When we go out on our recumbent trike bicycle, people often stop to talk to us about it and are understandably curious about this unusual and wonderful machine. Some questions crop up regularly in these conversations, and these, along with our attempts to answer them, make up Part II of this series on recumbent trike bicycles.
Common questions we are asked are: "Can and do car drivers see you when you are seated down low?", "Can a recumbent trike climb hills?", "Is that seat as comfortable as it looks?", "So how fast does that trike go?", "Do you ride a recumbent because you have a bad back?".
As far as visibility is concerned, years of riding have taught us that drivers seem to notice a recumbent trike much more easily than they notice upright bikes and often give them much more space on the road. Nonetheless, if you ride any type of bike, you do bear some responsibility to let drivers know you are there; placing a flag four to six feet above your trike will do the trick and you should not experience any problems with drivers. Furthermore, while a recumbent trike bicycle is often low to the ground, it is also a little wider than two-wheelers and gives the impression of being even more so. Many drivers seem to treat our recumbent as a vehicle (as they should) and overtake it properly when passing, instead of trying to squeeze past inside the white line as they sometimes do with upright bikes. And if a driver does pass a little too closely, the low centre of gravity and the stability of the trike prevents their slipstream from affecting the rider's balance as it can with a two-wheeled machine.
The position on a recumbent trike bicycle also gives the rider a better field of view. Instead of gazing downward at their front wheel, they are looking up at their surroundings, and better able to keep track of the movement of traffic. Looking behind is more difficult, however, and we strongly recommend the use of at least one rear-view mirror while riding.
In terms of the climbing abilities of a recumbent, there seems to be a widespread belief that such a tricycle is inferior to uprights when it comes to hills. It is certainly true that hill climbing requires a different technique. Because you cannot stand on the pedals of a recumbent trike, you must select a gear that is comfortable to pedal and spin. Based on our experience riding a tandem, it is best to utilize inertia - build up as much speed before ascending and down shift in a way that allows you to keep spinning during the climb. Alternatively, installation of any one of a number of light-weight electric motor systems will add a whole new dimension to your hill climbing efforts. With such an addition, you'll soon become the envy of any upright cyclist in your hill-climbing endeavors. The addition of an electric motor is not necessary, but it sure is fun watching the look on the competition's faces as you blow right past them while riding your recumbent trike.
Recumbents generally tend to be a little heavier than uprights and this is particularly true of a recumbent trike bicycle, but there are techniques to compensate for this factor. In addition to allowing the rider to push against the seat when pedaling, the stability of the trike allows climbing at slower speeds than a two wheeled machine by eliminating the need for a minimum speed with which to maintain balance. But, there is little doubt that the addition of an electric motor makes hill climbing both more fun and easier.
There is little doubt that the seat on a recumbent trike bicycle is as comfortable as it looks. People and their sitting equipment come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and not all of them find the same things comfortable. This is one reason why we advise people to take the trike for a test ride before buying and test drive as many models as possible to experience the difference.
We have heard complaints from some recumbent riders, usually of the BikeE style "semi-recumbent" machines, that after a certain amount of time riding they begin to suffer from the elegantly-named "recumbent butt", which seems to consist of pain or numbness in the buttocks, probably arising from their weight resting mainly on the seat pad. We have yet to hear of this problem arising with the more reclined recumbent trikes bicycles, like the Greenspeed, TerraTrike, KMX Karts or ICE, where the rider's weight is borne by the back as well as the bottom.
As with climbing, your speed on a recumbent trike bicycle depends on the rider's strength. Nonetheless, the quality of the trike you select contributes to just how fast you can cruise. Regardless of what a salesman might tell you, because smaller wheels require less energy to move, it will be easier to maintain higher speeds on a recumbent trike with 16 inch wheels than one, which has a 26 inch rear wheel and two 20 inch front wheels.
In terms of the bad back question, many people who do have back problems find a recumbent trike bicycle easier to ride than an upright, because its seat supports the back well. Thus some find that a recumbent trike bicycle allows them to continue cycling when they can no longer ride an upright.
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