Re: Inexpensive recumbent trike
> my search, primarily using the Internet, has not produced one that is within my budget. Is the
> EZ-3 just about the only trike option at what I consider entry level price?
This is a discussion, not a recomendation!!!
Look at
http://www.americruiser.com/
$799. Tadpole trike. This is a garage-built-by-one-man machine, from square aluminum tubing. It is a
kick to ride. Cheap components. The spindle yoke (?) setup is so thin it bends, purdy soon your
tires at a weird camber. I had a child on the trike with me, prolly about 250 lbs total. I was
fooling around in the street with it and turned too sharp. It went up on two tires, and that bent
the steering part. I have yet to see a picture of one of these that doesn't look like the steering
part is bent. But maybe that is unfair, cuz I don't know fer sure whut its 'sposed to look like.
There is no feedback from the steering stick and it is easy to dial in too much turn. At speed
(15mph) the tiniest inputs which are unavoidable cause you to wander back and forth on the road,
maybe a foot or two. My bro bought one of these and had a machinist build a stronger part there. He
hasn't ridden it yet with the new parts. It comes with mtn bike components, and 16-20" wheels,
(whichever, I don't recall) low-pressure Kmart knobby tires. You can't adjust the seat anywhere near
as far back as I would want. There is only one brake, on the rear. It is either for the
suicide-prone or is some kinda joke I didn't get. Oh, the brake is fine, its just that the trike is
so tall that the weight shift is so pronounced that the rear tire just skids.
Pluses: It is fun and cheap. Looks cheap to buy (or build) parts for. It looks like a tinkerer's
dream since nothing is welded. It is made from easy-to-buy aluminum tubing and bolted together. One
could change it around radically, just for fun, you could change some frame members to get the seat
to recline. I think that it may be fairly reliable once the steering is fixed which isn't a big deal
to a tinkerer.
I'd love to have about six of these and a dirt oval, and invite my friends over for the heat races.
Oh, and get all the owner/salesman's promises on paper.
