My tad-pole style trike made by Tw-bents
(child's seat attached to rear rack)
Ah, the recumbent trike. A three wheeled masterpiece! The first time you ride one, you think to yourself, I will never ride a two wheeler again (and I haven't). It is nearly impossible to describe the feeling of cruising down the street in on this adrenalin packed hpv (human powered vehicle). It is much like driving a go cart. You get to be reclined in your seat, with you hands on the steering bars and taking corners with a very low center of gravity. It never gets old.
The Tw-bents Artifice is the model that My wife and I both own. We chose these because of their ability to fold in half to make transporting a breeze, among other reasons. There are quite a few recumbent trike companies out there, Greenspeed, Ice and Catrike to name a few. All of them are very well built and offer different styles to meet your riding needs. I'm not here to say which brand is better or which brand is worse, but to let you know there is a new way to enjoy cycling in a much more comfortable and exciting way.
First of all, there are two major kids of recumbent trikes, the tad-pole style (shown above) and delta style. The main difference being that the tad-pole has one wheel in the back two in the front and the delta has two in the back and one in the front (shown below).
I have not owned or ridden the delta style trike, so I will not be going into to much detail on this style.
As you can see from the picture of the tad-pole style trike, you are in a reclined position with your feet out in front on the pedals. At first this is a bit awkward since most everyone is used to having the pedals below to move to bike along. After a little riding you get used to the positioning of the pedals and in most cases, prefer them that way. By far one of the greatest advantages of riding a trike in comparison to a regular bike is the ability to go up hills with 1/2 the effort. The three wheels of your trike keep you stable even at slow speeds that you experience going up steep grades (having 27 gears at your disposal isn't too shabby either). On a traditional two wheel bike, when you are unable to keep speed up hill, you have to rock the bike back and forth to stay up right, which uses much more energy. I'm not saying going up hills in a recumbent trike is effortless, but being able to pull over on the side of the road and engage the parking brake to take a little rest without leaving your trike is a definite plus.
I was a little concerned that sitting in a seat while sweating profusely would cause much unwanted agony. To my surprise, the mesh seats keep that from happening. It allows the air to get to your back quite nicely and cool you down.
The amount you are able to carry on your trike is a very nice feature for anyone that likes to do any amount of touring. There are plenty of mounting spots to put your cyclocomputer, lights, GPS, bottle holders, rack trunk and panniers. If that isn't enough, you are also able to to pull a trailer behind of all of you extra goodies such as extra clothes, food and tent. For riding around town I purchased a child's seat that is intended to be on the back of a bicycle and modified it to fit on the rack of my trike. This allows my daughter to come along for a ride. On longer trips we hook up the kids trailer behind as it allows more room for her to relax as well as carry our food and other items we may need.
The steering is different from that of a traditional bicycle. Instead of their being a handle bar in front of you connected to the one wheel in front, you get a perfectly relaxed positioned handle bar on either side of you that work together to control both front wheels. This may seem a little strange, but you are able to adjust them to any position that suits you best. This allows your arms to be in a 90 degree angle while riding which is very comfortable and doesn't tire out you arms in the slightest. Each handle bar has a brake lever, unlike a bicycle that has a front and rear brake, a recumbent trike has brakes only in the front. The brakes operate individually. Meaning when your depress the right brake lever, only the right brake slows you down and vice versa. the best way to brake is gradually applying the left and right brake at the same time to avoid brake steer (pulling to one side or another due to uneven braking). Most are equiped with disc brakes and can stop on a dime, so take time to get aquinted with the braking setup before going out on your first ride. At the top of the handle bars you have the bar end shifters. These are positioned nicely and are set up to be shifted with the use of only a couple fingers. (shown below)
Bar end shifter
If you are considering a recumbent trike, or this is your first time hearing about them, I suggest you go to your nearest recumbent bike/trike shop and take a test ride. Odds are you will be sold by the time you get around the block! You are able to to order them online threw the manufacturers, but I would warn against this with out first going and riding the exact model you plan to purchase. These are not on the cheap, ranging from $1,700 up to $5,000 depending on the brand and features. So please do your research before buying and I hope to see you out on the road. Happy trike riding!
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