A friend from college spends her days hefting heavy crates, manhandling 50-pound sacks of flour, and carrying large trays of fresh bread in a commercial bakery. Twenty years of this work has given Les a dodgy back. A back which became so bothersome she had to give up on riding a roadie and move to a mountain bike with high bars. After a time she couldn’t even tolerate that. Les has been living car-free for most of her adult life, and she didn’t want to give in just because her back was a pain. Her solution was to buy a Day 6 Dream bicycle. Day 6 calls their comfort bikes semi-recumbents, and you can see why:

 

 
Les hauls a load and intends to do so even when the roads aren’t dry. See the fenders, rear rack, and Jandd panniers.

 

 
The thickly padded wide saddle is augmented with an adjustable padded backrest:

 

 
Behind the backrest, a large zippered pocket can hold necessities where they’re accessible but out of the way:

 

 
According to the Day 6 website, the alloy-framed Dream weighs in at about 34 pounds. Other features include 21 speeds, SRAM twist-grip shifters, linear breaks, 26″ x 1.95″ double-walled rims and Kenda Komfort tires, Shimano derailleurs, platform pedals, a kickstand, and the usual assortment of reflectors. Look at the length of that chain:

 

 
Les has short arms and her LBS reversed the stem to improve the fit:

 

 
I was glad to see a rearview mirror, not so pleased to notice that the folks shown riding Day 6 bikes on the manufacturer’s website aren’t wearing helmets. Still, I imagine that there are plenty of folks like Les, who find a bicycle of this kind admirably suits their requirements. No need to swing a leg over a top tube. No need to dismount to place feet flat on the ground, come to that. And the backrest along with high bars makes it possible for some people with troublesome backs to get out on two wheels. That’s all to the good in my book.

 
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