T50 on YouTube: International Women's Day Populaire 107K

[JerseyJim]

It is a mystery to me why the 2 wheel recumbent is such a small part of the market, but I don’t know what Cruzbike could do differently.

I once had a blog where I analyzed the recumbent bicycle industry and proposed some solutions to the problem of market share. I called the series of articles "The Death of the Recumbent Bicycle" with the idea that if some things changed the recumbent bike would not die, but if things continued as they were, the recumbent bicycle would become increasingly more rare.

It seems to me that for the 2 wheeled recumbent, it's probably on that trajectory. As for what can 2 wheeled recumbent producers do differently, there are a few things.

1. Kids recumbents - Hook 'em early, not after they've been disillusioned by traditional bikes.

2. Instruction & Outreach - People need safe and fun venues to experience and learn how to ride recumbents. These have to be regular rather than one-off events.

3. Comfort over Speed - Fast is cool and seductive, but to be honest there are a handful of recumbents that are really fast and the rest just let you ride average speeds comfortably. Comfort should be the focus in marketing.

Obviously, this is all debatable. However, imagine if you were able to go to a monthly or weekly recumbent rally in your area where there were bikes for riders of all ages to sample or rent, lessons offered to anyone who wanted to learn to ride them, and a group ride to celebrate cycling in comfort. I think you might get some more people on recumbents.

At the moment, there is a bicycle shortage. Bikes are sold out everywhere. Did the 2 wheeled recumbent have a banner sales year too? I dont know, but I know that if it didn't during this time it's not likely to be better when things revert back to more normal times.

 

[woodguy]

Well said @JerseyJim . I especially like the idea of kid’s recumbents. The biggest challenge would be production costs & therefore price, but I think you are correct that it would help acceptance.

I’m too old to go into this business, but I enjoy thinking about what would work. Is your blog still available somewhere to read?

 

[JerseyJim]

Well said @JerseyJim Is your blog still available somewhere to read?

I took down my blog about 4 years ago but it was on the domain comfybike.com which I still have registered but it's not active. I guess I had it up long enough for it to be picked up by the Internet Archive because you can find the articles on the Wayback Machine:

The front page
http://web.archive.org/web/20161008210007/http://comfybike.com/

The first article of the series is here. The links to the subsequent articles are at the bottom
http://web.archive.org/web/20161010.../08/the-rebirth-of-the-recumbent-bike-part-1/

Part 5 is about recumbents for kids
http://web.archive.org/web/20161008.../05/the-rebirth-of-the-recumbent-bike-part-5/

There's a YouTube video of a boy who's father built him a recumbent:

After seeing the video of the boy on the recumbent, I had no doubt that kids recumbents could work. I don't see why there should be much difference in price of a kids BMX and a recumbent like the one shown in the video. There's room in the market for all different styles of kids bikes, including traditional tricyles and "Big Wheel" type trikes. I've never had a kid see me on my bike and not react with wonder and enthusiasm. I think its a "build it and they will come" situation.

By the way, that kid was 4.5 years old in 2011 so he's 14 by now. I think if he enjoyed that bike he probably has a recumbent kicking around somewhere in his life. I'm sure he doesn't think it's a strange thing to ride either.

 

[woodguy]

Your blog is a really interesting read @JerseyJim . I agree that the biggest market is the comfort rider & a great way to get there is by introducing recumbents to kids. I’m not the engineering type, but I bet there are some on this forum who could take up the challenge of designing a simple, easy to produce, low cost kids recumbent. @3bs always seems to be working on something, (although he claims to be easily distracted). Maybe the prospect of making this great product accessible to a wide audience will inspire!

I’d buy one for each of my grandsons, who could pass them on to younger siblings or around the neighborhood. I bet I’m not the only one who would do that.

 

[JerseyJim]

Your blog is a really interesting read

Thanks, I appreciate that. I can relate to @3bs as I have more ideas than time and I'm always working on something. That blog was a way to get some of my ideas out in the hope that it would inspire some to take action.

I absolutely agree that a kid's recumbent doesn't have to be complex or expensive. While I marvel at the work of people like John Morciglio who push the limit at the high end in producing something like the MAGIC bike, I wonder what such a talent could produce at the low end for the next generation of recumbent riders.

Perhaps this discussion deserves a separate thread.