newbert

If you ride alone, I'm just curious how often you encounter another tadpole rider. In my neck of the woods, they are really few and far between. In six months, I've encountered only three of them.

Moe Zhoost

5 years ago it was rare, but lately I encounter them more often, every few rides or so mostly on local mups.

Darth Lefty 

There’s a dealership two burbs west and a popular trail joining us so it’s pretty often.

linberl

I see at least one every day on the bike path, and maybe 6-10 or more on the weekends. What's interesting is now I am seeing a few on the city streets - for a while i was the only one (it's my car, too). Previous I only encountered them on separated pathways,

rydabent

Here in Lincoln it is getting to be more often all the time. The local bent shop is selling all sorts of different kinds of trikes. Several are now e-trikes, and a few with fat tires.

rydabent

A couple of years ago due to the big epidemic the local bent shop could hardly keep trikes in stock. That is why now I see far more on the trails. Unlike DF bikes and mainly mountain bikes that most regulars bike shops direct first time buyers to, most of the new trike buyers are still riding them. So many adult first time buyers only ride the mountain bikes a couple dozen times, find they are a pain is the rump, hang them up in the garage, and 5 years later sell them off for pennies on the dollar at their garage sale.

SoCaled 

NEVER! I have only seen one other in my neck of the woods, but saw them while driving.

Trakhak

Which is great for us vampires waiting to scoop up those road and MTB bikes for pennies on the dollar! I'm looking at Craigslist far more often these days for exactly that reason.

rydabent

Good hunting.

linberl

just recently i have now started seeing them used like i use mine - as street transportation. There were 2 locked up at trader joe's the other day! They are starting to leave the trails and pathways and move onto the roadways. I have mixed feelings about that - currently
cars give me a ton of space because they're not used to seeing trikes on the road. i worry that when it becomes common they will treat us like they treat 2 wheel bikes and drive too close, etc.

Leisesturm

Be at peace. I am pretty certain that cars give trikes more space because they perceive that trikes need more space. That isn't going to change even if there are more bikes on the roads. That also means that they give bikes less space because they perceive that bikes need less space! And mostly they are correct. IOW the current passing distances that give many bikers such angst aren't ever likely to change (increase).

linberl

Well, where I live there is a 3 foot passing law. And most driver don't give bikes the mandatory 3 feet, unfortunately. And there's no enforcement, of course. Sigh.

Bob Ross

When I'm cycling around the Greater New York City Metropolitan Area I'll maybe see one trike every six months...maybe.
When I'm cycling around Tucson AZ I'll see a dozen or more every single day. And probably two or three on nearly every group ride I join.

rydabent

With right at 1/3 of the population now over 50, trikes are really the solution to those that want to cycle. Again as we all know, comfort and view are the great plusses of trikes. Third would be the ease of use, since you do not have to unclip at ever stop.

linberl

not have to put a foot down has actually made me a much nicer more tolerant and lawabiding rider!

Leisesturm

We don't all live in Lincoln, NE! A trike is not the most practical commute vehicle in close-in Portland, OR. I've seen only three people attempting it in over 12 years here. The vast majority trike on rail-trails, on weekends and Holiday weekends. That isn't me, so I am going to be on two wheels for as long as the vestibular canals hold out. At 64 they aren't even close to packing up. You do you and the rest of us will do what we will. As we all must.

Leisesturm

I don't need or want 3'. I want not to be hit! I'd love not to be passed at 30mph. It was wrong for cycling advocates to push for unreasonable passing distances given the congestion on most urban and suburban streets and roads. But now its ingrained in too much of the cycling community as an unmet need. What should have been done instead is set and enforce sane passing speeds like is done in Europe. 19mph is the most speed differential EU drivers can pass cyclists at. Why 19mph? Because it has been determined that, even in a worst case scenario of a rear quarter contact, the cyclist is likely to survive. I mention it only because you brought it up. I'll return the thread to regularly scheduled programming already in progress ...

linberl

Maybe it depends where you live but I don't ride on streets where cars are going 30mph to pass usually - too much traffic. So the passing distance makes much more impact (no pun intended) on riding than speed. And interestingly i get that distance from cars on my trike
but not on 2 wheelers. I think they are so used to 2 wheel bikes they don't see them anymore where a trike is still unique. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dead if someone hits me going 19mph; I'm small and old, lol.

rydabent

But but I thot Calif was supposed to be progressive. How can they be without bents???

Leisesturm

No progressive would ever say something so unenlightened so you cannot possibly be one. But there you are, a bent owner. A bent lover. By your logic Portland, OR arguably one of the most prominent Progressive bastions, should be awash in bents of all kinds, and while I have seen mind numbingly large amounts of bicycles of every description, I've seen just a handful of bent bikes and just three trikes while out and about. <shrug> ...

rydabent

Among us many trikers, we think that drivers think we are on some sort of handicap device. That is why they give us so much passing room. They dont want to see their picture on the front page of the paper saying they ran over a handicap person.

Personally I get much more passing clearance than on my bike. Most wait and go clear over to the other lane when passing.

rydabent

That would seem logical, since stopping still clipped in is no big deal. No one like do the the Laugh in stop, where you didnt get unclipped fast enough.

rollagain

Could the price disparity have something to do with it?

linberl

I think it's because you don't think about recumbents as long as DF bikes suit your needs. i certainly did not. It's only when discomfort or health or other reasons send you out in search of other options that bents even hit your radar. I'd seen a few while i was still riding DF and thought "oh that's nice, that person has a bad back or whatever and can still ride". At least as far as trikes go. When I saw 2 wheel bents, I usually thought about how i'd fall over every time I tried to ride lol. You don't fix it if it isn't broken. once it is broken, you get a bent, haha.

rollagain

That certainly wasn't the case with me. I've wanted a recumbent delta trike from the first time I knew they existed, and maybe before that, and back then I'd been riding uprights and enjoying them a great deal. I just couldn't afford one; they all cost about as much as a good used car back then--if you could find one. I've still never seen one in the wild, though I don't get around much. For that matter, I've never seen a tadpole trike in the wild yet either, and the only recumbent I've seen being used was on a rail-trail; some guy on a Rans LWB model.

So maybe my brain is wired a little differently, but aside from that, you can't go into most bike shops these days without seeing at least one tadpole prominently displayed, so if the upright riders aren't thinking about 'bents, maybe it's because they aren't looking.

And that brings the argument back to price again: for about $600 you can come out of your LBS with a very decent, reliable upright in the style of your choice, but it'll cost you twice that for an entry-level tadpole. These days, I think a lot of the people planning to spend that much are going for an e-bike instead.