lazybloke
Ginger biscuits and cheddar
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
On a saddle you're higher up than on a recumbent. If i want views, i know what i'll be riding.
A penny farthing!
A penny farthing!
Third best reason to ride a bent or trike
- Thread starter rydabent
- Start date
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a.twiddler
Veteran
So... what we are saying is, all human powered vehicles are cycles, be they one, two, three, four or however many wheels float your boat (Whee! Let's have a party!). Now pedal powered boats are yet another thing entirely, as the massed ranks of pedantry gathering here will be quick to point out.
But... not all cycles are recumbents
And... not all recumbents are bikes
And... not all recumbents are trikes
Regardless of which... no conventional cycles are recumbents, otherwise they would be called recumbents.
If I could humbly beg the OP to amend the title by inserting "recumbent" in front of "trike" it might just save some heads from exploding in the near future.
I've always been in two minds about the term "Tadpole" when applied to trikes. On the one hand it describes the layout well -wide at the front. narrow at the back. On the other, there's something a bit squidgy when you hear of someone having completed a journey on the back of an undeveloped amphibian. "Hammerhead" just somehow projects a different image -top predator in its field, menacing, loads of sharp teeth. It also has something of a blind spot close to, and dead ahead, but that seems to cause no problems.
Or "Delta" for the opposite configuration. A marshy spot where the many branches of a river meet the sea? It might be suggestive of some off road ability. It too describes the configuration well if you consider it to be like the triangular letter of the Greek alphabet, laid flat. Pointy end first, wide end at the rear. Maybe tinged with a bit of ancient classicism.
What's in a name, eh? But if it's comfortable and does what you want you can go out in your gardening trousers and scruffy hat, or you can wear the lycra gear and bug eyed eyewear and pretend you're the delegate from Mars. Happiness comes in many forms.
But... not all cycles are recumbents
And... not all recumbents are bikes
And... not all recumbents are trikes
Regardless of which... no conventional cycles are recumbents, otherwise they would be called recumbents.
If I could humbly beg the OP to amend the title by inserting "recumbent" in front of "trike" it might just save some heads from exploding in the near future.
I've always been in two minds about the term "Tadpole" when applied to trikes. On the one hand it describes the layout well -wide at the front. narrow at the back. On the other, there's something a bit squidgy when you hear of someone having completed a journey on the back of an undeveloped amphibian. "Hammerhead" just somehow projects a different image -top predator in its field, menacing, loads of sharp teeth. It also has something of a blind spot close to, and dead ahead, but that seems to cause no problems.
Or "Delta" for the opposite configuration. A marshy spot where the many branches of a river meet the sea? It might be suggestive of some off road ability. It too describes the configuration well if you consider it to be like the triangular letter of the Greek alphabet, laid flat. Pointy end first, wide end at the rear. Maybe tinged with a bit of ancient classicism.
What's in a name, eh? But if it's comfortable and does what you want you can go out in your gardening trousers and scruffy hat, or you can wear the lycra gear and bug eyed eyewear and pretend you're the delegate from Mars. Happiness comes in many forms.
404 Not Found Anywhere
Über Member
Personally I’ll go for tadpole to describe two wheels in front, one behind. It emphasises a fun, unthreatening creature and that’s always what I’ve felt my Trice QNT is. My VTX is a bit less of that, but it’s very satisfying to zip past roadies in headwinds or downhill on something as soft and cute as a tadpole, for extra humiliation effect 😎.
The word delta has no real connotations for me other than being a description of wheel arrangement, I have a Kettweisel and a Ken Rodgers Clubman upright trike, both have a habit (the Rogers in particular) of biting you if you aren’t paying attention, so I can’t really think of them as unthreatening (it does take a lot to provoke the Kett though)
I‘ve never heard the “hammerhead” term and can’t say I like it. Neither reflective of the machine or the rider.
The word delta has no real connotations for me other than being a description of wheel arrangement, I have a Kettweisel and a Ken Rodgers Clubman upright trike, both have a habit (the Rogers in particular) of biting you if you aren’t paying attention, so I can’t really think of them as unthreatening (it does take a lot to provoke the Kett though)
I‘ve never heard the “hammerhead” term and can’t say I like it. Neither reflective of the machine or the rider.
a.twiddler
Veteran
"Hammerhead" sounds like an American term to me. "Tadpole" seems universally recognised, at least in the Recumbent world.
Trikes, to me, before I became infected with Recumbentitis, suggested an eccentric British phenomenon where someone took a perfectly good road bike and attached an extra wheel, introducing a hitherto unknown world of upsidedown -ness and new knowledge of roadside ditches to people who had previously thought they were competent two wheeler riders. A complete new skill set required, perhaps earned through a tough apprenticeship. Most seen as an extra wheel on the back, though some vintage ones have the extra one on the front. I don't know whether the twin front wheel version would be any easier to learn to ride. Perhaps someone out there with experience of both can enlighten. us.
Having become a recumbent rider I'm not about to venture on to anything new in the upright world, going back to the neck, shoulder, wrist and foot pains with the addition of new and exciting ways of falling off and breaking a leg.
Being a long term motorcycle rider I'd long fancied trying out a cycle car, a sort of velomobile for motorcyclists, but never managed it. 2 wheels at the front, one at the back, driven by a long chain from a suitably humungous V -twin engine at the front between the wheels. So when, as a rookie recumbentist, I came across various tadpole recumbent trikes on such places as ebay the concept sort of chimed with me. Nevertheless, two wheelers are my choice for various reasons.
So to get back on thread, there's 1) The comfort 2) The view 3) The feeling of freedom that having two wheels brings.
Since even when I rode uprights I never rode the sort of sleek, speed orientated bike that screamed "wear Lycra or you'll look a pillock on this" wearing everyday clothes is just something I do, anyway.
Trikes, to me, before I became infected with Recumbentitis, suggested an eccentric British phenomenon where someone took a perfectly good road bike and attached an extra wheel, introducing a hitherto unknown world of upsidedown -ness and new knowledge of roadside ditches to people who had previously thought they were competent two wheeler riders. A complete new skill set required, perhaps earned through a tough apprenticeship. Most seen as an extra wheel on the back, though some vintage ones have the extra one on the front. I don't know whether the twin front wheel version would be any easier to learn to ride. Perhaps someone out there with experience of both can enlighten. us.
Having become a recumbent rider I'm not about to venture on to anything new in the upright world, going back to the neck, shoulder, wrist and foot pains with the addition of new and exciting ways of falling off and breaking a leg.
Being a long term motorcycle rider I'd long fancied trying out a cycle car, a sort of velomobile for motorcyclists, but never managed it. 2 wheels at the front, one at the back, driven by a long chain from a suitably humungous V -twin engine at the front between the wheels. So when, as a rookie recumbentist, I came across various tadpole recumbent trikes on such places as ebay the concept sort of chimed with me. Nevertheless, two wheelers are my choice for various reasons.
So to get back on thread, there's 1) The comfort 2) The view 3) The feeling of freedom that having two wheels brings.
Since even when I rode uprights I never rode the sort of sleek, speed orientated bike that screamed "wear Lycra or you'll look a pillock on this" wearing everyday clothes is just something I do, anyway.
I agree with you that some people nit pick too much. Again I say that all people that ride and pedal a machine are cyclist. It doesnt matter if it has 1, 2, 3, or 4 wheels.
