:eek: That looks like a banana on wheels! If I’m not cool enough to pull off a trike, I’m certainly not cool enough to pull of a rolling banana! 
Except, no one will see you in there. Glasses and a helmet, you will be anonymous. Hell, you could ride naked and no one would know it.
I don’t have any real advice but, if I saw someone riding a cargo bike or similiar these days, I would just assume they were some eco-conscious, gas saving New Earther out getting their organic groceries in their reusuable hemp bags and they weren’t on a standard bike because hauling groceries on a 10-speed is a pain in the ass. “Haha, that person can’t ride a real bike, what a dork!” wouldn’t enter my mind.
FTR if Alice does take up riding naked, I will be taking my next cycling vacation in Canada.
Hmmm… you could decorate it to look like the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.
If you go that route, Workman makes some reasonably priced “industrial” trikes. I don’t have any experience with them myself.
They also makes some “front load” trikes with 2 front wheels, but they’re nothing like recumbent tadpole trikes. They have solid front axles, so the steering isn’t very stable or easy at higher speeds.
Or like a great white shark. Though mine is standard yellow, which I think is best for safety.
p.s. I don’t think many people make this assumption about recumbent trikes either, as they are becoming more popular among comfort-oriented cyclists (myself included). And some performance-oriented cyclists too.
That’s so wrong! Great Whites are ferocious, man-eating, killing machines & that one looks like it’s…it’s…smiling???
It’s my understanding that recumbent trikes (recumbents in general) are particularly lousy on hills.
Not really. My hill climbing speed is faster on my racing recumbent bike than on my road bike. (Though it may be because I spend more time riding recumbents.)
And because that’s no trike. Besides being a no holds barred racing bike optimized for performance.
My handcycle weighs about 40 lbs with a full load of water. Even if foot powered, the extra weight will slow it on hills.
I was responding to the comment that “recumbents in general” are “particularly lousy on hills.” Also, most people who claim “recumbents can’t climb” are comparing them against road bikes, which are also racing bikes optimized for performance.
I do admit that my Quest velomobile is a bit slow on hills because it weighs over 60 pounds. (But it does have very low gearing, so I’d eventually make it up that 20% grade.) My Catrike Pocket (tadpole trike) weighs about 28 pounds and climbs as fast as any 28-pound upright bike.
I’ll jump in to encourage you to try again with a normal bike. Biking is great fun and a wonderful family activity. Regular bikes can get you places a trike can’t and there’s so many more options if you get into biking.
Find a nice empty spot to practice in and don’t be afraid of speed. On a two-wheeler, speed is a lot of what keeps you up. Once you’re pretty comfy pedalling and turning, do it around your block to get used to stopping and starting.
In teaching my children, I’ve learned to keep the seat low, so you can put your feet down when you panic. (Raise it for more efficient pedalling once you’re comfortable).
Either way, trike or regular bike, it’ll be great seeing another person on the pathways!
I agree 100%
I’ve heard the best way to learn to ride a bike is to first try “riding” with the pedals removed - i.e. kicking against the ground to move forward. That way you can focus on learning how to balance a bike. Once you get that, learning to pedal should be easy. They sell “toy” pedal-less bikes for children to learn on, but obviously a standard bike with the pedals removed works just fine.
Don’t use training wheels. A bike with training wheels (or a trike for that matter) behaves very differently from a 2-wheel bike. Not only will you NOT learn how to balance a bike, you’ll actually pick up reflexes that are completely wrong for a bike.
So, if all you had was a Challenge Seiran with USS and you wanted to learn how to ride it, how well does that method work?
if you want to learn to balance without pedaling then have someone push you while they run. removing pedals does have advocates; though you don’t get to balance for very long and the whole feeling and balance movement is different.
If the Catrike brand is to expensive for you, TerraTrike makes some tadpole trikes that you might be interested in.
My workplace has about 15 of the Workman trikes. Yes, they are a little heavy, but very stable. Some are single speed; some are 3-speeds. I have hauled two 5-gal water jugs and other assorted work stuff with no trouble other than the tires get squatty with over 300 lbs loaded. I can even cross railroad tracks/inclines with the 3-speed.
You know, there are people - for instance, me - who are bad at balancing. I have inner ear damage from a childhood infection and my sense of balance is dodgy at best. So, yeah, there is at least one person who really can’t balance enough to ride a two-wheeler.
I have a funny feeling that there are likely to be other people who also have problems with balance. Lots of them, in fact.
I feel that people who claim things like “anyone can learn to ride a bike” are ignorant at best, and bordering on offensive. People are differently abled: I’d say that most people are capable of empathy, but there are some who just can’t manage to see things from a different viewpoint.
Anyway, I looked into getting a 3 wheeler a few years back, but I can’t avoid serious car traffic in my part of the world. It’s dangerous enough on a nippy two-wheeler, on a slower and less manoeuvrable trike, it’d be suicide. That, plus the yahoos arguing that “anyone can ride a bike” put me off the whole idea.
But I’d like to express my full approval of people who do ride trikes: good for you. I wish there were a way I could make it work for me.