I bought one last year and love it. I have a bicycle as well, but use the Meridian often. I cycle around the neighborhood 3 or 4 times a week. I appreciate its stability, and it is a somewhat heavy cycle, so I like to think I am getting a bit of a workout even at slow speeds.
I had an issue recently with a few of the spokes breaking on the right rear wheel. It was only days until my warranty expired but Pacific Cycle honored the warranty and I'm getting a new wheel next week.
I ride my road bike also, but I guess for anyone who has more than one cycle, they each have their plusses. I use the road bike for longer rides, and my Meridian for my neighborhood rides.

Has the Meridian ever tried to tip over on you? Years ago (about 24) before I retired, I worked at a US Naval base. They would not allow you to drive your car on this base you had to park in lots outside the base and walk. However, you could check out a base bicycle and keep it as long as you wanted. You couldn’t leave the base with it and they did warn you that if it was lost or stolen it would be take out of your paycheck. If you had a flat or the bike need any repair you just turned it in got another one. They only had two types of bikes to choose from. A big, beach cruiser type (single speed) or a 3 wheeler like the Meridian. I checked out a 3 wheel one day just to see what it was like. Several times I almost turn that thing over. Especially at RR tracks and the base had lots of train tracks.
I noticed that Sam’s Club has a great price on the Meridian. I thought about buying it for my wife. She will never ride a two wheel again after she had a stroke. Then I recall how easy it was to tip over the one I rode and I am reluctant to buy it.

I occasionally take a street in my town that has train tracks, and never in this entire year has my Meridian felt like it was tipping over. That is one of the reasons I like it so much, because it is stable. On my usual route around the high school I will often stop and chat, I can rest my feet on the pedals and still feel secure.
I bought mine for a pretty good price at my local Walmart. They put it together for me for free (I even tried to tip the young man who assembled it and he refused, even though he went above and beyond, taking it out to the parking lot and putting it in my SUV)
The downside at Walmart is that one has to buy it through Walmart.com, unlike other bicycles which are available at my local Walmart store for inspection, the Meridian has to be ordered online.
My road bike which I got from Bikesdirect cost more, but the Meridian is to me every bit as valuable in its own way.

It's pretty typical of an "adult trike". Listed weight on one website is 77 pounds. That's a lot to push uphill so if you don't live in the flatlands you might opt for one that has 3 speeds instead of one. It has high seating for easy in and out access so yes it will be easier to tip than one with a lower center of gravity. That's simple physics. With only one speed you are unlikely to get the trike going so fast it will become unstable. Maybe GrandaddyBiker was able to get his going a lot faster than you do. Given the right conditions any trike can be tipped, even one with the seat 6" off the ground. I know from firsthand experience!

Many riders on this site will warn you that buying a bike assembled by a mass merchandiser like WalMart is a crap shoot. The guys who assemble them may have zero mechanical experience regarding bike assembly so sometimes pieces are missing and they are not assembled correctly. Good for you getting one that seems to be OK though the wheel should not have failed the way it did.

I have heard the spokes of the right rear wheel do fail for others, I am not sure of the nature of the problem.
The young man who assembled my bike is very experienced, we had a chance to talk and he knows quite a bit. There are customers (and I was one of them) who wait to have him do the assembly instead of others. I had to wait a few days extra for his service.
In any case, the warranty fully covered the issue, Pacific Cycle was quick to honor the warranty and their customer service people are very nice, my new wheel should be here Tuesday.

Most delta trikes put their power out through the right wheel. It would make sense that the right wheel would have spoke breakage if, as is probably the case, the wheel is under-tensioned. That would allow the wheel to flex when power is applied and eventually flexing spokes would break. If that's a common problem for that trike, it might be a good idea to take a new one to a bike shop to have the wheels tensioned and trued. It's a relatively small charge per wheel, and not something that a big-box store assembler is going to be capable of.

Thank you for the explanation. The Meridian is very reasonably priced and as I said, there were no problems with the warranty. The bike brand new I think cost around $250,(they are around $300 now at Walmart, but that includes the free assembly) a new wheel is $40. If tensioning was the explanation for all of the fails, one would think that the mfr would make sure tension was proper so they would not have to fork out $ during the warranty period for a new wheel.
Or perhaps your explanation is valid but I have used my trike more consistently than others? I have ridden it maybe 4 times a week for 45 minutes this entire year. I really enjoy riding it. My local terrain is completely flat so the fact that it has one speed has not been an issue.
What I find interesting is that during my rides I will sometimes see others on similar trikes, maybe 80% are seniors like myself. As I said in my previous posts I also have a bicycle I ride, but there is no question that the trike has a great appeal.

Dept-store-grade bikes are built down to a price. That necessitates machine-built wheels, which are hopefully somewhat true out of the box, but that's about it. Proper tensioning would increase the price. While $15 more per wheel doesn't sound like much, it would probably double or triple the cost of building the wheel. In other words, it is less expensive to replace broken wheels than it is to build them properly in the first place.

If my area is any indication of seniors using trikes, you are way ahead of the seniors where I live. I'm not in an age-restricted, "seniors-only" neighborhood but do live near a very large senior apartment complex. I ride the trail that runs along side it several times a week and can't recall seeing anyone on an adult trike using the trail to get to the nearby Walmart store where many of them shop. I frequently see electric wheelchairs or people using walkers. I know there is a group of about a dozen retired guys who ride recumbent trikes. Far more than trikes like the Meridian.
It might be good "insurance" to have a legitimate bike shop check the spoke tension on your replacement wheel before it gets installed. Then you know it is right. It's cheaper than buying the next wheel and less of a hassle.

You also might spend a few bucks to buy a bike computer. You can get them for as little as $5 one ebay New Waterproof Digital LCD Bicycle Computer Bike Speedometer Odometer US | eBay and they are simple to install. Then you can keep track of your miles. I do and it reminds me when I am getting lazy and need to go our riding

Thank you, I appreciate your info.

I try to ride for a minimum of 1 hour per day for 6 days. Then I take a rest day. I am fortunate in that I have some good streets without much traffic to ride on. I have actually seen Schwinn Meridians out on my rides, three to be exact. Two were in garages (garage door was open) and one was been ridden. There was a couple out riding together. He was on the Meridian and she was on a mountain bike. She was always way ahead and keep stopping for him to catch up. I think the Meridian's price is what is what is making them so popular.
I wish I could get my sister-in-law to consider one. She is 85 years old and walks about 5 miles every morning. Some mornings she takes her bike. She makes me real nervous on that bike. At that age if you fall it is easy to break bones. I told her about the Meridian at Sam's and she laughed at me. She said that she was not going to be seen on a tricycle. I told her it was a Adult Bike not a child's tricycle. Even though I almost turned over the one that I rode, I would still feel better if she was on something that she did not have to balance.

Grandaddy,
I admire your schedule, I think I will try to work up to six days a week also. I think you are right about the popularity of Meridians and their affordability. I have of course seen pricier trikes and beautiful, quality recumbents but they are not in the budget for me right now, fortunately until the spoke issue, the Meridian was perfect for my needs, and will be perfect again as soon as the new wheel arrives. Lots of seniors like me are on fixed incomes and the Meridian is affordable and fun, and gets them out and riding.
Everyone is different, and if your SIL does not want to be seen on a trike then that's they way she feels. I don't worry too much about my Meridian and appearances, it is good exercise, I stop and chat with people, and it has been a positive experience for me.

UPS will hopefully deliver the wheel today. I will try putting it on tomorrow morning, hopefully will be riding tomorrow afternoon!

This thread on Schwinn Meridian has got me to thinking that maybe I will try to find one that my wife can test ride to see if she can ride one. Unlike my sister-in-law, my wife would not care what anyone thought about seeing her on a 3 wheel. I am now 71 and at my age, I truly don't care what people think when they see me riding a woman's bike. At the beginning of the year in January, I was having some health problems. I could not get my leg over the crossbar on a man's bike. When I went to ride, I had to put my bike next to the house steps and get on it that way. When I finished my ride I couldn't get off the bike without laying the bike down on the ground. One day when I finished my ride I fell trying to lay the bike down. I was so upset, I went into the house and told my wife that I was going to the bike shop. I went to the bike shop and told the sales person that I wanted to buy a bike and to show me the women's bikes in the biggest frame size he had. He showed me a Trek Verve bike. He told me I could test ride it in the parking lot. I told him there was no need, if I could get on and off of it without falling that's all I cared about. The low step through of the Trek Verve made getting off and on easy, so I bought it. How here is the thing, I have fully recovered from my health problems and I can now ride my other 2 men's bikes but I don't want to. The Trek Verve has become my favorite bike. The fact that it is a woman's bike doesn't bother me at all. I'll try to upload a pic of it.

That's a nice looking bike

You might check your local Craigslist.


It should arrive Friday, that was a good suggestion!!! I'm going to put it on my bicycle though not on the Meridian. I'm perfectly happy riding 2 different cycles every day, I wonder how those folks who have 4 or 5 bikes decide what to ride.