rydabent

Just look at youtube videos of the 2017 Midwest Recumbent Rally. Back in 2008 when I attended the MRR there were only a few riders on trikes. Now in 2017 it looks like at least half of the riders were on trikes.

Maybe this can be laid to the fact that the bent riders of the 90s and the 00s are getting older and going to trikes. It will be interesting to see how the bent scene shakes out in another 5 to 10 years.

Trsnrtr

Trikes have really taken off.

Jeff Wills

When the Recumbent Retreat started 20 years ago, there were about 30 bikes and two trikes. Now it's about 70 trikes and 30 bikes. It's still all fun.

https://vimeo.com/59688039

rydabent

Pretty much it seems that once a person rides a trike, they are hooked. Here in Lincoln now when on my usual 30 mile ride I almost always see at least one trike.

Hoopdriver

Trikes are rare around here, but I see others occasionally. I get a lot of questions when I ride mine, though, but interest wanes once they hear the price tag.

JanMM

"Why would you want to ride something weird like that?" said JanMM with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.

varaonaid

Trikes definitely have taken off. I've heard one of the fastest growing segments of cycling. It's evident in the fact that HPV's US warehouses stock completely ran out of their Gekko FX 20 back in June (at the start of the summer) and Gekko FX 26 shortly thereafter and Catrike just doubled their manufacturing location and are adding a lot of additional employees. Not sure what's driving the increases but as a trike rider myself, it's such great fun. It's interesting to watch interest and adoption grow.

Retro Grouch 

I don't think that I've ever been asked that question. Possibly, after considering the rider, they don't feel the need to ask. While I have sensed some unstated disapproval from some of my riding fellows, I'm also getting a number of interested questions from others.

JanMM

This is the question that could be in the mind of someone riding something completely different from what another person is riding. Not usually voiced.

rydabent

Just look how TerraTrike and Catrike have had to expand the production lines in the last few years.

BlazingPedals

LOL Jan's tongue was firmly planted in his cheek because recumbent riders in general tend to get that question from upright riders.

tmac100

Greenspeed too. My 2006-built GTO has finally circled the globe (eastward) and is now being ridden regularly in Victoria. An older machine but it sure is robust - not being used by a 106 kg rider with lumbar vertenrae issues.

Saw the new Magnum at a Melbourne bike shop so added some of it's enhancements (locking brake levers) to the GTO. New Schwalbe Marathons are a nice robust set of ti(y)res too.

BlazingPedals

When I attended the Smokey Mountain Recumbent Rally in 2016, it was attended by something like 99 trike riders and 3 upright riders.

Trsnrtr

Xenia, this weekend, was about 23 trikes to 2 or 3 two-wheelers all three days.

Jeff Wills

Last Saturday:

Retro Grouch 

Are the 30 bikes still the same guys as 20 years ago?

CliffordK

I wonder if it isn't that people are bailing on the 2 wheel recumbents, but rather the two wheelers are occupying the same fringe niche they had twenty years ago.

The three wheelers is a new growth area.

Juan Foote

I have to say that I loved riding my trike. It was comfortable, had a neat layout to have and use your gadgets onboard, was stable (for the most part) and felt super fast going down a hill. It was awesome while I lived in an area with gentle rolling hills and good sight lines. The area I am in now is full of quick rollers with no sight lines. Either way I leave from the house has one or more within a mile. Even with a flag I was constantly in fear of being hit, and had several close calls.

We started loading ours up to ride on paths that are nearby. We are pretty lucky in that we have a golf cart heavy area nearby with an expansive network of paths serving the entire town. Aside from having to load the 40+ pound bikes up (loaded), and haul them down there, the paths were in rough shape with root heave at the time. We ended up selling ours to some folks we "knew" down in Columbus, GA...where it's flat.

If I were to purchase again, which is certainly on my mind, it would be after I move and have rear suspension. I would prefer having a model with a better design on the boom than the previous Catrikes as well, but not to say I wouldn't look at the brand again. We were pretty happy with them, overall.

Jeff Wills

Most of them have converted... or simply brought both two wheelers and three wheelers to the Retreat. The trails around Fort Stevens are excellent for tootling around on trikes.

Harhir

I have talked to several dealers here and they are all telling me that lots of folks have balance issues with two wheel recumbents. Therefore the trikes have become way more popular.

I just started with the recumbent bikes. But I have started with two wheelers first. The main reasons are:
- I commute by bike and we have a bike rack in the office at the bottom of a stairwell. Basically indoor covered parking. But the doors, corridors and corners to the stairwell are too narrow for a trike. I would have to leave it outside.
- Lots of the trails in our area date back to 80s and are narrow. 6 feet or less and with lots of other folks on these trails the trikes can become too wide as well.
- And last but not least used two wheel recumbents are cheaper to find.

These were the main reasons I started with two wheel recumbents. I also need to find out if I need a more upright or reclined seat position. I have degenerative arthritis in my spine and I am very sensitive to seat angle, neck and shoulder support. Therefore I bought two used recumbents which are very opposite: One is a Phantom Lightning with a very reclined seat and the other one is Bike-E with a more upright feeling. Paid just a little over $300 for both bikes combined. If they work: great. If not I probably can sell them for the same price.
But maybe sometime in the future I might move on to a trike or add one to the collection.

BlazingPedals

Most folks are wobbly when first learning how to ride a recumbent. It's a different position and you can't balance them by shifting your weight around; you have to steer them. What I see is a lot of middle-agers who realize they need to add some exercise to their lives and lose some weight; but want the easiest way out possible. That means a trike, since there's no learning curve and no minimum speed. They can tootle around the bike path at 3 mph and feel good about 'exercising.' There are two of these people where I work. Neither one rides regularly, and of course neither has gained any fitness or lost any weight since getting their trikes.

VegasTriker

You got a fantastic deal on the Lightning Phantom if you got both bikes for $300 considering the newer Phantom II is still in production with an MSRP of $1,890. It will definitely be harder to learn to ride than the BikeE. Bicycleman in Alfred NY compares it to my Haluzak Horizon but mine has underseat steering. I also owned a BikeE AT which has since been thrown into the dumpster. It was the easiest recumbent for test rides and quickly adjustable for different sized riders but I just hated the way it handled and the "modest" gear range. My second recumbent was a long wheelbased Linear and it was way more efficient than the BikeE. Maybe if first time buyers tried a long wheelbased recumbent they would buy that instead of the trike. Shops are now carrying lots of trikes because you carry what will move out the door quickly. You can even find them at reasonable prices on CL. My local CL has 3 trikes - Catrike Road for $1,500, a Catrike Trail for $1,600, and a Terratrike Zoomer Elite for $800. The Road and the Trail are worth buying.
I ride a trike most of the time and it is not because I'm tipsy but because the trike is so much more fun to ride.

OldTryGuy

Trikes are easily the LAZY BOY of the pedaling industry. Why shouldn't they be on the move to a greater segment of the cycling industry, after all, we ain't getting any younger.

Ride today for this 67yo is the Six Gap Century CycleNorthGeorgia.com Home of the Six Gap Century , not too trike friendly. Some day in the future might find me on a trike for the Spacecoast Freewheelers Cross Florida Ride https://spacecoastfreewheelers.com/charities/xfl/. "IN THE FUTURE"

Y'all enjoy your steeds.

BlazingPedals

I believe that event is dominated by a few bents every year. But they're not trike-type bents.

OldTryGuy

Maybe I'll be the first