Trikes everywhere

So there are many brands for Trikes available. Many of them have pretty distinct differences. When it came time to start narrowing the field seriously I had to decide from over a dozen companies and each of those have 3-8 models to choose from. (This post had too much detail so I took some out for later posts and its still too long)

Greenspeed from Australia comes up over and over in blogs and boards as really good quality and very popular for touring. many models are folding, but they are near the top of the price list.

Ice trikes can't get anyone to complain about them other than their price tag (2010 models are much more affordable) and the possibility that the fully suspended models might rob you of efficiency. Though no one that said that had ever ridden one. And the praise for them is glowing. But with suspension, folding, and reported quality and performance I would expect that.

German made Hp Velotechnik has a couple of models that moved on to my short list for a while as well.

But it came down to trikes I was going to be able to test ride. So looking into the more readily available American market trikes. Cattrike has several models that looked right, TerraTrike too. KMX has some models that are the lowest cost to buy into. The rear steering Sidewinders seem very compelling initially and near the end of my looking around I got very interested in the Trident Trikes. The Trident Stowaways seem to have it all in a very affordable package.

So like the nerd I am I watched every video I could find, searched all the message boards for what kind of specs and options might be best for me. Then I made a spreadsheet to compare the models that had made my short list. I tallied all the seat heights, weight limits, price, special features, and trike weights. I then applied a weighting system to prioritize what I thought was most important to me. I went on the assumption I am not going to be a pro-level racer, probably wont be riding months long cross country trips or going down off-road mountain trails at speeds that would lead me needing to carry a parachute just in case. Then I set out to find out where to test ride the top 3 of the 11. I soon discovered I was in the wrong city for that. One lone shop in the 3rd largest city in the US had any recumbent trikes. I went there and they had 5 on hand. TerraTrikes , CatTrikes and also had a Sun Trike that was never on my list. Months before, when I first got interested in the idea of a trike I stopped in and rode an Industrial Bicycles Phoenix tadpole, I didn't love it and I still felt I didn't know enough at that point anyway. They had an Ice Trice up on a display they wouldn't let anyone touch (maybe it belonged to a customer?). Well I told them I likely wanted to buy one and would love a test ride, they took my number and said they would call when they had one. They never called. When I returned 3 months later I had the Ice trikes, TerraTrike Cruiser, and the Trident Stowaway II on my mind for purchase. However they no longer got in the Ice Trikes unless special ordered they told me. I knew they weren't going to have the Trident trike based on my web searching. So I got in a test ride on the one they had that was on my list. The TerraTrike Cruiser.

It was great, comfortable, handled well, dealt fine with grass, gravel in a hard turn with braking and seemed to work well on inclines (if the gear was set in advance) The boom was a bit loose and wiggled a little, but that was just sloppy assembly that I could ignore. But the guys in the shop seemed to not really know much about what they were selling and possibly irritated that I was interested in buying something. Every time I've been in there in the last couple of years I've left disappointed, empty handed and wondering why the staff was all new again. So I said good-bye to Planetary Cycles again and resolved to find a place that had what I wanted and was interested in selling it to me.

I found a place in Austin that looked promising, and a possible place in Dallas that might work for some other trikes on my list. But the place that seemed to be the right place to go was Utah Trikes. They have everything and more. And I mean more, check out their site. They do a lot of custom modifications and add-ons. They also have a very big inventory of trikes on hand, their website says 150-175 so how could there be a better place. I had clearance from the wife to buy up to a pretty high end Ice and I work for an airline so could get a plane ticket for standby to Salt Lake City. All it would cost me is the hotel and car rental. Certainly worth making the right choice. So I started looking at flight schedules.

And looking, and looking. Apparently flights from IAH to SLC are pretty full most of the time. I either had to book a red-eye, stay several days and book a similar flight back of find another option. Buying a plane ticket seemed a bit pricey for a test ride, and driving works out to a little over 24 hours of drive time one way. So I planned a road trip to Austin with a friend that never happened. I kept doing "research" and then got distracted with the holidays. But then one afternoon I looked at UtahTrikes.com before heading out for lunch and saw they were having a sale. They had almost everything that I was interested in on sale for the Thanksgiving weekend. A good sale too. By the end of lunch I had resolved to buy a TerraTrike Cruiser and had Ashley Guy on the phone. The prices were so good I also bought a Sidewinder Roadrunner for my wife. I had them add what I think are going to be some great customizations to both of them (mostly my Cruiser). More on that when it arrives later this week.

Whats wrong with a two wheel bike?

So why not just buy a bike at the local department store? Well first I already have a perfectly serviceable mountain bike. I don't ride it because its uncomfortable at best and painful most of the time. To make matters worse as I've gotten a little older my doctor tells me I am developing "spinal arthritis" being hunched over on a bike is unpleasant and bumps in the road are painful. And back pain can last for weeks. So I started riding less. More couch sitting has led to a few extra pounds, that leads to even less riding. I'm not disabled, I can still toss my daughter in the air, but I'm not superman anymore. I want to be that man again. Or as close as possible for my age.

When I was younger I was a crazy bike rider. Even knocked myself unconscious on one downhill crash. Oh the stupidity of youth. Standard weight lifting is something I can't do much anymore so I had to let the gym memberships go. Like that old Queensryce song Best I can I want to meld the man in the chair with the man in my dreams. For the song writer that was to "write for a magazine" For me that is take this pudgy damaged man and loose weight and return some of the vitality and strength of say ten years ago. So how do I meld the man in the chair with the one in my dreams? How do I "Return to Zero"? I bring the chair.

I had seen the old balding hippie with a ponytail riding a recumbent bicycle to the bookstore may times just like everyone else. That's the only people who bought those right? Old guys that look like George Carlin? Young, healthy people only rode road bikes or maybe mountain bikes or course, right? Well one day at a bike shop I sat on a recumbent tadpole trike for grins and the salesman offered a test ride on it. It was an expensive one I couldn't have afforded so I didn't ride one that day, but the idea was stuck in my head. I looked around on the web and found out there are a lot of recumbent trikes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and performance. So eventually I went back and asked to pedal one around one afternoon that I got off work early.

When I got back I took stock of what aches and pains it gave me. Oddly I only had one thing that was hurting, my cheeks were sore. I realized that I had such an enormous grim on my face the entire time I must have pulled a muscle. It was that much fun. And since that meant I could increase my activity level again with this I resolved to save up and get a good one. I started saving up...but what is a "good trike"? If I spent between $1000-$6000 I want to make sure I wasn't going to regret my purchase. So it was time to hit the Google and see what I needed to know to make a decision. I had to find out what are the possible choices? What did someone like me need? What to avoid? Is the most expensive the best? Or something in the middle? Can I ride one of these anywhere I can ride a regular bike of a given variety? Road, MTB, etc.

Well I came to multiple conclusions which I will write about next. But even those decisions were changed several times. All leading to my trike arriveing next week!

Opps, I didnt have the willpower.

My plan was that this would be a couple months of going through the decision process that lead me to my choice of trike, but a really good "Black Friday" deal at Utah Trikes finalized my last two decisions. I bought a TerraTrike Cruiser very much like the picture to the right. I spoke with Ashley Guy and in minutes he had all the customizations that I wanted arranged and it will be here in Houston by the end of next week!

I still plan to talk about the decision process up to this point. I spent about 2 months reading, test riding, and imagining all of the choices. Its just doing to take the blog a while to catch up since its starting where I made up my mind to buy a recumbent Trike. The day after I decided to create this blog a really great deal lead me to make the purchase two months earlier than planned.

I have planned a post all about Utah Trikes, but I'm going to say it now: They are the best place to learn about and buy Trikes and accessories.

Is this REALLY necessary?

Probably not, but I'm doing it anyway.

What exactly are you doing?

A semi random blog that is going to chronicle my attempt to roll back the last ten years or so healthwise. I have a lot of weight to lose to do that.

So go to the gym.

Not so easy to do with my back injury. Instead I'm getting a tricycle.

Umm...Ok? Your reverting to childhood?

Well technically I've never left childhood completely, but what I intend is to ride a recumbent tadpole trike. And here I plan to detail how I decided to do that, how I picked the right one for me, and how it works out. Probably lots of posts about customizations and accessories also. And before you ask if you've never seen a recumbent trike they look like below. A wide variety of shape, sizes, quality, cost, and performance.