Originally Posted by richking1953
The geometry of the Townie was introduced by the Danish company Sofacykel in 1935. See Gunnar Fehlau's book The Recumbent Bicycle Out Your Backdoor Press, 2004.
There are darned few "new" ideas with bikes. I have several books of bike history, and I see a suspension system KHS promoted in 2004 in a phot of a bike from around 1898. What Electra IS doing is promoting this concept of a "lower" bike as an alternative to standard bikes. Sometimes even the best idea needs a good promoter to become popular....by all reports, Electra is run by a good promoter.
I have a number of older friends who resist riding bikes. They won't admit it, but I can tell from their behavior during rare bike rides that they are uncomfortable not being able to easily get their feet on the ground. These "flat foot" designs may not appeal to the folks who already ride four or five days a week, but may be "just right" for people who are riding only four or five times a year...a good way to get them riding more and then being more willing to ride a bike with traditional geometry.
In the USA, with a population approaching 300 million people, there are about 100 million people who have been on a bike here and there, but only about 30 million or so folks who ride day after day, week after week.
For some odd reason, most bike companies direct all of their promotional and marketing efforts at the 30 million regular riders ("time to upgrade...27 speeds are not enough..."), while ignoring the 70 million "sometimes" riders, and another 100 million people who never ride.
The folks at Electra are trying to expand the number of people who are regular bike riders. It may be a losing battle, but God bless them for trying. If this thread gets two or three new people out on a bike, it is worth the bandwidth that has been consumed.