Recumbent - Looking for opinions on the 2002 BikeE CT.

After a 4 year hiatus from mountain biking, I am ready to resume some form of biking. For comforts sake, recumbents look like the way to go however, I do not want to spend a lot of money. I just want something for light commuting and exercising (knee is getting bad & thigh is atrophing as a result).

So the question is in regards to the 2002 BikeE CT. I have found one new-in-the-box for $409 shipped to my door. For that price, would this be a decent bike for my needs? It really does not concern me that I would have no warranty being that the company went bankrupt.

All opinions are apprecitated.

Thanks.

What are your needs? The BikeE is going to be a whole different experience than riding a MTB. I'd suggest test riding one somewhere before you lay out $400. There are much better recumbents out there from companies that will stand by their products long term: Rans, Vision, Bachetta, Burley, etc.

My needs as I posted are some thing comfortable for "light commuting and exercising". Rode a BikeE yesterday and ended up coming home with it. Seemed to be comfortable, fun to ride (I've never ridden a recumbent so ignorance could be bliss) and best of all, within the price range I had set for myself. I had made up my mind, after additional test rides, that conventional bikes were not going to work for me and the BikeE was the only way I'd be able to pedal again. If I choose to get more serious later, I'll upgrade. For now, the BikeE suits my needs though.

I do appreciate the feedback.

Cheers.

One of the good things about a bikeE is that most of the components are pretty much standard. I've had no problem getting mine serviced at the local bike shop. I ride my bikeE almost every day. Not to be too overdramatic, but it's given me a new lease on life. I'm looking forward to doing my first 100 mile ride this fall.

Rusty,
I think you'll be happy with your Bike E CT. If you want advice sign on to the Bikee list: bikee-list-request@whettens.org. Alot of great info from others who ride bikee's and love it. Also check out : http://www.simplecom.net/poleary
for the bike E info pages for great tips etc.
Larry
Bike E AT
Bike CT (2002)
Leduc, AB

Thanks a bunch for the info guys. Appreciate it.

I bought my first recumbent bike three years ago. It was a BikeE CT. I just sold it after having ridden 3,500 miles. I have since moved up to a Bacchetta Strada. The BikeE CT was a wonderful bike for braking into the recumbent world. It was very comfortable on rides of 50 miles or more. It was easy to adapt to from a DF. I averaged 14 mph on long tours. The only reason that I moved up to the Strada was the need for a greater average speed on my long rides. If your looking for an easy way to break into the recumbent world and/or are not in a hurry when you ride, get one. Enjoy!

I was going to buy a BikeE but held off and two months later the company went bankrupt. It's unfortunate the largest recumbent company in the world went under but what's even sadder is the new company that formed after the bankruptcy.

As far as I'm concerned, this company (BigHa) has no future as the bents are waay overpriced. That was the beauty of BikeE. They had bents for every price range including one designed for off-road!