This weekend, Chris and I took a field trip to check out Volae Recumbents, and their birth place, the Hostel Shoppe in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
The Hostel Shoppe, run by Rolf and Barb Garthus, is an incredible independent retailer, which has been in operation since 1974. They have been one of the major recumbent dealers in this country for close to 18 years, and their experiences with the various types of recumbents, and even more types of recumbent riders, have led to the development of their own Volae recumbents line.
When Chris visited the Volae booth at the Interbike expo earlier this fall, Rolf invited him for a visit to Stevens Point, to learn about and experience first-hand his line of recumbents. No other recumbent manufacturer has ever offered to give us this type of training in preparation for selling their products. But Rolf is meticulous. He takes the design of his bikes, the training and the fitting of riders to bikes very seriously, and he understands that without such hands-on preparation, bikes that he has taken years to perfect could be completely misrepresented to potential customers.
We at Rapid Transit have quite a few years of experience of fitting people on recumbents. In our consultation with Rolf, it was interesting to have several of our experiences confirmed:
- There is not such thing as THE BEST recumbent. Don't ask us, or anyone for one. Even though Rolf makes his own line of recumbents, he is the first to admit that there are riders for whom they would not be appropriate. There is the best recumbent out there FOR YOU. And in order to find it, you need to work with an experienced retailer, who will allow you to try some different bikes, anticipate potential pitfalls, listen to your concerns, and know how to address them.
- Often the expectation of what will work for a particular customer turns out to be wrong. The retailer needs to be prepared to offer a variety of solutions based on the customer's reactions, not on assumptions.
- For able-bodied riders, difficulties with riding a recumbent have at least as much, if not more, to do with psychology than with the rider's physical ability.
- One of the best ways to learn to ride a recumbent is to scoot on it with your feet bouncing along the ground. Rolf calls is the hobby-horse, we call it the duck waddle.
- While a recumbent may not help you outride stronger cyclists on upright bikes, because if its aerodynamic advantage, it may allow you to ride with them, and it will certainly allow you to outride yourself on an upright bike.
- Whatever advantage you lose on climbs, you gain on descents.
However awkward it may feel to find yourself in the saddle of a recumbent for the first time, there are few things as exhilarating and graceful as soaring down a rolling country road on one of these bikes.
In the next day or two, we'll bring you Chris's account of riding the Volae for the first time.
