[MarTay6]

The Boss of this here forum (a good guy!!) asked me about suggestions, since I'd been here a short time now- and since my wife is currently riding a 77 lb behemoth of a Schwinn Meridan trike- and I just ordered her a Terra Trike Rambler, thought that perhaps there should be a forum just for trikes. He suggested I start it here- to see if there's any interest, hence this post!! My wife and I have just gotten into cycling after the whole adult thing.... she's in her mid-50's- and I'm in my early '60's... I'm on a Fuji Absolute 1.0, but she doesn't feel comfortable getting on 2 (back problems), so has stuck with her trike- and she's riding it up to 5 miles now, not bad for a single-speed lead sled! We're going further and further each time, and enjoying it a lot.
She's nervously excited to get it- it only weighs about 37 lbs- and has an 8 speed hub, so will be a major step up from her. I ordered it with all the good upgrades- BB-7 brakes, the best idler set, etc. We ordered it from Utah Trikes- and it should be here next week late, hopefully. It's currently being assembled- after a custom red powdercoat application.
We'll post pictures of it here when it arrives!
Soooooo... anyone else here interested in trikes??
Wes

[photosbymark]

Id love to have a Cat trike one day. Might build my own trike too soon.

[MarTay6]

I rode a Cattrike at my local dealer- WOW, what a cool ride! I'd love to have one... unfortunately, it'll be a while I think!! But after riding one, it'd be a ball to own. On the ground, as opposed to the lawn-chair like posture of the T/T Rambler my wife's got on order. It's like the difference between a Madza Miata and a Ford Taurus.
Wes

[Industry_Hack]

I'd like to try a low-slung, fast one. It's funny, but I've driven past Utah Trikes dozens of times, and never stopped in to have a look.

[MarTay6]

Ohhhh, man... I can't even IMAGINE walking into a store like that!! They say they typically have between 150-200 trikes in inventory at any given time!! Utah Trikes is a Catrike dealer.... stop in and give one a testride!!
Wes

[photosbymark]

The only thing that would worry me about a Cattrike is the low to the ground stance would make one harder to see. Does that make me not want one? Well if the wife gave me the ok tonight it would be at least on order tomorrow if not before.

[MarTay6]

I understand about the concern about it being low. Occasionally I'll see a really low slung recumbent on a busy road- and my thought has always been "He's nuts"... even though he may be wearing brightly colored clothing and have a flag and flashing lights. Still so low... Here in Jacksonville, it is not a bike friendly town!! And drivers are horrible.
So I'd simply have to keep it off busy streets (here at the beach there's lots of quiet neighborhoods) or take it somewhere to one of the few bike trails.
Wes

[photosbymark]

Would I say he is nuts? I have done things in my life with much higher risks. It does add to the risks. Bright colors, flashing lights and flags is all you can do. You can get run over riding anything if the driver isn't paying attention. At some point if you are going to ride, you have to trust something.

[BlazingPedals]

I've ridden lowracers for 10 years. Mostly, I ride in rural settings; but the first 4 years I had to ride moderately-busy 3/4/5 lane urban roads to get to the ride starting points.<Knocking on wood> I've never been hit when on my low bikes. Which is more than I can say for riding my uprights. On my taller bikes I've been rear-ended, left-crossed, right-hooked, T-boned and sideswiped. "Height" definitely does not translate to "visibility;" in fact my experiences seem to imply just the opposite. I'd like to be able to say why that is, but I can't; it just is.

[BlazingPedals]

As you may be able to tell, the recumbent forum here is sorta quiet. Splintering the already-small group into two might mean we end up talking to ourselves.