Maxarya pictures and review

I've posted about two dozen photos, with comments, of the Maxarya Ray 1 on my flickr account. The first photo is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsackett/111597579/ . I'll add more notes as I compose them.

I've had the bike for about a month. I bought it to replace a stolen BikeE that was my main means of transportation. The short version of the review is that I love the bike, hate the disk brakes, and am a bit wary of the company itself.

One important point I want to mention is that I have discovered that the Cannondale underseat pannier rack fits the Maxarya almost perfectly, without modification. An underseat rack is the best way to carry a load on a CWLB recumbent, but Maxarya does not yet sell one made for their bike. A local bike shop sold me a rack made for Cannondale's Bent I, Bent II, and Easy Rider recumbents. With a bolt, lock nut, and a few washers I attached it to the seat bottom and was good to go. I think the rack works even better on the Maxarya than on the Cannondale.

-Tom Sackett
Seattle, Washington, USA

Nice looking bike but EXCELLENT photos & captions!

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MapleTrail

That is a nice bike. Made in Toronto Canada, I see. May I ask the approximate cost?

Thx

Charles

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"If something is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly."

"My other car's a Bianchi!"

Thanks.

A few additional comments on the bike that didn't make it into my photo comments:

The Maxarya is longer than the similar BikeE or Cannondale recumbents. This length makes for a better ride, but makes it harder to fit the bike on a car bike rack. I don't think it will fit on the Sportworks bike racks that are now installed on many city buses. Most riders will not consider this a big problem, but it could be a deal-breaker for folks trying to live car-free. If you want to ride a recumbent that fits on bus rack, find a used BikeE, or look at the Cannondale (I'm not 100% sure it fits the bus racks, but it seems to have the same dimensions as the BikeE.)

The curves in the handlbar, and the routing of the brake and shifter cables make it difficult to mount a headlight. Maxarya, supposedly, makes an extender for mounting accessories, but the details on their website are sketchy and I haven't found a dealer who has one. A Minoura Swing Grip works very well to fix this problem.

Maxarya is a Canadian company. The one I purchased came from The Bicycle Man in New York State. As far as I know, this particular bike was the last one available in the United States. (Though a "new" bike, it is actually a 2003 model.) Some dealers have told me that Maxarya discovered it could sell more bikes in the Japanese and European markets. Riders in the U.S. may be able to order one from Canada. The company says that they are ramping up production for 2006, so the bikes may start to appear at U.S. dealers again.

-Tom Sackett
Seattle, Washington, USA

I spent about US$1150 (plus shipping). This bike was on sale because it was missing the rear fender and because it was an older model. The regular price would have been at least a couple hundred dollars more.