Eugene a haven for bike makers.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

It's like riding a bicycle - once you learn how, you never forget.

Whoever said that must not have known about recumbent bicycles. Take a middle-aged man who grew up riding Sting-Rays and 10-speeds and stick him on a recumbent, and watch as he tries to balance, then tumbles to the earth.

Once you get the hang of it, however, recumbent bicycle owners say you never go back.

"For touring, I knew these were a lot more comfortable," says Ruthy Kanagy, who has been riding a recumbent, a funky looking contraption that seems more like a chaise lounge with pedals, for four years. "And you're sitting upright, so you can enjoy the view. And the other great thing about a recumbent," says Kanagy, a part-time employee at Bike Friday in Eugene, "it's a conversation starter."

Bike Friday is one of three Eugene companies, along with Burley and Co-Motion, that make unusual looking bicycles. Family Tandem Travelers, Twin Airs, recumbents, Air Fridays, Pocket Rockets, Pocket Gnus, Pocket Crusoes, Pocket Llamas and Air Llamas are just a few of the bikes made at Bike Friday. The company was founded in 1992 by two brothers - Fargo, N.D., natives Alan and Hanz Scholz.

The bikes range from about $600 to more than $5,000. Some used cars are cheaper than that.

"But they weren't this light, though," says Kristin Allen, Bike Friday's marketing director, showing a double tandem at the company's building on West 11th Avenue. "And they didn't convert to a single. Or fit in a suitcase."

Bike Friday makes triple tandem bikes that convert into double tandems, and doubles that convert into single-seated bikes.

"If it doesn't fit in a suitcase, we don't make it," salesman Dave Seybert says.

All the bikes come with special suitcases that hold them after they've been folded. You can fly to Japan, as Kanagy did, then unfold your bike when you get there and pull the suitcase on a trailer.

Bicycle trailers for children were the specialty of Burley back in the late 1970s when the company got its start. Nowadays, recumbents and tandems are the focus, territory manager John Kluge says. "Are they funky bikes?" he says. "I guess. But they're really niche bikes."

And what better place to create a niche for bicycles than in Eugene, with its plethora of bike paths and open spaces.

"There's a lot of wonderful roads out here," says Gary Hale of Blachly, who used to make recumbents and a lot of other unusual bicycles in Eugene in the 1970s and 1980s. Hale still builds custom-made bicycles in Blachly, and he just designed a new recumbent he calls the Glider. It looks like a bicycle version of a motorcycle chopper.

Hale, who's still tinkering with the design - "It's not radical enough yet," he says - believes the creative nature of many in the Eugene area is responsible for all the funky bikes we see here.

"People don't even notice (anymore)," he says.

Except motorists.

"You feel less invisible on a bicycle in Eugene," says Dwan Shepard, co-owner of Co-Motion, the 16-year-old Eugene company that makes racing, touring and tandem bicycles, referring to the fact that drivers in Eugene-Springfield are aware of bicyclists on the road, because they're everywhere.

At Bike Friday, employees and local riding enthusiasts go for a noon ride every weekday. It's no leisurely pedal through the park. It's a workout that usually goes for 15 to 18 miles out Crow Road. Last week, about eight riders could be seen heading out toward the bike path in the back of the business. Hanz Scholz sat on his Air Friday, the model with the small wheels about 18 inches in diameter and the springy seat at the end of a titanium bar.

Sometimes, he said, pointing to a couple of bikers on traditional touring bikes, they even let riders on some of those "weird, big-wheel bikes" come along.

GET FUNKY

If you're looking for something different in a bicycle and you're willing to spend the money, these three Eugene manufacturers might be able to help you out.

Bike Friday: 3364 W. 11th Ave. in Eugene; 687-0487; www.bikefriday.com

Burley Design Cooperative: 4020 Stewart Road, Eugene; 687-1644; www.burley.com

Co-Motion: 4765 Pacific Ave., Eugene; 342-4583; www.co-motion.com

CAPTION(S):

The Air Friday model, made by Bike Friday in Eugene, can easily be broken down and stowed in a suitcase for travel. Gary Hale of Blachly builds custom bikes. This is one he calls the Glider. But he's still tinkering with the design.