Laidback Bike Report

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's Kevin Belanger joins us to talk about the "Great American Rail-Trail" and how bent riders can benefit from this exciting new national venture. Mel Birge from Recumbentpdx will tell us all about the Pacific Trike Fest coming up in Portland this October. John Williams brings us his experience riding to and participating in the World HPV Championships last...

Our Team has returned from Recumbent Cycle-Con 2019 and our heads are filled with thoughts of all the amazing bikes, trikes and accessories that filled the Nashville venue. Our all star panel includes Sylvia Halpern, Bryan Ball, Larry Varney, Lars Komm, Peter Stull, Tray Bourgoyne, and Denny Voorhees. Watch as we discuss our impressions of this iconic show and its wares. **Watch our Full Coverage...

Mike Lecka is a serious velomobile designer from North Carolina. He tells me he's always been so hard working that he "quit school because of recess"! Check him out yourself as we chat about his latest project called Velotilt-an original Dutch designed tilting velomobile which he has taken over from designer and founder Wim Schermer and plans to develop commercially. We begin with a...

We kick off with Joerg Gebers who was riding his Quattrovelo (we believe it's the 1st velo in China) in Shanghai. He was stopped by police, ticketed, fined and had his velomobile confiscated. Next up is Fabrizio Cross the builder of the Electrom. This recumbent bike has a creative new e-assist motor design and lots of cargo space with all weather protection for the rider. Returning to the sho...

Joerg Gebers is a German working and living in Shanghai, China. He imported what he reckons are the first two velomobiles into China in hopes of commuting to work and eventually riding them through Asia and back to Europe. After a few weeks of tooling around Shanghai streets without incident in his Quattrovelo he was suddenly stopped by police and had his cherished velomobile impounded. He believe...

During the 1990s the west coast was a hotbed of recumbent biking innovation. A dedicated group of bent builders and riders began exchanging ideas and ride time and in Oregon the OHPV sprang to life. Lonnie Morse has been a key part of the group for most of the ensuing years and joins us to share some details and lots of great stories. Next we welcome back Italian bent enthusiast Marco Ruga. He wow...

A Dutchman making world class velomobiles in Romania? Meet Jan Wijnen the improbable owner of Velomobile World. Jan tells us about how he ended up manufacturing the velos of prominent Dutch and German makers by building a factory in this central European country. We chat about his production process and his big plans for the future of Velomobiles around the world.  Next we continue our important d...

It's always a treat to chat with the legendary Maria Parker CEO of recumbent bike maker Cruzbike. In this Bent Expo video we learn all about their entire stable of capable, comfortable and crazy fast front wheel drive bikes. You'll see the S40, Q45, record winning Vendetta V20 and their new electric entry the T50e. We finish up with Maria talking about Cruzbike's 100 mile trial prog...

HPRA is an organization for pedal powered competition across the USA. We are joined by Mike Mowett and Warren Beauchamp who will fill us in on the details. Next, we have Mark Egeland from Catrike who brings us up to date on all the latest from this American built trike manufacturer. He sticks around for an AMA session to answer any and all your questions. Finally, Larry Varney returns to talk abou...

John Williams is the friendly and enthusiastic face of the velomobile world. His "Velo-ads" YouTube channel and now London based velomobile dealership have put him and his business partner Neil Hood front and center in this world of fully faired human powered vehicles. John and Neil join us on this webcast to share the Velo-ads story and to talk about their ideas for choosing, riding and...

It's been 20 years since Aleš Zemánek founded AZUB in the Czech Republic. Today they are a very highly regarded recumbent bike and trike manufacture boasting many finely crafted products. Marketing manager Honza Galla joins us in this video and it quickly becomes apparent that this entire organization was built around you the recumbent rider. **AZUB Bikes**  https://azub.eu/ Please support th...

Premium recumbent trike manufacturer ICE Trikes creates their high quality three wheelers in Cornwall, England. In this interview Patrick Selwood joins me to lay out the details of their wide ranging line of trikes ranging from off road to touring to record winning racers.  **ICE Trikes** https://www.icetrikes.co/ Please support the amazing folks who make the Bent Expo series possible: The Hostel...

Jascha Beuttler loves to tour Europe in his Velomobile. Today he share's his adventure starting in his native Germany then traveling to Poland and Belarus. In Belarus he found himself required to ride his Quest on the sidewalk which led to an interesting interaction with local authorities. Next up we go to Mumbai, India where we meet Rajkumar Khatri. He and his family have created a unique mo...

Velomobiles are fast, beautiful and possibly the future of human powered transportation. There is one person in the world I'm aware of who has owned and ridden more brands, more models and more configurations of these sleek wonders than anyone not actually owning a bike shop! Today we wade deep into the mysterious world of evaluating velomobiles with world renown German velomobile visionary J...

We have five incredibly talented bent riders with performances of original music they put together just for this special webcast. From the U.K. we have Kevin Brown singing with his blues guitar and Jon Hodkin playing his tuba with piano accompaniment. From New Zealand we have our Swiss pal David Brandenberger playing some heavier rock and then Jonathan Garcia is on from Portland belting out a coup...

After catching up on this week's news we have Jon Hodkin on to play his tuba and share his plans for his next American Tour. Next up is Denez Bodennec who joins us from France with his new build of a side by side tandem velomobile called the Duo Quest. Then we greet Patrick Selwood from ICE Trikes who talks to us about the Cornwall based company's current status while participating in ou...

Dana Lieberman owns Bent Up Cycles in Los Angeles. Tim Woudenberg and his partner Lucy wanted a tandem to continue a world tour in Asia. We chat with them both to learn about the ultimate in customer service as Dana delivers and sets up an AZUB tandem in Bangkok, Thailand. Alve Henricson is a Swedish adventurer who had to give up mountain climbing and upright riding because of arthritis. Unwilling...

Electric assist has by all accounts been responsible for the recent resurgent bent industry sales. E-assisted bikes and trikes are now everywhere and having an impact on streets and trails worldwide. In an effort to control this new type of bicycle legislators and regulators are grappling with ways to balance safety and use. On this webcast we try to shed some light on the laws and regulations you...

Greenspeed Trikes is now a part of the WizWheelz (TerraTrike) family. We head down to Melbourne, Australia to join Marshall and Mark as they survey what it is that Wizwheelz has purchased and try to learn everything they can of the legacy left behind by Ian Sims. We learn about how and when WizWheelz plans to market Greenspeed trikes and if any changes are to be made to the line. There is an encou...

If there is one man identified with creating the modern day recumbent three wheeler and bringing a viable product to market that would have to be Ian Sims. Sadly we lost Ian to cancer last year. Listen to the fascinating story of how Ian turned his job loss into a personal period of creativity and opportunity in this 2016 interview done live from Australia. You can watch this entire episode on You...

"I go faster than Chris Froome." So says 75 year old Mike Burrows in this interview. No one has had more influence on modern bicycle design in the last 40 years than Mike. His LotusSport Pursuit bike design was ridden by Chris Boardman to win in the 1992 Olympics and his Windcheetah trike broke new ground in the laidback world long ago. The World Human Powered Vehicle Championships held...

John Morciglio has been designing and building laidback performance bikes for many years. His clients ride and race these machines all over the world and most who see his creations also consider them works of art. John joins us to talk about what goes into making  his carbon fiber wonders and how he manages to make each one uniquely suited to its rider. We also have Doug Davis on for an important...

He left his ordinary suburban work-a-day existence in 1983 to create a new life on the road. Riding what was then a rare type of vehicle known as a recumbent bike he traveled 17,000 miles over the next 10 years. But this was no ordinary recumbent bike. Join us as we meet Steve Roberts and find out why he was known as the "High Tech Nomad" and what he is up to today. You can watch this ep...

Pete Colan has been designing and manufacturing bike trainers for 25 years and trike specific rollers for over 12 years. They are made at his northern Indiana shop with parts almost all locally sourced. We' talk to Pete about how trainers can be an important part of keeping you riding when the conditions outside are less than ideal. We also have the inspiring William Galloway who has been cri...

"But is it safe for a woman to tour by herself around the world these days?" This is probably the most common question asked of our guest Sylvia Halpern. Check out this wide ranging interview with one of the most widely known and admired trike tourists in the world. We talk about the places she's been and her recommendations for gear to plan your next epic adventure on a trike. 00:0...