Originally Posted by
JanMM
The recumbent bikes that I ride are easier and more comfortable to deal with while stopped compared to upright bikes. No more balancing on the saddle with one foot tip-toeing the pavement. Can't do a track stand on my bents but can sit comfortably with one or both feet on the ground while stopped. Moving away from a standing stop does take some getting used to but old dogs can learn new tricks.
Agree that you can't just fall over at a stop on a trike, but I've been lucky to never have done that on a recumbent bike. (Knock on wood) Can't remember my ever falling over on an upright bike, either, but of course I'm dealing with an older man's memory!
And, I have read accounts on this forum and on Bentrideronline of trikes flipping over on downhill tight turns. It's a dangerous world!
The oddity is that I think I've fallen more since getting back to riding in August than I did in the previous 15 years of riding - I can recall falling three times since then. That day I was talking about, I actually fell twice. About a half hour or 45 minutes after the first, I stopped at a 7-11 for a drink refill (and used drink disposal). Getting off the bike, standing in the parking lot, I got the nose of the saddle caught on my right leg while pulling it over the bike. Boom. Back on my left side.
My wife might benefit from a recumbent, a trike, or a step through frame. All options are open. She's been going to physical therapy for a tendonitis in her left shin and still hurts too much to get on the bike as it is. She was just saying the therapist says she might be able to consider riding by the end of February. Her current bike is an '04 Litespeed Bella in the smallest frame size they made, 43 cm, and it's still all she can do to clear the top tube.