philski

Hey guys,

I have a Vision R55 SWB recumbent. I love it. Great machine. I commute to work daily with it.

Part of me wants to give a trike a try on my commute for a few different reasons.

I'm wondering what you guys think about road usage and visibility. In my recumbent, even if there is no shoulder I generally ride the fog lines and cars can pass me quite easily. I'm also shorter than a DF but fairly visible. On a trike I'd need to take up more space, I couldn't ride the fog lines anymore, and for most styles anyways I'd be lower to the ground, less visibility. I agree with the argument that looking different creates visibility, but still... smaller, lower profile.

So to those of you who trike commute, what tips or advice do you offer? do you always take the lane?

thanks,

philip

BlazingPedals

Why do you think that being lower to the ground means you'd be less visible? As I tell everyone, uprights are tall and cars don't see them all the time. At least I'm down where they're watching for pot holes. If you're worried about cagers seeing you, get a bright tail light.

Peter_C

Food for thought? A great flag, and with streamers too will help you be noticed well. I love my Purple Sky Flag https://www.purpleskyflag.com... just a thought?

charly17201

Lights, lights, and MORE lights. Okay, yeah My commutes were early morning dark most of the time.

The one thing I really think that I'd change is that the next trike will be a hard tail - not suspended. But I loved making the commute on both the trike and my SWB USS 2wheeler too.

Lane use- most of my commute was on 2-lane highway with a shoulder and I used the shoulder. But the 2 miles through town. I had enough lights on that I was well visible and the cars got away from me cause they didn't know what I was. There are only like 4 bent riders in the area.

A also install an Airzounds horn. Very handy at driveways and intersections.

aenlaasu

I find cars give me a lot more space on my trike than I ever received on my DF. Granted, in the change from DF to trike, I also changed countries. I run with lights, a small orange bike flag, a bright colored top and reflectors on my panniers. Oh. Can't forget the large white husky.

philski

Again, I can ride outside the fog lines on a DF/bent. I can't do that on a trike.

philski

Thanks guys... the lane use comments in particular were very useful.

EriktheFish

I swear by my flag from beseenwear:
https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Easy-Step-Bi...item43a08fd3c1

otherwise, something like this might help:

EriktheFish

Peter left an "s" out of the link to purple sky flags, here's the correct link:
https://www.purpleskyflags.com/

kennytb

I agree with the comment about lights. having multiple flashing rear lights tends to attract attention. Cars usually give me more clearance on my 2 wheel recumbent than my mountain bike.

Trikin'

I receive lots of attention...not many rig's like mine..

charly17201

Flags and streamers are great eye catchers. But, they don't do you much good on a dark commute. Gotta have the lights for that. Plus, I run a couple of 'white' strobes during daylight hours.

I've seen a sort of compromise somewhere on the web where a tail sock was lit inside......