Three-wheel recumbents

Hi,

I am not too knowledgeable about recumbents but if you can get Alaskavan (on this site) he probably has a wealth of knowledge....He has a "tadpole" trike I think FWIW

good luck in your search!

Andrew
 
trikes

Who sells a good recumbent trike? The ones at the local bike shops go for no less than $1700.

Catrike and Terratrike are US Made. Greenspeed is Aussy made.HP Velotechnik, Trice and Hase Kettwiesel are all from Europe. Sun makes the cheapest trikes. You did not specify if you wanted a Delta recumbent trike[Two wheels in back ,one in front] or a tad pole[two wheels in front and one in the back] WWW.hostelshoppe.com has all of the above trikes minus the Sun trikes If I were going to motorize a recumbent trike I would do a tad pole. Either a terratrike or a Sun tad pole. The deltas can flip when making a high speed turn
 
Terratrike and Wizwheels make some of the lower-priced tadpole trikes (recumbent trikes with two wheels in the front).

Sun makes the lowest-priced recumbent delta trikes in the US, at $800-$900 or so for the lower-end ones. Sun has phased in some newer bike and trike models this year, so the older ones may get blown out at lower prices; if you are willing to pay new prices, it is worth checking into at least. The Sun old-style delta trikes seem to have frequent problems with the rear-axle cartridge bearings being ****. A few people I have heard of (online) have spent their own money to put in better bearings than what Sun uses.

The next delta trikes I know of above the Sun cost at least 2X more.

KMX makes some cheaper models. These don't have full-range gearing but with an engine doing most of the work that may not matter much-
http://www.kmxus.com/models/tornado/
-out of stock until September.
KMX trikes are built heavier and don't seem to perform as well as other recumbent trikes, in pedaling use. KMX tends to stress the ruggedness of what they sell.

-------

There are a few companies that make upright delta trikes (granny-style trikes) but the recumbents are generally way, way more comfortable to ride.
~
 
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Delta or other

Hey, thanks Andrew! I was eyeing the tadpole design, but i could also go for the one wheel up front. I'm gonna research it even more. Hopefully get one for under a thousand.

Sounds like the Sun trikes are more my price range, DougC. I think I've seen the KMX trikes before in some catalog that was sent me...it had one gear. With the Sun trike, I can upgrade the rear axle bearings myself. Thanks for the info ;)

Hi RecumbentBill...either the tadpole or the delta...so long as it's recumbent. I didn't take into consideration the flippability of a delta design. The tadpole design has the one rear wheel...perfect for motorizing :cool: Thanks sir!
 
Whizwheelz Path - $999. (Very similar to my Zoomer. Very good platform for motorizing.)
Utah Trikes is a good source.
 
Wheel size

One thing to corn-sidder:) is wheel size when thinking about motorizing a recumbent trike. The sun delta trikes mainly have 20" rear wheels with [depending on model] a 16 or a 20" front wheel. The 20" rear will eliminate a GEBE kit while the stanton can be fitted. Most of the tad pole trikes use ihe 20" wheel for front and rear. There are also some tad poles that use a 26 or 700cc rear wheel and some use 16" fronts too. A friend of mine had a whiz wheel trike. On some of our recumbent club rides I would notice while riding in behind his trike that the rear wheel would flex/lean in the frame to the left. With a loaded rear rack it leaned more. I can not imagine how a rack mount would do. I do know that motorizing a recumbent rocks. When I put a GEBE Tanaka 40 on my Long wheel base RANS V2 with a Mueller fairing I could easily reach a top speed of 45 in a comfortable but scary way[1" tires and motors = danger]
 
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Somewhere around here there's a picture of a trike where a piece of a 5 gallon bucket was used in place of the Gebe sheave. The owner said he had a lot of trouble free miles on it. As for wheel flexing, I have almost 2,000 miles on my trike and have had no problem.
 
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