How to be safe on a recumbent trike

Continuing a series of posts about recumbent trikes. When you see "bent riders" cycling along, the thought that does come to mind is what will happen if a foot falls off the pedal and hits the ground ...ouch!

Ha ha, recumbent riders refer to themselves as bent riders.

They also refer to the foot falling off onto the road as "leg suck". This video lists 5 safety tips, including how to avoid leg suck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnad_ibvwY8

...the other four safety issues can be managed; I think the main concern, for me anyway, is leg suck. It looks like mountain-bike shoes are the way to go. These lock onto the pedal, as this video shows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HdO5b2Pu1c

These shoes are readily available. For example, here in Australia, the "99 Bikes" retail chain has lots of them, as well as cleats and pedals. Here is a photo of one of the shoes:

This cleat system also is a huge plus factor for long distance riding; as the feet are locked onto the pedals, no energy needs to be expended to keep them there.   

Tags: nomad