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.