Great ride, comfortable seat, excellent choice of components. With the Mueller WindWrap in place, this is the only ride for our cold Vermont early spring/late fall seasons.

The tiller steering takes some practice. (Evo bars and extensions help! Visit www.calhoun.com to learn more)

The V2 is a great bike. I was a "wedgie" rider/raceer for many years, and even owned a bike shop. Having ridden many, many very high quality machines in the past, I can honestly say that the V2 is a good ride and a good value. Comfortable, fast, and well made, the V2 meets all the requirements for long rides at a fast touring pace. Since injuries have kept me off of "standard" bikes for ten years, my recumbents are a lifesaver, and the Rans Velocity Squared is my favorite.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity LWB/USS (1985) Trek R-200 (still a favorite!)

Great for speed. Needs a good engine for hills, this one is a little old and slow. The long wheel base helps with the ride and I think the T-bar is in just about the right position for my arm/leg positions. No problems with the fairing, you just have to be careful with it. I had a zipper on the BikeE and it was a pain as well as amplified all the road noise. Good components on my V2 the new 2003 leave a lot to be desired.

The only problem I have had is in hard braking. The long wheel base tend to make the rear wheel move around when hard braking. I have changed tires and I noticed a small amount of improvement. If I change any thing else on the bike I think I would like to have disk brakes on both ends.

The Velocity2 is a great bike. It takes time to get used to its tiller or swing steering but after a few rides that is no longer a problem. The ride is stiff but very controable at low or high speed. I rode a BikeE suspension for three years and enjoyed it very much. But if you are riding centuries it leaves a lot to be desired. The V2 doesn't.

Similar Products Used:

I have ridden road bikes, and mountain Bikes for about 10 years straight before going recumbent. I have ridden Linear, BikeE, Rotator, Vision, Lightning, Goldrush. Decided I liked the Rans best of all

Fast, inexpensive compared to its competition (not that there is any) Comfortable and an eye catcher. You can't go anywhere without people asking you about it and giving you great big that's cool smile.

fairing scratches to easy. faring might be to high but thats easily cured by drilling a couple holes in the plastic to lower it.

Ok, I tried out just about every Recumbent out there. I rode low racers, short wheel base, long wheel base, trikes, the most exensive and the least. It only took me about 2 miles of riding to fall in love with the Rans V2, in my opinion there is no better bike. This bike made me go from middle of the pak to right there up front in every ride I took it on. I have done over 2100 miles in 6 months on century rides 1/2 century rides you name it and I am in the top 10% every time. I am not in the best shape of my life @ 50 years old or young (take your pick) but I stay with or beat people half my age every time I go out. I can easliy maintain 20 -25 mph on flat and slight inclines. Its also funny to watch people get off conventional bikes and complain about there rear end sores, then I come along and jump off and feel like I just got off my reliner @ home. You can ride all day on this seat and not feel it. If you don't give this bike a try you blew it. The reasearch and time spent getting this bike out was well worth it. With a price of $1950 or less if you shop around it has no competion. Take on for test ride. Then write me back about how long it took you to get it in your garage.

Similar Products Used:

Easy racer Tour Easy Easy racer 1

Speed and stability. Very comfortable seat. Reasonable price.

Transporting the bike is not a problem for me because I have a pickup truck, but carrying it on a car I think would be difficult. Like all RANS bikes, the seat tends to not stay put, but slides back from hard pedaling. But there are several ways to make the seat stay put. This is a problem that RANS surley knows about and they should come up with a fix.

I bought this bike for two reasons: speed and stability. The high bottom bracket puts the rider in a efficient position for aerodynamics and power on the pedals. The long wheel base gives you a very stabile feel, not at all twitchy like a short wheel base. Some say that this bike handles poorly at slow speeds, but with practice it can be ridden just as slow as you want to go. And even though this is a big (heavy) bike, it climbs hills fairly well, because of its super stiff 2 inch diameter frame. The SRAM twist grips are very user freindly, and responsive (quick) enough for touring.

Similar Products Used:

Bike E. These are the easiest for a beginning bent rider to learn, but if you want to go fast, and do alot of miles, these bikes will not satisfy. They are however great for in town riding.