Giro A26
Touring
Recumbent Bike
MSRP: $2950
With our Adroit frame, top-shelf components and Bacchetta custom aluminum tubing, the Giro A26 is a lightweight touring machine built to do it all. A long, self-supported tour? No problem. Throw on your favorite set of go-fast road wheels when you get back for some club riding? No problem. Bacchetta gives you the options you want!
For the most current information on specs and availability, check out Bent Up Cycles, owner and distributor of Bacchetta recumbents!
Corsa A70
Carbon Basso
Giro A20
Bella
CarbonAero 3.0
Matt –
50000 mile review
Cambridge, MA
What I Like: Handles well. Excellent emergency stopping. Comfortable for long distances. Fun.
What I Dislike: Not durable. Road shock delivered directly to spine. Handlebars can block view of road debris/potholes.
How I Ride: All-weather commuter 6-8Kmi/yr
I liked the geometry of this bike enough to make it my all-weather commuter: The long wheelbase encourages smooth, predictable riding, which is a good thing around cars. Emergency stops are very stable and even black-ice falls are manageable. And of course, drivers give strange looking bikes plenty of room. Steering is a bit twitchy but if the road is smooth, one can ride for miles hands-free (learning to unicycle helps, for some reason). The bike is fairly fast on the flats. It’s not much of a climber, but time lost pushing up the hill is regained in the fast and well-controlled descents. Double centuries are comfortable end-to-end. From a design point of view, my only criticisms are: the seat stays can transmit road shock from potholes directly to your spine; the handlebars can block your view of road debris at night; and the wheels throw road grit onto the chain, which then grinds down the gears and pulleys.
I highly recommend this bike to folks who are looking for weekend adventure, but if you want to use it for getting around on a daily basis, be prepared to make changes. Within three years I had to replace everything that moves (wheels, bearings, derailleurs, cables, shifters, chain, gears, etc.) or flexes (seat, rack, fenders) due to mechanical or material failures. To be commuter-reliable, this bike needs bombproof tires, beefier wheels, hardened steel chainrings, fenders, better cables, sintered brake pads, chaintubes, etc. Even with all that, much of the drivetrain needs to be replaced at least once a year.
George Budiselich –
Strong, Comfortable and Fast
Urbandale
How I Ride: Iowa Trails
50 years old, I bought a Giro 12 years ago. My mountain bike has a lot of dust on it. I can not say enough about the comfort, and speed. My wife calls it my lounge chair and gets mad when I point out the butterflies instead of struggling to maintain our speed. I can ride faster and longer then ever before. Thanks bacchetta for a long lasting comfortable bike. Iowa Ragbrai here I come.
Paul Todd –
More and more comfort
LLanfaelog, Anglesey N. Wales UK
What I Like: More and more
What I Dislike: Nothing yet
How I Ride: Fitness and pleasure
Perhaps you should read my previous review ‘Love in later life’ for background?
Anyway a week back I took off my standard 26” wheels and sent them away for some tuning work.
In order to continue riding, I fitted an old pair of MTB wheels fitted with Schwalbe City Jet 26 x 1.5 tires.
The effect was so remarkable I felt I should share it. As previously stated our local roads are rural, and this time of year quite agricultural (potholes, gravel etc)
The bike now seems to just glide over the imperfections and soak up all of the bumps whilst still having a positive feel both in a straight line and in the corners.
This armchair ride does come at a small cost, about 1 mph average speed, but I will definitely continue to use and enjoy the set up until Summer.
Paul Todd –
Love in later life.
LLanfaelog, Anglesey N. Wales UK
What I Like: Comfort, build quality, potential
What I Dislike: Frankly, nothing springs to mind
How I Ride: Fitness and pleasure
I will be 70 next month and have enjoyed a ‘full and active life,’ which over the years has become more and more restricted due to various injuries picked up along the way.
A year or so back it was apparent that cycling, my last form of enjoyable exercise, was suffering diminishing returns. Time spent in the saddle was more and more limited by pain.
Enter the recumbent bicycle.
I purchased an older 20” Giro as a training machine and immediately realised it’s potential, completing a 77 mile charity ride with absolutely no ‘orthopaedic’ pains what so ever.
Suitably convinced I moved on to the 26” variant and have not looked back since.
The bike is an absolute joy to ride and it is true to say that I feel ‘young’ again, discovering the new challenges of balance, climbing and general low speed manoeuvring, whilst being amazed at the ease with which she deals with our West Coast landscape and weather conditions.
Current plans are to re-visit the coast to coast (UK that is) route along the Roman Hadrian’s Wall next summer and enjoy the views this time …. painlessly.
I appreciate that this bike was not designed just for ‘old men’ and in many ways wish I had found her earlier in life when I might have been able to exploit her aerodynamic advantage and break that 25 mile TT barrier on a few more occasions, but suffice to say that when she hit’s her stride on a nice sunny day she makes this old man very happy.