I've been thinking about getting a recumbent trike, for riding on easy trails and fire roads, etc. I've been looking at such makes as Greenspeed, Catrike, and ICE. I'm not looking for a handcycle, just something with a more relaxed posture and stable orientation (just got my halo off and apparently my cervical spine is fused from c5 - c7 in front and c5-t1 in back).

I've yet to ride one of course, and according to my neurosurgeon I'll have to wait about 3 months before I can take a test ride. But I guess in the meantime I've been doing a bit of research. Any opinions or experiences with these things ?

Thanks for any info !
-Rob

From what people tell me, the Catrikes and WindCheetas are some of the better tadpole trikes. The Greenspeeds are popular, but I've heard that the other two have better handling and stability. Test-riding as much as you can will be the way to go. Velo Vision magazine (out of the UK) is heavily into trikes. However, getting their mags can be pretty tricky/expensive. Test-ride whatever you can.

Hi Rob
I'm also considering getting a trike and have recently tested a couple of makes: ICE and Kettleweisel (Hase). Both seem well constructed, if a little unforgiving when off tarmac. As the previous poster wrote, try to test ride a few to see what suits you best. There is a free downloadable edition of velo vision magazine which details the options;hopefully following link will take you to it (otherwise try their site). I've not yet taken the plunge as I can't find anywhere suitable to ride a trike in London (given the low position, I don't fancy riding it on the public highway, and most paved tracks are inaccessible for trikes).
There are also sites for trike
regards
Pat


http://www.velovision.co.uk/cgi-bin/show_c...pl?storynum=559

Thanks guys. I've been asking around on recumbent forums about these things ... seems that off-road they transmit a lot of shock, unlike a regular bike where you can use your knees as suspension .. I may try test riding these in Feb/March anyhow - hopefully my neurosurgeon will say it's ok to ride a bike again then.

For what it's worth, I have a Catrike Pocket and I love it. A little difficult on loose terrain, but other wise great! Fast and smoth ride!

Sweet :)

I'm back to riding a regular / upright bike (carefully). On one of my bikes I installed a riser stem for a more comfortable position, since my neck has less range of motion than before.

I hope this thread can be a bit of a resource to other folks who are considering this option though.

Hi, does anyone know of any racing associations for recumbents which could be inclusive of disabled people?

British Human Power Club hold events that are inclusive of disabled people - their events are certainly open to handcyclists

Just to echo Russ, BHPC hold races which are open to all. They are also a good source of information and opportunity to see and try different kit.

Check out the KMX Kart.

I got Greenspeed GTO recumbent trike 6 months ago.
Great exercise for my legs now when I got the pedals sorted.
I have drop foot on both of my feet and ordinary pedals would not work so I made my own design.

First idea was to use rollerblading shoes with clipless pedals. I just removed wheels out of old rollerblading shoes and installed my old MTB clipless pedals on the bottom. The pedals were closer to the heels than usually to allow maximum power transfer.
They were too hot and bad to walk on so I had to find something else.

Secondly I removed the toeclips out of the pedals the trike came with and change them to the other side of pedals so the toeclips became heel cups. that worked better but too much flopping around.

Thirdly, me and my brother, while I was visiting in Finland, invented new type of drop shaft pedals. that did not work for me in my recumbent but was a success for my brother in his MTB. After dreaming of becoming rich with the idea I found out that some Ｍｒ　Ｒａｍｓｅｙ　ｈａｄ　ｉｎｖｅｎｔｅｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｉｄｅａ　１１０　ｙｅａｒｓ　ａｇｏ．　
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