If you love to get outside and ride bicycle for fun and exercise, like I do, then we want to continue our hobby as we age. But if physical balance or falling becomes a concern as we get older or have a disability, bicycling may not be the safest option. While training wheels are still an option for adult bicycles when more stability is needed, adult tricycles have some unique benefits.
Adult tricycles are a wonderful solution that can allow us to continue pedaling as we love to do. And there are other benefits of adult tricycles, also known as trikes, or 3-wheeled bikes. Remember riding a bicycle up a hill and getting tired and needing to touch your feet to the ground to stop and rest? When riding a tricycle up a hill, if you get tired, you can stop and rest without ever taking your feet off the pedals or getting off your trike. Then you can resume riding up the hill when rested.
Adult trikes have different frame options, including upright, recumbent, or folding trike. Upright adult tricycles are similar to riding upright bicycles, but with a third wheel that allows for increased stability and balance. Recumbent trikes have a seating position that is lower to the ground, and allow you to adjust the back rest from reclined to an upright position.
Recumbent trikes are designed as either Tadpole trike or Delta trike. Tadpole trikes have two wheels in front and one wheel in the rear, thus resembling a tadpole. Delta trikes have one wheel in front and two wheels in back. Each has their own pros and cons. Upright tricycles are usually less expensive then recumbent trikes.
An adult recumbent trike is much like sitting in a lounge chair and reclining while pedaling. Tadpole recumbent trikes sit lower to the ground, are more stable especially in tight turns, and give a sense of traveling faster. Delta trikes sit higher off the ground, where the rider is often at eye level of motorists, but are less stable especially in tight turns. My first trike was a folding recumbent tadpole trike which I really enjoyed.
My next recumbent trike did not fold but was still a tadpole design. I enjoyed riding it along the bike-ways of southern California. As I got older, that tadpole recumbent trike became more difficult to get in and out of since it sat so low. I then bought a Delta recumbent trike and enjoyed the ease of getting on and off that trike, as well as sitting higher to see and be seen by other traffic. Although less stable in turns, I liked that I was sitting higher and more visible. It is always an additional safety feature to mount a flag on a pole made specifically for adult tricycles to make yourself more visible to traffic.
There are other options you can choose when searching for adult trikes, including wheel size, steering that is direct or indirect, twist grips for changing gears or thumb shifters, and many more. It is fun to explore all the options. New riders usually find it best to visit adult tricycle dealers to ride different models before deciding which one to take home with them.