Tricycle for Wife
 

My wife, never learned to bicycle as a kid (grew up on an island without roads). Although I taught her to ride she was terrified every time and hasn't been on a bicycle for 25 years. Today she saw someone on a tricycle and said she thought maybe she could handle that and might be a good way to get some exercise. There are some hills around so some gears might be helpful (mostly, nothing over 3% for where she would ride). Any suggestions? I don't mind spending some money and want something reliable. I'm a good bike mechanic, but I don't want to be continually tweaking junk. I think she would be more likely to want an upright one than a recumbent. Suggestions?

I forgot to mention: She is 4'10".

My son is currently riding an upright 3 speed due to balance issues - post brain surgery.
The bad thing about the upright trikes is any cornering or side slope can be a tipping danger due the the high centre of gravity. I have to teach him to always approach slopes (even curbs) at 90 degrees etc.
It's working well for him to use to gain muscle strength and such, but I would not want to use it for any "riding" per say. Grocery getting etc. is fine, but that's really it's purpose in my opinion.

Also recumbents are more likely to be equipped with more gears. I'm not a bent expert though, so I'll let bent riders chime in on advantages as they see it.

Hi,
I think Gerald nailed it. Recumbents will be more stable and have better gearing. If you think she wants to be more upright, check out delta recumbent trikes (1 wheel in front, 2 in back) which are higher than tadpole trikes (2 in front, 1 in back, what 10 wheels just scored for himself). It's worth visiting BROL and looking around to see what people are riding.
Good luck, Charles

After buying my wife 3 different bikes over the years and having her only ride them a few times, I pretty much gave up on having her ride with me. Then I bought a Terratrike Cruiser hoping she would like it and ride with me, and she does. In the first few months she rode the trike further than the other 3 bikes combined.

Greenspeed Anura or Hase Kettweisel. The Greenspeed's quite a bit less expensive (relatively speaking), the Hase handles better. Both are trikes with 2 wheels in back. The seat height is in between what you're used to and what you typically see on the 2 wheels in front trikes. Hills are easy because you can gear down and go as slow as you want with no instability issues. 4'10" is not an issue. Both have good quality components.

Storage is interesting. Simply pop-a-wheelie and the storage footprint is only about 6 sq ft.

Sounds like a fair trade, depending on the condition of both.

Your wife's and mine both share similar experiences with bikes. She already has a three wheel upright, it was OK, but hurt her sit bones. The LBS has a trike recumbent, thought it would be perfect for my wife. Only problem, she doesn't like speed and the idea of heading downhill scares her.

Maybe your wife would enjoy a Sun recumbent trike.
Sun Bicycles - Product

My teenage son rides a Terratrike Tour, he had been rubbernecking recumbent trikes for some time. When he outgrew his last bike, we got him a trike. He likes it a lot and rode it on tour with us last year. Recently, however I've noticed his mother taking it for a spin around more and more often. Somehow I think the trike is going to end up in her bike stable.

Just got the boss lady on a Terratrike Rover today. TerraTrike She liked it overall but we have some issues we must resolve. Very wide hips overlap the seat frame so checking into additional padding. Also have to make sure it will fit into basement storage in our RV after some disassembling.

She can ride a 2 wheeler but due to a brain injury I feel more at ease with her having a stable platform should vertigo strike or some other event.

Sounds like a promising start. I completely agree that trikes are brilliant solutions for many, many people.

This comes up every now and then. I always ask: what kind of trike, trike, trike, trike, trike, trike, trike, trike, trike or trike do you have in mind?

My wife and I both have recumbent trikes - I've got a Sun EZ-Tad SX and she's got an ICE QNT. My wife is 5'2" has problems with her neck, so she basically tried every trike they had (6 different models, from 4 different brands) and the QNT was the one that felt the best for her. Both of our trikes are tadpoles (2 wheels in front), and both are fairly low to the ground. The Sun was about $1200; the QNT was $4500. It's worth having her try out multiple brands and styles of trikes; it's amazing how similar two trikes can look and how differently they ride/feel!
-Bob

My wife has two prosthetic hips and refuses to ride an upright bike because she has this fear of falling and injuring her hips. Several years ago, she bought a Sun EZ 3 recumbent delta trike. It actually got her out riding and she enjoyed it for about a year before it no longer worked for her. We got rid of the Sun and she bought a Performer FX which is a tadpole trike. This worked out much better for her but it was a racing trike and after two years, the extra low, and aggressively positioned, hardshell seat started to bother her back and neck. Last month, she bought a new ICE Sprite 26 and has ridden it more in the last month than she rode her other trikes for any given month.

A few things that we have noticed about the difference in the trikes: While a delta trike (one front-two rear) is easier to get in and out of and will give you the most upright seating position, the trikes are much heavier than tadpole trikes. Her Sun weighed in at 58 pounds vs 32 pounds for the Performer and ICE. Unless you have a pickup, a regular van or a trailer, delta trikes are more difficult to transport. They are also more awkward to handle than tadpoles. When riding, the rider can't see where the rear wheels are and riding on paths or streets often causes the rear wheel to go off the path or hit a curb when riding. This was my wife's biggest complaint with the Sun. The weight distribution on a delta, puts the weight mostly to the rear of the trike. Going down an incline (depending on grade and speed) the trike was more difficult for her to steer since there was little weight on the smaller front wheel. It was also more difficult for her to go up any incline because all the weight was in the back of the trike and she had the extra weight of the trike, the resistance of two drive wheels and and extra pulley system vs a lighter weight trike and one direct drive wheel.

With the tadpole trikes the biggest disadvantage that they have is that they are a bit more difficult to get in and out of because of the lower seating position. However, my wife has no issues doing so even with her limited mobility issues. Some of the big advantages of tadpole trikes is a lower center of gravity which allows for better steering at faster speeds. They are usually half the weight of delta trikes and are much easier to handle because of the difference in weight distribution. I can load my wife's trike in the van or my pickup by myself. It took two of us to load the Sun. Some tadpole trikes are foldable making them easier to transport and store. My wife's ICE is foldable and takes up half as much space when folded. Tadpole trikes have easier and more stable steering since it uses two larger wheels (usually 20") over one smaller wheel (16" for the Sun). With a lighter frame, better weight distribution and a single drive wheel, it is much easier to pedal a tadpole trike over a delta trike. With all the surgeries my wife has had on her hips, there isn't a lot of muscle mass in her thighs for her to build up. The most she was able to do on her Sun was 7-8 mph. (10 on an extremely good day). On her ICE, she is doing between 10-12 mph average with up to 15 mph max speeds on mostly flat terrain.

There are several manufacturers of recumbent trikes and it will all come down to what features you are looking for and how much you are willing to spend on a trike. My wife's ICE was around $4K but it is worth every penny we paid for it if it gets her out of the house and getting some exercise rather than sitting around the house or going shopping. Here is a link of recumbent bike manufacturers that may help you find something she might be interested in. Good luck in your hunt and hope you find something she will enjoy riding.

I think trikes are more common in the recumbent world; in fact they seem to be the most popular segment of the 'bent market. The Catrike Pocket is made for shorter people.

Them Brits even race upright delta trikes. But from the looks of them, they're almost all custom.
Lightweight Racing and Touring Tricycles and Conversions
Probably harder to throw a leg over than a recumbent trike, too.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I don't know if you saw my other post about the Osteoporosis. I got that bad news after I started this thread. If my femur neck really is in danger of fracturing fairly easily in a fall then maybe a recumbent tricycle (or a regular recumbent) may make sense for me too. At least it would seem a lot more difficult to fall hard on the hip from a recumbent trike than from my upright two wheeler.

http://www.seatofpants.u-net.com/HIG...ermormance.jpg

Just dreaming . . .

the terratrike tour or tour 2 is a very good recumbent trike, stable and has linkage steering or indirect steering kind of like power steering. i don't like direct steering on recumbent trikes. the adult tricycles can tip over easy if you make a sharp turn peddling fast. they are fun to ride if you ride slow however i would only buy an adult tricycle if it had 3 speeds minimum, single speeds you cant ride up steep hills.

One of the better recumbent trike companies is ICE Trikes. They make the Adventure trike which sets higher and can be equipped just about anyway your wife would like it. Check them out at ICEtrikes.co/
I own an ICE Sprint and really love and enjoy it.