Joe Reichert, owner of Amlings Cycle in Niles, IL

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Second Glance: Joe Reichert, owner of Amlings Cycle in Niles Chicago Athlete Magazine

Chicago Athlete: You bought Amlings Cycle in 1999, what was your bike history before then?

Joe Reichert: I was an enthusiast when I was younger, would ride about 3,000-3,600 miles per year. I also was the president of Evanston Bike Club. In the mid 70s, there was a big bike boom, and I got started then. I did some touring, which was fun and awesome. And then I got my license and went away from the hobby for a while. But then after college, my girlfriend, Julie, and I decided we wanted bikes for graduation. So we went to Rudy’s on Irving Park Road, got some bikes and it rekindled the flame.

CA: How did you form an interest in recumbent bikes?

JR: Interestingly enough, my background is in mechanical engineering, and at a job, one of my product managers had back issues, and so he got one. When I looked at it, it seemed interesting, but wasn’t super into it. Then he was going to Milwaukee to buy a new one, so we went to wheel and Sprocket, which at the time was the only recumbent outlet around. A guy approached me and Julie, and asked us to try one even though we hadn’t considered it. Well, 15 minutes later we bought a tandem one.

CA: Why would you advise a cyclist to buy a recumbent?

JR: They are more comfortable, for one thing. But there’s two and three wheel, so the whole trike market is larger than the two-wheel market; we sell seven or eight trikes for every two-wheeler. They have better balance, so if someone has some sort of condition that requires that, like they don’t have use of an arm or leg, we can balance it for them on a trike. I don’t want it to seem like the majority of our businesses is special needs, but a big part is.

CA: Is a recumbent harder to ride than a regular bike?

JR: Not at all...

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