Longbikes has a well-deserved
reputation for building beautifully built, rugged recumbent bikes. All Longbikes
recumbents are very strongly well built. The frames are overbuilt,
giving rigid-very predictable handling. Longbikes is so sure of their
solo recumbents they guaranteed their frames for riders up to 300 lb.
The fittings & hardware made by Longbikes are extremely high quality.
Their machining detail is excellent. An example of this is the seat
struts. They are machined out of solid aluminum rods making them a bit
heavier that other struts. I'd never seen a seat strut break till RANS
came out with the cut away ends in 2003, I’ll be amazed if I ever see a
broken Longbikes seat strut.
All Longbikes recumbents are available primarily with Under Seat
Steering (USS.) The front USS handlebars are extremely adjustable, the
bar ends angle can even adjust in and out to your preference. These bar
ends may move side to side a bit, an annoyance but they do not move
forward and back on the handlebars, which would be unsafe. This is true
even on the 2004 models (which arrived last week.) The Longbikes USS
hand position is excellent, most riders find the Longbikes (and Linear)
hand position and steering geometry much better than on the old Vision
USS recumbents.
The Longbikes full mesh seats are similar to the Haluzak seat but more
comfortable. Full mesh seats are OK but they are not my favorite. Larger
riders tend to like full mesh seats better. Skinny guys like me (6’3,
165 lb) have bony butts and tend to prefer foam-padded seats. In 2003
Longbikes came out with a new adjustable angle - folding seat design. It
allows you to adjust the angle between the seat base and back to fine
tune your comfort. It also folds for transport. I don’t think the
Longbikes seat comfort is up to the very high standard of the rest of
the bike, but I’m skinny and I prefer a padded seat base line the RANS
or Linear seats, as I said. Larger riders find them very comfortable.
The finish on Longbikes is excellent. Smooth welds, unique, replaceable,
bombproof dropouts, flawless glossy powder-coat paint and finely
detailed and finished machined parts combine to give an overall
appearance that is beautiful. I have seen a lot of recumbents, very few
are finished this well. You get a lot of meticulous durability for your
$2500 with either the Slipstream or Eliminator. If you like the relaxing
LWB ride and USS position of the Slipstream as I do, but don’t want to
spend $2500 you might consider the $1600
Linear
recumbent. These two bikes have very similar geometry and ergonomics.
The Avatar 2000 developed at MIT in 1980 influenced both designs. Most
riders who like the ride of one will like the ride of the other.
I guess the only things I don’t adore about the Longbikes are: the
bar-ends are overly adjustable and the mesh bottom seat is less comfy
for me and a bit harder to adjust for different riders than some other
recumbents.
Longbikes, though not perfect, has clearly earned its excellent
reputation for quality. If you are looking for the ultimate, bombproof
USS bikes, take a Longbikes for a test ride.
We also carry these recumbent brands: