Any viable RANS CF alternatives?
 

I'll concede that RANS is at the pinnacle of the segment, while the Electra Townie is a mixed bag at best. Any other manufacturers with models available in the U.S.?

on the Bentrider online forums, there is a crank forward topic, and a thread on this very subject.

This place makes a semi-recumbent bike that is somewhat similar:
http://www.day6bicycles.com/
-Although if you notice, they use a tall set of handlebars to provide an upright seating position. I have never rode one of these, but I would guess that pedaling hard on this bike is not really possible to do well. In this riding position you need to be able to pull HARD on the bars to do it, and these tall bars would rotate backwards in the stem clamp. The RANS bikes have a short handlebar/tall stem setup that allows pulling hard on the bars when you need to.

Lightfoot Cycles used to have a model called the Surefoot that was also close, but they discontinued it due to lack of interest. The Surefoot used a short stem and tall handlebars like the Day6 does, so I expect it would have had the same problems with limited pedal force.

Lightfoot does import some cheaper relaxed-position bikes now, for electric kits.
These are similar to the Townie frames, in that the bottom bracket is pushed forward of the seat tube: http://www.lightfootcycles.com/importbikes.htm
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Sun Bikes
 

The bikes shown on that link are the Sun bikes, the Rover and Ruskin. Low priced and low specs but not bad. There is the Trek Pure, Giant Seude, Fuji Saratoga, K2 makes a couple of model, and there are several others as well.

Thanks for the link. It took me a little bit to find/use the search, but I found that thread.

I've seen these Day6's in person. First time I saw one, I went "W..T..F..?!?. I was looking to get 'bent at that time, so I didn't go for a ride.