Which Used SWB ($400-500) To Look At?
My wife wants a recumbent, so we are starting to look at used ones in the Portland area. She wants a SWB with over seat steering. Priorities are: comfortable, not too hard to learn on, suitable for long rides on flat or rolling terrain, fits in a small garage already full of bikes, can be carried on a small car.
She'll be doing Seattle To Portland with me this year, and will be damned if she's going to be rubbed raw on a bike saddle for 200 miles: her words or something like them.
Our price range is $400-500 ish. Eventually I imagine we'll spend more for her perfect bike, but we're thinking of this as a starter, try-it-out bike.
Choices seem limited. Scanning the local ads for SWB bikes over the past couple months, I see: a couple of Rans (V-Rex, sometimes I see Rockets); Vision (40-series is most common, sometimes 50-), Burley (Limbo, Django, Hepcat sometimes). I'm a bit concerned that all the models I've just mentioned are discontinued and in most cases the companies are gone. But maybe that's what you get for that price range?
Among currently extant companies, the used Bachettas are above our price range. I've heard about the Lightning but never do see a used one.
Of those choices, which one(s) would you suggest we look at first?
I'm quite familiar with inspecting DF bikes and working on them, but don't know about recumbents.