The vehicles we ride are called recumbent tricycles. Many people don’t know what that is, so it deserves a little explanation.  It is recumbent, because the rider sits in a laid back position while riding it, with their feet in front of them.  It is a tricycle because it has three wheels.  Recumbent bicycles and tricycles have lots of advantages for touring.  Most importantly, they are incredibly comfortable. Unlike a traditional, upright, diamond frame bike, a recumbent bike offers a wide seat that supports the riders back and shoulders while riding.  It is something like a lawn chair on wheels.  During a tour, riders regularly spend many hours sitting on their bike seat.  I’ve never found a traditional bike saddle that I find nearly as comfortable as a recumbent seat.  On a traditional bike, much of the riders weight is supported by their arms and hands against the handlebars.  On a long ride their hands, wrists and shoulders can get quite tired and sore.   A recumbent bike does not have this issue, as the arms are maintained comfortably at the side with no weight on them.One of our great joys while riding  is seeing the world roll by as we pedal through it.  On a recumbent bike, the rider sits upright looking forward at the world around them.  On a traditional bike, the natural riding position puts the head slightly down, looking at the front wheel.   Looking up to see the world around you involves lifting the head.   After a lot of hours, your neck gets sore.

Many people are completely happy on their diamond frame bikes. But for me, a recumbent bike makes a huge difference in how much I enjoy the ride.  It makes the difference between arriving at my destination with a sore butt, neck shoulders, wrists and hands, or arriving at my destination still feeling good and ready to go sight-seeing or enjoy a nice meal at a restaurant.

There are some disadvantages.  Most recumbent trikes are not built for speed.  Certainly ours are not.  We cruise through the world at 9-12 miles per hour.  Some people on an upright bike might make an average speed of 17-20 MPH.  I guess all that pain needs to buy something.   If I am on tour, I want to see the places I am riding through.  If I wanted to rush through and not see it, I could drive a car.

Recumbent trikes are very low to the ground.  Sometimes that means guard rails, hedges or other obstructions block the view.  If I really want to see what is on the other side, then I must stop and stand up. That is the biggest disadvantage I have met so far.

Because it is low to the ground, some people feel that there is extra safety risk from cars and other vehicles on the road. Personally, we have not found this to be true.  Recumbent trikes look weird and different, and people in cars give weird and different things a very wide berth on the road.   We think cars give us much more room on the road than we ever got on upright bicycles.

But, still, we don’t take any chances.   We use standard safe cycling techniques let drivers know where we are and what we are doing.  We also ride with lots of bright flashing lights and waving flags to make ourselves as visible as possible on the highway.