marion06095

I have a Catrike recumbent guppy trike. After riding for a few years I have become quite fit (for an old lady). I would like to gift my trike to my sister so she can do the same. Unfortunately, her hips are quite wide. That makes steering difficult while riding and makes it nearly impossible for her to turn the trike completely around without needing to do a very wide radius circle. Does anybody know of a work-around short of a starvation diet? TIA

BlazingPedals

Guppy? I think you mean a 'tadpole' trike? Tadpole configuration refers to 2 wheels in front. I can't offer a lot of help. Different trikes have different track widths, and front wheel size has an effect on how much the front wheels impinge into the cockpit when turning. I wouldn't recommend changing wheel sizes on an existing trike - doing so may affect the handling in a negative way. Which is all to say that your trike may not work for your sister, she may have to get one of her own - one that has a wider track.

marion06095

Oooops. Yes. Tadpole. I knew it was a small fish and somehow Goldfish just didn't seem right.

VegasTriker

Yeah, I was confused by the "guppy" trike too. Your trike doesn't happen to be a Catrike Pocket does it? The current version has "Pocket" on the on the frame visible from the front of the trike. That is the model made for smaller riders and has a "compact frame" according to the information on the Catrike website. If so, I doubt there is any way to modify the trike to make it usable to a much larger person. You could try to ask on the recumbent site Bentrideronline where a lot of trike riders hang out. ('BentRider Online). There is also a recumbent section on this site as well https://www.bikeforums.net/recumbent/.

Juan Foote

The steering handles on Catrike can be repositioned in and out by their connection on the head tube IIRC. I cannot recall when or if that will have the possibility of hand into tire tread as it's been a while. I recall that space being pretty close.

VegasTriker

The limiting factor in positioning of the handlebars on a Catrike is the front wheels and whether or not you have front fenders. I looked at my own Catrike (without fenders) and see that there is no room to move the handlebars any further. I set them there to keep from having the handlebars contact me. I am not extra wide in the hips. There is only 1 cm between the handlebar and the tire sidewall with 406 X 1.4" tires.

John_V 

In her situation, I would start with the starvation diet or purchase a trike with a wider wheel to wheel distance. There are several companies that make trikes with a wide front wheel base; some expensive and some not so much so. Besides BentRiderOnline (linked in another post), you can try Recumbent Bicycle Source/Recumbent tricycles for a list of manufacturers and links to their websites.

Wildwood 

Does your sister buy-in to your desires to have her ride?

I have 3 siblings - each is overweight and un-exercised, each requires several Rxs to 'maintain their health'. Cycling equipment would just clutter their houses.

HeyItsSara

It's crazy how different siblings can be. I'm in the gym 6 days a week. Sibling has eaten her way to a gastric bypass.

thehammerdog

while the trike looks cool and fun do to the extra width is it unnerving to ride on roads.
must be a blast flying down trsils.