Trikes and rumble strips...

[ronnie421]

My partner and I are in the process of putting together an east to west tour next summer, 2014. Now with 10 months before our departure date, we started throwing around the idea of converting to recumbent trikes. I have looked into them, but I still don't know which are the nicer models and which are "no-ways"(any input would be greatly appreciated). But my concern is, if we were to convert, do the rumble strips here in the US get in the way with the two wheels?  Or is it better to get an in-line style of recumbent?

[RussSeaton]

Rumble strips?  Not sure why you are concerned with rumble strips.  Only place I see rumble strips are on county roads before stop signs.  Three of them with about a foot of solid road on the right side.  Upright bikes can get by them easily.  And the other place with rumble strips is along major highways on the paved shoulder.  These usually have about 6 inches of solid road on the right side so are not rideable by any bike.  And being major highways I would never ride that road anyway.  So why are you concerned about rumble strips for a tricycle?  You don't encounter rumble strips when riding.

[staehpj1]

You don't encounter rumble strips when riding.

Actually I have found them on the shoulders of many roads where I have toured.  On the Trans America there were probably thousands of miles of rumble strips.  There were plenty on the Southern tier as well. 

I think that they would be a bit more of an issue for trike riders, but no worse than for two wheeled trailer users.

[ronnie421]

Thanks for the input! I do notice them all over, even on the roads that I ride my upright on and that's why I was wondering if they would be a pain on a trike. Ive never had a trike and have no experience with this.  I'm still weighing the pros and cons. I may or may not end up converting. But thanks for the heads up that they could possibly be annoying, at least some of the time.

[MrBent]

Hi, Ronnie:  I've toured thousands of miles on two-wheeled and three-wheel recumbents.  Yes, rumble strips will be a pain at times.  There's just no way around it, and it's worse than towing a two-wheeled trailer on a bike because YOU take the beating.  My wife is big on trikes, so when I'm with her, it's on the trike, but my preference is for two-wheeled travel, with rumble strip avoidance being just one benefit.  The much greater speed and ease of stealth camping and getting around obstacles with bikes is much better than trikes.  My preference is for short wheel base bikes, and there are many great brands to choose from.  The big American brands are Lightning, RANS, and Bacchetta.  You can get outfitted for a lot less on a bike.  You'll likely save a good $1K over a good trike.  I'm big on the Catrike and ICE brands, although Greenspeed is excellent as well.  Oh, and HPVelotechnik can't be beat.  I wouldn't tour on anything BUT a recumbent.  Figure on an average of about 3 mph faster on a bike over a trike.

Check out this website:  http://bentrideronline.com/

Lots of good info. and a touring specific forum.

The best thing is to do some test riding, even if it means a bit of travel to a good dealer if there are none near you

Have a great tour.

[ronnie421]

Thank you very much for that much needed info! I will certainly check out that site and to be honest... even though a trike sounds good, I really don't want to deal with the hassles of rumble strips. I'm ok on an upright, no medical reasons or severe enough body pain to HAVE to change. It was just a thought. BUT, I will certainly look into a two wheel recumbent. That is still a possibility. Thanks for this valuable info! Getting on it right now!

[John Nelson]

I met a guy last summer on a two-wheel recumbent towing a two-wheel trailer. He said that the biggest unanticipated issue with the trailer was the difficulty in trying to avoid the rumble strips.

[staehpj1]

I met a guy last summer on a two-wheel recumbent towing a two-wheel trailer. He said that the biggest unanticipated issue with the trailer was the difficulty in trying to avoid the rumble strips.

That doesn't surprise me.  I found them to be a pretty bad annoyance even with just a regular diamond framed upright bicycle.

[DU]

If you wanted to consider a long wheelbase recumbent one recommendation would be an Easy Racers Gold Rush or Tour Easy. I rode from Maine to Iowa last summer on a Gold Rush, it was comfortable and very stable.

[ronnie421]

Im starting to think that a trike may not be what we want. I really don't want to deal with those things. They are great life savers but im sure a real pain when cycling. I am going to look at the Easy Racers Gold Rush and the Tour Easy. Im not sure if they are trikes or not but two wheel recumbents are still a possibility.

[MrBent]

Ronnie:

Those are both great bikes.  I had a Tour Easy for a while, which is the steel framed version of the aluminum Gold Rush.  These are fast machines and great tourers.  Not every recumbent is for every rider, however, so do as much testing as possible.  I had to sell my TE because of brutal "recumbent butt" that never seemed to go away.  The bottom bracket on these bikes is fairly low relative to the seat, so there's more pressure on the sit bones.  Many people have NO problem with this position.  I never adapted to it, which is a bummer because the bike was one of the fastest I've owned even if it wasn't one of the lightest.  I need a higher bottom bracket.  Oh well.  So test, test, test, especially before heading out on a big tour.  Also, whatever recumbent you may get, you'll need some time to adjust to the new position in terms of muscle development and feeling comfortable controlling the bike.  Like anything, there's an adjustment period, and look specifically at getting sufficiently low gearing.  Most bikes simply don't come properly geared for touring.

[ronnie421]

Yes, I did take  look at the website.Some of those really look good. I Love the option for a windbreaker! Wish I could put one on my Cannondale. But the investigation is not over. Im seriously looking into that one. Thanks for the hook-up to the site. Lets see what happens.

[gphavas]

Greetings Ronnie421!

I cannot recommend a trike highly enough for touring.  Even with rumble strips on my route around the country last year, I was able to negotiate the miserable things and not let them be show stoppers.  Except North Dakota.  Even a friend Jimfrogs who completes his eastward, two-wheeled trip as I type said ND was a bust for trikes.  I took a bus from Fargo to Billings and skipped it.  There are more imaginative pedal routes off ACA routes, I am sure.  Do it on a trike! Your back, butt, hands, and neck will be the happier for it.  Oh the advantages you'll experience.  www.crazyguyonabike.com/gphavas. Wherever and however you travel, may safety be yours.

[Westinghouse]

I concur with MrBent. Rumble strips are a pain in some places.

Depending on your route your encounter with them my be minimal. Some such as those west of Baton Rouge on the ACA southern tier are no problem whatever cycling over. Others such as those gouged out on the roadsides on some parts of the AC route are hell to hit even once with a wheel, and the damn things leave little room if any for cycling to the right. There are many areas where you can ride right of the rumble strips with an inline bike. A trike would be a problem in some of these stretches of road.