RCN 72.32pg - Steve Briggs

in an area you’d rather not be hosting him.Recumbent-oriented clothing remains Calhoun Cycle’s most popularpart of the Evolution line, though Luke soon branched out to otheraccessories. One BikeE tourist complained of recumbent butt after longrides, so Luke designed mounting hardware to install a RANS seatbase to a BikeE seat. The popular BikeE line didn’t have a kickstandtwo years ago, so Luke designed and installed them for his BikeE customers.With BikeE now out of business, the Evolution seat base willmake a great replacement seat pad for BikeE owners.The Evolution line of accessories keeps growing. The latest additionis a stem/handlebar combination for a RANS Stratus that will makeit much easier to handle at low speeds. The stem/bar will also fit theTailwind, Wave, and V2.Luke has retooled so many accessories for recumbents that he sometimescan’t remember them all. When I bought a BikeE RX from himlast year, the new Evolution handlebars placed the bar-end mirror in anawkward position, so I asked Luke what he could do about it. He providedanother mirror that mounted smoothly on the sharply slantedhandlebars. Only when I interviewed Luke for this article did I discoverthat the new mirror wasn’t a stock item but one he’d quicklywhipped out in his shop to solve the problem.Growing BusinessCalhoun Cycle has been growing steadily since the shop opened, aresult both of the increasing popularity of recumbents and the shop’sgrowing reputation as the place to buy a recumbent. Customers comefrom as far as 200 miles away. The shop currently carries RANS, BikeE,Vision, Bacchetta, and Burley recumbent bicycles and Catrike and Tricerecumbent trikes. Luke isn’t looking to expand the lines he carries,though he will if a manufacturer of a quality recumbent gives dealersgood support; instead, he counts more on increasing sales of the currentlines, along with the Evolution products, to keep the business profitable.Calhoun Cycle in Minneapolis (photo by Don Picard)He is adding one line of products, however, that isn’t recumbentoriented:folding bicycles. Calhoun Cycle currently sells the Dahon,Airnimal, and Birdie brands. This gives the shop a start on a anotherunique niche.Luke and Mary have three daughters, ages 1, 4, and 6. The oddsthey’ll grow up to be recumbent bicyclists are pretty good. He andMary have already taken the older two on a bicycle tour of New Zealand,towed behind a tandem in a Burley d’Lite trailer. This year Luke isputting his tinkering genius to work on a new family project—creatinga family tandem where a 6-year-old can pedal along with the adultsand add some power to the operation. You might call it the evolution oftandem bicycles, a la Calhoun Cycle. ◆30 Recumbent Cyclist News 72