Monday, July 1, 2019

Learning To Ride A Recumbent Tricycle

By Martha Murray


With the summer approaching it's important to get out and get some exercise in order to stay fit and healthy. Being able to ride a bicycle or tricycle is an excellent way to exercise without doing damage to your knees or spinal column. A popular way to exercise is by riding a recumbent tricycle or bicycle. Recumbent trikes are a new trend that has increased in popularity because of the way it rides for people who don't especially like riding bicycles while leaning over the front wheel.

One question people have is why they should use a vehicle with 3 wheels instead of 2. The history for the 3-wheeled nonpowered vehicle goes way back beyond the two-wheeled bicycles. The early days showed people having difficulty balancing the new vehicle and therefore a three-wheeled vehicle was created. Having a trike is a great way of riding without having to lean forward over the handlebar part of the bike.

Another question is why user recumbent vehicle rather than the traditional bike or dirtbike. One of the advantages of riding on a recumbent vehicle is that you are able to sit back and lean back and you're not crunching all of your mid organs while leaning over the handlebars for an entire ride. Traveling several miles this way may also cause back pain.

Getting in and out of this type of vehicle can be a little bit intimidating. But it doesn't need to be because you can simply start off by making sure that the trikes brakes are completely locked so that it doesn't roll while you're trying to get into it. The first step is to straddle the front and back in towards the seat as you sit down. With the brakes on you should be able to easily sit down. Make sure not to use the handlebars or steering because are not load bearing and could easily be damaged. Exiting the bike is the reverse start by locking the brakes and lean forward and stand up and then step to the side.

Pedaling the trike can be difficult at first. One of the recommendations is that you use pedals that have some sort of strap or device to keep your foot from slipping off. If your foot does slip off it could easily hit the ground and be pulled underneath the bike which can cause a lot of pain. Since you're riding a trike you don't have to worry about the bike tipping over when you stop so it is not a problem to have your feet clipped in.

There are a couple of types of configurations for steering. The linkage type may seem strange at first, but it has a big advantage in that you can steer with just one hand. The direct type is two handles and is more like driving a sports car.

Changing gears is as simple as it would be on the two-wheel bike. The advantage here is that you don't need to know what gear you are in. You just simply change the gears as you feel the need to when you're climbing a hill or going downhill. The most popular type of gear is similar to a 10-speed bike where you have two gear settings that can be adjusted to maximize the torque.

There's no reason to not get out in the sun and have fun in the summertime. Riding a bike is not something that some people are comfortable with but using a recumbent trike helps those who have a hard time bending over the handlebars of regular two-wheeled vehicles. These kinds of options make it easy for anyone to ride and enjoy the summertime weather and get the exercise that will help them get fit.




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