Guest

There is a section in the forums for bikes for sale, regardless of what type of bike you are selling. You are to use the for sale forum only.

Any further bikes for sale here will be immediately deleted and warnings will be dispatched to the member.

Thank you,

Moderator's team

EriktheFish

Ok then, how bout breaking the "For Sale" section into areas of interest. The only thing I read on this board is this bent section and to find the bent stuff on the for sale board ya gotta sift through a lotta non-bent junk.
Thanks

bentrox!

I agree with Erik, and stopped perusing the FS section - too many bikes to sift through to find a recumbent. Using the search function helped but it was still not satisfactory. Bents are such a tiny part of the biking world and would not likely interest the majority of FS perusers anyway because of that reason.

Wouldn't an FS "sticky" in this forum be more useful than to sticky a warning prohibiting the practice?

Maybe, there's a server or site management issue I'm unaware of that makes my idea impractical.

If so, then I wouldn't bother listing a bent FS here but do so in the classifieds at a bent-specific website like bentrideronline.com

Guest

If people are selling their bents, they should put it in the Buy-Sell-Trade forum, just as every other person from other forums do. The best thing I can advise is if people have bents or bent items for sale, make your title more descriptive. Include it in the title, so that when people are looking for recumbents, they can quickly scan titles and move on.

If we did it the sticky way, we wouldn't need the Buy-Sell-Trade section at all, and eventually, the sticky would get out of control, then people would be complaining that they'd have to scroll through pages and pages of for sale stuff in the sticky.

For sale stuff goes in its proper forum. I've noticed lately a tendency for recumbent folks bypassing the forums and posting here. Hence, the sticky and the announcement.

Koffee

bentrox!

Can't that also be the case with a F-S sticky in the recumbent forum?

You mean recumbent folks don't have to scroll though pages and pages in the B-S-T forum? I'm glad there is a B-S-T forum. Keep it as it is - I'm not suggesting otherwise. What I am suggesting it's not as effective a tool for bent shoppers in the niche recumbent market.

Maybe recumbent folks have to do things differently. They choose recumbents after all. You do you know what I'm talking about as the recumbent moderator I presume?

I was glad I didn't have to page through the touring section to catch your travel logs from Italy a few years ago. That was a special case and it was convenient to have your own forum for others to read about it easily.

I'm not suggesting the B-S-T needs changing. I'm just throwing out a suggestion to better serve recumbent folks on BikeForums, a great resource after all. Are there folks flooding the recumbent forum with F-S postings when they should be doing so elsewhere in the "proper" forum? Was there an outcry from bent readers that instigated the admonition? Why can't stickies be used to better effect in this forum?

Eddie

Guest

I have some ideas, passed them on to Joe, and I'll update everyone once we get some stuff figured out.

Koffee

bentrox!

Now that's what I'm talkin' about, Koffee!
I take whole milk with mine.

Joe Gardner

<-- working on a solution

norton

Thanks, Joe & Koffee, your responsiveness to issues like this is a good part of why BikeForums is such a great site....

Oh!....Why is this folder rider lurking in recumbents?....I'm thinking of buying one!.....BikeForums!....One-stop information gathering.....& world-wide fun!....Everybody rides!....

Guest

Maybe you can combine both, Norton. Don't they make a folding recumbent at Bike Friday?

Koffee

bentrox!

Yes, it's called a Bike Saturday. I'm serious! There are reviews of it on-line.

p.s. Upon further recollection I think it's called a Bike Sat R day. Bentrideronline has a long-term ride review of it.

Guest

I know about the Bike Saturday. They sent an email to all Bike Friday owners about it.

I'm sticking with my Fridays, though.....

Koffee

bentrox!

TGIF - there are few things in life as redeeming.

jrcln

Hi,,,,Well its nice to see that coffee has addressed the for sale issue instead of sticking to dogma. In any case,,the ihpva site has a good list to use for sale too,,but that would be taking biz away ,,from this forum,,,right. The ihpva site is kind of small,,but that makes it easier to look thru,,, and lemme tell you,,,,,if you want to buy something, better respond there,,,,right now. Stuff goes fast over there.

norton

Sorry for the long reply delay, Koffee....My computer broke down....just now back on-line...

BikeFriday's SatRDay folding recumbent is intriguing, if pricey....BF's website says it is not available at present....Its being re-designed....

I'm currently thinking ActionBent's Tidal Wave, but I'm open to persuasion....yea or nay....

BlazingPedals

My stock answer for potential ActionBent buyers is this: Be aware that you are paying 1/3 less because there's no bike shop in the supply line. What you get is a disassembled bike in a box from the factory. You do your own assembly and adjustments, and deal with missing/damaged parts yourself, which is what the bike shop would normally do. China Mascot does not have a lot of experience with making recumbents, so these are first generation attempts at bents. That might be OK if there were a support network, but there ain't one. Also, they aren't as refined as the more expensive brands. But, they are probably a good buy for a tinkerer or home-builder.

norton

Thanks, BlazingPedals....I am aware of this....I would not be considering ActionBent if I did not have a good home-builder friend....30 years ago he built my custom road bike (still riding very nicely, but not fitting quite as custom since I've shrunk 2 inches!....Why the hell are the handlebars so far away!....)

He's the one who turned me on to thinking about a recumbent....He recently bought a Giant Revive because of.....er....posterior issues....I've ridden the Revive & really like it.....but its a little lengthy & heavy...hence the SWB ActionBent....I don't know that I'm up to (heh heh) a true high racer like your avatar....Oooo....Would I love to have (& be able to ride!) a Bachetta Aero....Unfortunately, my wife wouldn't...."You already have 2 bikes...so far I've only seen you riding 1 at a time....How much will this thing cost?...."


Did I mention that 30 years ago I had a VacuumVelocipede?....extreme laydown trike like a street luge...Downhill, it was out of this world!...Unfortunately, a couple of times I almost was too...What goes down must surely stop....& go up....Let's just say it was hard to go there!....If only my wife had long-term memory loss.....Ahh....nostalgia!....



Getting back to the ActionBent.....the geometry looks excellent (good seat design to get some power...pedals not so high for old guy balance problems....moderately aero....fit in a standard bike rack...etc).....Initial cost should just barely come in under wife's sticker-shock .....My friend & I are already day-dreaming future mods & upgrades to slip past my wifes radar....sort of like government budgets....

What do you think?.....

jrcln

Hi, I just thought that I would do what I believe to be the right thing to SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT on the ACTIONBENT QUESTION. I have an actionbent, bought it in January, it arrived timely, but had a miswelded fork, the seller,, Randy Schulman, knew that this fork was welded badly because ALL of that model of fork reportedly pull to the left,, and at least two,,including mine,,were known to be welded wrong. I asked randy to confirm or deny, that he had knowingly sent me a fork that, they had previously had a lot of trouble with. He three weeks later,, he has NOT DENIED ,KNOWINGLY SENDING ME THE BIKE WITH A BAD FORK. About six weeks ago, the bad fork was reported to randy and the manufacturer Kevin. Randy told me that he would get me a new fork. After two and a half weeks or waiting, Kevin sent me a letter stating that he was going to be building an entire new frameset, this was because the frame on my bike wasnt straight either, however, it appears that the frame could be straightened by a local shop, but it also appears that Kevin got the willies about having the frame straightened, particularly when he was asked if its under warranty. Kevin, also stated, that he had NO METAL ON HAND TO MAKE A NEW FORK,, now what the heyyy,,,,is he claiming to be wanting to make a complete new frameset,,including a fork,, when he has just stated,,that he HAS NO METAL WITH WHICH TO MAKE A FORK. Obviously now,, Kevin was going to have to order metal, have the whole thing fabricated and painted, shipped from Taiwan,, and then shipped across the US............. Needless to say,, Randy has been passing the buck on this thing for three weeks, he refuses to make good on the fork, and hasnt sent ANY APPROPRIATE PARTS TO REPLACE THIS WRONGLY WELDED FORK. Randy is refusing to accept phone calls, and doesnt answer emails for the past two weeks. AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A WARRANTY FROM CHINA MASCOT OR ACTIONBENT,,aka RANDY SCHULMAN,,YOU ARE SADLY MISTAKEN,,THERE IS NO KNOWN AND PROVEN WARRANTY IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM from what I believe, on those bikes. There are other people that claim goodluck on the actionbent, and there are a group of what I believe are shills on the actionbent forum over at yahoo that appear to be in almost rabid support of the ab bike. The most rabid of the shills over there, are all apparently actionbike owners, some even have other recumbents too. There are three of them,, that after proclaiming their good luck,with the ab bike, have either bought, ordered or are reportedly ordering another brand of bike,,hahaa. Yet, they persist with the head in the sand position on the ab bike. I think its so they can unload their own personal problem child on ebay or some other unsuspecting sap buyer before the true word gets out about how pathetic these things are. Incidentally, there is a plethora of used abs available, why buy new,, there are used ab s on ebay all the time if you really want to buy something that has no local support whatsoever !! I AM NOT RECOMENDING AB TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE, AT ALL, BUT IF YOU WANT TO SAVE SOME DOUGH, BUY A USED ONE, SOME OF THE PROBS MAY ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKED OUT BY THE ORIGINAL OWNER. I will list here, some of the problems that have been reported on the other list by other actionbent users,,or myself personally,,,,,,,,,,,,ONE,, BAD CHAIN CONTROL PULLEYS, poor quality at best, noisy hard plastic, bottom of the barrel ,without question. ------------TWO,, POORLY DESIGNED SEATS,, WEAK,, WITH BROKEN MOUNTS, AND POORLY WELDED OFF LOCATION SEAT MOUNTS,,-----THREE,, POORLY DESIGNED SEAT ADJUSTERS,,,,,THAT SLIP,, MAKE IT HARD TO ADJUST SEAT THE WAY YOU WANT IT. --------- FOUR,, BAD MONO FORKS,, SOME HAD TO BE REPLACED WITH TWIN LEG FORKS, THE ONLY TWO KNOWN TO BE LEFT,, ARE TWO OF WHICH MINE IS ONE, AND THE OTHER IS REPORTEDLY PULLING TO THE LEFT,,-------- FIVE,, MISSING PARTS OUT OF THE SHIPMENT,,,THIS IS AN ITEM THAT RANDY HAS USUALLY MADE GOOD ON,,GIVEN TIME, how much of your time, do you want him to waste?? --------SIX,, RARELY SENDING OUT BIKES THAT ARE THE SAME AS ON THE BUILD SHEETS THAT THEY PROVIDE ON THE WEB SITE,, Randy does admit this, under questioning,-----------SEVEN------ POOR COMMUNICATION,, AT BEST FROM THE SELLER,,he has refused to accept phone calls,,and only rarely answers email s ,AFTER THE SALE, and not at all to me since I have requested the parts. --------EIGHT,, THE CARBON FORKS on the RR model,,wont accept anything bigger than the one inch tire that they come with,,without GRINDING DOWN THE STEERING TUBE OF THE CARBON FIBER FORK, IF YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT.---------NINE,, THE CARBON FORKS ON THE RR MODEL,, some folks have actually resorted,, by necessity,,to glue/epoxying on small bits of aluminum,,into the fork dropouts,to proportionately raise the bike,, so that they may install a slightly bigger tire,,---------TEN,,---- IT SEEMS TO BE UNDERSTOOD THAT THE WHOLE CARBON FORK THING,, SEEMS TO HAVE COME ABOUT DUE TO INSTALLATION OF A 406 MM DESIGNED FORK,, ONTO A BIKE THAT HAS A 451 WHEEL INSTALLED . ----ELEVEN---, THE DISC BRAKE MOUNTS ON THE HIGHRACER, HAVE REPORTEDLY BEEN MACHINED OFF LOCATION, AND AT LEAST ONE OF THE TWO KNOWN HI RACERS HAS BEEN REPORTEDLY RETURNED TO AB,, I wonder if this bike will be sold to an UNSUSPECTING BUYER like mine was. TWELVE------ I SHOULD ADD THAT THESE BIKES REALLY DO APPEAR TO BE REVERSE ENGINEERED,Aesthetically at least,,to be MORE OR LESS COPIES OF POPULAR RECUMBENTS,, If you look closely, the Jetstream model,, it has a strikingly close look to Bill Cooks Barcroft Virginia, particularly in the yellow ornge paint. The Highracer,, appears to be a copy of the Bachetta Hi Racer,, the Loracer, which is what I purchased,, appears to be a remarkably close copy of Bram Moens M 5 bike with its uniquely curved stays and safety be darned monoblade fork. --and lastly-- THIRTEEN,,--- THE PAINT IS RATHER SOFT, many buyers talk about scratches,, mine included when it arrived,, and the finish appears to almost abrade, to the TOUCH OF A HAND,,seriously. Ive kept mine wrapped in bubble wrap, just to be sure that nothing else happens in the interim while I wait apparantly for some time for my mythical, so far, replacement warranty parts.............. In any case, providing you do decide after all this to buy a new actionbent bike, be sure to buy the oldest, simplest models if possible, they seem to be somewhat better proven than any thing new out by these guys. Personally, if you have to buy ab due to low price, buy a used one from those guys on that YAHOO list, you can at least look up the problems that theyve had on the list to see whats up with those particular bikes. As before,, I dont recommend actionbent bikes, because of my own and others bad experiences and the sellers apparent total lack of concern about safety, and ethical buisiness practices. If these guys ever send me the parts that they owe me, or offer my money back for this almost fatally flawed bike, I will be sure to report that to you here the day that the problem is solved,, dont hold your breath waiting though buddy.!!

toybox

I might have been able to read that post if it had some paragraphs and punctuation. Sorry, that one was just too long to be without it.

norton

....jrcin.....I can't thank you enough for your detailed horror-story post....The thought of any one of your many ActionBent difficulties is enough to give me the willies....I hope that your vent gave you 1/2 as much relief as it gave me food-for-thought.....


ActionBent is out.....My new......plan....may not be quite the right word.....is:

1....Wait patiently until BikeFriday brings out their new folding recumbent Sat R Day....(Thanks Koffee)....It might be the perfect minimalist stable-mate to my perfect Dahon Helios SL folder....

2.....Visit the BicycleMan in Alfred, NY, for 2-3 days (& nights!).....Test-ride the many-many recumbents he stocks....Heed his expert advice....

3....Hang the expense!....Sell my beloved Mini Cooper S ....As my (wonderfully adult) wife says, "New toy?.....Sell old toy!".....She's right....Now that I'm retired we don't need 2 cars....(As if we ever did....but you know how it is)....Just another pot-hole in the road in which to throw money....An expensive bike is cheap relative to a car....




Thanks again!......

funbun

If you want put your bent up for sale check out Bentrider Online's Forum. They have a Classifieds Section. All bents all the time. No fuss, no mess.

EriktheFish

Uh, my simple question on bent ads spun off to a discussion on Actionbents with a tiny promise the issue would be looked at by the powers that be. Been a while and no response from those powers.
If it is still being looked at, here's my arguement restated. In looking at the bent forum right now, there are some 7,000 plus total threads. Road biking has 270,00+ alone. If the same percentage of bent ads to road bike ads are placed, that means a heck of a lot of scrolling to find the few bent ads amid the ton of Road, MTB, Rec., etc. ads to find that small percentage of bent ads no matter how noticable the author makes that ad. Now, for some reason this board is broken down into categories (um, could it be, to make it easier to find things?). If the powers that be don't want to organize For Sale boards by category, and Stickies are too messy/unwieldy, then why not allow an admitted small percentage interest category like bents to post for sale ads within that small interest area board?
Thanks

bentrox!

Why not you ask? Who knows. Common sense is not always recognized to be the best source for effective solutions. I'd never list a recumbent here for sale with any reasonable expectation of the listing being seen let alone the thing being sold.

funbun

Beware the WRATH OF MOD.

Guest

Well, Joe created a For Sale forum for members with upgraded member status. He wanted to give these members a distinction from the average person who jumps onto bikeforums. With the creation of the For Sale Forum, to allow people to post in their respective forums and bypass upgrading their accounts would be pretty disingenuous and kind of take away from the privileges you get with an upgraded account.

Sorry, but it's not that he's not allowing it and being difficult or trying to take the hard way, but it does have to do with the upgraded member status having a bit more privilege and distinction from the average user.

Koffee

Forum Mod