Well, bloody hell.... what is more important, your health or what your neighbourhood would think...
Come on, be a man! You'll be the coolest dude in town! I've got a gazillion friends and acquaintances here in the NLs who own a recumbent and they are all trying to convert me as well..
Unfortunately , i love mts and climbing mountains is about one of the things it is not very good at , or rather it is slow...
Check them out, make sure to look at a couple of Dutch ones!
Challenge is a very fine recumbent builder
http://www.challenge-ligfietsen.nl/N...ikes/index.htm
as well as Optima
http://www.optima-cycles.nl/eng/1.htm
these are among the most popular stylish recumbents..
and M5 is the standard for speed monsters
AFAIK:
http://www.m5-ligfietsen.com/english/modellen.htm
I was quite captivated myself with the thought of a trike recumbent, like the Greenspeed recumbent:
http://www.greenspeed.com.au/special.htm
Go get one of these!!! I'd love to have a trike myself as soon as I live somewhere with a garage as a storage space rather than a cramped bedroom apartment with 3 bikes...