Thread: Trike or Bike?
View Single Post
Old 09-07-10 | 12:36 PM
  #2  
adamrice's Avatar
adamrice
Senior Member
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 957
Likes: 205
From: Austin TX USA

Bikes: Bob Jackson 853 Arrowhead; Felt VR30; Kinesis UK RTD; Hujsak tandem

Trikes tend to be heavier (though you can find some bikes that weigh more than some trikes) and have higher rolling resistance (although this is a minor consideration in relation to aerodynamics). Trikes can flip if ridden injudiciously.

Bikes have more of a learning curve in figuring out how to balance on them. Some riders have reported that despite the disadvantages that trikes have on paper, the fact that you don't need to balance them makes them feel like less work to ride, but AFAIK, that hasn't been measured scientifically. You can go arbitrarily slow on a trike, so you can gear them way down and climb steep hills that would force you to bail out on a bike.

High-riding bent bikes can have a simpler chainline than just about any tadpole trike, but tadpole trikes have simpler chainlines than low-riding bikes.

You should test-ride as many options as possible.
adamrice is offline  
Reply