By Mike Eliasohn
For recumbent enthusiasts "of a certain age" who have been "enthused" for a long time, there's a good chance their first exposure to reclining bikes was when they read an article in the April 1969 issue of Popular Mechanics, "For a really wild bike ride, Build PM's Ground Hugger." The authors were Robert Q. Riley and David Carey.
(Image is less than perfect because a less-than-perfect photocopy of original article was scanned.)
Some time after the article ran, Riley started selling construction plans.
I (Mike E.) wrote an article (below) that ran in the October 1977 issue of Bicycling magazine about two Michigan men who built their own recumbent bicycles. One of them was Bill Jansen, then 21, who lived near LaSalle in Monroe County. While in high school, he built a Ground Hugger like the one described in the PM article.
Then on Aug. 23, 2025, I was scanning through the Facebook Marketplace ads for east and southeast Michigan and saw a listing for "vintage custom bicycle." It was a Ground Hugger and the seller lives in Carleton, also in Monroe County.
I immediately wondered if it was the same Ground Hugger that Bill Jansen built several decades ago. I sent a message via the Facebook ad to the seller, Jody Peterson. I included my phone number and the next morning, he called me.
He was not the builder. Jody told me he spotted the bike hanging on the wall in a barn on the west side of Carleton, while there doing a vehicle glass repair. (He works for Safelite.) The would-be seller told him he bought it at a barn sale locally, and had no history of the bike, as to the builder or when it was built. "Whomever built it did a good job," Jody said.
Ultimately, that person gave the bike to him. But Jody, who collects muscle / banana seat bikes, doesn't have space to store the Ground Hugger inside, so it's been sitting outside for 4-5 months. And, if he did restore the bike, he's too big physically to ride it.
Since he wants the Ground Hugger to be preserved, he is willing to give the bike to someone who will do that and restore the bike, even if it's used for display. He is willing to drive a short distance to deliver the bike, but will not ship it. (Carleton is at the north end of Monroe County, which is between Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.)
If you are unable to find Jody's listing on Facebook Marketplace for the bike – look for "vintage custom bicycle" – email the author (mikethebike2325@comcast.net) and I will can give you contact information.
The original Ground Hugger plan prescribed use of a socket wrench universal joint, which some (all?) builders have found gives too much play in the steering. Jody said this one has a "lot of slop" in the steering. To avoid that problem, some builders used a high-quality universal joint. Bill Jansen used another alternative, described in the Bicycling article below.
Bill's alternative cable and pulley steering makes it unlikely that his Ground Hugger is the one now owned by Jody. Another difference is that Bill's bike used the original design seat, which looks like a vertical banana seat (made by spraying urethane foam into a plywood mold) unlike the one on Jody's, presumably made from two boards.
The frame of the original version was made from steel tubing. Riley later also had plans available for the Ground Hugger XR2, a similar layout, but with the frame created from carbon fiber.
Robert Q. Riley Enterprises was perhaps better known for the instruction plans it sold for various 3-wheel automobiles. He died in May 2021. The company presumably no longer exists, since its website has disappeared. A Facebook page is still up, but appears out of date.
But do some internet exploring and you find lots of information about the Ground Hugger, including an entry with lots of photos on onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk.
