Recumbent Electric Rickshaw Review: A 69-Year-Old Rookie's First Test Ride

Meet Les and the EVRYjourney Recumbent Rickshaw

There's a look people get the first time an electric trike does exactly what they hoped it would. Les has that look about thirty seconds into this video. He's 69 years old, he's from Long Beach, and by his own account he's having a ball. That's before he has even rolled out of the parking lot.

Les came out to ride the black EVRYjourney Recumbent eBike Rickshaw 750W, and I want to walk you through his ride in detail, because it answers a lot of the questions I hear every week from people looking at this trike. How does it feel once you're actually on the road? Is the electric assist hard to learn? What does the recumbent seat change? And what's it like for somebody who has never ridden one before?

That last question matters most here. Les is the first to say he's a rookie on this machine. He isn't a test pilot or a product engineer. He's a regular rider who sat down, found the throttle, picked an assist level, and went. If you're wondering how you'd do on this trike, his ride is a pretty honest preview.

What a recumbent rickshaw actually is

If you haven't seen one in person, here's the layout. The rider sits up front in a recumbent seat, which means a low seat with a real backrest and armrests, and your legs reach forward to the pedals instead of straight down beneath you. Behind the rider is the passenger section, a bench seat. As Les points out right at the start of the video, the back is set up for two passengers, and the recumbent seat up front is for the driver.

So you get three wheels, a motor, a seat you can actually lean back in, and room to bring people with you. That combination is why this trike sits in two of our categories at once. It's one of our electric rickshaws, and it's also part of our lineup of recumbent electric trikes. Most people shopping for it are coming from one of those two directions: they either want to carry passengers, or they want the comfort of a recumbent seat. This model is built for people who want both.

Why the recumbent seat matters

On a traditional bike or upright trike, most of your weight sits on a saddle, and some of it lands on your hands through the handlebars. That's fine for a lot of riders. But if you've got a sore back, tired wrists, or hips and knees that don't love being perched on a narrow seat, it adds up over a long ride.

A recumbent seat spreads your weight across a wide seat base and a tall backrest. You're leaning back, not leaning forward. Your hands rest on the bars instead of holding you up. The goal of the design is to take strain off the back, hips, and knees, and the seat on this model is wide and contoured with a high backrest and adjustable armrests. Those armrests do double duty, because they also give you something solid to hold when you're getting in and out.

Getting in and out is a bigger deal than people expect. This trike uses a low step-through frame, so you're not swinging a leg over a top tube or climbing up onto a tall seat. You step in, turn, and sit down, much like lowering yourself into a chair. For a lot of the riders I talk to, that alone decides it.

First impressions before the wheels turned

One of the first things Les said on camera was that he wanted to compare this recumbent setup with the regular, standard setup on our other rickshaw. That's a smart instinct. A lot of buyers end up weighing the recumbent version against the upright version, and I'll come back to that question near the end of this article.

Then he did what most of us would do. He said, let's take this for a ride. He set the assist level, pointed out the throttle on the handlebar, and got going. The throttle on this model is a thumb throttle on the right side of the handlebar, so it sits right under your hand. Press it and the 750W motor moves the trike without any pedaling at all. Pedal instead and the pedal assist adds power on top of your own effort. You can use either one, or switch between them during a ride, which is exactly what Les ended up doing.

Who this trike is built for

Before we get into the ride itself, it helps to know who this machine is really for, because it isn't trying to be everything to everyone.

• Riders who want a stable three-wheel platform and a seat with real back support. Many of them come to us from our electric trikes for seniors collection.
• People who want to bring someone along: a spouse, grandkids, a friend who can't ride anymore. If that's you, our e-trikes built for passengers are the place to start.
• Riders who need a trike that can carry real weight. The trike is rated for 500 pounds total, which puts it among our high weight capacity electric trikes.
• Anyone who wants the option of a throttle, so the motor can do the work on days when the legs don't want to.

Les fits right into that picture. He's 69, he's new to this kind of trike, and within a few minutes he was talking about how he'd love to give somebody a ride in the back. Let's get into how it went.

Les started his ride in assist level two, in seventh gear, rolling slightly downhill through the parking lot. His first verdict was simple: it felt perfect for that part of the course. That's a good place to pause, because the two settings he mentioned do two very different jobs, and understanding them is most of the learning curve on any e-trike.

Assist level and gear are not the same thing

Newer riders mix these up all the time, so let me lay it out plainly.

The assist level controls how much help the motor gives you while you pedal. Lower levels give a gentle boost, and you're still doing a good share of the work. Higher levels give you more push for the same effort. You change the assist level on the handlebar control, and the color display shows which level you're in along with your speed.

The gear is mechanical. This trike uses a Shimano Tourney 7-speed drivetrain, and the gear you choose decides how hard or easy each pedal stroke feels and how fast your legs have to spin. Seventh gear sits at the top of that range.

You can mix these however you like. Les ran his whole ride in seventh gear and moved the assist level up and down to match the terrain. That's a perfectly valid way to ride, especially when the motor is doing a lot of the work. Some riders prefer to leave the assist in one spot and shift gears instead. Most people end up doing a bit of both once they've had the trike for a while.

Assist level two on a gentle downhill is a nice, conservative choice. You don't need much help when gravity is already helping, and keeping the assist low in a parking lot gives you time to get comfortable with how the trike responds before things speed up.

A real moment in traffic

Then Les headed out onto the street, and almost immediately he had a delivery truck behind him. I like this part of the video a lot, because it's real. Nobody staged that truck.

Les did exactly what I'd want any rider to do. He moved over to let the truck pass, and then he slowed down to make room. As it turned out, the truck wasn't trying to pass at all, so Les said, okay, we're good, and carried on. No drama. He just made a decision, adjusted, and kept riding.

I bring this up because a rickshaw is a wider vehicle than a standard bike, and it's going to share the road with cars and trucks some of the time. Being predictable and courteous goes a long way. Move right when it's safe, give larger vehicles room, and don't be afraid to slow down while you figure out what the driver behind you wants. This model comes with rear-view mirrors, and on a wide trike they're worth checking often, because turning around in a recumbent seat to look behind you isn't as easy as it is on an upright bike.

Taking the corner at 15

Once the truck situation sorted itself out, Les bumped up to assist level three, still in seventh gear. He took a turn at 15 on the display and said it felt very stable. A moment later he added that it tracks really well, and the front wheel in particular tracks really well. He liked it.

Tracking is a word riders use for how straight and true a vehicle follows the line you choose. When a trike tracks well, the front wheel goes where you point it without wandering, and you're not constantly making tiny steering corrections. That's a big part of what makes a ride feel relaxed instead of tiring.

A few things on this trike work in that direction. You're sitting low in a recumbent seat, which keeps your weight down near the frame. The three-wheel layout means you aren't balancing. And the trike rolls on 4-inch-wide fat tires, which add grip and soak up some of the bumps before they reach the seat.

One word of honest advice, though. Stable doesn't mean you can corner like a sports car. Any trike behaves differently from a two-wheeler in a turn, because you can't lean into it. Les took that corner at a sensible speed and it felt planted. Make that your habit too. Slow down a little before the turn, steer smoothly, and let the trike settle. Once you've done that a dozen times, it becomes second nature.

The turnaround

Les reached the turnaround point on the course, checked that nobody was behind him, and swung the trike around to head back to home base. That little check before the turn is another good habit. A rickshaw needs more room to turn around than a standard bike, so pick a spot with space, look both ways, and take it slow.

The throttle in everyday riding

Right at the start of his ride, Les pointed out the throttle, and it's worth a few words here because it changes how people use these trikes. With pedal assist, the motor helps when you pedal. With the throttle, the motor moves you when you press it, pedaling or not.

In practice, a lot of riders use the throttle for the moments where pedaling is awkward: getting rolling from a full stop, pulling away from an intersection, or giving tired legs a break on the way home. Others ride mostly on the throttle and treat the pedals as optional. Both are fine. If having that option matters to you, take a look at our electric trikes with throttle control.

The ride back to home base is where Les really started to smile. The return leg goes uphill, and that's the part of any test ride that tells you the most about a motor.

Zero to 16, uphill

Les started the climb in assist level three, still in seventh gear. From a standstill, he got the trike up to 16 on the display while going uphill, and he noted that it happened really quickly.

That's worth slowing down on. Starting from zero on an incline is the hardest thing you'll ask of any bike or trike. You have no momentum, gravity is working against you, and you're pushing the whole vehicle plus yourself from a dead stop. On a regular pedal trike, that's the moment where a lot of riders stand on the pedals, grind away, or simply get off and walk.

Les did none of that. He was sitting back in a recumbent seat in the top gear, and the motor carried him up to speed. That's what a 750W motor is for. The power isn't really about top speed. It's about making the hard parts of a ride feel ordinary.

Assist level four and the crest of the hill

Next, Les bumped up to assist level four, still in seventh gear, and kept climbing. He hit 17 on the display right at the crest of the hill. His reaction is my favorite line of the video: that was some nice torque, and he liked that.

Torque is the pulling force a motor can produce, and it's what you feel when you start from a stop or climb. Speed is what you see on the display. Torque is what you feel in your back as the seat pushes you forward. When riders tell me a trike feels powerful, they're almost always talking about torque.

The rear-mounted motor on this trike gives you that push from behind, right where the load sits. And the jump from level three to level four shows how the assist levels work in the real world. Les didn't change gears. He just asked the motor for more help, and the trike responded on the steepest part of the climb.

A note on what this ride didn't include

I want to be straight with you about one thing. Les rode solo. There were no passengers in the back for this video, which he mentions himself, and he wished there had been.

So the numbers you see in this ride come from one rider on an empty bench. A trike with two passengers on the back is carrying a lot more weight, and it's going to feel different on a hill. You'll likely use a higher assist level or lean on the throttle more, and you'll go through battery a little faster. The trike is rated for a total of 500 pounds, and our goal is for it to stay comfortable at cruising pace even when it's fully loaded. Still, if you plan to carry passengers up steep grades regularly, that's a great thing to talk through with us before you buy.

How assist level affects your battery

This is also a good place to mention range, because hills and assist levels are the two biggest factors in how far a battery takes you. Higher assist levels and heavy throttle use draw more power. Lower levels and steady pedaling stretch it out. Load matters too, and so do wind, tire pressure, and how often you stop and start.

My advice is to ride the way Les did. Use the lower levels on flat ground and downhill sections, then save the higher levels for the climbs where you actually need them. You'll get the fun of the motor without draining the battery on stretches where you don't need help. For the current range estimates, check the product details on the trike's page before you plan a long outing.

Back in the parking lot

After the climb, Les rolled back into the parking lot and called it nice, easy pedaling. That's a small detail, but I think it matters. Plenty of electric trikes feel great under power and then awkward when you're just pedaling slowly. Feeling relaxed at walking-pace speeds, in a lot full of parked cars and tight turns, is part of what makes a trike livable day to day.

Stopping power

Toward the end of the video, Les summed up the trike in a few short phrases, and one of them was simple: the brakes work good.

On a vehicle designed to carry up to 500 pounds, brakes aren't a footnote. This model uses hydraulic disc brakes with three rotors, so there's a disc at each wheel. Hydraulic brakes generally need less hand pressure than cable brakes to get strong stopping power, which helps on long rides and on downhill stretches, and the system adjusts as the pads wear. If braking performance is high on your list, you can compare options in our electric trikes with disc brakes collection.

A couple of habits will serve you well, whatever trike you ride. Squeeze the brakes smoothly instead of grabbing them, especially with passengers aboard. Start slowing earlier than you would on a light bike, because more weight takes more distance to stop. And on long descents, pick a sensible speed at the top of the hill instead of trying to scrub off speed halfway down.

One of the most useful parts of this video comes after the riding is done. Les sat back and talked honestly about what it was like to learn the trike on the spot.

He said he was easily starting to get the feel of how to operate the electric versus the pedal. He also said he thought it would take him a couple of days to really get efficient at operating the power assist. And then he gave himself a grade: for a rookie, he felt like he did real good. He knew he'd had fun. He didn't have to wonder about that part.

I love that answer, because it's honest and it's exactly right. You can ride this trike safely and enjoy it on day one. Getting really smooth, where you choose the right assist level without thinking about it, takes a few rides. Both things are true at the same time.

What "getting efficient" actually means

When Les talks about getting efficient with the power assist, he's describing something every new e-trike rider goes through. In the beginning, you think about every control. Which level am I in? Should I go up or down? Do I want the throttle or the pedals? Is that the brake or the shifter?

After a few rides, those decisions move out of your head and into your hands. You feel a hill coming and you bump the assist up before you even notice you did it. You roll into a parking lot and ease off. You stop thinking about the trike and start thinking about the ride. That shift usually takes a couple of days of regular riding, which lines up with what Les guessed.

How I'd suggest learning a trike like this

If you're new to electric trikes, here's the approach I recommend. It's built around what Les did naturally.

• Start in a parking lot. Les began in an open lot, in a low assist level, on a gentle slope. That's the ideal classroom. You have room to make mistakes and nothing to hit.
• Begin with a low assist level. Level one or two lets you feel how the motor responds without surprising you. Move up once you're comfortable.
• Learn the throttle gently. Press it a little at a time until you know how it responds. A thumb throttle is easy to use, but it's still worth getting to know at slow speeds first.
• Practice turns at low speed. Get used to how a three-wheeler steers, since you won't lean the way you would on a bicycle. Then build up speed gradually.
• Practice stopping. Do a few smooth stops from different speeds so you know how much distance you need.
• Learn your display. Know where to read your speed, your assist level, and your battery so you can glance at it instead of staring at it.
• Turn the power off when you're done. At the end of his ride, Les turned the power off before getting off. That's a good habit. It means a bumped throttle can't move the trike while you're stepping out.

Getting the fit right

A big part of feeling confident on any trike is being set up properly for your body. On this model, the stem is adjustable, so you can change the angle and reach of the handlebar until your arms feel relaxed. The handlebars are a comfort-curve design with soft, foam-cushioned grips angled inward to keep your wrists in a more natural position.

Small adjustments make a real difference on a recumbent. If the bars are too far away, your shoulders tense up. If they're too close, your knees can feel crowded. Getting the reach and the pedal distance right is what turns a good trike into one you want to ride every day.

This is where I can help directly. If you're not sure whether this trike is the right size for you, or how it would fit your height and build, use our personal fitting process. You'll get real advice from a real person, and we'll walk through how this trike, or one of our other most comfortable electric trikes, would fit you.

Confidence comes from seat time

I've watched a lot of first rides over the years, and the pattern is almost always the same. The first five minutes are careful. The next ten are curious. By the end, people are smiling and asking where else they can ride.

Les followed that arc almost exactly. He started out naming every setting out loud, the way you do when you're concentrating. By the time he was climbing the hill in level four, he was reacting to how the trike felt, not just what the display said. And by the time he was back in the parking lot, he was relaxed enough to call it easy pedaling.

If you're on the fence because you're worried you won't be able to handle an electric trike, take Les's experience to heart. He was a rookie. He handled traffic, a corner, a climb, and a turnaround in one short loop, and he had fun doing it.

Remember how Les opened the video by saying he wanted to compare the recumbent setup with the standard setup on our other rickshaw? It's one of the most common decisions people face when they shop our rickshaws, so let's talk it through.

A quick note first. This video only covers Les's ride on the recumbent model, so I can't tell you what he thought of the standard version. What I can do is explain the main differences between the two seating styles so you can decide which one fits you.

Upright vs. recumbent: the core difference

Our standard EVRYjourney Electric Tricycle Rickshaw 750W puts the rider in a more traditional upright position, on a saddle, with the pedals beneath you. Our EVRYjourney Recumbent eBike Rickshaw 750W, the one Les rode, puts the rider in a low recumbent seat with a backrest and armrests, with the pedals out in front.

Here's how I'd think about the choice:

• Choose the recumbent if comfort and support are your top priorities, if you have back, hip, or knee concerns, if you want armrests to help with getting in and out, or if you plan on longer rides where sitting back in a supportive seat makes a difference.
• Choose the upright if you're used to a traditional riding position, you like sitting up higher to see over traffic, or you prefer the feel of a saddle and a more classic bike posture.

Both are rickshaws, both are built to carry passengers, and both are 750W electric trikes. The real question is how you want to sit for the next hour of riding. If you can't decide, that's exactly the kind of thing a test ride settles quickly. You can browse every option in our rickshaw collection or see our full lineup of electric tricycles to compare side by side.

Why Les wanted passengers

Near the end of the video, Les said the one thing missing from his ride was passengers. He said it would be fun to tool around with some people in the back, and that he'd like to give somebody a thrill in the back of this trike. Then he added that it has the power to do it.

That instinct is really what the rickshaw is about. Plenty of electric trikes are great for one person. A rickshaw is for taking your grandkids to the park, giving your spouse a tour of the neighborhood, or bringing a friend who can't ride a bike anymore along to the beach. It turns a solo hobby into something you share.

If you do plan to carry passengers, a few habits will make it a better experience for them.

• Let your passengers know before you start moving, and make sure they're seated and holding on.
• Accelerate smoothly. A gentle press on the throttle or a lower assist level feels much better from the back seat than a sudden surge.
• Take corners slower than you would riding alone, since the extra weight changes how the trike feels.
• Brake earlier and more gently, so nobody slides forward on the bench.
• Stay within the weight limits for both the passenger bench and the trike as a whole.

Room to grow: the hitch system

One feature Les didn't use in the video, but that's worth knowing about, is the rear hitch on this model. It's our patent-pending hitch system, and it lets you attach an extra row of seating or a cargo trailer basket. Those add-ons are sold separately, but they mean the trike can grow with what you need, whether that's an extra passenger, a beach trip, or a big grocery run.

Les's final verdict

Les wrapped up his ride by switching the power off and giving his honest take on the recumbent rickshaw. He called it a very nice model and pretty deluxe. He said it has nice torque, the brakes work well, and everything works really well. Then he said he loves it, and he wants two of them.

I've heard a lot of reviews over the years, but I think a 69-year-old first-timer asking for two of something after a single loop around the test course says plenty.

Try one for yourself

The best way to know whether this trike is right for you is to ride one. If you're in Southern California, come visit our store and take one out on the same kind of short loop Les did. If you're further away, our 30-day test ride lets you ride at home, on your own streets and your own hills, before you commit.

And if you have questions about sizing, passengers, hills, or whether the recumbent or upright rickshaw suits you better, reach out. That's what I'm here for. Like Les, you might find you're having a ball before you've even left the parking lot.