There are both affordable trikes and cheap trikes. My advice is to buy the best you can afford even if you have to delay to save up. There are also dealers who offer financing enabling customers to buy a better trike paying for it over time. I definitely caution people not to by a cheap trike as you get what you pay for. Fortunately there are not very many “cheap trikes” being manufactured. I personally would suggest a Catrike or an ICE or HP Velotechnik or an Azub. I think you would be happier with your purchase as the quality is so much better.
You might be wondering why I did not include TerraTrike or Trident. Well, defintely they are more affordable, but I personally don’t think they offer the quality found in these others I have listed. I think you would be more content with one of the other brands I mentioned even though they cost more. Certainly there are a lot of testimonies to back this up. It is true that both trike manufacturers offer good customer service but that does not equate to product quality.
I left out Chinese trikes. The trikes themselves may be alright but customer service can be a major concern. If components parts fail and you can’t get them it would probably mean you would have to replace them with brand name parts which cost a lot more. Over time you will probably spend more than what you saved and deal with down time where you can’t ride.
Definitely avoid Mobo and Kent. In my opinion a reputable dealer who cares about their customers won’t sell these cheap trikes.
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
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I’ve been an avid cyclist, racing and touring on great uprights for over 30 years, and after my husband’s stroke in 2011, we “upgraded” to tadpole recumbent trikes. Our first exposure was to Terra Trike, as they are based here in Grand Rapids, MI, and are active in the rehab community here-Mary Free Bed Hospital specifically, Spokes Fighting Strokes, and with individuals who contact them for their special needs. They offer great service and have designed adaptive devices that help riders like my husband enjoy the ride. As a Terra Trike owner since 2011 (2 Tour II outfitted with the Elite package and now a GTS Molten and a GT) I will disagree with the statement from you about the quality of their trikes. We have not had any issues with our trikes over the past ten years we have ridden the Terra Trike brand. We ride them like we did our uprights on local bike paths and tours. I haven’t raced mine yet, but riding it up and down the hills of Northern Michigan was nothing short of a riot with great high speed (at 42 mph) stability! I’d love to try the Spyder on those same hills. Our first encounter was in Terra Trike’s home office and warehouse facility, and now with a LBS who is a certified dealer. If I’ve had questions, they were readily addressed. And we have lifetime warranties on both trikes. I have no intention of changing brands anytime soon. My husband and I both love our Terra Trikes.
I am glad you and your husband like your Terratrikes as do many people. And the same is true of many Trident owners. But that does not change the truth. There is a world of difference in the quality and the design engineering.
I am guessing your choice of words is just very bad phrasing & not intended the way you have it written but to follow a sentence that you would not recommend Trident or Terratrike with the claim, “A reputable dealer who cares about their customers won’t sell these cheap trikes,” is borderline slanderous. After all Trident has a reputation for one of the best customer service records in the Industry & Terratrike having acquired the likes of Greenspeed certainly gives their customers a choice of inexpensive or high quality trikes.
I stand by what I said. A good reputable dealer won’t mess with inferior quality. And excellent customer service is great but it does not equate to a quality product. Our local bike shop used to sell TerraTrike but dropped their dealership due to the poor quality. Later they became a Catrike dealer and say that there is a world of difference in quality.