Advice from Trike People needed

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Advice from Trike People needed

Postby TPMcGinty » Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:21 pm

OK Trike people. I think I have narrowed down my choices for a Trike down to the following three entry level Trikes. Any opinions, advice, and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.


http://www.terratrike.com/cruiser.php

http://www.recumbentusa.com/trike.html

http://www.actionbent.com/tadpoletrikeal.html
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Postby rasp » Sun Aug 17, 2008 12:00 pm

the Trike II and the Action bent use tube to run the chain through and it would seem to me that would be quite noisy as well as a good spot to collect dirt and an extreme wear point. i am contemplating picking up a terra trike cruiser as it does not use tubes to guide the chain and besides, they are only a few hours from me. there is more info on terra trikes at http://www.utahtrikes.com/
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Postby Alan Wood » Sun Aug 17, 2008 12:13 pm

I have been thinking about recumbents myself. One recumbent specific site that is pretty good is bent rider online http://www.bentrideronline.com/ go to the message board->specialty discussions->trikes. Several other worthwile areas there as well. Also has some reviews of trikes.
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Postby Dewayne_Mellen » Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:09 pm

I've got a terrtrike and love it. The only problem that I've had with it is that I had to replace the pedals with a clipless system and get some bike shoes. Without them after riding my feet would hurt, but the bike shoes took care of that.

If you do get a terratrike, replace the water bottle holder that they come with, with a 4 inch PVC drain and short length of PVC pipe. It holds water bottles better then the ones that you would normally use on a bike.
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Postby rasp » Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:34 am

i just did a test ride on saturday at whizwheels. the terratrike cruiser is a great ride. so i ordered one :)
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Postby TPMcGinty » Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:46 am

rasp wrote:i just did a test ride on saturday at whizwheels. the terratrike cruiser is a great ride. so i ordered one :)


Congrats! I might be getting my Trike in the next couple of weeks. I still haven't decided which.
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Postby TheBizMan » Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:07 am

I have a EasyRacers EZ-3. I have had it for 4 years and never had any problems. My wife had back surgery and was able to start riding after 6 months with no pain.

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What about the rest of us?

Postby gyroguy » Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:01 pm

All these trikes look great to me, except for the prices! And while they look comfortable, jazzy, and modern... what's the advantage that makes it worth paying $1400 for one of them? This isn't a slam. I really don't know, and can't imagine paying that much money for a bicycle. I could buy a used truck for that.

Whatever happened to the old trikes, that had a 3-speed rear end, a regular bicycle seat, regular bicycle handlebars, and looked like a bicycle with three wheels -- two of them in back?

If what's on this thread are trikes, what were the old ones called? Where would I find a used one? How much?

Anybody in N Texas have one of the old ones they want to sell?
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Postby TheBizMan » Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:28 pm

I had two EZ-3's (see the picture above) and only paid $900 each. Sold one after 3 years for $750 to a friend. The old three wheelers that you are talking about, tipped over easly and were very hard to pedal. The new ones, like mine, are the rebumbent type. Very stable and better for your back and neck. Mine has 21 gears and runs nornally at about 14-17mph. The new ones run about $950 and you can sometimes find them on CraigsList or Ebay cheaper. The others, like you said, run $1400 to over $5000. There are also two styles. Mine is call a Delta and the other one is called a TadPole. The TadPole has two wheels in front and one in the back. You kinda sit inbetween the two front wheels. I can't ride a upright two wheeler anymore. No balance and it hurts in places I won't mention.
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Postby rasp » Sat Sep 20, 2008 11:22 am

TPMcGinty wrote:
rasp wrote:i just did a test ride on saturday at whizwheels. the terratrike cruiser is a great ride. so i ordered one :)


Congrats! I might be getting my Trike in the next couple of weeks. I still haven't decided which.


wondering if you have desided yet?

going on monday to pick mine up :)
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Postby kirkman » Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:18 am

I have a Tera trike Cruiser and love it.
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Postby Nitetimes » Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:03 am

kirkman wrote:I have a Tera trike Cruiser and love it.
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I'm sittin' here looking at that picture and I gotta ask....How the hell do you get in and out of that thing?????? I frequently have a hard time getting in and out of a chair or a lower car (actually anything lower than an SUV) and I can't imagine crawling up out of that. Seems like you'd need to park under a chin-up bar.
Kinda like the idea but I'm afraid once I got in it I'd be stuck there. :roll:
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Postby kirkman » Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:29 am

You put the breaks on and stand up/sit down with the pedal bar between your legs. It's not that hard. If you have a hard time getting up from a low chair then it's not something you would want.
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Postby Nitetimes » Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:36 am

kirkman wrote:You put the breaks on and stand up/sit down with the pedal bar between your legs. It's not that hard. If you have a hard time getting up from a low chair then it's not something you would want.


Thanks, that's good to know. Never payed enough attention to the way they sat before I guess. Well that kinda rules out one more cool thing I can take off my list of things to build. :(
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Postby Greg M » Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:07 pm

My Trick for getting out of my trike is to keep just a little bit of speed going when I stop, plant my feet and let momentum help me up and out. Just remember not to plant your feet too soon :O

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