“America’s Recumbent Monarch”

An Interview With Gardner Martin - Conducted by Bryan J. Ball

Everyone pretty much knows who Gardner Martin is and has a pretty good idea of what he means to the American recumbent industry.  A full list of his accomplishments would probably fill up all of the allotted space we have on our server, so I’ll keep it brief. 

Gardner began designing HPV racing bikes more than 25 years ago in California.  Those bikes set a ton of records.  The most prestigious of which was the Dupont prize for the first HPV to break 65 mph.  Easy Racers still holds the World Speed Record for a multi-rider vehicle and several junior records.

However, Gardner isn’t all about racing.  His high-performance LWB’s have proved equally adept at touring and road riding.  His customers are amongst the most fanatically loyal that you’ll ever see.

Sandra Martin, his wife, is also heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of Easy Racers, Inc. and answered a few of these questions for us.

 BROL – We all realize how long-lived and well-respected the Easy Racers line is.  When exactly did it all begin?

GARDNER - It began with the first IHPVA race in 1975.  13 strange machines and their crews showed up at a drag strip in Southern California for an anything goes race to break the speed record for bicycles.  The only restriction was it had to be human powered.  Streamlined bodywork was allowed. 

Our first speed bike was a prone recumbent, rider flat on his belly with his chin only two feet off the ground.  That bike did eventually push the speed record past 50 mph, but it was no good for street riding.

In 1976 we kind of accidentally hit on the basic Easy Racer format.  It wasn’t as aero as the ‘belly bike’ but it was exceedingly more comfortable and extremely user friendly.  The next couple of years we had great success in racing as well as touring and commuting, so we incorporated in 1979 to produce one of the first commercially available bents made in the USA.

BROL – I know you started out selling bicycle plans.  How many of those original plans did you sell?

GARDNER - To help fund the start-up we put together a 40-page booklet with blueprints of “How To Build Your Own Recumbent by cutting up old bicycles.”  We sold thousands of these plan sets.

BROL – Back in those early days, would you say that the racing was your primary focus or was your primary effort always the production line?

GARDNER - Racing in the early days went hand in hand with production.  Racing improves the breed for both performance and durability.  So our products got better and faster and the press coverage let people see this.  We are still racing and setting records.  This past October we increased our own record in the streamlined tandem class with our Double Gold Rush.  Our flying kilometer speed was 68.9 mph.

BROL – How did you get hooked up with Fast Freddy?

GARDNER - After the first IHPVA race, it became very clear that a well-streamlined machine piloted by a cycling athlete was the only way to setting new records. By this time we had started reading Bicycling magazine and Bike World magazine and had just read a profile of Jack Disney, a legendary racer.  Then someone told us that Disney was coaching a team at Hellyer Velodrome in San Jose.  So, we went to see some races one day and talked with Jack about recruiting a couple of racers to try for the record.  He introduced us to his three stars, Fast Freddy Markham, and Jackie Disney (daughter).  At one time or another all three rode for us.

BROL – What was the atmosphere around the Dupont Prize efforts?  Was it something that most people thought would never happen?  If so, what made you think that it was something you could accomplish?

GARDNER - I think the atmosphere around the DuPont Prize was mostly one of secrecy.  Everyone knew we were going for it because we showed up at the Championships in Indianapolis that year, but we didn’t bring a bike or race because we were getting ready for our first attempt.  Everyone knew we were going for it, but they didn’t know when or where.  Perhaps when the prize was first announced some people thought 65 mph was impossible.  By the time we were ready for our first try, two other teams were also going for it.  Reported speeds had crept up close enough that it was evident that someone would get it.  The only questions were Who?  Where?  And When?

BROL – How closely is the Gold Rush Replica really related to the bike that’s in the Smithsonian?

GARDNER - The streamlined Gold Rush that is in the Smithsonian Museum of American History did provide the blue print for the Gold Rush Replica.  The frames are almost identical.  We could take a new 2001 GRR frame and put it inside the streamlined body and go racing. Of course, we have a much bigger chainring and cut-down seat and handlebars.  Also racing, sew-up, tires are used.  Essentially the Gold Rush Replica is the same as the Gold Rush Racer.

BROL – How big of an honor is it to have something that you made in the Smithsonian?

GARDNER - It is a special honor for me to have something I made in the Smithsonian.  ‘I can die happy now’ is a thought that I have expressed about it.  I have heard from at least 100 different people that have seen the Gold Rush in the Smithsonian.  I never tire of hearing about it.

BROL – It seems that your bikes have attracted to opposite ranges of the spectrum.  A big and well-promoted racing effort has spawned a line of bikes that are most loved by touring and long distance riders.  Can you explain that?

SANDRA - It was all my fault.  I enjoyed the racing—it really gets your blood buzzing even if you’re only a crewmember.  But I couldn’t (in my own shortsightedness) see any real future in it.  We were just racing the ‘belly bike’ then.  Also, I was riding a wedgie and liking it less every day.  So, I suggested to Gardner that he build a practical bike, one people could actually ride on the street, on that would be at the very least more comfortable than what I was riding. So, he did.  But racing is in Gardner’s blood and there’s just no way he could have built an Ox.  No, the good riding horse had to also have speed; it still had to be a thoroughbred.  And that turned out very well as the practical bike I requested ended up much faster than the ‘belly bike’. 

I wouldn’t say they are loved most by touring and long distance riders, we count many performance riders in our Easy Racer family, but the reason touring and long distance riders love our bikes is that Easy Racers let them get there faster with less fatigue and with a great deal more comfort. 

Our name answers this question.  They really are “Easy” Racers:  Easy to ride, Easy to handle, Easy on the body, AND they go fast!  Many people have been able to reach speeds they’ve never seen before.

BROL – Another Easy Racers phenomena is the extreme loyalty of your customers.  Does their unabashed adoration for you and your company ever take you by surprise sometimes?

GARDNER - Our customers are mostly very loyal like Harley-Davidson owners.  They genuinely love their bikes.  Many recumbents look kind of geeky or weird.  Easy Racer bents have the look and the style—no other bents quite have this.  Sometimes it does surprise me how very much our customers think of our bikes and of us.  I was recently in Florida and went for a bent ride with about a dozen fellow ‘benters mostly on Easy Racer models.  We were to ride the Withlacoochee Bike Trail from Regis Hampton's Trailside Bike Shop near Floral City, Florida to another town for lunch.  Most everyone wanted a picture taken with me—I felt a little like a rock star.  Everyone at Easy Racers works very hard to earn and keep this kind of loyalty.

BROL – I seem to get a lot of questions about the relationship between you and J&B Importers that produces the Sun line of bicycles.  Without divulging any of the financial details, could you explain how that came about and how it’s working so far?

GARDNER - The business relationship between J&B Importers and Easy Racers is uncomplicated and to the point of getting bents into customers hands.  I do the primary design work, but work closely with J&B’s product developers to get the details to work properly within J&B’s manufacturing capability, budget and time constraints.  J&B has one of the best distribution set-ups in the bike industry with a large staff of outside salesmen who can really get the bent point across to bike shops all over the country.  As long as Easy Racers can design good bents, J&B’s salesmen will sell them.  So Easy Racers supplies good designs that J&B can manufacture and distribute under the Sun label all over the USA.

BROL – Besides some of the new Sun projects, can you tell us what will be going on at Easy Racers in the future?  Are there any new projects like the Ti-Rush or Fold Rush hidden away in corner somewhere?  You managed to surprise everyone with those.

SANDRA - Easy Racers has no new projects on the drawing board at this moment.  But Gardner is constantly reading, sketching, searching, trying; we never know when he’ll pop up with something new. He does keep threatening to put wings on one to see if it will fly.  We are working with J&B to put out an EZ-1 tandem by 2003.

BROL – Lastly, I just want to ask where you’d like to see the industry in the next 5-10 years.

GARDNER - I would like to see the recumbent industry exceed road bike sales.  Road bikes now have 6-7% of the total market and bents about 1%.  Bents are the only segment of the bicycle market that is growing. I predict bents will have steady growth for the next 5-10 years.