From: eos.ericsson.se!Torste (5/8/91) Date: 5/6/91 Subject: Linear anybody? Has anybody on this list tried (or seen in use) the Linear from Kann Manufacturing in Guttenberg, Indiana? David W. (hi Dave!) mentioned it in one of his letters to the list and I saw it in a shop on my recent visit to the US. For those who may have seen it but don't recognize the name it's a long wheelbase recumbent that comes with a choice of under-seat or "regular" handlebars and the frame consists of a single straight aluminium square profile beam. The design interests me and it has lots of potential but some questions arise as well: The folding tricks seem really neat. The design allows for very easy adjustment to different rider sizes (entire BB can be moved) and the frame is available "off the shelf" in quite large sizes. The "chainstays" are aluminium profiles too; how strong are they really? How stiff is that profile when you put some torsion on it up the hills? Aluminium wears pretty badly; how will those quick joints look after you've folded the bike a few hundred times? Any info would be greatly appreciated. /Torsten Torsten Lif Ericsson Telecom AB, EO/ETX/TX/ZGH S-126 25 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN Tel: +46 8 719 48 81 ====================================================================== From: wittenberg@ultra.enet. (5/8/91) Date: 5/6/91 Subject: RE: Linear anybody? ---------------------Reply to mail dated 8-MAY-1991 09:09--------------------- >Has anybody on this list tried (or seen in use) the Linear from Kann >Manufacturing in Guttenberg, Indiana? David W. (hi Dave!) mentioned it >in one of his letters to the list and I saw it in a shop on my recent >visit to the US. Hi Torsten. I've seen one and "rode" it briefly on a trainer in the shop. My impression is that it's good some nice ideas (the folding is really neat), but used rather cheaper components than I'd like. Angle Lake Cyclery (who sell Counterpoints and other similar bikes) say that it's just not in the same class as the other bikes they carry, but it's substantially cheaper. Last I checked the Linears cost about $800, but I once saw one on sale (at a fall end of season sale) for about $500. The most recent "Recumbent Cyclist" had a picture of the Linear on the cover, as well as a review. (When reading Robert Bryant's reviews, remember that he's a dealer for most of the bikes he reviews, including the Linear.) > >For those who may have seen it but don't recognize the name it's a long >wheelbase recumbent that comes with a choice of under-seat or "regular" >handlebars and the frame consists of a single straight aluminium square >profile beam. The review said that a large fraction (80%?) of the bikes are sold with under seat steering. > >The design interests me and it has lots of potential but some questions >arise as well: > > The folding tricks seem really neat. > > The design allows for very easy adjustment to different rider > sizes (entire BB can be moved) and the frame is available "off > the shelf" in quite large sizes. I'm not sure if you can easily move the BB. Robert's reveiw said that some of the screws were held on with the strongest "Locktite" he's ever seen, and I suspect that the bolts holding the BB in place are among them. Also, you probably couldn't move the BB forward without it hitting the front wheel. > >Any info would be greatly appreciated. Linear sells only through dealers, which is good in that it really helps to get some visibility for recumbents. You may have a problem finding a dealer in Sweden, but check with Linear about that. I think they try to find a dealer near you and convince him to keep carrying their bikes. >/Torsten > > Torsten Lif > Ericsson Telecom AB, EO/ETX/TX/ZGH > S-126 25 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN > Tel: +46 8 719 48 81 ====================================================================== From: microsoft!keithro@uune (5/9/91) Date: 5/6/91 Subject: Re: Linear This is a reply from a Linear owner here at Microsoft. keith. From joseogl Wed May 8 16:42:52 1991 I have had a Linear for about a month and overall I am happy with it. |The design interests me and it has lots of potential but some questions |arise as well: | | The folding tricks seem really neat. | This is perhaps its most useful feature. It is nice to be able to put my LWB recumbent in the back seat of a small car. It also takes a surprisingly small amount of time to fold and unflod the bike. | The design allows for very easy adjustment to different rider | sizes (entire BB can be moved) and the frame is available "off | the shelf" in quite large sizes. | I have not had to adjust this. It was fine when I picked it up and so far no one but me has ridden it (other than trial parking lot spins). | The "chainstays" are aluminium profiles too; how strong are | they really? | | How stiff is that profile when you put some torsion on it up | the hills? | I have had a problem with the bike shifting up a gear when going up very steep hills. I just had the derailleur adjusted (there was some cable stretch). Since that adjustment I have not had a chance to try it on a steep hill. I called Linear and they said that there had been some chainstay flex problems on some earlier models. They said I could call back and arrange to get new chainstays. They thought that the derailleur adjustment should be tried first. | Aluminium wears pretty badly; how will those quick joints look | after you've folded the bike a few hundred times? | I don't know as I have only had a month. One other thing that I should mention is that I have noticed a lot of creaking as I ride. The person I spoke with at Linear advised me to really tighten the quick release folding joints. I have not tried this yet. |Any info would be greatly appreciated. | Overall I am quite happy with the bike. It is not a performance bike but it makes for a very confortable and fun touring bicycle. The folding angle is great for traveling and from getting rides from friends with smaller cars. -- jose |/Torsten | From: Torsten.Lif@eos.ericsson.se (Torsten Lif) Date: Fri, 18 Sep 92 18:37:37 +0200 Subject: Re: Linear Opinions > Attention all you Linear type folks. My local bike shop,a store deeply > entrenched in diamond frames, wants to bring in a recumbent. He's hoping to > take advantage of a Bike Show/Convention special an purchase a Linear. He > believes the price to be right. But when he asked me if I'd heard anything > bad about the bike/mfgr I had to plead ignorance. > > Well here's your chance to bring me out of the dark ages and into an era of > enlightenment. Please tell me of any pros/cons that you may know of. Maybe > the Linear isn't the best choice. Should he get above bars? Under bars? Well, apparently, I'm the most outspoken Linearist on this list so here goes... I bought it because I wanted the folding feature in order to store the bike in a storage room where a conventional LWB wouldn't fit. Leaving it outdoors wasn't an option, unless I wanted to bankrupt my insurance company. :-/ So if storage and/or transport room is an issue, it's the only LWB on the market that fits more-or-less where a "normal" bike would go. Obviously, SWB machines are an alternative for the space-conscious. I wanted to be able to fit front low-riders for loaded touring, so LWB was out of the question. But the folding feature is also the major weakness of the design. The joints creak when you push hard on the pedals and the frame is a bit too flexible for my taste. I think it's the torsional stiffness that's too low - it twists along the main beam. The components are low-end and the brakes are a joke. The rear brake is mounted on a post to position it wrt the rim, but the post is mis-aligned so the pads have to be mounted non-perpendicular to the caliper arms. This gives a non-desirable "automatic toe-in" feature. Also, in order to allow for folding the rear swing-arm, the rear brake and shifter cables have to be slightly longer than what makes for an ideal cable run when the bike is "un-folded" So what does the customer want? If the folding freature is truly something he'll use, then he'll have to put up with the other shortcomings of the bike. The rear brake can be replaced with a cantilever setup - if you're a bit handy with tools and don't mind setting a grinder to a brand new front fork. A description will be forthcoming when it gets cold and dark - Real(tm) Soon(tm) Now(tm). :-/ As for under/over-seat bars, I wouldn't recommend the tiller-type looong over-seat bars of the Linear to anybody. The under-seat one works perfectly and the fractionally greater aero drag is not an issue if you get this bike. If you want the extremely low drag you get a non-folding bike since they can be built considerably lower. /Torsten From: Richard Freytag Date: Fri, 18 Sep 92 16:05:52 EDT Subject: Re: Linear Opinions I took a test ride on one and it handled O.K. I think it looks like your sitting on an I-beam. I know for a fact that folding bikes and the Linear in particular creaks at the folding joints on either end. I understand that the company is very professional and good to deal with on the store's side (great markup too), which is why I think they have excellent penetration for a 'bent. It doesn't hurt that when they get an order they can fill it quickly :-) Hey it is less expensive than many other 'bents except the Turner and the Infinity (maybe). -Richard Freytag From: R.Stclair@EBay.Sun.COM (R D St.Clair) Date: Fri, 18 Sep 92 09:31:39 PDT Subject: Re: Linear Opinions Never having ridden or seen a linear in person I shouldn't comment on specifics, but as a designer/builder with an eye towards the market I would make a few observations and ask for corrections if I miss the mark. The linear is cleverly engineered for manufacturing. It is a bolt together frame using aluminum extrusions and stampings. I have to admire it for what it is, a low end bike for the more casual rider. >From the design standpoint it tackles the storage problem of a LWB by being foldable. Once again, clever. As far as above the bars vs. under bars, it's my understanding that most linear owners ether buy under bars, or graduate to them. The problem is one of perception. Above the bars seems more normal, but below the bars actually works better, at least for a LWB. Interesting to note that I saw no Linears at the 1992 IHPVA championships. I guess that is in keeping with the idea that this is not an "enthusiasts" bike but more of a bike for the masses. (I mean that in a complimentry way.) Thanks, Ran D. St. Clair ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: "David Wittenberg" Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 9:39:40 EDT Subject: Linear comments Linear seems to be the best recumbent manufacturer at supporting its dealers. They won't sell retail, but instead direct a customer to the nearest dealer. No other recumbent manufacturer I know of does that. (Counterpoint is an exception, but he only has one dealer, so that's a different story.) The bike itself is a low end bike at a low end (for a recumbent) price. For a local bike shop, it strikes me as the obvious choice for a first recumbent. As for high vs. low bars, I would set it up with low bars, but have a pair of high bars around to show people what that looks like. It's easy enough to install them without running the cables, so people get an idea of what the bike looks like with them. You could even let them ride it on a wind trainer holding the high bars. --David