My wife wants to get a more comfortable bike for neighborhood cruising and paved bike path riding. She is not interested in speed or long rides and she is definitely not going off-road. I don't see her ever riding more than 20 miles on a bike other than as stoker on our tandem. Despite my efforts to make her hybrid bike more comfortable, she says it hurts her wrists to lean forward on the bars. This after adding albatross bars from Rivendell to bring the grips up and back to what is to me a very casual and comfortable position.

We are looking at some of the new flat-foot type bikes like the Electra Townie as well as some of the cruiser type bikes. A more normal comfort bike might also work. I have a great relationship with the lone bike shop in our small town and definitely want to buy from them. They carry Trek, Specialized and Gary Fisher as their main lines. Fisher has nothing that interests her. The Specialized Expedition is a possibility. http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=12338
Trek has some interesting options. The Navigator is similar to the Expedition: http://www2.trekbikes.com/bikes/bike.php?bikeid=1210600&f=27
The Sole Ride is Townie-like. http://www2.trekbikes.com/bikes/bike.php?bikeid=1217600&f=28
The Calypso is a cool retro-cruiser. http://www2.trekbikes.com/bikes/bike.php?bikeid=1384000&f=30

They also can get Sun bikes. I'm not at all familiar with these bikes, but some of them look very interesting. The Comfort Sport looks similar to the Sole Ride. http://www.sunbicycles.com/sun/bicycles/comfortBikes/select/comfortSelect.htm
The Retro 7 is similar to the Calypso. http://www.sunbicycles.com/sun/bicycles/cruiserBikes/retroCruiser/retroCruiser.htm
The Drifter is kind of between the other two. http://www.sunbicycles.com/sun/bicycles/cruiserBikes/drifterCruiser/drifterCruiser.htm
The Sun bikes cost a bit less than the Treks, though they do lack a feature or two.

My question is about the quality of the Sun bikes. Does anyone have experience with Sun bicycles? Are they well built and reliable?

Thanks,

Two of my recumbents are Suns, an EZ Tandem and an EZ Rider. Sun bikes tend to be very heavy, which makes them slow, but all of the ones I've seen are very well built bikes (for the money - they are inexpensive bikes).

Sun Bicycles is a part of J&B Importers, which is the largest importer of bicycle parts in North America. That is why they can be gotten from almost any bicycle shop.

I've ridden the Treks and they are great for just tooling around town or bike paths. My wife has a 7100 hybrid. It's an upright geometry but not a feet-on-the-ground one. She really likes it. We go on 20 miles rides through the country and it takes dirt roads and sensible trails just fine.

I think the Calypso looks cool and test rode it for about half an hour. I was having a great time just checking the scenery and not worrying about how fast I was going or what my cadence was.

The Treks are aluminum which will make them a bit lighter; the Calypso has fenders while the Sun retro 7 doesn't. This could be important if it rains or has just stopped raining and you want to go out for a ride.

The front suspensions of the Navigator and Sole Ride aren't really needed unless you are jumping curbs, going on rough trails, going down steps, etc.

She's leaning hard towards the Trek Calypso in red women's frame. If the Sun Retro was chromoly instead of Hi-tensile steel I would like it more. I would definitely add fenders to it.
I never paid any attention to these kind of bikes before, but I have to admit that I like their retro-cool look and laid back style. I can just see her tooling around the neighborhood on that thing with a big ol' basket on front.

I have a Sun Custom Cruiser. It's heavy, slow, and makes all kinds of noise. I love it. :)

Sun is a budget brand of rental bikes sold by J&B Importers. I've never been happy with them. Frames are poorly made with cheap hi-ten steel with cheap KT coaster brakes.

Have you checked out the Schwinn line? I have a Cruiser Deluxe which is a Cadillac-or however you spell it LOL-. Heavy but looks very cool and gets lots of positive comments from all but the "serious" bikers. They make a womens model. Also they have alloy framed cruisers. The big fenders,springer front fork make it the perfect curb basher and city commuter bike. Also Felt has some nice 3 speed cruisers.

Have you looked at the Rans crank forward bikes? Very comfortable, fairly light (below 30 lbs), and you can be flat footed when you stop. I rode the Fusion awhile back and was very impressed with it.

I'm sure there are many good options from various manufacturers, but as I said in the OP, "I have a great relationship with the lone bike shop in our small town and definitely want to buy from them. They carry Trek, Specialized and Gary Fisher as their main lines. They also can get Sun bikes."

She's almost sure that the Calypso is what she wants, but so far we have not been able to find one she can sit on to see how it feels. All the shops are full of road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids and comfort bikes, but no cruisers. Everyone says that they don't sell many of them. I guess not. How many newbies are going to order a bike they haven't seen?

I have a Sun EZ Sport recumbent with the aluminum frame. ($1299.00, not cheap) It is a well built bike and comes with equipment that is appropriate for its price range. After 1800 miles, no problems at all. I've really come to like this bike for the comfort. No back, neck, crotch or wrist pain. Two thumbs up.

I have a Navigator 200 from a few years back, and am quite happy with it. My wife has a K2 Rosario, which has basically zero miles on it! The style of most womens bikes just don't fit her body mass well, and she has never been comfortable riding it.

Up until last year, the womens version of the Trek Navigator line was pretty much the same as the K2, a conventional lowered and more angled top tube design. Recently however, Trek introduced a nice stepthru frame style, available on the Nav 200. She has lost a lot of weight, and I think it would be the right time for us to go and check out one of these as well. While I think the Calypso is 'cute', I think the stepthru Navigator 200 will ultimately be the better purchase.

While I think the Calypso is 'cute', I think the stepthru Navigator 200 will ultimately be the better purchase.

Whichever one she'll ride will be the better purchase. Cute can be a good thing as long as it doesn't come at the cost of function, especially compared to the "appliance-like" look of most comfort bikes (my wife's words). For her use, short rides on flat to gentle roads and paths, I don't see anything about a cruiser with 7 speeds that would be lacking in function. I do suspect she will eventually want to change the handlebars. I don't quite understand the appeal of the upward pointing bars on many of the cruisers. That can't be comfortable to anyone.

Sorry.... I didn't mean 'cute' in a negative way. Retro look is very in, and for use as you describe, it might just be the ticket. It is her bike - she has to love it or it will not be used.

I was thinking more about our own situation when I said that. Without a very low first set of gears, we cannot even get up our own 500' driveway, let alone up our road. That would relegate the Calypso to "car transported to flatlands" duty, taking much of the spontaniety out of our family biking.

Yes, that's the way I took it. As for gearing, we figure a 38x34 low gear is about 29 gear inches which is about the same as the low gear on my road bike's triple with the mountain climbing freewheel on - 30x28. The calypso is heavier, but that is still a pretty strong low gear for anything this bike will ever see.