I bought my X-Class on line mail order in the US. I pretty much had the
same thoughts your having now. I would say the down sides to doing so
was building the bike its self and not being able to sit in the seat
before you buy. I don't know about the ebay sales, but regular dealers
sales do 100% money back guarantee if your not satisfied. With that in
mind, I bought my X on line last summer.

The X comes in 3 easy to assemble parts, and if you ever worked on
bicycles before, you should have no problem assembling them. The manual
is ok, but could use bigger pictures for those of us that have issues
actually reading manuals. ;-)

The seat is my only point of contention. Im not 100% happy with the
seat. On a long ride, it starts to rub into my shoulders blades. Im
working on this, though 2' of snow has caused a temporary delay in my
progress. I will say this; a trike is better in the snow than any bent
or double diamond! They don't fall over! You do slip a bit. Maybe I
should get better rubber eh?

A 12 mile ride 40% without traffic should be fine. Its the 60% in
traffic that I would worry about. The X puts you very close to the
ground. Very close. Most people wont know your there even with the
flag. I would never ride it in the city. I often find myself looking
directly into the tail pipe of a giant SUV with another just behind me.
Neither can actually see me. Just my flag. Its a bit intimidating.
Depending on what kind of traffic you ride in and how much room you have
to stay away from motorized vehicles, this could be dangerous. Not
because of the X, but because of knuckle heads in cars. I stay right on
the curb. If your riding on a pedestrian way/ sidewalks, consider that
the X has a wide track that can make it more difficult to maneuver
around people as well.

Over all, the KMX-X Class performs as advertised. I wouldn't worry to
much about buying on line. If you read the numerous reviews on line,
you can get a pretty good picture of the trike. The trike is stable( at
lower speeds), sturdy, and fun. A 12 mile commute should be no problem.
I have never had this much fun on a recumbent or bike. I got some
packs for the rear to carry "stuff". I may throw some weight in the
packs if Im on snow for traction. Im still working on a water bottle
or camel back rig of some kind. Im also looking into illuminating my
flag and flag post for better street visibility.

Good luck, and happy KMX-ing

Bob M
Chicago, IL

mrbodge2 wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I noticed that there are a lot of KMX's for sale on ebay UK from
>bikes-n-stuff.
>
>Apart from not being able to test ride one (I am in Hertfordshire, UK,
>and the seller is in Newcastle), does anyone have any thoughts on what
>other disadvantages there are on buying a KMX mail order as opposed to
>visiting a shop?
>
>I am particulary interested in commuting (about 12 miles, 40% traffic
>free) on a KMX X Class and hope to be able to fit the KMX mudguards
>and rack.
>
>Are there older versions of the X Class that do not take the mudguards
>or rack?
>
>Cheers
>
>Bodge
>
>
>
>
>
>