Originally Posted by
Retro Grouch
I think that's a huge issue if you're interested in buying an enthuiast level bike.
Unless a bike shop is moving a good number of recumbents they simply can't afford to floor plan very many. The ones they do stock are likely to be low end models which still run around $1,000. The staff, if they don't ride recombents, might not know much more about the nuances of recombents than a first time purchaser who has studied up on the topic. If I were serious about buying myself a recumbent I think that I'd have to plan a road trip to a specialty store. I'd also do it on a week day and call ahead to be sure that "the man" was going to be in.
Correct. My own LBS which is a fairly large shop only has a couple models at any time and they really aren't what I would consider decent bents. Recently, the owner of the shop remodeled and was telling me during construction that "over there will be the shoe department, and over there is where women's clothing will be, and over here tri stuff and over there, etc."
I asked him where the bent department was going to be and he smiled and said that until I got 5 people a month to come in and buy bents, the recumbent "department" would still be upstairs in the corner behind the Burley trailers.
