Aerocoupe-Advanced Trike Design from the 1980's w Jeff Wills
Step back in time to the "virtual free-for-all" of the early 1980s American recumbent revolution! In this episode we sit down with industry veteran Jeff Wills to uncover the forgotten history of the Aerocoupe—a pioneering human-powered trike born out of the Southern California HPV racing scene. Jeff shares incredible stories from the 1980 Speed Championships at Ontario Motor Speedway, where garage-built "missiles" and "streamliners" first challenged the traditional bicycle establishment. In this interview, you’ll discover: The "No Rules" Era: How the IHPVA rose as a reaction to strict conventional racing associations. Engineering the Aerocoupe: How Jeff and designer Mark Murphy used moped hubs, awning fabric, and sailplane-inspired chrome tubing to build a trike from scratch. Lessons in "Dangerous" Design: Jeff gets candid about the "exciting" frame flex and "tank steering" that defined early prototypes. The Legacy: A look at how these early experiments provided the DNA for the high-performance trikes we ride today. In our second segment we interview the Spezi 2026 team. This year the world's largest recumbent bicycling event takes place in Freiburg, Germany. We'll find out all the details and highlights of this exciting event which we'll be attending in April. 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:30 What’s on Today’s Show 00:01:35 Panel Introduction 00:03:00 Sponsor Introduction 00:07:35 Honza Galla with Recumbent News Segment 00:11:06 Spezi 2026 Preview with Producers 01:32:30 Jeff Wills and the 80s Aerocoupe Recumbent Trike Build and Racing 01:14:15 Sponsor Thanks 01:18:50 Announcements 01:20:15 Goodbye to panel and crew Please subscribe to us on YouTube (https://goo.gl/CHOOgX) and Like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/laidbackbikereport/) if you haven't already done so. We would love to have you as a Patreon Patron where you can support all we do for as little as $1/month. Check out how it works and the benefits you can reap here: https://www.patreon.com/laidbackbikereport *Thanks to these wonderful sponsors for making the LBR webcast possible* TerraCycle https://t-cycle.com/ 800-371-5871 TerraTrike/Greenspeed https://wizwheelz.com/ 800-945-9910 Laidback Cycles https://laidbackcycles.com/ 916-668-8766 Bicycle Man https://bicycleman.com/ 607-587-8835 AZUB https://azub.eu/ RecumbentPDX https://recumbentpdx.com/ 503-231-1000 Steintrikes https://stein-trikes-us.com/ 931-237-0889 Utah Trikes http://utahTrikes.com 866-446-2065 Catrike http://catrike.com 407-999-0200 Bacchetta Bikes http://bacchettabikes.com 818-358-2740 Angletech cycledifferent.com 719-687-7475 *Honza’s News Report Links* --Recumbent News https://www.recumbent.news/ *Guest Links* Spezi 2026 https://en.spezialradmesse.de/ Jeff Wills https://www.facebook.com/jeff.wills1 *LBR Review Team Links* *LBR Crew Links* -Recumbent News-online news website by Honza Galla https://www.recumbent.news/ -BentRider/Larry Varney http://www.bentrideronline.com/ -Nina Paley’s Links -Nina’s blog https://blog.ninapaley.com/ -Nina’s bike merchandise http://www.palegraylabs.com/other-stuff-1/protective-bicycle-amulet -Peter Stull https://bicycleman.com/ -Josef Janning https://www.facebook.com/josef.janning -Tim Segard https://www.bentrevolution.com/ -Tray Bourgoyne Tray@netdoor.com **The absolute best archive of early recumbent history is Recumbent Cyclist News** Find years of publisher Bob Bryant’s hard work here: https://rcnpdf.com/ **Viewer Submissions or Questions** Send to laidbackbikereport@gmail.com Support the show