Catrike recumbant trike?

My father is a lifelong bicyclist. He rode every day until about two years ago, when he had a mild stroke. He has no paralysis, but his balance never came back and he hasn't been able to ride since. He talks about how much he misses riding all the time. He rented a Catrike for a few hours yesterday and was so excited to be riding again that he's thinking about buying one. He asked me to investigate them to see if there are any specific things that he should be looking for so, naturally, I figured that I'd ask here.

Has anybody ridden one of these things?

I have, the price and options are stupidly high. but they are fast and fun.

The one I spent time on was a TerraTrike Zoomer. They say it is discontinued but is now the speedster.

Think of it as sitting in a recliner and pedaling.

Half a Challenge budget is the norm for an entry level trike

Oh yeah, one other thing. You jam on the those front discs hard, be prepared to stand straight up.

Seems like you'd want to do something about visibility, with everyone sitting so far up high these days. Maybe a couple of blinkies mounted a few inches above the headrest?

Also, I should add that he's in Florida and I'm in Connecticut, so I can't exactly go down to the bike shop with him to pick one out.

In reply to Flight Service:

I know that they're expensive, but they are actually comparable to a high end mountain bike. We can reasonably expect this to be his last bike, so the price is tolerable if he can ride again.

So. Much. Chain.

Agreed on visibility. A normal rider's under-seat blinker is higher than that bike. I'd probably get some blinkies for his helmet.

No real input on the bike itself, but if it gets him out on the bike again, that's great.

Has your dad ever been to the gynecologist before?

I can't comment on catrike, but my Dad has a Scorpion trike that I've ridden. He's had it for 5 years or so. No issues so far. It's comfortable and pretty fun to ride. It has full suspension which I think is key. You can comfortably fly over parking lot entrance curbs for example. Make sure you lean into fast/sharp turns because it got my attention a couple times when I got it up on two wheels when I was messing around

Trikes are epicly comfortable.

Kinda liking the rear fender of the Scorpion, vs the lighter looking Catrike. Getting peppered with sand & grit or one good puddle would take the fun out of your day.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Has your dad ever been to the gynecologist before?

My dad is 84 years old and worked in the prison system for 30 years. Maybe you'd like to ask him yourself.

No...but my brain has already gone and installed an engine on the thing.

Reminds me of this:(did aussie not build one?)

Woody wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Has your dad ever been to the gynecologist before?

My dad is 84 years old and worked in the prison system for 30 years. Maybe you should ask him yourself.

I wasn't suggesting he had a vagina... but the similarity of the seating position on a recumbent to the ob/gyn exam chair possibly even exceeds that of a Harley with highway pegs.

NOHOME wrote: No...but my brain has already gone and installed an engine on the thing. Reminds me of this:(did aussie not build one?)

OK, so, now I want that. Where do I find a handicapped kid with an electric wheel chair to steal from?

szeis4cookie wrote: Seems like you'd want to do something about visibility, with everyone sitting so far up high these days. Maybe a couple of blinkies mounted a few inches above the headrest?

There is a guy around here with a recumbent that has two yellow blinkies, fore and aft, mounted on poles that are at least three feet above his head. Damned good idea with texting soccer moms in their QX56's and Tahoes menacing every intersection. Looks like the blinkies are about middle-of-windshield height on a full-size SUV-- right where you'd want 'em.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Sounds like your insurance company if you would have continued down the road on the OBGYN comments

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Woody wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Has your dad ever been to the gynecologist before?

My dad is 84 years old and worked in the prison system for 30 years. Maybe you should ask him yourself.

I wasn't suggesting he had a vagina... but the similarity of the seating position on a recumbent to the ob/gyn exam chair possibly even exceeds that of a Harley with highway pegs.

Nice save.

He test rode (and really liked) the Catrike 700 that I posted above, but I think that the Catrike Villager would be a better choice for him. A little investigation indicates that the 700 is the fastest production trike in the world.

700: Villager:

I have no experience with the Catrike, but having designed and built my own tadpole recumbent trike, I can comment on the design and recumbents in general.

1 - Like others have pointed out, visibility is a problem. Do not even think of riding that thing in a city. You will get crushed within minutes. When I ride mine, I look up at Corvette drivers. And it's not as low as the Catrike.

2 - That Catrike is a pure top speed machine with a LOT of compromises. You are very reclined, with the pedals very high in front. That makes it more aerodynamic, but it can get really painful for the neck and really hard on the cardio because the blood tends to drain from your legs when they are that high.

3 - That very reclined position causes a very big deviation for the "power" side of the chain. That causes a reduction of mechanical efficienty. Acceptable for the aero advantage in a high-speed bike, but sucky at low speed.

4 - The frame design SUCKS. It seems that they made an effort to make the frame less rigid. See mechanical efficienty above

5 - There doesn't seem to be any way to align the front tires for camber or caster...not the end of the world, but nice to have

6 - Direct steering, especially with what seems like really small tires, makes for high steering effort. Also, at high speed, that can make the bike twitchy.

7 - The weight distribution seems good, so there shouldn't be a problem with braking. That can be a problem with certain bikes.

All that to say, he should ride whatever bike as long as he can to get a good idea of what it is like on his body.

And pick of mine: built for about 300$ 8 years ago.

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Sorry for the crappy picture, that's the only one I have.

Does it have to be recumbent?

In reply to fanfoy:

That was very helpful and it looks like you built a very cool trike.

Here's another photo of a Villager that I found, which leads me to believe that this is one that he really needs to take a look at.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Does it have to be recumbent?

Yes, I think it does. I bought him one of these last year and he can't ride it.

With a bicycle, you steer by leaning into a corner. With a trike, you turn it more like a car. With the trike that I bought him, the center of gravity was so high that he constantly felt like it was going to tip over on corners.

Woody wrote: In reply to fanfoy: That was very helpful and it looks like you built a very cool trike. Here's another photo of a Villager that I found, which leads me to believe that this is one that he really needs to take a look at.

Yeah, that seem's like a better compromise for a DD bike.

Headrest is a nice touch.

Check the front wheel's construction also. While mountain bike wheels and bearings seem to survive pretty well, normal bike wheels and bearings will have a very short life on a trike because of all the side loads.

I love riding and have a nice CF road and a mtb. I would love to try one of these because they can be fast!!