Dear Dom,
I finished my Bentech enough for a trial ride on September 18th. I took the bike to a local office park with the intent of circling an empty parking lot to see if the machine would actually work. The bike certainly did work and it was so much fun that I didn't stop until 20 miles had rolled beneath my new tires! Everything stayed together, so the next day I did a 40 mile ride on the Natchez Trace. What a memorable experience! What fun! I kept thinking, "Finally, I'm traveling First Class instead of Coach!"
I think you did an excellent job of designing this recumbent. It is the only recumbent bike I have ever been on but it would be hard to imagine a better handling bike. I let two of my friends try the Bentech. Neither had ever seen a recumbent before. Both of them rode away immediately with almost no wobbling. Within minutes they were doing U-turns and swooping about like figure skaters! I felt like this validated the excellence of your design.
I would encourage anyone that likes bikes to take on the Bentech project. It was very enjoyable to build and riding the bike has been very rewarding. I'm looking forward to enjoying my recumbent for a long, long time.
Sincerely,
Scott Etterman
Nashville, Tennessee
Last modified 8-9-00