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Today’s adult tricycles sleek, speedy and finding a fan base

By Stephanie Kanowitz, Special to the Washington Post
Published: October 17, 2018, 6:05am

WASHINGTON — With sweat beading on a hot August morning, Howard Quinn of Catonsville, Md., paced the pavement at Mt. Airy Bicycles in suburban Carroll County, studying recumbent tricycles that he and his grandson, Freddy, could share. After neck surgery, Quinn tires quickly on a bike, and the boy has trouble balancing on a two-wheeler.

“It’s in first gear,” Tom Hill told Freddy, situating him on a seven-gear Delta model priced at $1,399. “Here’s your hand brake.” He sounded like a salesman, but Hill, 61, of Damascus, doesn’t work at the shop. He’s a customer — a frequent customer, having bought three trikes in nine years after undergoing back surgery.

“I like this better. My back doesn’t hurt; my upper body isn’t tired from having to control the bike,” Hill said.

Customer Lynn Carr, 70, a former bike rider and runner, is less enthusiastic. “You really can’t get the same level of aggressive riding as you can on a two-wheeler, just simply because on a two-wheeler you can stand up on the pedals and really get after it,” he said. “Here, you’re sitting.” But riding a trike enables the Mount Airy resident to stay active after two hip replacements and three back surgeries. Carr rides more than 100 miles a week.

Trikes for adults aren’t new, but they’re finding a larger fan base among recreational and more serious cyclists. Sleeker, more aerodynamic, lower-to-the-ground designs are a far cry from the traditional “granny trikes,” with three 26-inch wheels, high seats and large baskets in the back, though those are still around.

“As an overall category, trikes are growing,” said bike expert Jay Townley, futurist at the Human Powered Solutions Group, a consultancy of bike industry veterans that formed in June. “But the big growth is not in the old, traditional upright trike,” he added. “The growth is in what is referred to as a recumbent trike, or tri.”

No group seems to keep statistics on the niche market that is adult tricycles. But shop owners and manufacturers say they are seeing an increase in sales. For example, TerraTrike, which has been making adult trikes since 1996, has seen at least 10 percent growth — and as much as 40 percent — each year. And three trike brands — Catrike, Sun Bicycles and TerraTrike — were represented last year on the National Bicycle Dealers Association’s list of the top 40 bike brands that specialty bike shops sell.

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