Originally Posted by Dchiefransom
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If we can supposedly follow the insructions and put the bike together, any LBS should be able to. Mine said "NO Problem".
To help with a future decision of mine, could you longer term 'bent riders venture an opinion on whether it would be "safe" to get the Road Rocket with the 451X25 front tire? Would there be a risk of that tire being hard to find in the future?
Note that there apparently isn't much by way of useful instructions with the bike. It sounds like most people rely on info and pictures from the Yahoo group website. Unless your LBS is experienced with recumbents, just because they say, "no problem" doesn't mean there won't be any.
A lot of people enjoy working on their own bike, have a good work area with a lot of tools, and have extra parts around to use for upgrades. For these people, the Actionbent may very well be a good entry point into the recumbent world.
OTOH paying someone to do the assembly will add to the cost. You may soon be up to the cost of a lightly used Bacchetta or similar.
451 tires are harder to find than 406 tires, but they don't seem to be going extinct. Some of the companies (like Schwalbe) are adding 451 tires. The thing about the 406 tires is that, if you aren't using a rim and tire that are really narrow, you can buy tubes and emergency replacement (albeit low pressure) tires at places like Wal-Mart or any department store or hardware store that sells any bikes at all.