RANS Vivo with frontand rear suspension and hydraulic brakes. Ilove both of these bikes for the comfortableride they provide. My mate, Robby, rides andloves her BikeE.

Ordering and buying the bike from Rotatorwas a pleasure without hassle. Delaire is afriendly, cooperative professional guy whooffered his opinion and expertise of the differ-ent available options. He never tried to im-

pose his will over the creation of my “dream”bike. Most of our correspondence over a fewmonths in the purchasing process was via theInternet. Each of my many inquiries waspromptly and courteously replied to.

The FrameThe brazing reflects a proud craftsman qual-ity and the finish is an attractive polished tita-nium. The rear chain stays are beautifully con-nected to the large diameter mono-tube frameand, like Bob says, offers a somewhat effec-tive passive suspension.

I feel compelled to address the issue ofDelaire using hose clamps to hold the seat (aswell as the mid-drive) onto the frame. Theseclamps, blending in with the beautifully ma-chined fittings to which they clamp, become anice, natural part of the bike. And they areconsistent with Delaire’s apparent philosophythat simple function is desirable. Just look atthat simple big mono-tube frame!

Because there is no derailleur (and no springtension on the chain) special horizontal “drop-outs” had to be made. This and the fact thatthe internal hub only accepts a solid axle makechanging the back tire only a bit more timeconsuming. (Delaire warned me about this.)

I have had two flat rear tires so far and re-moving the rear wheel is actually quite easy:

1. The internal brake cable is discon-nected as is the shifting cable from thehub.

2. The brake arm is disconnected from thechain stay.

3. The 15 mm axle nuts are loosened andthe chain removed.

DrivetrainThe Nexus 7 is an internally geared 7-speedhub that is made by Shimano for city and com-muter bikes. Both of the Shimano Nexus 7hubs are quiet and smooth with precise, easyshifting. Two days after picking the bike upfrom Delaire, another knowledgeable recum-bent builder informed me that a recent studyshowed that these hubs were less “efficient”than other internal shifting hubs. I don’t knowif this is true but I am very pleased with howthey are working and I am confident that theywill give me great service without the hasslesof external derailleurs.

Shifting can be done while pedaling butshifting is smoother when you slightly ease thepressure from the pedals or coast. With a bitof practice, you can change gears with verylittle loss of speed. I couldn’t be happier hav-ing chosen total internal hub shifting.

While technically there are 49 different com-binations of gears, the 14 usable gears seemwell spaced. You can shift up and down, 1through 7 on both hands, and the shifts are al-ways the same- smooth and reliable. Since Idon’t consider myself a strong rider, so I askedDelaire to gear it down to allow me to ride upthe hills that Robby is always taking me to. Ihave not been disappointed. And the highestgears still give me all the speed I need.

As reported by RCN, chain management isexcellent, very quiet. As an added benefit, thisis my first recumbent where I don’t need achain cover to protect my baggy shorts fromthe greasy chain!

Brakes—The internal Nexus brake is notas strong as it could be, but coupled with theeffective Tektro V-brake in the front, brakinghas proven adequate. I am confident that whensqueezed hard the brakes will be there for me.So far, fortunately, I have not needed extremebraking power.

Wheels & Tires—When ordering this tita-nium bike, I informed Delaire of my desire tohave (in the words of Bob) a bulletproof biketough enough for the urban potholes of L.A.Both wheels are Australian-made by Velocity.The rear wheel coupled with 700c x 30 IRCtandem tire and the 36 spoke, 20-inch frontwheel (Dura Ace hub) with a 1.25 tire are thin-ner than what I am used to but have so farproven an adequate compromise betweenspeed and durability.

Pedals—Like Bob Bryant, I love those big


Bear Trap platform pedals that Delaire uses.For longer and hilly rides, however, I prefersmoother pedals with Power-Grip straps. Onlonger rides, these straps appear to conservesome energy.

ComfortSeat—I know that Rotator’s full mesh seatshave many avid fans. But, while I found it tobe adequate for a couple of hours of riding ata time, over a long day my back developed aslight ache and my butt was less than comfy.The existing cord connecting the back part ofthe mesh to the seat frame was too loose forme. To be able to custom adjust different ar-eas, I used plastic zip-ties, tightened to myliking, especially in the lumbar area. The bot-tom mesh section is supported by heaviershock cord but the addition of a Therma-Restpad makes the ride truly heavenly, but notsloppy.

ErgonomicsWith the seat tweaked as described above, Icouldn’t ask for a more comfortable ride. Ichose the low-profile seat. The pedals are atseat height. I realize some folks may not pre-fer this pedaling position. For me it’s a beau-tiful compromise for more speed and greatercomfort. My buns don’t chafe on the front ofthe seat, yet my feet are low enough to be ableto easily and often put my feet on the groundwhen riding in downtown Los Angeles. Theframe flexes and float to absorb some of theroad shock, and the shock cord in the seat helpsneutralize those rough areas.

After coming off my SWB bikes, I was atfirst afraid that the Pursuit’s handlebars mightbe too far away from the seat for comfort. Butafter extending the steering tube out near itslimit, I very soon grew used to the reach andnow it feels very natural and very comfortable.

RideStability—This bike is very stable at higherspeeds—although I am not one who likes toride at high speed. The bike is surprisinglymaneuverable in city traffic. While not mySWB Vivo, the 20-inch front wheel and lowsaddle height make starting, stopping and turn-ing quite easy.

I purchased the optional front fairing. Butafter a short while, I decided it wasn’t for meand removed it. My bike is outfitted with arear rack, kickstand, tools, and a pump. Whilethis bike could be very light, mine is not. SinceI’m not a performance rider, the added geardoesn’t slow me down much. Compared tomany other bikes I have ridden, this bike isquite fast.

Regarding the topic of “fork flop” or “tiller-effect” sometimes discussed in regards to theRotator, I’ve found that this only occurs whenthe bike is standing still and your hands areoff of the bars. This sometimes occurred on

my upright bike also and it poses no problemwhatsoever.

VerdictDelaire is a master craftsman and he knowshow to build recumbents. While the Pursuit,whether in titanium or steel, may not be theright bike for everyone, I recommend that any-one considering a new LWB recumbent giveserious consideration to Rotator. Delaire alsobuilds Barcroft frames and Easy Racer Ti Rushframes.

UpdateI have now ridden 750 miles on the bike. Thefirst 400 mile ride was an organized tour inNorth Dakota. The second was a 350 mileride through Missouri where I carrying 30pounds of luggage.

Here are my thoughts on my Ti-Pursuit: Ilove this bike. I put a beefier tire on the rear,a 700 x 37, and was happy I did so as I en-countered several expansion joints on bridges

that would have sucked up a narrower tire.I resolved the seat base problem by adding

a thin piece of plywood with good 2 inch foamcovered by a lycra cover stretched around andunder.

My only real concern is the rear. It is an in-ternal hub brake. It’s rather ineffective andgrabs tightly when applied. I have yet to re-solve this situation. ◆

ContactRotator Recumbent BicyclesTel. 707-591-0915Web: http://rotatorrecumbent.com

Note: The Rotator Titanium Pursuit has a listprice of $4,700 (stock spec, not this test bike).There are three frame sizes and two seat widthsand at least two seat heights. It takes 6-8 weeksto get a custom Rotator. Shipping is about $60within the U.S.A. Rotator offers a 3% discountif you prepay your order.

Steve Hulm on on the Ti Pursuit in North Dakota on CANDISC (Steven Zrucky)

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Recumbent Tech

CatEye LED LightsA Review by Kent Peterson

The CatEye EL-110 The CatEye EL-200

Anyone who rides a bicycle at night shouldhave some kind of lights but exactly what kindof lights are best is a subject of much debate.Many factors figure into these debates: cost,how much light is enough light, what kind ofriding will a person be doing, and so forth.There are many good lights out there but it isbeyond the scope of this article to review themall. Instead, I’m going to describe my experi-ences and impressions of the current CateyeLED lights.

I’d like to begin by stating that I ride a lot atnight. I don’t own a car, so I’m a full time bikecommuter. I’m also involved in a sport calledrandonneuring. Randonneurs ride long dis-tances within certain time limits and the sportinvolves quite a bit of night riding, often inless-than-ideal conditions. I ride an averageover 1000 miles per month and many of thosemiles are ridden in darkness. The views ex-pressed in this article are my own, but theyare based on my real-world experiences withthese lights.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have beenaround for years and while the red LEDs arealmost universally used in bicycle tail lights,it has only been in the past few years that newergeneration white LEDs have been available foruse in flashlights, head lamps and bicycle frontlights. These LEDs still aren’t capable of put-ting out the amount of light that a halogen orkrypton bulb can produce, but they do offerseveral advantages over a traditional filamentbulb.

LEDs are solid-state devices and under nor-mal conditions they virtually never burn out.Over-volting an LED will destroy it, but thisdoesn’t happen with a properly designed cir-cuit. Unlike filament bulbs, LEDs are unaf-fected by jarring shocks, such as those encoun-tered in riding over cobblestones. Finally,LEDs draw very little power. This allows the

creation of small lights that have very long run-times.

In the autumn of 2001 Cateye began pro-ducing the HL-EL100 bicycle headlight. Thiswas a fairly simple, first generation LED head-light. While this light didn’t have any sophis-ticated circuitry, it did offer a very long run-time, up to 180 hours from a set of 4 AA alka-line cells. I used a pair of these lights and rodefor 30 a total of hours of darkness in Decem-ber of 2001. The battery life was very good,but the beam pattern from the light was lessthan ideal. For example, a company calledPrinceton Tec makes an LEDS flashlight calledthe Impact that combines a single white LEDwith a very good focused plastic lens. TheImpact also runs off 4 AA cells but puts out amuch tighter, more focused beam than that castby a Cateye HL-EL100.

While you can still find HL-EL100 lightsin stores, in the autumn of 2002, Cateye re-leased three LED headlights, all of which aresuperior to the HL-EL100. Like any goodlight-obsessed cyclist, I bought all three of thenew lights.

General CommentsAll three of the new lights use the same mount-ing bracket. The bracket uses a screw com-bined with a plastic lever similar to the quick-release lever on a bike wheel. The lights slideinto a groove on the bracket and a small springmechanism locks the light in place. This letsyou easily remove the light or switch it be-tween various bikes. In my experience, Cateyelights can sometimes vibrate loose, so I rec-ommend looping a large rubber band aroundthe light and bracket for a bit more security.All three of the new lights are available in ei-ther black or silver plastic cases and all areactivated by a single rubberized pushbuttonlocated at the rear of the light. None of the

lights have rubber seals around the lightingelement or battery compartment, but I haveused them on some wet rides and have not hadany problems with water seeping into thelights. However, the upper case snaps onto thelower case in such a way that the two piecesoverlap slightly like the shingles of a house. Ifyou were to mount the lights upside-down, youmight have problems with water seepage.

All the new Cateye lights use 4 AA cells astheir power source and they all lack any kindof regulation circuitry. This means that the lightoutput will dim as the batteries drain. Alka-line batteries have a steep discharge curve sowhile Cateye may list the battery life as beinghundreds of hours for these lights, in actualuse I’ve found that it’s best to replace the bat-teries when I start to notice a drop in light out-put. This point will vary with the model of thelight and with a particular riders perceivedneed for light. But it’s less than the optimisticstats quoted by Cateye.

Lithium AA cells are available and whilethey cost quite a bit more per cell than alka-line cells, they have a much better power dis-charge curve. They also weigh less, so someriders may find them to be a good choice foruse in the Cateye lights. Unfortunately, NiCdor NiMH rechargeable batteries have lowervoltages than either alkaline or lithium cellsand are not a good option for use in these lights.

The HL-EL110 This is the most inexpensive of the three newlights, retailing at $17.99. The light has a singleLED focused LED and it really does cast a veryfocused beam. In fact I find the beam to be toonarrow. Cateye optimistically lists the batterylife at 300 hours and even though you’d prob-ably want to replace the batteries before then,of the three new lights this is the one that willrun the longest on a set of AA cells. It’s physi-cally the same size as last year’s HL-EL100,and while it puts out much more useful lightthan the older model, I don’t recommend ei-ther the HL-EL100 or the HL-EL110.

The HL-EL200 The HL-EL200 has the same size case as theHL-EL110. Retailing for $24.99, this light hasthree focused LEDs and is the only one of thethree headlights that can be set to flash. Theflashing mode is very eye-catching and thelight is bright enough that road signs and otherreflective surfaces strobe. While Cateye liststhe output of the HL-EL200 as being onlyslightly more than that put out by the HL-EL110 (110 candle power for the HL-EL200vs. 100 candle power for the HL-EL110) theHL-EL200 produces a much more usefulbeam. In the constant mode, Cateye lists thebattery life at an optimistic 110 hours. For a


The CatEye LD-600

commuter, this is a very nice little light.

The HL-EL300 The HL-EL300 is the biggest and brightest ofthe new lights. With five focused LEDs it’s akind of awkward looking thing, but those 5LEDs put out a very nice beam that Cateyerates at being about 400 candle power. This isthe light I’ve been using for commutes and myrecent randonneuring rides and I like it a lot.The always optimistic people at Cateye list thebattery life at over 100 hours for this light, butI’ve found that with alkaline cells, I’ll noticea bit of dimming after about 18 hours of use.This is enough life to ride two entire nights indarkness on a single set of AA cells, a featwhich would be unthinkable even a few yearsago.

Since I’ve had this light, I’ve been askedby various people both in real life and on theinternet if it’s really bright enough to see byor if it’s more a just “be seen” light. For me,the answer is “it’s bright enough to see by”but what I find adequate may seem woefullyinadequate to somebody else. I’ll try the best Ican to describe the light and let the reader drawtheir own conclusions.

The HL-EL300 puts out a nice, shaped spotbeam in the form of an oval with the widestpart of the oval spreading over the road. If youposition the light so the oval is cast about adozen feet in front of you it’s maybe three feetin diameter at it’s widest. In terms of inten-sity, the light is about as bright as what I’d seecoming off a 3 watt Halogen Lumotec lightbeing driven by a SON hub or the light cast bya 2.4 Watt Halogen Cateye HL-500 Micro. Thehalogen lights put out a more yellowish lightwhile the LED light is a more bluish white.

On a couple of recent brevets (randon-neuring rides) I had the opportunity to ridealongside riders with the above mentionedhalogen lights and we found useful light putout by the HL-EL300 to be about the same aswhat was put out by their lights. In fact, sev-eral of the riders I was comparing lights withcommented that they “had to get one of those”(referring to the HL-EL300). I also had anotherfriend express doubt in e-mail as to whetheror not he should get an HL-EL300 and I toldhim “just buy it and try it. If you don’t like it,I’ll buy it off you.” He wrote me back a fewdays later with the following one word review:“Wow.” Needless to say, I didn’t wind up buy-ing his light.

The TL-LD600 Cateye also produces a very bright red LEDtail light, TL- LD600. The TL-LD600 retailsfor $19.95 and runs on two AAA cells. It hasfour modes: flashing, constant, side-to-side andrandom. Since this is brighter than many otherLED tail lights, the batteries won’t last as long.In the constant mode, the light will run forabout 15 hours. Using the light in any of the

various flashing modes will up the life to about30 hours. I’ve found this to be a nice little light,but because of it’s higher power draw, I haveto be vigilant in making sure it has workingbatteries.

Gear for Riding at NightSome riders seem be intent on emulating day-light in their lighting set-ups but even the folksat Night Sun will tell you that “no lightingsystem is as good as the sun.” In my nightriding I try to make sure I’ve got a reliablesystem that makes my presence clear to otherroad users and provides adequate light to en-able me to avoid potential road hazards. WhileI don’t claim that I have the definitive nightriding system, I will present what I use as anexample of a system that works for night com-muting and brevet riding.

I use a lot of reflective gear. Reflective tapeis inexpensive and quite noticeable to drivers.I use red reflective tape on my rear fender andthe back of my tailbox, white reflective tapeon the front and sides of my bike and the sidesof the tailbox. Also, reflective tape on movingparts like cranks or rims is very effective. Ialso use reflective ankle bands and my helmethas reflective tape on it as well. Light coloredclothing is also a good choice. All my cyclingjackets and vests are bright yellow or orangeand have reflective trim.

My current bike headlight is the Cateye HL-EL300 and I also have a helmet mounted LEDlight. The helmet mounted light is good forreading road signs, maps, catching the atten-tion of drivers and is very valuable if I everhave to change a flat tire in the rain. PrincetonTec makes some very nice headlamps. TheMatrix is fairly large and uses 2 AA cells, whilethe Aurora is smaller and uses 3 AAA cells.With either light, I’ve found that the best wayto mount them to a helmet is to remove thestock strap and replace it with a velcro pumpstrap. I loop the strap through the vents in myhelmet and it’s very secure.

In addition to the helmet-mounted light oneof my key pieces of night gear is a cycling cap.I wear the cap under my helmet and the brimof the cap is very useful for shielding my eyesfrom the glare of oncoming automobile head-

lights. The cap helps me preserve my nightvision and and also helps keep rain off myglasses. I really count the cap as one of mymost essential pieces of night riding gear.

I have three tail lights. In addition to the TL-LD600, I have a second generic tail light whichalso runs on AAA cells. While this light is notas bright as the TL-LD600, I find it’s best tohave redundancy. I also have a small VistaliteWhaletail light on the rear of my helmet. Thislight runs off a single AAA cell.

Since all my lights are solid-state LEDs, Idon’t carry any spare bulbs. I do carry sparebatteries although it’s rare that I use them. Infact my most common use for the spare bat-teries is loaning them to other riders whosebatteries have died. No matter what system oflights you use, the important thing is to makesure it’s working and will keep working forthe duration of your ride. A two Watt systemthat is working is far more useful than a fiftyWatt system with a dead battery. ◆

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Easy Racers: Our Customers Speak

Double Century Man, Ron Bobbout training for the Terrible Two

SUBJECT: How Does That ThingClimb? April 4, 2001

Just a quick update on the Gold Rush Rep-lica that I purchased about two monthsago. Great!!! The weather in Cincinnatiis just starting to break. I have over 900miles on my trainer since February, andabout 120 miles on the GRR. With theweather breaking the GRR should seeabout 150 miles a week.

The GRR becomes more of a blast themore I ride it. I did my first climb out ofthe river valley where our major bike pathis located. Everyone warned me that Iwould be in trouble on a climb. So I wassomewhat apprehensive as I started the1.5- mile climb out of the valley.

First, I never got out of the middlechainring. I think I could have stayed inthe large (53). I held between 13 and 17mph for most of the climb. I neverdropped below 11 mph. I was very impressed. I have climbed thishill hundreds of times on my Trek OCLV and felt far worse at thetop of the climb than on the GRR.

As a matter of fact, I felt great on the GRR!!! No back pain;nothing. The ride back down was a hoot. I had a friend with me(about 5 minutes behind me up the hill) as I descended down intothe valley. I was hitting 40 mph without moving my legs, and us-ing the brakes into the turns because I was not sure what to expectfrom the GRR at speed around the turns. My friend had to pedallike a madman and he still couldn’t keep up. The GRR felt like asports car going down the hill. What fun!!! I wish I had started

this 30 years ago instead of my mid fif-ties!!!!

Best regards,Doug Pendery

SUBJECT: GRR UpdateApril 25, 2001

This past Saturday I rode with a fewfriends that have conventional racingbikes (Wedgies; I think you call them).We climbed out of the valley up theRoute 48 hill. This climb goes for about1.5 miles. I pulled my friends up thehill at about 18 miles per hour andcrested at over 20 mph. Needless to saythey were out of their saddles trying tostay up. I must say I was winded, butso were they. Their comment was, “Iguess your recum-bent doesn’t have aproblem going up hills.”

In my younger days (about 8 years ago) I would have pushedmyself to my limit to go 18 miles per hour up this hill on my TrekOCLV. My point is the GRR is a great recumbent. I enjoy goingup hills on it more than my OCLV. I am more relaxed, my backdoesn’t hurt, and my legs aren’t killing me from being out of thesaddle trying to lever the OCLV up a hill.

By the way, we had a tailwind on one stretch of the ride. Imanaged to get up to 36 mph in the flats. Nobody passed me . . .It was a real hoot!!!

Best regards,Doug Pendery


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