[mebesaturday]

Hello all,
Let me first start with a little information about me. I'm 33yrs old, single, current location is Charleston South Carolina. I am a professional photographer and have a bad case of wanderlust.

My plans are as follow... Purchase a Recumbent in the next few months (before the fall oops maybe I should call it Autumn) Train for a long distance week trip (500 miles) from charleston to florida (my parents new house) Keeping in mind that I will be "stealth camping" most of the way. I will be leaving Charleston in Feb of 2009 for a 3 week vacation 1-2 weeks on bike.

I plan on also going on a cross country and possibly back (northern route over to the pacific and southern route back) in 2010 or 2011.

So what I need from you is help in selecting a bike because I have never owned a recumbent before. I have been looking into them for months now and with a budget of about $2000 Im kinda leaning towards a Lightning phantom. But Im still not sure. (I think I like the SWB short wheel base the best)

a few questions...

Can you tour on a trike? Much more rolling resistance? how safe? (I only ask because I feel they are kinda wide) How to people in cars treat you on the road ie. when they pass?

Trike vs SWB 2 wheeler? any opinions for cross country?

Loaded Rack and Panniers VS. Trailer/BOB?

What upgrades should I look at for the bike... I know the basics clipless pedals, computer, lights

thanks for your help
Joshua "Saturday"

also anyone in the Charleston area?

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[FatA**]

I did a intro review of my new Longbikes Slipstream. May want to look at that and consider a
LWB USS bike if you are planning on touring.

Personally (and no slight to trikes) I kinda wonder why you want a trike anyway. Is this a personal
preference thing, wieight thing, or what?

[rdmjr]

Check out http://www.crazyguyonabike.com for more information on touring on trikes or recumbents. In the left hand column there, the journals are sorted into categories by type of bike, including categories for both recumbents and trikes. In the trikes category, I especially enjoyed the Heidi Domeisen journals. I know there's another journal out there that I think would be more likely for me; I can't find it out there right now, but it's basically a guy who started from Viriginia, with a goal of Oregon. Somewhere around Louisville, KY, he realized it wasn't working for him and said the heck with it - he rented a van, loaded his gear and trike into it and drove to Oregon from there! He did then follow it up with a trip down the west coast to his mother's house in California, though. * EDIT * I found the journal I was thinking of, but it wasn't on crazyguyonabike - it's at http://www.astonishedhead.com/on_the_road.html - I would recommend NOT going to just astonishedhead.com, it takes forever to load the home page.
- Bob

[hold4d]

Joshua - Contact Scott at Tandems, Touring, and Recumbent Bike shop in Greenville, SC. You can e-mail him or his son Nathan from their web site. http://www.ttrbikes.com/ They can answer questions about LWB, SWB, and trikes and they have many bikes in stock for you to test ride. Go see them and TEST RIDE THEM! They might even know of a shop in the low country that has trikes that you can ride.

Test ride, test ride, test ride.

Good luck with the trip to Florida.

Jack in Columbia, SC.

[hold4d]

I am so glad to hear of another convert to recumbents in South Carolina.

Anyone else out there?

Jack

[megaman]

Can you tour on a trike? Much more rolling resistance? how safe? (I only ask because I feel they are kinda wide) How to people in cars treat you on the road ie. when they pass?


What upgrades should I look at for the bike... I know the basics clipless pedals, computer, lights



Last year a lady rode a Catrike across the US. Had a journal on crazyguyonabike. Her name was Lucinda Chandler, I believe.

My experience on the road with my trike is that cars give me much more room than they do with any other two wheeler.