Recumbent - Recumbent virgin

Sounds quite attractive ( and I wish I knew of one :)) but I should explain that since seeing a recumbent on a ferry crossing the Amstel in Holland this year I've been kind of bitten by the bug.
It was a small wheel short wheelbase recumbent, with suspension, triple chainset and a joystick type steerer. i don't know what it was called but it had a yellow moulded (fibreglass) seat and did not look home made.

I tried to track down a recumbent shop in Amsterdam this week when i was there but with no luck

Anyone have a clue what it could have been? Where could I try a recumbent (in or near Scotland)

I've seen photos of the joystick SWB recumbent you describe. I think it may be a Challenge Twister (or Wizard) from Challenge Bikes, a Dutch company:

http://www.challengebikes.com/NewChallengeBikes/models.htm

I don't know of a recumbent shop in Scotland, however, Bikefix has a good website and is UK-based:

http://www.bikefix.co.uk/bikefix.html

Another UK-based outfit sells Optima (Dutch) and HPVelotechnik (German) at:

http://www.kinetics.org.uk/html/gallery.html

Good Luck!

Eddie
Optima Lynx

Eddie,

Thanks for the great info!

Kinetics are based in Glasgow, about 40 miles from here, and when I looked at the Dutch site, I think the bike I saw was a Challenge Taifun or Hurricane.

I'll certainly be looking into this further.;)

John

There is an excellent bike shop in Droten, Holland in Flevoland approximately 1/2hour by train from Amsterdam. They have alot of different bents (Challenge, Flevobike, Optima) and you test ride them over a number of days with a group of riders.

That is where I bought my Challenge Distance and I found Gerrit very helpful.

;)

Next time I'm in Holland (probably early next year) I'll try to look them out.

I was in Flevoland earlier this year and was shocked at the effect Fot and Mouth had had.