Recumbent trike travel

[drofre]

I was curious if anyone tours on trikes.  My wife and I have Catrikes and are thinking of starting to travel.

[waynemyer]

It is my impression and experience that just about the only people that buy Catrikes are people who do loaded touring. Blatantly small sampling set, of course. Some models are better suited to loaded touring than others.

[Grumpybear]

Here a link http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/

They have touring journals listed by category, click on trike, there are tons of interesting journals.

[Ed_in_Maine]

Well...I'm starting cross country in about 5-6 weeks. The only issue I see with trikes is loading. Pretty much load it high on a rear rack or use a trailer. Both impact handling adversely. But on the plus side, hell of a lot more comfortable than any DF I've ridden.
+1 crazyguyonabike.com some good stories.

[livewombat]

We've toured for several days on rented Catrikes & Greenspeeds in the Netherlands, using Arkel panniers on the Catrike.  We found the tadpole trikes to be ideal for the bike paths and low-traffic lanes, but too low for riding through cities comfortably. In the US, we tour on somewhat higher delta recumbent trikes, with a trailer for our gear.

[pataneap]

I tour on a trike and find it comfortable and very enjoyable.   My panniers are made by Radical Designs.  The pair of bags hold 70 liters which minimizes lashing a tall pile of gear atop your rack.  If you're planning on touring in hilly terrain, I would suggest that you investigate some type of extended range gearing.

Tony

[mucknort]

More and more folks are touring on trikes these days. Here's a few links to check out:

http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/forumdisplay.php?f=13
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/categories/?o=1&category_id=22&doctype=journal

[MrBent]

+1 for what Pataneap said.  I've toured a lot on trikes--tandem and single--and the Radical bags are great.  Handling is in NO WAY adversely affected.  I've bombed down hills (curves, too) at over 40 mph just fine, thank you.  You do need liners for the Radicals, but with these, you'll be full-on waterproof.  Click here: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/slideshow/?o=1&doc_id=7710&page=7&v=3j for a photo of my Catrike fully loaded with Radicals.  For big and/or steep hills , do make sure you have extra low gearing.  The trike in the photo has a Schlumpf Mtn. Drive, which gives me a low about 10 gear inches.  I used it at times up the 19% grades required to get to where this photo was taken.  Slow for sure but no crazy strain on the knees.  If you choose a trailer, a two wheeled model like the Burley Nomad will not adversely affect handling, although it does make a bigger package for turning around, etc.  These trailers are quite stable, and I've towed them behind bicycles at speed over 30 mph with confidence.  In short, go do it!   Touring on trikes is great.  The only drawback I can see is that stealth camping is sometimes more complicated, and they are a bit slower overall than bikes.  But you can't beat the stability and overall safety.  Do some touring and report back.

Trike is a Catrike Expedition with 203mm rotors, short cranks, and the aforementioned Schlumpf Mtn. drive.

Cheers,

Scott

[Iceman]

I started doing some touring 2 years ago with an ICE Sprint tadpole style trike and I can say touring on a trike is fun, very stable and extremely comfortable. I use ortlieb panniers which sit low on the rack where I keep the heavy stuff. I also use a rackpac on top of the rack with some lighter stuff. I am planning to start a cross country trip this may on my trike, can't wait. Try it, you'll like it!

Shawshank