FIVE years later... I got one!
Ever since I rode that BikeE, I've been interested in recumbents.
I just loved the "sit up and enjoy the scenery"-ness of it, and it was such a fun riding experience, I felt like a kid again every time I hopped on it.
I kicked myself when I found out the guy who loaned it to me later sold it for 2 or 3 hundred bucks. (I didn't know, and would have bought it, no question!)
So, in the past 4 years, I've been occasionally searching for something like it. And I found something "BikeE-ish" this weekend:
It's a CCM Evox 120. 80 bucks.
Mechanically it's OK. Structurally - well, one of the seat stays has a crack, but it's not mission critical. And it's a steel frame, so I can fix it.
The seat back / lumbar support is bent (pushed back) - a design flaw (its support should have been stronger or stayed).
Aside from those issues, the biggest drawback is that its design makes it a little less comfortable than the BikeE. It may be a
little too small (I'm 5'10") - but I haven't decided yet.
Like the BikeE, it has a 16 inch front & 20 inch rear wheel. The CCM's wheelbase is about 10 cm / 4 inches shorter than the BikeE's. That's not a problem.
The problem seems to be that the CCM's bottom bracket is ~12.5 cm / 5 inches further back from of the head tube - and they both have the same head tube angle. That means when the CCM's seat is adjusted for comfortable pedaling, the handle bars are too far away, like the steering wheel in expensive Italian cars (or so I've read).
If I adjust the seat for a comfy, relaxed grip on the handle bar, my legs are too squished up.
BikeE vs CCM Evox 120
This may be partly addressed by sorting out the CCM's FUBAR'ed backrest, which well let me sit upright more easily, making it feel like less of a stretch to the bars.
I also liked the BikeE's full back rest. I want to feel like I'm riding around on a Lazee Boy, and even with the angle of the CCM's backrest sorted out, it's not going to be the same.
And I suspect I may still need to modify the bars to bring them back a bit closer.
But I'm looking forward to playing with it, and modifying it to suit me. The steering is much less twitchy than I remember the Bike-E's being. I bombed around on it today and it's a fun ride.