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Different spokes for different folks
By GREG JOHNSTON 
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The traditional pedaling standard is being challenged by alternative bicyclists who are passionate about their crazy-looking contraptions.
Reclining riders on increasingly popular "recumbent" bikes -- once the exclusive domain of engineering geeks with pocket protectors -- claim they can ride faster, longer and with amazing comfort.
Tandem riders say their bicycles built for two are the perfect solution for cycling partners of differing strengths or abilities -- perfect for couples.
"We don't even think about bicycling as single bikes anymore," says James Lupori, who with his wife, Virginia, plans to pedal a tandem 4,500 miles across America this summer.
"We both own mountain bikes, but we didn't even use them last year, which really speaks to the power of tandem bicycling."
Bob Bryant of Kent, a recumbent devotee, says he first saw the odd-looking cycles at Angle Lake Cyclery.
"I said, 'No way, that's a nerd machine. I wouldn't be caught dead on one of those.' But then I rode it and thought, 'This is the coolest thing in the world.' It's fast, comfortable; I had no back pain, no wrist pain."
Tandem and recumbent bikes represent small percentages of the total bicycling world -- for recumbents, about 1 percent of total sales, says Bryant. But they do offer options to those who find traditional bicycles limiting, and are increasingly popular in cycle-strong communities such as Seattle and Eugene, Ore.
"It's another choice," says Grant Bower, co-owner of Advanced Transportation Products, a small Seattle company that makes Vision recumbents. "There are a couple types of people taking up recumbents: avid riders who can't ride anymore because their bikes became too much for them, and people who found cycling so uncomfortable they never got avid."
On a recumbent bike, the rider sits in a real seat with a backrest. On some models the rider is in a full reclining position. Pedals are usually above and just ahead or just behind the front wheel, and look odd either way. The handlebars are often below the legs, but sometimes above.
They look goofy, but are said to be more efficient than upright bikes for pedaling, are faster on flats and downhills, perhaps a bit slower on climbs.
The world record for human-powered speed -- listed in the Guinness Book of World Records at 65.484 mph -- was set on a performance recumbent with an aerodynamic fairing (sort of a shield in front).
And the recordholder for the Cascade Bicycle Club's annual 200-mile Seattle-to-Portland ride rode a faired recumbent, covering the distance in 7 hours and 32 minutes.
Recumbent riders say the comfort factor is so high they can easily knock off greater distances than on a traditional upright bike.
"It feels like a magic carpet. It's really a cool feeling," says Bower. "I've taken people who have never ridden bikes and they'll ride 40 miles."
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Comfort and safety among pluses of laid-back bikes
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