Recumbent trikes

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I've just been looking at Ben Lovejoy's photos in cafe of his trike ride at the weekend. Now call me ill informed, stupid or whatever, but how is it not completely suicidal to ride one of these things?

I'm not having a go and I'm not trolling...I genuinely want to know what the attraction is. To me it looks dangerous as they seem so low on the road, and therefore are not visible to other road users - also how does the rider see what is going on around them on the road? What makes them so good and worth having a go on?
 

Auntie Helen

Ich bin Powerfrau!
I have a recumbent trike because of a disability (many other people are like this) so it wouldn't necessarily have been a choice I'd made were I able bodied... and what fun I would have missed!

I feel MUCH safer on my trike than I ever did in the days in which I could ride a diamond framed bike.

1. Motorists see me all the time, give me a wide berth when overtaking and often let me go at junctions. I look so unusual that I'm instantly noticeable where 'normal' bikes (such as my husband following along behind or even in front) seem not to be seen.

2. Motorists tend to drive by looking at the white lines in the middle of the road and at the side of the road - I am higher than those white lines!

3. For safety reasons I wear high-vis, have high-vis flags at the back of the trike and have 3 front lights and 4 rear lights for night cycling (the lights show the width of the bike, being on each front wheel as well as the middle).

4. I'm not going to go over the handlebars

5. I'm not going to slip sideways and crash when cornering in the wet

6. If I do get knocked off I'm only 10cm from the ground and unlikely to land on my head

7. I can cycle in icy conditions as I'm not going to tip over*

8. When coming to a stop there's no need to unclip from my clipless pedals (with the possibility of getting it wrong and falling over) because my bike stays upright

What makes a trike more suicidal than a normal bike? Presumably the low riding position. As I've said, this never seems to be a problem on normal roads; the only time I am extra careful (more so than on a DF bike) is when travelling down narrow country lanes round blind corners. I take it easy to make sure I don't meet someone going fast the other way - but at least I can usually hear them coming.

You should try to have a go on one - you'll probably have the colossal grin plastered over your face that I did the first time (and every time subsequently!) that I rode a recumbent.

*Trikes can be rolled but only in exceptional circumstances and I'm unexceptional. I've never even had it up on 2 wheels although a friend of mine, who's a boy-racer type, had it on 2 wheels within a minute
 
Me too: I like the look of them but I think I'd be afraid to ride one. I once only saw one on a singletrack road in a dip, because of the flag.

Recumbent bikes are a bit higher so don't have the same problems, well in my perception anyway.
 

Auntie Helen

Ich bin Powerfrau!
A quick comment about disadvantages (yes, there are some).

1. Price. These things are horribly expensive. And second hand ones are also expensive (they hold their value). 14 weeks after I bought mine my husband decided he wanted one too as they are such fun, so that was MORE expense.

2. Don't fit well in bike sheds. We bought a new shed for mine although it ended up still being too small so my husband became a carpenter and enlarged the shed. Now he's bought his trike we've had to evict the lawnmower from the shed and store some other shed contents in our house's porch.

3. You get a wet bottom when cycling through puddles, even with mudguards.

4. People stop to talk to you all the time (I quite like this but some might not).

5. It appears that many train companies won't allow them.

That's the major disadvantages that I've noticed so far. There are probably some more but I haven't come across them yet. However they are hugely outweighed in my mind by the advantages - the main one being after a long, long ride you don't have a triangular backside or backache!
 
Location
EDINBURGH
You can get a good new one for £1100, from there up.

Have you ever seen those white lines in the middle of the road? Drivers see them all the time and they are much lower than a trike just as Helen says.
 
Catrike UK said:
You can get a good new one for £1100, from there up.

Have you ever seen those white lines in the middle of the road? Drivers see them all the time and they are much lower than a trike just as Helen says.


Are you going to get a recumbent line as well. If you do, I might venture down for some test rides. I've some dosh burning a hole but sshhh, don't tell Mrs. Crackle :rofl:
 
Location
EDINBURGH
I have started selling M5 recumbent bicycles and Go-One velomobiles, it will be a while before I build up to having demo's and stock though as it is a lot of outlay, I have a number of demo trikes now.
 

BentMikey

Rider of Seolferwulf
Location
South London
I'm always being told that I'm invisible and should get a flag. Why are people talking to an invisible me, how did they even know I was there?

Back in reality, I get seen slightly more often on the 'bent than I do on my upright, and then I get NOTICED and not ignored. My bike is not much higher than many trikes with eye level at 87cm. I defo feel safer on the recumbent than I do on the upright. Better braking too, as well as meeting any accident feet first, not headfirst.
 
Location
EDINBURGH
BentMikey said:
I'm always being told that I'm invisible and should get a flag. Why are people talking to an invisible me, how did they even know I was there?

Back in reality, I get seen slightly more often on the 'bent than I do on my upright, and then I get NOTICED and not ignored. My bike is not much higher than many trikes with eye level at 87cm. I defo feel safer on the recumbent than I do on the upright. Better braking too, as well as meeting any accident feet first, not headfirst.

The winter is approaching, you need a nice Catrike Expedition.
 
I like the look of the M5. Right spec, right price.

I'm in no hurry, I've been brewing on it for 10 or 12 months now, still haven't got around to a test ride because I know when I do it'll be choice time. I have been keeping my eye out for an old PDQ, just to try it out but none came up that I was close to but now I've moved and am more central that's not an issue.
 
BentMikey said:
Back in reality, I get seen slightly more often on the 'bent than I do on my upright, and then I get NOTICED and not ignored. My bike is not much higher than many trikes with eye level at 87cm. I defo feel safer on the recumbent than I do on the upright. Better braking too, as well as meeting any accident feet first, not headfirst.


I can believe that BM but I keep thinking of the one I saw in the dip, or rather didn't see, except for the flag and that made me think. I wasn't the only one who saw it that day either. Two other people who came to my house and knew I cycled both commented on seeing it late and wondering about the wisdom of 'riding such a contraption on these roads' or words to that effect.
 

BentMikey

Rider of Seolferwulf
Location
South London
I've seen the same, but with a Caterham. No-one tells Caterham drivers to put flags on their cars, surely? Besides which, when I'm riding the 'bent, I've always seen car drivers' heads in plenty of time for them to see me. The only problems come from impatient twunts in cars who then use lowness as an excuse for their driving.

Said one driver to me after he tried to overtake me at a pinchpoint, and had to abandon after leaving skidmarks at the obstruction: "I couldn't see you, you were too low." Yes mate, that's why you tried to overtake an invisible bike that wasn't there. If you really hadn't seen me, you'd simply have driven over me.
 
True. I think I'd have seen a bent but the trike is even lower is it not and so many of them have flags on that they must feel it's an issue.

It's the only niggle I have about potentially riding one.
 

CopperBrompton

Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
Location
London
When I ride a two-wheel bike, car drivers give me a typical amount of room. When I ride the trike, almost all of them completely change lanes to overtake me. Trikes are far safer.
 
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