When you are buying a recumbent trike one thing becomes obvious very quickly. A trike is not a small vehicle, and to be honest they take up a lot more space than you might think.

That being said, it's important to think about where you might be putting your trike in your home. For people with a house this isnt as big of an issue. You can keep it in a shed, your garage, or even outside in your backyard, but what about for people who have a more limited living situation, like an apartment? That's where things can get a little more difficult.

But fear not there are many solutions for this problem to consider, so let's discuss some of those today and learn how you may be able to store your trike.

Storage Friendly Trikes

The first thing we should talk about is your trike itself. While you are shopping for a trike it's important to consider your living space. Have a general idea or even measurements of the open space you would have for something like this. Also consider what floor you are on, and how you will get it to where you live. Taking a trike up 4 flights of stairs is not easy, i'll tell you that much.

Picking a trike that suits the size of the space is important. If you have a small place to store a potential trike consider something smaller. A small trike like the Catrike Pocket is a great option, its the most affordable Catrike, super light and takes up less space measuring in at 68 inches long and 31 Inches wide.

Or for even more storage capability you can always go for a folding trike. These are the most obvious option for a compact storage situation, being able to fold your trike to half the size is super convenient, and also makes it easier for transportation.

All the folding options are great for this, but it is worth highlighting the Catrike folding options and how they feature folded rolling wheels and a kickstand. This is the only folding option that can stand up vertically, and the rolling wheels make it easily maneuvered around a small space.

Trike Racks

Now beyond trikes there are a couple of options as well. The first being a trike wall mount like the Feedback Velo Wall Rack. This is a steel mount with a weight capacity of 70 pounds, so strong enough to hold most trikes, even with motors. It features protective rubber resting points for the cruciform. To keep your trike in great shape while stored.

A trike wall mount is great because it keeps your trike up and out of the way off the floor, which is perfect for a small apartment with minimal square footage.

A thing to keep in mind is how you will lift it up onto the mount. Sure it can hold 70 pounds, but can you lift a 70 pound trike up and basically over your head? If not this might not be the option for you.

Another great option is more of a DIY task, and it's something that we have done here in our shop. All it takes is a heavy duty bike storage hook from home depot. We screwed these into the support beams in the ceiling and we hung stock catrikes by their rear wheel. Which is great when we have so many of them.

This is a very compact storage solution, but it isn't for everyone. First off these hooks can only hold up to 50 pounds, which is why we are only hanging stock catrikes from them. And with so much weight going on the rear wheel this could cause problems if it was a much heavier trike.

So if you go for this storage option keep these things in mind, you don't want to bend your rear wheel. We would recommend keeping it to stock trikes ONLY.

And just like with the wall mount you need to be comfortable lifting your entire trike up and over your head to hang this up. This one is even more difficult because it's on your ceiling like it is for us. It is much higher up off the ground and is totally dependent on the height of your ceiling. So it's not a storage option for everyone.

And that's mainly it for storage options that apply to an apartment space. With minimal interior space to store a trike it can be a bit difficult to find a place for your recumbent, besides just on the floor. If you do end up needing to keep it grounded and still conserve space you can do this by removing the rear wheel.

If your trike has a quick release rear wheel just popping it off when you are done riding is a really simple task once you get the hang of it. And it can usually save up to over a foot of floor space that your trike takes up. Just remember to leave a soft pad underneath the rear fork as it rests on the ground, so it doesn't get damaged.

Now what if you have some more floor space where you live, Like a yard, shed, or garage? Some places that you don’t need to hang up your trike to get it out of the way. Well we have an option to make that even better for you too.

Trike Cover

When you keep your trike in a shed or garage for a long period of time like over the winter until riding season, dust and dirt can slowly accumulate and wear down your trike, something that isn't ideal. And not to mention keeping your trike outdoors all of that is much more concerning with the wear and tear of the elements on your trike.

To combat this we recommend getting a trike cover. More specifically our Revolution trike cover, which is the perfect size for any trike, and if you have a quad dont worry our large option is sized to perfectly fit our big ol quads, so you can really fit anything under this.

A trike cover like this will do a great job at protecting your trike from dirt, grime, wind, rain, snow, hail, and honestly anything else that could potentially damage it while you aren't riding.

One of the biggest things we see on trikes that come in for maintenance after not being used in years is weather damage. A lot of what needs to be fixed on a neglected trike could be prevented from a trike cover to protect it from natural wear and tear.

All you need to do is throw the cover over the top of your recumbent, make sure the bottom is tucked under the trike, I like to put the tires over the edges to hold it down. And then find the elastic cinch at the edge of the cover and bring it tight to keep the wind out.

As you can tell, storing a trike can be a little complicated and it all depends on your living situation, and physical ability for if you can hang up your trike or not. But there are plenty of options to make it easier and more efficient.

You can find all of these options on our website and we will leave links to the products mentioned in this video down in the description below.

And if you need any help finding out what would be the best storage option for you even after this video. You can always send us an email at trikes@utahtrikes.com and you can get a professional opinion and recommendations.