[Riley-NZL]

Anyone tried a Recumbent Trike for touring?

Stumbled across these today and have been looking into them, pretty expensive but seem like they would be great for all day bike expeditions?

The ICE Adventure ones look pretty good but haven't managed to find much from people that use these or other brands bikes

 

[Aushiker]

Off-road or on-road touring? If you are interested in on-road touring or rail trail type touring which is probably what a trike is more suited for, you might want to check out BentRider touring forums and of course Crazy Guy on a Bike.

Andrew

 

[Riley-NZL]

Cheers for the links, more the rail trail type riding.

 

[ECR]

I have an HPV Scorpion with Rholoff which I use for touring

 

[Harryonaspot]

I have encountered numerous trikes and quads while touring. The folks all seem to really love them. Or once you have one maybe you have to say that to justify the silly things. Just kidding. One fellow said on really long days he was much faster and relaxed than on a standard touring bike. Last winter in NZ we saw many, mostly Euros. I would try one if possible before making the investment. They would seem difficult to travel with if that is a consideration.

 

[Riley-NZL]

Those HPV Scorpions look nice, there seems to be a place a few hours drive from me that stocks the performers bikes so I might be able to demo one.

 

[Bendbent]

We have a recumbent shop in Oregon (Backcountry Recumbent Cycles) and specialize in touring recumbents. I've done many long distance, self supported tours on trikes and we sell all the top makes for touring. The ICE Adventure FS is a great choice if you want the comfort of full suspension. My personal favorite touring trike is the Azub TRIcon rear suspended trike. Azub is well known in Europe for building recumbent bikes and trikes that are suited for expedition type touring on any road surface.
I rode an ICE Adventure RS on a tour from Florida to Pennsylvania a few years ago and the last 370 miles were on dirt on the C&O canal trail and the GAP into Pittsburg.
One can use a trike for dirt road touring (the GDMBR was done on one in 2006 ) but my preference for dirt road touring is a recumbent bike like the Azub Max or the Azub Six. Less rolling resistance on softer surfaces with a bike, and rear wheel traction can be an issue on some steep grades riding a trike. An average size touring load on the rear rack helps the traction though.
The best touring trike for pavement trips out there IMO is either of the Azub models. They are the only trike made that allows you to carry the same bags (front and rear panniers as well as a handlebar bag) that one can put on a regular upright bike.
In terms of riding efficiency, I rode a self supported tour last summer with about 50 experienced cycle tourist on upright touring bikes, and was not only immensely more comfortable, but was overall faster than anyone else on the trip. The biggest advantage (other than the obvious one-comfort) is that they are substantially more aerodynamic than a loaded upright touring bike. At most touring speeds this is not that big of an advantage, but on downhills and into headwinds, it really becomes apparent.
I've toured for almost 40 years now and would never consider doing a long road tour by anything other than by trike again.
For bikepacking I use a Pugsley, and for dirt road touring I use a full suspension recumbent bike, but on pavement, it's trike all the way. If more folks would get over the image problem with touring by trike and tried one, they'd see what I'm talking about.

 

[Aushiker]

On the topic of Azub TRIcon they have a nice tricked out one detailed on their blog. Not ideal for touring but

Andrew

 

[Plot71]

Hi, I have 2 main recumbents and an upright. LAst year I went touring with others including my IT Technician who is (as he should be in this position) highly detailed focused and set his upright mountain bike very carefully. After 300 miles his neck and saddle effects had become particularly uncomfortable, this was followed by his hands and wrists such that the feeling in his 4th and 5th fingers had gone (not to return for 4 or 5 months) where I was on a 2 wheel recumbent and quite relaxed. We were similarly fit though I am 10 years older and will retire next year (with luck). Certainly, recombent touring is great but not generally as fast as upright. My recumbents are HP Velotechnik Streetmachine and a Scorpion. Daughter has pinched my Trice QNT, but I guess that what kids'll do if you appear to enjoy something a lot.
If you go for recumbent it would be wise to also go Rohloff for the convenience, reliability and gearing distribution.

 

[vikb]

Anyone tried a Recumbent Trike for touring?

I've never had a trike, but I have owned a number of recumbent 2 wheelers. Lots of people tour on them.

I wanted to love them and tried many different models/configurations, but I found I was faster and more comfortable on a "upright" safety bike.

I went back to recumbents 3 times thinking I'd find the perfect beast. In the end I found saddles for my upright bikes that were much much more comfortable than what I had been using in the past. That was all I needed to make them a superior ride [for me].

Definitely try one before you buy or buy an inexpensive model as a tester than invest in the more blingy versions once you know you love trikes.

You'll get lots of positive reviews from benters so I won't bother listing those things. Here are the things I didn't like:

- relatively heavy
- relatively expensive
- climbing was harder [less ability to move and use different parts of your body like on an upright]
- low bents had issues being seen
- high bents had issues getting feet to ground [not an issue on a trike]
- you can have comfort issues on a bent so don't assume it's not an issue [numb feet/hands due to laid back position, butt pain due to blood circulation as you can't take weight off body like on upright]
- can't unweight wheels like on upright when encountering obstacle so you have to ram stuff you'd pop over
- sketchy on loose surfaces
- hard to deal with obstacles or challenges
- had to pee twice as often due to position of my bladder [no joke]

On the bent I loved the most I had solved most issues and for a road bike [I'd never ride it off pavement] it was great. I did a number of longer distance events on it up to 300kms at a time. It was perfectly comfortable, but what I found was being locked into that one comfortable position all day was boring. I missed moving around on my upright bike and feel athletic. The bent was like being at the gym on a stationary machine - just with a better view.

I did help my boss [late 50's] buy a trike [Catrike Expedition] as he wanted some exercise and couldn't get comfy on an upright bike. He loved it and rode it a bunch for several years. Not having to balance and not having to setup bars vs. saddle vs. BB was well worth it to him.

This is just my opinion/experience. There are lots of bent lovers out there. If you are interested give one a try. That's the only way to know.

 

[NickandBruce]

I'm a mechanic at Bicycle Outfitters which builds and sells lots of Catrike Recumbent Trikes and am thrilled with the quality of these machines and their customer support. They're extremely well built and engineered. They have several models, all of which are the same high quality, but are tweaked for different riders. I would take an Expedition or 559 if I were touring.

We're right on the Pinellas Trail and recumbents are very popular out here. I've seen and worked on several other brands and the Catrike is the clear winner. We have several customers that put big miles on their trikes and they hold up great. One guy is in his early 80s and put almost 10,000 miles on his Catrike last year!

Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to ride an kind of real distance on one but they are really comfortable for the short rides I'vw taken them out on. I haven't had a chance to get my hands on an Ice Trike but I've heard good things about them too.

My main advice is that you make sure to research the shop just as much as the trike. Find one that really specializes in trikes and does big volume with them. I've seen some really bad builds come from shops that don't have experience with them. Yes, its essentially a bike, but its good to be familiar with the small differences.

 

[TheirOnlyPortrait]

Hola Riley,

As I try to stay away from pavement as much as possible, I never got interested in trying a trike... at least until I saw this image:

Saludos,
Federico
www.theironlypotrait.com

 

[yeti_mcshreddy]

Check these guys out. Super powerful, long range, and full suspension.

Horizon | Adaptive, Electric Adventure Vehicle (EAV) | Outrider USA

 

[ECR]

I have had a couple trikes for 10 years no, an ICE Micro and a Velotechnik Scorpion. The Micro is strictly a road bike and was leading racer in its day, but they stopped making them because they were too expensive. With 135 gear inches it is like driving a formula 1 race car. The Scorpion I have used for touring on both pavement and gravel. It has a Rolhoff hub, rear suspension and I have toured with panniers and trailers. It handles very well on packed dirt/gravel, but I would not consider taking on anything like un-groomed off-road trails.

Since this is a mountain bike forum, I assume you are planning for gravel/dirt roads/trails. A few things you may want to consider include...

ground clearance: Many trikes can be low to the ground, my Micro for example sits just 2" off the ground. Less ground clearance makes for a more stable ride and harder to tip in turns, but more ground clearance allows you to clear more obstacles on rough trails.

suspension: You have three wheels in contact with the ground, so you feel more bumps in the road. Wheels are generally small in size which also makes for a rougher ride. Trike made with off-road riding in mind will come with 3-wheel suspension.

traction: With three wheels on the ground there is less weight on each wheel and this will cause your rear tire to slip more easily uphill on loose surfaces.

wheel size: Wheel size will not only improve the clearance on a trike, but make it easier to maneuver rough terrain and help to smooth out your ride.

fenders: You are sitting directly behind two wheels and even in dry conditions you are going to get dirty on gravel/dirt without fenders. I don't like fenders myself, but unless you love dirt it may begin to way on you after a couple days. And this isn't even to mention rain and mud.

pros: They are a blast to ride, you get great view of your surroundings with more stability than a bicycle (except in turns with higher ground clearance and center of gravity).

cons: full frontal exposure to the elements including sun, rain and mud, difficult to carry (can pull by lifting rear wheel), less maneuverable on narrow trails, line-of site and visibility.

 

[Scott Martin]

If you're considering touring on one of these, I would go with the 20" tires all around. You will be able to pack the bags heavier over the rear wheel. This being said, you will be a lot slower but, you'll enjoy the scenery more also, a wider tire, less PSI will help with the bumps

 

[Scott Martin]

You may also want to check out some vids like this one