Come Visit Us — Over 100 miles of local bike trailsThe Bike RackLet us build the recumbent of your dreamsBacchetta • Penninger • RANS • BikeE • HP VelotechnikHaluzak • Trice • Easy Racers • BurleyHome of Creative MobilityMobility Solution Specialists: Hand Powered Bikes • Wheelchairs • TrikesCustom Fitting is our Specialty • Full Service ShopWe Ship World Wide800.711.BIKE2930 Campton Hill Rd. St. Charles, Illinois 60175www.thebikerack.comRacksThe Bike Rack: LWB Cartop Rack for your Yakima orThule bars. For details see www.topperfloats.com/bikerack or go to Covertry Cycle Works in Portland,Oregon. Tel. 360-687-1232 (OR/75)PublicationsEASY RIDERS RECUMBENT CLUB MAGAZINEEXCLUSIVE! BOB BRYANTINTERVIEWED FOR THESUMMER EDITION!"A real hoot"Bob Bryant, <strong>RCN</strong>A novel byAmy BabichISBN#0-9647171-2-3$9.95+$4.00 shipping payable to:Easy Street Recumbents4507 Red River, St., Austin, TX 78751easystreetrecumbents.com,512-453-0438To order this issue, or tosubscribe: www.geocities.com/e_r_r_c or sample copy $5 to:Connie McAyeal, PO Box1688, North Plains, OR 97133-1688Hampton’s Edge Trailside BikesSale · Service · RentalsEasy Racers · Sun EZ1 · Bacchetta · WizWheelzBurley · Turner · Lightning · Rowbike · RANS9550 East Atkinson Court in Istachatta, CentralFlorida on the Withlacoochee Trail60 miles north of Tampa close to Interstate 75Email: bentedge@earthlink.netTel. 352-799-4979 · Credit cards accepted28 Recumbent Cyclist News 72
The Recumbent ShopLuke Breen working on bikes at Calhoun CycleCalhoun Cycle—Viva la Evolution!Calhoun Cycle is the largest recumbent bicycledealer in Minnesota. It has been a recumbentonlyspecialty shop since owners Luke andMary Breen opened the doors four years ago.How Luke went from a hard-core touring bicycliston a wedgie to a recumbent zealot andco-owner of one of the largest recumbent shopsin the Midwest is a story about evolution . . .of a bicyclist and a business.Luke always thought he’d be running hisown business. He grew up in a family thatowned a local drugstore, so entrepreneurshipwas practically in his genes. After touring foryears, he figured he’d exercise those entrepreneurialinstincts in the bicycle business.By about 1990, after a few post-collegeyears working as a mechanic for two local bicycleshops, he was starting to lose his enthusiasmfor the bicycle business. “The traditionalbike business was more about bikes as toysand commodities,” he says, “where a customermight go to a competitor to save a few dollars.”It just wasn’t fun anymore. Then one dayhe noticed a bicycle rental shop for sale nearby Don Picardthe extensive bicycle trail complex along oneof Minneapolis’ lovelier urban lakes, LakeCalhoun. He then decided to gamble that buyinga service- oriented bike rental businesswould rekindle his enthusiasm. And it did.Four years later, with the bike rental businessthriving, Luke and Mary decided to renta booth at the national HPV Speed Championshipsin Minneapolis. The purpose wasn’tto rent bikes, but to sell boomerangs that Luke,an inveterate tinkerer, was designing andmanufacturing as a sideline. While there, theynoticed people lining up at a booth selling somereally odd-looking bicycles (RANSrecumbents). Hey, if this many people are interested,he said to himself, it might make agood addition to the rental business. So he andMary added a pair of Vision recumbents to theline of rental bikes.The Visions proved popular, and when rentersexpressed interest in purchasing, Luke andMary decided to start selling recumbents. Salesstarted slowly, with just six bikes the first year,but grew rapidly each year.Within a few years, increasing recumbentsales made it clear that the business would havesplit in two parts: rentals and sales. So, fouryears ago the couple remodeled a nearbyformer small print shop into Calhoun Cycle, arecumbent-only shop in Minneapolis’ revitalizeduptown area. Sales have continued to increase,and Luke now has fourteen employeesbetween the two businesses. The rental businessremains one of the keys to the shop’s success.Luke says that “people who experiencerecumbents for the first time at Calhoun Rentaloften become customers of Calhoun Cycle.”Luke is a tall, lean, hard-core bicycle touristwho has toured from Buenos Aires, Argentina,to Santiago, Chile (a tour of some 1,600miles, part of it over the towering Andes Mountains).He has also toured New Zealand fourtimes. Originally a wedgie rider, he is now adevoted recumbent enthusiast. That’s not justbecause he sells them, but because one dayseveral years ago he noticed that the touringrecumbent riders didn’t seem to have the sameaches and pains at the end of the day as otherriders. So he experimented with a Vision R44on a tour, and has been a recumbent user eversince.The Evolution RevolutionPart of Calhoun Cycle’s success is due toLuke’s engaging personality, honest approach,and dedication to serving his customers, notto mention the steadily increasing popularityof recumbent bicycles. But another part of theshop’s success has been Luke’s bent for invention.Luke, who apparently has more than a littleThomas Edison in his veins, seems determinedto improve recumbent bicycling without waitingfor manufacturers to improve their products.Calhoun Cycle markets a creative andintriguing line of ingenious recumbent accessoriesLuke has designed, all lumped under thename Evolution (you can check them out atthe Calhoun Cycle website, www.calhouncycle.com).Calhoun Cycle’s Evolution line of recumbentaccessories started five years ago withrecumbent jerseys. Conventional bicycle jerseyswith rear pockets may be fine when you’recrouched over the handlebars of a road bike,but they don’t do you much good when you’releaning back on a recumbent seat. So Lukeworked with a clothing manufacturer to comeup with bike jerseys with side pockets.There’s nothing wrong wearing MTB shortson a mountain bike, with your legs pointeddownward. But with your legs parallel to theground on a recumbent, the flaring shorts makegood bee-catchers. So Luke came up with aline of recumbent shorts with straps that preventyou from finding an angry yellow jacketNovember/December 2002 29
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