above: Oracle Cycleworks‘ beautiful and light Omega USS recumbent. Image links to my mediocre photogallery.
I scooted around the Toronto International Bicycle Show last night. As usual, there were the usual huge amounts of offroad bikes, but there were a few surprises:
- The standout for me was the Oracle Cycleworks Omega (available from triketrails). This light, USS recumbent was stunning, and designer Jack Sochacki was extremely proud of it. Their Jack Squat suspension looks like a more refined version of the HPVeloTechnik’s NoSquat system. The lack of chain guide rollers is a nice touch.
- Urbane Cyclist had the Rans Fusion semirecumbent, and the extremely inexpensive Sun EZ Tadpole trike.
- BionX had an electric-assist hub that looked like it would fit standard rear axle widths.
- Backpeddling of Guelph had some beautiful custom cruisers from Firebikes, and the quite over-the-top Hello Kitty and John Deere cruisers from Nirve.
- … and Raleigh have re-released the Chopper. They’ve removed the product-liability-on-a-stick gearshift, but let’s hope it retains its legendary speed and agility (cough!)
Lowriders were even more prevalent than last year. While they’re not the most practical of rides, they do have a certain panache that all those MTBs lack.