Originally Posted by
greatbasin
I think the width of the trike concerns me as much as the visibility. It might just be a mental thing, but when I'm riding my bike, it seems like the cars and big trucks pass very close. When there's a soft shoulder, I'm riding on the edge of the lane. A trike takes up more lane than a bike with panniers.
This is one highway I ride. On the bike, I've usually got the tires just to the right of the white line in that narrow shoulder. Big rigs pass me on the left. If they've got the space, they'll edge over the double-yellow line and give me more room. If there's traffic in the other lane, we get tight. If I had a trike, I would be all the way into the lane.
We passed a couple on a recumbent tadpole trike pulling a trailer outside Ennis, MT on tour. Very long and wide rig, FWIW, and we had to wait for an uphill to pass them. They had a flag on the trailer and one on the trike. They were so unusual and conspicuous that everyone on the road saw them. I wouldn't worry about being visible unless you were in eastern Kentucky (you are in a maze of twisty little roads, all different).