[BENTBEN]

I love pedaling around on my tadpole trike. Its basically a pedaling go cart. If you love driving high performance cars, the tadpole(2 front) variety may appeal to you more so than the delta design(2 rear).

My Catrike Road sits at a 33 degree angle, its very comfy and fast for a 20"er. They make great tourers aswell. I also ride other variations of recumbent cycles so if you have any questions about them, don't hesitate to ask or send a pm.

-Bent Ben

[Casualcyclist]

Thanks

My interest in trikes is just academic and curiosity, at this point.

I would be interested to try one, at some point, but there aren't any dealers remotely near my location.

I think they are an interesting concept.

[Cptn_Jon]

Hi: Cptn_Jon here. My wife and I have been riding trikes for 3 years now and love them. The same workout as a DF with the discomfert of the thing they call a seat. Everywhere we ride we draw a group of questions, and the first thing we do is offer to let them ride. Our second trip to Arizona we were 2 of 3 recumbent trikes. The next year there were 12 including ours. That should say something about the ride you get from the. Hope you decide to get one.

Cptn_Jon

[Richie]

How to you carry all your gear on a trike?

[itself]

We have an ICE X2 tandem (by the way, for sale!), and we draw so much attention when we ride it, it is unreal. People pull their cars over to ask us questions.

No saddle sore, no sore neck, and VERY easy to pack a ton of gear on it!

Lisa

[funetical]

I'd like to see a loaded down trike.

[altozwei]

I ride a 2008 Catrike Road. It has been the most fun ride i've ever owned. I haven't had the opportunity to do any touring with it, yet, although I have some plans for the future. I did the Wild West Ride in Waco earlier this year with my family (my son rode his trike, too) and I do group rides in the Metroplex whenever I have the chance. I ride pretty much everyday. Trikes use the same touring gear as bikes but can handle some additional equipment as well. If you want to see what trikes look like on tour, here are a couple of links.
The first is a teacher who rode across the US from San Francisco to Florida last summer (80 days):
TOUR OF DISCOVERY - CYCLING ACROSS AMERICA - SUMMER 2009

The second is a gentleman who circled the US, starting and finishing in San Francisco (259 days).
Don Saito's Cycle America 2009

[digitalmouse]

Originally Posted by funetical

I'd like to see a loaded down trike.

The above photos are from an OTrike I rode during my 700+ km tour from central-western Germany to Copenhagen after attending the yearly SPEZI special bikes expo in Germersheim. It rode very smoothly with all that weight attached to the seat (clothing, camping equipment, tools, food/water for a week). The rear suspension really did it's job. It's not a bad long distance tourer.

Other types of luggage options:









And of course there are oodles of good trailers for trikes.

Feel free to peruse the albums for pics of other kinds of trikes and recumbents:

Picasa Web Albums - digitalmouse - SPEZI 2009 Expo
Picasa Web Albums - digitalmouse - SPEZI 2008
Picasa Web Albums - digitalmouse - Trip from Cop...
Picasa Web Albums - digitalmouse - trikes and ve...

[digitalmouse]

Originally Posted by funetical

...Are they good commuter bikes? Do you have to be 60+ to purchase? Is it the same workout? Is the maintenance complicated? Do they make them, Tandem? Like I said I have questions.

I think trikes make excellent commuter vehicles. I ride mine daily 12 km (6 km to work and 6 km to home), plus another 3-5km for shopping every couple of days, *and* around 40-50km on weekends. It's great to be able to relax at a stoplight without needing to balance or put my feet down. I'm typically faster than regular uprights (20 minutes to cover the 6 km to work including stoplights), and certainly a lot more comfortable. Plus summers are wonderful when Danish women are out cycling - my head is at seat-height of most upright bikes.

I'm 42, and have been riding recumbents since I was 30. There are models of road trikes and off-road trikes for all ages, as low as 10 years old. I personally know of a 75 year old velomobile builder (Carl Georg Rasmussen of Leitra fame) that has well over 100,000 km on his Leitra and still rides it daily 6-7 km to his shop outside Copenhagen in quite hilly terrain. His strength is amazing - certainly leaves me behind on the hill climbs!

Maintaining a trike is no different than for a an upright. You just have one extra wheel. With the exception of the seat, pretty much everything on a trike is off-the-shelf bike components.

Tandem? Certainly! Here is a list of a vareity of tandems:
Tandem Trikes

[IanHighfield]

"Head at seat-height."

I know what my next vehicle is going to be.

3-wheel upright cycles are common endurance bikes at 12 and 24 hour events in my area. My man makes two models of steel construction. I'm painting one tomorrow.