O.K., as I age I am getting the usual aches and pains that come with it, and it is starting to interfere with my bike riding enjoyment. So now I have been looking at recumbent trikes and have the usual sticker shock that bent newbs get I'm sure.

My question is this, is the recumbent hierarchy the same as with upright bikes? What I mean is, are there the same chasing after high dollar bike bling that goes on in recumbents too?

On uprights I was never tempted to buy like, say, a lightspeed rather than sticking with a mediocre mass produced bike like my tried and true Ibex. I enjoyed the ride immensely and never really felt like I was missing anything.

So, if I were to get something in the range of a cheaper Sun or Terratrike I wouldn't be getting the equivalent a Walmart upright would I ?

Is there a recumbent trike to just stay away from as in being shoddy Chinese or American crap?

I just like to ride bikes. There is no room for both ego and myself when I ride.