Bushman Gets Bent

November 27, 2008 By: thenhbushman Geotag Icon Show on map Category: riding, Taiwan, Technology

Photos by MJ Klein & Hui-chen

Yeah, I got bent, but not in the typical sense where I go drinking with my friends. This time my getting “bent” refers to my purchase of a recumbent tricycle.

MJ with Walter, the designer of the recumbent tricycle model shown here – The Artifice

Getting fat comes with getting older and not exercising. I love to exercise but I dislike pain. I’ve had enough of that already. I’d like to be doing fun things for exercise and this is one of the most fun experiences you can have while getting quality exercise.

Not your typical “adult tricycle”

The wide seat is unbelievably comfortable. The leg position is like sitting on the sofa with your feet on the coffee table. This takes pressure off one’s heart and actually makes fitness goals easier to achieve.

Here, Kevin Kao, the owner of TW Bents adjusts the length of the boom for my “x-seam” size. Just looking at this photo of how fat I look in the trike makes me want to ride until I drop. That’s ok. I’m not the first person who bought one of these trikes to get into shape. The goal is to ride something and keep riding it. The angle of the seat and the headrest perfectly supports my spine and neck. This is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever ridden. The first ride I took when I got it home was over 7km long, with speeds topping 30KPH. When I’m finally in shape the possibilities are endless. Many recumbent riders have toured the entire island of Taiwan. I’ve met a few of those riders.

In addition to the speed, since this design (called a tadpole trike) doesn’t lean in turns, you feel G-forces similar to a sports car.

One cool feature about the Artifice is that it is a folding trike. You have to disassemble some parts to get it to fold up small enough to fit in your car, but it only takes about 10 minutes to do the disassembly and the parts are designed to come off and go back on easily. You could pack it up and ship it somewhere for an adventure ride. I haven’t tried to take it on a bus or the THSR, but I imagine if you had a couple of bags you could manage it. In this photo, the rear rack is preventing it from folding up small and we took the rack off to put it in our car for the ride home. Daily transportation would be better served with an automotive roof rack to get to ride sites, rather than folding. But still the folding feature is great when you need it.

Look for more articles about trike riding as I put on the miles!

Next in series Last in series

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Photo by MJ Klein I love to ride bicycles. The problem is that I am too big for conventional type bikes. I own a Giant mountain bike, and whi ...
Gunnstein Visits TW Bents in Taiwan
Photos by MJ Klein BROL member Gunnstein came to Taiwan for a visit. One of the things on his agenda was to visit TW-Bents and pick up a new C ...
New Stuff From TW-Bents
Photos by MJ Klein Hui-chen and I went to the TW-Bents warehouse last Friday, and we met with Walter and Kevin. They had some new stuff to sho ...
Recumbent Trike Photos
Photos by MJ Klein Last Tuesday was a very nice day, sunny, bright and with an almost warm wind. So I decided to take the trike out for a spin ...
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19 Responses to “ Bushman Gets Bent ”

# 1 Colby Says:
November 28th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Looks like a nice ride, I see you have your matching shirt on. A bent bike club with weekly rides would be cool.

Chris is in an old school/custom bicycle club in Dover, NH. Its cool to see the group out riding. Its not a bad way for single guys to meet girls too. A few ppl in the club have an extra bike for guests to join in the fun. :O

thenhbushman reply on November 28th, 2008 5:15 pm:

Colby » lol @ the shirt.

club rides would be good, i guess, except for the fact that it would be a club. i’m not big on clubs because sooner or later, someone takes control and tries to make others do what s/he thinks is best. bike clubs in particular are normally fully of some strongly-opinioned individuals who feel a certain way about biking. i just don’t want to hear it. i’ll ride by myself because i can go wherever i want and do whatever i want.
# 2 Todd Says:
November 28th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
When I first got my bike after moving to Nantou, I rode with a group of cyclists who are parents of a few of my students. Now, I definitely prefer riding by myself: It allows me to enjoy two hobbies at the same time (biking and photography) because I can stop wherever I please to take a photo and not worry about slowing anyone down. I can also explore any interesting road along the way instead of just hearing the standard, “Oh, there’s nothing interesting over there.”

Todds last blog post..Daily Photo – Spider

thenhbushman reply on November 29th, 2008 12:41 pm:

Todd » i’m with you on that one Todd. my “goal” is to have fun and not accomplish any distance or time based feats. i’m sure that you and i could ride well together though. bicycling is a great way to do photography i think. thanks for the comments Todd.
# 3 Stevo | China Travel Says:
November 30th, 2008 at 5:25 am
Cool-looking ride. I’ve been thinking about getting a bike, but the roads here are far too dangerous. I’ll stick the stationary bike in the gym.

thenhbushman reply on November 30th, 2008 10:24 pm:

Stevo | China Travel » there are lots of expats riding in China, and blogging on it too. you may find that it’s easier than you think Stevo.
# 4 Links 1 December 2008 - David on Formosa Says:
December 1st, 2008 at 8:43 am
[...] The Bushman buys a Taiwanese tricycle. [...]
# 5 cfimages Says:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:08 am
I know. David can ride down from Taipei to your place, then you guys can head down to Taichung and pick MT up, cross the river and I’ll join in and we can all descend on Nantou and join Todd on one of his great rides.

cfimagess last blog post..Nighttime @ Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

thenhbushman reply on December 1st, 2008 10:21 pm:

cfimages » man, that would be a cool ride, Craig! we should do it!
# 6 Todd Says:
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Sounds good to me!

Especially since I would be traveling the least distance

Todds last blog post..Daily Photo – The Print Shop

thenhbushman reply on December 3rd, 2008 11:09 pm:

Todd » hehehe!
# 7 Mitesh Damania Says:
December 11th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
AKA the lazy man’s bike.
# 8 Mitesh Damania Says:
December 11th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Hey when are you going to put neon and spinners on that thing?

thenhbushman reply on December 11th, 2008 12:53 pm:

Mitesh Damania » how about never?
# 9 MJ Klein Says:
December 13th, 2008 at 5:56 am
@Wuss912 every rev it was making sounds – bad ones. recumbent trike: http://tinyurl.com/6yy6bm
# 10 recumbent tadpole tricycles | Digg hot tags Says:
December 19th, 2008 at 9:46 am
[...] Vote Bushman Gets Bent [...]
# 11 Taiwan 2010 – Part IV – My Life After the Cows | Lone Locust Productions Says:
June 10th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
[...] I really want a bike like this. (OK, technically a trike) [...]
# 12 David Beavers Says:
June 29th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Hi. Great posts, makes me wish I’d managed to get over to Thailand before having my two kids. I’ve read with great interest your posts on TW bents (that’s what brought me to your blog) but can’t find any numbers as to your height (weight I consider a moot point since I manage to ride a DF with no problems). I’m 6’5 (197cm) tall and weigh 123kg. Which of the TW bent trikes would you recommend? The folding idea is interesting since I live in Spain and would have to get one shipped. And how about the Cobra for someone my size? Thanks for any recommendations you can give me, and any advice for getting one to Spain.
cheers, David

thenhbushman reply on June 30th, 2010 6:27 am:

hi David, thanks for reading. i’ve recently lost a bit of weight and am down to 122 KG or so. there is a new larger trike model being developed for larger riders. it’s wider than the Artifice and also longer. i would recommend contacting TW-Bents and asking about the availability of the newer model in Spain. if they don’t have a local dealer, arrangements can be made to ship directly. take care, David.