Recumbent - Touring with HP Velo Streetmachine or?

Hi, I'm going to tour around Britain on a recumbent in April.

I was inspired by a couple of books first, Off The Rails about two Aussies journey from Moscow to Beijing & also one written by Josie Dew.

Just had my first ride on a recumbent the other day. The guys at Bikefix London kindly let me have a go on 3 of them. Wow! it was the most fun I've ever had on a bicycle. It was exactly as I expected it to be & as everyone says.

I had previosly researched that I would like an underseat steering model & that the HP Velo Streetmachine GTe was a good touring bike. I knew that it was just theory until I tried one out. Well I got to ride one & it was great.
Anyway has anyone got one of these & can give some recommendation. Or can suggest an alternative & why before I splash out.

Cheers
Nathan

I bought a Streetmachine two years ago, and it's great. I've used it on two tours and it's fantastic for touring. The underseat steering is very relaxing for long days riding. It handled the steepset hill in the Gaspe without any problem.

Close to the best touring bike out there....
if you've got the gold for one
go for it

cheers guys/gals
just what I wanted to hear :)

If you haven't already seen it you might be interested in Scott Wayland's recent solo, unsupported trip across the US on a Velotechnik Street Machine. Good writing and photos. Some of his other trips can be found on Crazyguyonabike.com.

I, also have a SM I bought about 7 months ago, mainly because I'd always wanted a layback uss bike and it was setting in the shop that was repairing my TE. Once I got used to it I find I'm happier with the seat all the way back. It isn't as fast nor as steady as my Tour Easy, but just putting at 14 mph and slower is a gas. It seems to have the lowest energy input requirement of any bike I've owned. A couple of months ago I went out for a 2 hour ride and finally had to quit after 6 hours, & 65 miles because of rain & darkness. -I was not physically "trashed" from the experience. There is just something about hurtling along feet first on your back.

You can pretty much order the bike built to order using HP's handy pdf form, or have your dealer order the bare chassis and add stuff at the level you wish. If you can afford the freight I would suggest upgrading to the air shock front and back, & the disk brakes -mine came with V-brakes and they work fine. Also, unless you live on the Prairie, you'll probably want to add lower gearing.

I caught "off the rails" on public broadcasting a couple of years ago and thought it was great. I finally managed to find the book on Amazon but haven't ordered it yet. I never could figure out who made their bikes, but figure there must of been some bad blood over it because they never plug the mark.
I also don't know how they managed to push those loaded bikes from the rear and have them steer straight -I can't even push mine in a straight line on a paved street.
-Ozz

I was looking at the Streetmachine for a couple of years but decided not to purchase it, why, because it was too high for me to get my feet flat on the ground. So instead I bought the Speedmachine.
It suits me much better in what I was looking for anyway.
I liked the linkage for the steering and of course the lower seat.
Here is a link for some pics and info on my bike. http://www.evalbum.com/1262
I love this thing. I won't buy any bicycle without a Rohloff hub and disc brakes, or an air shock or suspension, and the list goes on and on..

BH