Tricycles for geezers

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lewdye

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:D Some of the more affluent nomads are towing second vehicles.  For a much less costly means of getting around while leaving the rig parked, I recommend recumbent tricycles (my choice is the tadpole variant, two wheels in front and drive wheel rear; the other type is the delta with  single wheel in front).  Rolling down the road on your lawn chair is very enjoyable in addition to being great exercise (I dropped twenty+ pounds in the first two months after I bought my first one). The variety of examples is staggering, ranging from basic three speed chain drives to multi gear setups (my current has 97 options!!) with many brands being readily adapted to electric boost.  Can't post a link yet, but Facebook has several pages devoted to the various activities trikers ge up to.  Really hope this concept grabs many of us and adds enormous enjoyment to our lifestyle.
 
It is good to list advantages but people also need to know what the disadvantages of trikes are.

I would like to take my recumbent trike along but it won't fit inside of my Honda Element and also leave room for much of anything else. I can't carry it on a hitch rack because my home is a small travel trailer. No room on the trailer tongue for it. Can't put a rack on the rack of the trailer as it has the entry door at the back. Can't put it on a roof rack as it is too heavy for me to do that kind of lifting.

So while it is a great little vehicle that is fun to ride they are large and bulky in size and even the folding ones are heavy. But if you have room for a hitch rack arrangement then it will work out. Most of them are not geared for good hill climbing and the ones that are sell for a fairly high price. Trikes in general tend to be more expensive than bicycles.

Of course there is another drawback to them and that is the width they take up on the street or bike trails, it makes it harder for cars to get around you which makes you more vulnerable. They don't work on the back country mountain bike or walking trails as they are too wide for the trails. Plus they are down low below the eye level of some car drivers so flags are an essential as is lot of reflectors and lights for night time. I was coming home one evening and my friend was out riding his trike. He was wearing his normal dark colored jacket and pants. The only reason I saw him when he entered an intersection wa because of the street light. When not under the street light then looking at the him on the trike from the side of it partly because he was so low to the ground he was pretty much invisible despite having LED head and tail lights. Of course that is true of most bicycles, you need to have reflectors in your spokes to be seen from the sides at night time.
 
IMG_3176-1280-1024x768.jpg
 
^^^Oh I want one of those SO BAD!!

(With a MOTOR on it.)

Here you go, one person without enough bandwidth to decide whether clicking this link is for you or not...
This here be a link to a motorized drift trike...with STUPID music in the background that makes me want to SMASH the screen.
(DubStep is for p___ies. Cable said so.)
 
I love the idea of adult trikes. So stable and easy on the back. Like many adults I have a bad back; unlike most, mine started out that way, with fairly bad scoliosis. Something that takes the pressure off my back and still lets me have fun and get a good work-out sounds ideal!

Good points by Maki brought out about the potential limitations. And I do wonder about the portability, especially in relation to the competition, like for instance electric bikes. Though those can be very substantially more expensive.

Anyway, I know and live among many elderly, and balance is a real problem as you age. Maybe way sooner than people tend to think. That, in addition to my own personal back problems, makes me love trikes -- even in a gym for recumbent biking! -- than I think a lot of other people might. But it's an approach with a lot going for it.
 
maki2 said:
It is good to list advantages but people also need to know what the disadvantages of trikes are.

I would like to take my recumbent trike along but it won't fit inside of my Honda Element and also leave room for much of anything else. I can't carry it on a hitch rack because my home is a small travel trailer. No room on the trailer tongue for it. Can't put a rack on the rack of the trailer as it has the entry door at the back. Can't put it on a roof rack as it is too heavy for me to do that kind of lifting.

So while it is a great little vehicle that is fun to ride they are large and bulky in size and even the folding ones are heavy. But if you have room for a hitch rack arrangement then it will work out. Most of them are not geared for good hill climbing and the ones that are sell for a fairly high price. Trikes in general tend to be more expensive than bicycles.

Of course there is another drawback to them and that is the width they take up on the street or bike trails, it makes it harder for cars to get around you which makes you more vulnerable. They don't work on the back country mountain bike or walking trails as they are too wide for the trails. Plus they are down low below the eye level of some car drivers so flags are an essential as is lot of reflectors and lights for night time. I was coming home one evening and my friend was out riding his trike. He was wearing his normal dark colored jacket and pants. The only reason I saw him when he entered an intersection wa because of the street light. When not under the street light then looking at the him on the trike from the side of it partly because he was so low to the ground he was pretty much invisible despite having LED head and tail lights. Of course that is true of most bicycles, you need to have reflectors in your spokes to be seen from the sides at night time.
 
You make several good points about visibility, definitely flags and lights (common sense is not necessarily more prevalent among nomads than the genpop) but actually the difference in width between trikes and handlebars on bikes is negligible.
 
Dodging a tree with a handle bar on a bicycle is a lot easier than missing a rut on a trail with one of the wheels on a trike!
 
Handlebar is less expensive to replace than a wheel.
Also a handlebar can rotate on the top of the fork instead of bending.
Place the front wheel against a tree or utility pole and twist the bar back into alignment.
 
When I was living in Glendale, AZ I had a 2015 Catrike Expedition and absolutely loved it. Metro Phoenix was perfect location to have one, tons of wide paved biking paths. 20-25 mi ride was nothing once I became acclimated to it. Best form of aerobic exercise I ever found for myself @ >60 yrs of age.

NOT an ideal vehicle for nomad though unless you're pulling your digs behind it as it didn't fold.
 
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