Commuter recumbent bike or trike that folds
Hi all,
I've become fascinated with the recumbent bike and I've now begun saving up for one.
Trouble is that it seems hard to find a model that would fit my needs, so I would appreciate any advice from this community based on cost and availability.
I'm looking for a bike with an IGH, fenders and rear rack. I'm used to a 3 speed IGH on my commuting folding bike, which lets me average around 12 to 15kmph to work and back. A wider gear range (5 speed maybe) would be preferable so that I can take advantage of the bent aerodynamics.
The bike has to be fast folding in under 20 seconds at least. That means just quick release handles I guess. Removing components may be inconvenient.
I do not care about bike weight. My current everyday folding bike weighs in at around 17kgs all in and it makes no difference to me.
I do not mind either a bike or trike. My concern is availability, convenience of folding, the commuter setup, gear range and cost.
In my research I've found the Evolve trike, which can be outfitted with commuting features but only available sometime next year. This seems alright since I don't plan on buying immediately. But the bike is quite expensive!
IGH recumbents seem rare. Would it be technically feasible to purchase a commuting recumbent with derailleur and change to IGH later? Would this likely be cheaper to do?