Now that Trek no longer is offering the R200 I was just wondering who out there still have their R200 and how they like it. I've just installed the rear mouinted rack on mine and it look pretty good. I still mine ride alot whenever I can get the time to the beach. Everybody that sees the R200 really like it. Trek was juat a couple of years ahead of the time on releasing it and besides the Trek dealers did not really try to sale the thing. Still love mine and only wish I could ride it everyday.
I bought a R-200 about a year and ahalf ago ,Have around 2,000 mi. on it. This past summer I road it on a tour in Michigan(figure 8 tour with the League of Mich. Cyclist).Lot of head wind,Found it much easier into the wind on a bent. My wife has a Burley Hep Cat her bike is much faster than the Trek. I mostly ride a road bike. I've found on steep long hills I could stand a lower gear on the Trek especially at the end of a long day. I did kill the uprights on the down hills! 15 years ago on tours you would see 1 or 2 bents,Now (last tour) out of 400 around 40 single bents and 5 tandem bents.
When I bought my Vision last September I asked the guy at my LBS about the R200. He suggested against it. His reasoning was for the money Vision and even Burley was a better deal. He would not go into specifics about the Trek R200 but it almost sounded like it was not a good bike and there were problems mechanically with them? Now I read that those of you who own the R200's love them. What if any, problems are/were there with the R200? I'm asking this because I've always been a big fan of Trek bikes.
Trek stopped makeing theR-200.I bough 2 extra cassettes(front one).So far I've had no problems with mine. Their are lighter and faster bents out there. For touring I'm not worried about speed.Trek never really got behind the R-200.
From what I hear, the R200 was a great bike, It's probably the only bike in the shop I work at that I haven't had out yet. We still have one, and a bunch of the wierd cassettes. I guess I should take it for a spin. It is really sad that trek dropped it though. Of course, they began with the tandems again. I hope they try again in the future though. Oh, and I do hope that Cannondale falls flat on their face with the unamed recumbent (heheh suckers ran into copyright problems with easy racers.) Cannondale won't even sell some to a recumbent specailist shop and they are trying to force them on the regular Cannondale dealers who want to have nothing to do with them.
I have a R-200,Road it on a Michigan tour last summer. I've found it to be a bit slow when compared to other swb bents.but found it to be very comfortable for touring. The fast riders miss so much just doing point to point days.This Spring we got a Rans Screamer tandem.(Wife has had 2 major back surgeries and can no longer ride our upright Tandem) Two rides on the Rans and"We should have switched 10 years ago". I have one happy stoker back. The roadies snub us,but who cares,I get off the bike and have no trouble walking upright!
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