Sun Traditional Review on November 9, 2019

Sun Bicycles have been building quality adult tricycles for over forty years and has become the largest seller of adult tricycles in the world.  I personally know Jack and Ben, the owners at Sun Bicycles, and there are no harder working guys in the bike business.  Sun Bicycle’s philosophy has always been to offer good quality products at a low price and then stand behind the product.  Sun really is the best in the industry, they carry in incredible amount of replacement parts so you can be assured if you need a replacement part they will more than likely have it in stock.

Frame: The frame on the Sun Traditional is MIG welded together in Taiwan and has a 250 Lbs. capacity.  The frame is easily put together by bolting the rear section to the front by using four bolts. The Sun Traditional’s frame design gives you an extremely low step-through for easy on and off access. Sun offers the trike in red, blue, purple, mint, yellow, and black.

Gearing: The stock setup of the Sun Traditional is a one speed freewheel.  Sun has lot of options, one speed coaster brake, three speed coaster brake, five speed coaster brake and seven speed with two hand brakes. Adding some gears to the trike is a nice addition if you have to ride into the wind or up a hill.

Braking: The Sun Traditional uses a “V” style front brake which is welded to the fork of the trike.  The “V” brake come with oversize brake pads and can stop the trike more than sufficiently.  The braking will vary depending on which wheel set you choose.  The best stopping can be achieved on the aluminum rim followed by the steel rim and then the Mag wheels. 
If you order the Traditional in a three speed or five speed you will get that old school coaster brake hub like you had when you were a kid so you can stop the trike by pedaling a quarter turn backwards. If you opt for the seven speed version you can stop the trike with the front hand brake or rear hand brake. The seven speed Traditional adds a rear disc brake which will stop the drive rear wheel.

Seat: Big, oversized, Western style seat with rear support bars.  The seat is probably the best seat on the market for Traditional trikes.  The Western style seat is contoured to fit your bottle and the shape of your leg.  Wider does not always equal more comfortable, The Western style is very comfortable, but if you are looking for the ultimate, Sun makes a fitted gel seat pad the can easily slip over the existing seat.
The rear support bars positioned the seat farther back on the trike which adds stability and the rider pedal will be farther out in front.  There is something about this position which older people really like, for some reason older people do not like the pedals underneath them like on a traditional two wheel bike.

Ride: We like the ride on the Sun Traditional.  The cranks are positioned a bit farther forward which gives the Sun Traditional a more recreational feel and adds stability.  While moving the cranks farther forward helps stability it also makes riding the trike standing a bit more awkward.  The Sun Traditional handling is precise and predictable, and all of our testers thought Sun has offered up a good designed product.

Wheels:  Sun offers lot of wheel choices for the Traditional.  The stock setup is with alloy rims and stainless steel spokes, you can also get heavy duty steel wheels which come with thicker gauge spokes and a heavy duty steel rim.  The Mag wheels are molded from a plastic like material which will not rust and should not get out of true.  A popular option is tire liner to help prevent flat tires.

Other Stuff: Large rear basket, front fender and reflectors set are included. 

Pros: The Sun Traditional brings safety, durability and stability to everyone who rides this well built trike.  Features; sealed rear axle bearings, extra wide Western style seat, heavy duty rear basket and three different types of wheels to choose from.  The frame is Mig welded together and the construction is solid.  The trike is very corrosion resistant; paint is applied evenly and consistently.

Cons: Only a 250 Lbs weight limit.