Well, I'm about 6 weeks into ownership of a Catrike Expedition. The jury is still out on it...
My reason for buying it was the fact that as I'm getting in better shape, the limiting factor for not being able to ride further was the ol' butt/seat interface. A recumbent seemed to be the answer and the trikes really appealed to the engineer in me from a "neatness" standpoint. After reading the forums for about 9 months and seeing everyone who owns trikes praising them, I decided to try one.
Now, I will say that regarding comfort, I could sit on this thing for hours. In fact, when I stop to take a rest, I usually just sit on the trike. It definitely solved that problem. There are, however, some other things that cropped up as I started riding (primarily bike trails).
First of all, I basically feel like I'm sitting on the ground. In fact, I'm only a few inches from it. This may appeal to some people, but I sometimes feel like a little kid in a room full of grownups, if you know what I mean. And I'm 6'2" so I'm not used to that.
Next, I'm pretty much lying on my back as I ride and every little bump I hit gets transmitted right through to my body. I'm used to a DF bike where as I hit bumps I can take the weight off my butt and let the bike pivot under me. I obviously can't do this with the trike so I can get pretty jarred around at times. It can also be inconvenient when you approach a decent sized bump. For example, on one bike path that I ride on, it crosses a few streets along the way. At a couple of these crossings the curb sticks up about 3 inches or so. On my DF, I just lift myself up a little and go over it without even really thinking about it. On the trike, I have to make sure no cars are coming, get up just the right amount of speed to make sure I get over the curb, but not too much speed that I bounce and bottom out or damage a rim. In fact if it wasn't for my wife riding ahead of me and telling me it was clear to cross, I'm not sure how I would do it.
The other problem that arises from lying on my back is neck strain. My seat angle is about 37 degrees which is middle ground for a trike. The performance models can go down to 30 degrees or less and the more upright models are around 45 degrees. At 37 degrees, I find that after a while, I'm really straining to keep my head up. This didn't show itself in the 10 minute test riding I did in the parking lot of the dealer. Also, since I'm lying out almost flat, I tend to not let my legs hang on the pedals so I feel like I'm slightly holding the weight of my legs all the time. So, between holding up my head and my legs, the result is that the whole front of my body feels like it's in tension and it really wears on me after a while.
Now, you may be thinking, what about a headrest? My trike does have a headrest and it does feel a lot better when I rest my head on it, but when I'm pedaling my head tends to swerve slightly from side to side and if I try to use the headrest, the whole trike starts to oscillate from side to side. I've tried repeatedly to relax my upper body but I just can't seem to stop this effect. I've spoken to other trike owners who have this problem also, so I know it's not just me. Some have said that this goes away with time and others have said they don't use the headrest and they get used to holding their head up.
Regarding speed, I ride the same paths regularly and know how fast I typically go on my DF. I seem to be about 1-2 mph slower on the trike cruising on the flats. Uphill, I'm definitely slower, but on the downhills, aerodynamics takes over and I'm faster. I have no problem giving up a little in speed if I can ride comfortably though.
So, right now I'm trying to decide whether to keep the trike or not. For the price of the trike, I could go out and buy my wife and myself two really nice Trek hybrids and still have money leftover. In fact, I was bascially set on selling it until last night. I happened to grab a pillow of the couch and sat on the trike with the pillow behing my shoulders. It only boosted my upper body up about 3 inches but the more upright position felt totally different. Much more comfortable. My wife said she could make up a wedge shaped pillow for me so I'm going to try this and see how it feels. If it's better, I may give the trike some more time.
I hope that other trike riders don't come down on me too hard. I've been dreaming of this thing for a long time and I really would like it to work out. We'll see how it goes.
Randy