Recumbent (meaning seated) bikes have been around for quite a while, but have never garnered a significant share of the market. The last I heard, they had just slightly more sales than Tandems, and you know how rare those are. Yet lately you are starting to see them in increasing numbers.
Recumbents or "Bents" as they are often called in the US and Canada (but seldom in Britain due to another connotation of the word) started out as a tinker’s project. Often they were, and some still are, assembled in garages out of pieces and parts of cannibalized bikes by guys with a welding torch in their hand and a gleam in their eye. Today, there are a couple of dozen manufactures of quality production recumbents in the US, Europe, Australia, and the Orient.
These bikes are quite unorthodox, a fair number of steps away from the traditional stationary bike. They do, however, provide a fairly large amount of upsides. For one, they provide a less strenuous and more comfortable option for anyone who is just looking to get a light exercise. However, they are not just useful for those who are just looking for options; they also serve an important purpose for those who are in the recuperating stages of a debilitating illness or injury. The benefits that the recumbent bike provides for every gym may often go quite unnoticed, but the amount of accessibility that it brings to the table for these types of clientele make it an invaluable, and arguably necessary part of every aerobic gym setup.
