No-frills recumbent trike for disabled son

My son is 19 and rides a Worksman adult tricycle with ease. My
challenge is transporting the trike; we are in a rural area with no
place to ride, so I take him to a bike trail or my dad's senior
community for bike riding. I have a RAV4 and the bike just fits if I
lower the handlebars and take out one of the back seats. The bike is a
little heavy for me to lift, though. I'd love to find something
lighter and easier to transport. My son is fully grown at 5'6" and
weighs about 145 pounds. He wouldn't be able to use gears but does
need hand brakes. Other than that, he doesn't need anything special on
a trike (wouldn't have the balance for a regular bicycle). The
recumbents I'm seeing seem to be much more than he needs (more
expensive, more features). Is there anything out there in a small
recumbent trike that might work for me? Or....is there some type of
ramp I might be able to use with the RAV4 so I wouldn't have to lift
the bike into the car?
Many thanks, Beverly

bfrey wrote:

My son is 19 and rides a Worksman adult tricycle with ease. My
challenge is transporting the trike; we are in a rural area with no
place to ride, so I take him to a bike trail or my dad's senior
community for bike riding. I have a RAV4 and the bike just fits if I
lower the handlebars and take out one of the back seats. The bike is a
little heavy for me to lift, though. I'd love to find something
lighter and easier to transport. My son is fully grown at 5'6" and
weighs about 145 pounds. He wouldn't be able to use gears but does
need hand brakes. Other than that, he doesn't need anything special on
a trike (wouldn't have the balance for a regular bicycle). The
recumbents I'm seeing seem to be much more than he needs (more
expensive, more features). Is there anything out there in a small
recumbent trike that might work for me? Or....is there some type of
ramp I might be able to use with the RAV4 so I wouldn't have to lift
the bike into the car?

You are not going to find a decent quality, compact recumbent trike for
less than about $1750 US (Catrike Pocket). This is because the trike
market is small, and all the properly built compact tadpole trike are
intended for a higher end market.

Why wouldn't your son be able to use gears (in the light that he is able
to use handbrakes)? A trike could be built up with an internally geared
hub such as the SRAM Spectro 7 or Shimano Nexus 8, which are simple to
shift and relatively maintenance free.

--
Tom Sherman - Earth (Downstate Illinois, North of Forgottonia)

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:39:18 -0600, Tom Sherman
wrote in message
:

You are not going to find a decent quality, compact recumbent trike for
less than about $1750 US

With one notable exception: http://www.kmxkarts.co.uk/

I have to tell you that there is at least one major problem with the
KMX, and that is going to be actually getting your hands on it. Not
getting the bike itself, that's easy, they are great guys and very
responsive, no, the problem is going to be wrestling it out of the
hands of the neighbourhood kids, because that bike is more fun than
sex. For certain values of sex, of course.

Seriously, I have never had so much fun on a bike as riding one of
those KMXs. I think three or four back tyres were smoked on the demo
bikes in the course of a single weekend.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Check out http://www.easyracers.com/ez_3.htm

I have heard of several people with balance or other difficulties who use
the EZ 3. It is simple and is easily the best value for recumbent money out
there. Read the reviews, particularly "Bent rider on-line". They quote the
price at $US725 which might be a bit out of date. In Canada they are priced
at around $CAD1250.

Good luck,

Roy



"bfrey" wrote in message
oups.com...
My son is 19 and rides a Worksman adult tricycle with ease. My
challenge is transporting the trike; we are in a rural area with no
place to ride, so I take him to a bike trail or my dad's senior
community for bike riding. I have a RAV4 and the bike just fits if I
lower the handlebars and take out one of the back seats. The bike is a
little heavy for me to lift, though. I'd love to find something
lighter and easier to transport. My son is fully grown at 5'6" and
weighs about 145 pounds. He wouldn't be able to use gears but does
need hand brakes. Other than that, he doesn't need anything special on
a trike (wouldn't have the balance for a regular bicycle).

araby wrote:

Check out http://www.easyracers.com/ez_3.htm

I have heard of several people with balance or other difficulties who use
the EZ 3. It is simple and is easily the best value for recumbent money out
there. Read the reviews, particularly "Bent rider on-line". They quote the
price at $US725 which might be a bit out of date. In Canada they are priced
at around $CAD1250.

The EZ-3 is not particularly compact, and it weighs in the mid-50-pound
range, so it does not meet the criteria of the original poster.

--
Tom Sherman - Earth (Downstate Illinois, North of Forgottonia)

On 20 Mar 2005 10:59:19 -0800 in rec.bicycles.misc, "bfrey"
wrote:

My son is 19 and rides a Worksman adult tricycle with ease. My
challenge is transporting the trike; we are in a rural area with no
place to ride, so I take him to a bike trail or my dad's senior
community for bike riding.

It's a RURAL AREA. Why isn't he riding there?

and please don't tell me that you won't let an ADULT ride on the
road, where bikes belong! you don't need to keep transporting
the bike around. all he needs to do is get on it and ride!

It would be extremely unsafe for him to ride on our road. As soon as
you leave our driveway there are big hills, poor visibility, uneven
roads, etc. Even a person who did not have a disability would be
unable to safely ride on any of the roads near our home.

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message ...
You are not going to find a decent quality, compact recumbent trike for
less than about $1750 US (Catrike Pocket). This is because the trike
market is small, and all the properly built compact tadpole trike are
intended for a higher end market.

Tom, please stay on topic.

The orignal poster was asking about a top end road bike for his
son to race this season and you have to go a bring up stuff like
recumbent trikes.

My son does exactly hte same thing, and I transport his adult trike in
the back of our Caravan with the rear 3rd seat removed. Fits ok, if I
lower the handlebars, just like you.

One day I was at the trail parking lot and saw a gentleman, bu himself,
riding the same kind of bike.

He had developed a ramp of some sort to help roll the bike into the
back of his Caravan.

Also, there is a pulley-like ratchet device, I believe it is calledf a
"come-a-long" that you could attach with the built-in hook in your van
somewhere, and ratchet the bike up a ramp.

I am able to lift the bike in, but my wofe would not be able to be.

My son loves riding his bike, does not use the gears, but can use the
built-in coaster brake and the one hand brake. I walk with him on his
rides.

and please don't tell me that you won't let an ADULT ride on the
road, where bikes belong! you don't need to keep transporting
the bike around. all he needs to do is get on it and ride!

You haven't a clue what this is about, do you?

My son also rides a trike. He is profoundly developmentally disabled,
and I walk with him to insure his safety while riding. No way can he
go on a road.