It sounds like a recumbent is just what you need. Scour the internet and do research. Visit any local recumbent dealers in your area. I assume you need a bike with a 700C rear wheel to work with the Jetblack victory. If you're fairly athletic, a 700/700 high racer with a nicely reclined (30 deg) seat might be the ticket. Or a 700C rear wheel and 20" front wheel with a more upright seat if the 700/700 is too extreme

To answer your questions would take a book. Short answer is a recumbent will likely really improve your biking pleasure; it put the fun back in biking for me. Read through this forum, and check out: https://bicycleman.com/blog/

https://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/forum/main-category/recumbents?f=2

https://www.recumbent.news/

Try to ride as many as they can, each bike will be subtly different, but at the end of the day as long as the boom can be adjusted to suit leg length and the seat is comfortable, they should be very happy. Most trikes have similar gearing ratios and components (same as a regular bike but sometimes at lower ratios than you'd be used to on a roadie) and fat tires at low pressures are a low-cost suspension shall we say.
Try other brands if possible (ICE, Terra Trike, Greenspeed are a few). It most likely won't be their last recumbent.

I'm a recent owner of the jc70, theres some inferiorness to it. I know quite a few about it now after riding it for 100 miles. Rob is a good dude.

Here is mine https://imgur.com/a/DuOBVxW

I'm going frp hardshell seat after dealing with a design flaw on the mesh seat

I just bought the performer jc 70 it hasn't arrived yet but it seems to be a well received trike at the lower price point. I belive you can get both the jc 20 and the 70 in either a 27 speed or a 30 speed i think the difference is around 200 dollars. You can also order it with 2 different seat options: hard shell with a thick pad or a mesh. The only difference between the two models is the rear wheel the jc 70 has a 700cm wheel in back and the jc 20 has a 20 inch wheel (the same as the front two). As for weight the trike is rated at 265 lbs so you should be fine there. From what I have found it's just like a bicycle �� all the components are there and upgradable the chain is just much longer.

u/Wacco_Fuzzy makes a number of excellent points.

I'd like to weigh in here as well, being a recent recumbent trike purchaser (for the spouse) and still saving up for mine.

There are differences in gear but, assuming that you're getting a trike, the size of the rear wheel is also a factor in the gearing. A 26" rear wheel will make your entire cassette/chainring "taller" (i.e. faster, but unable to get as low a gear ratio for hills).

Ultimately, it's about comfort though. Don't compromise on that because, unlike a diamond frame bike, you can't stand up on the pedals if the seat irritates you.

Having said that, if a recumbent seat is irritating you, you're probably doing something wrong. Try adjusting your technique or posture.

But try multiple bikes/trikes regardless, and pick the one that's most comfortable. When you're (I know you're shopping for someone else) 20 miles into a ride you'll be glad you did.

I don't really understand the back pain argument. As somebody with chronic back pain the recumbent position is way harder on my back than a normal bike. There isn't pressure on my back on a normal bike.

I own one but it is not the bike I use most often. My opinion is that they're FAR more comfortable for long rides (neck and hands especially) and also FAR less convenient for shorter rides or anything resembling urban environments. They're harder to maneuver at low speed, harder to store, harder to pick up and carry, harder to put in a car, harder to walk along a sidewalk, etc. etc. But if you're riding on a bike path or on a country road the feeling is awesome- like flying down the road in an easy chair.

They're super fun and really fast on level roads. Then again I'm a bearded dude and I'll turn 40 this year so of course I want one...

I think they’re great but I wouldn’t feel safe on the road in such a low thing. When you’re driving a car it’s easy to overlook them. Some of them use a kids flag for visibility but I’m not convinced that this works well enough.

Still better than cars and/or driving? Otherwise, my mother told me not to say anything if I couldn’t come up with anything nice to say.

They're so fun!! Also, a ton nicer on my arthritis than my road bike. I have to admit, I still love my road bike best, but I do like my recumbent that used to be my husband's. He absolutely loves his new one, too. It's faster, lower, lighter. We did StP last year, and his butt wasn't sore at the end. ;)

Flat out fun!

I'm not the fastest out there, but I still do my best to swim, bike, and run!

With Parkinson's my arm likes shaking, so very difficult to ride two-wheel bikes flat out up hills without control with that front wheel wobble.

My FIL switched from diamond frame to a recumbent trike in his mid-90s because he no longer trusted his balance. He just turned 99, and although he has needed to add electric assist, he still takes it out.

I just like how weird they look but it's too costly to have that as my only reason.

They’re faster and can carry more stuff

IS THAT ONE OF THOSE BIKES WITH 2 SEATS AND IF SO IS THAT THE PERSON WHO I WOULD BE PEDALLING WITH

This Kirby boss a has aged well.

(I don't play Kirby)

NITTED HAT NOT INCLUDEDD !!!

IS THAT HARDLY QUIMN I KEEP HEARING ABOUT

They’re a quiet niche, and likely will always be.

They’re not race-legal, even though so many speed records are held by recumbents, so most folks won’t bother training on them. And despite some folks attempts, they’re not great for complicated off-road situations, and will never be good on a half-pipe. They’re jumpable, sure, but not really landable. So, they’re illegal for on-road competitions, not great for off-road competitions… so they don’t get good press.

And they’re ‘weird,’ which always means ‘bad’ for a fair-sized segment of the population. They want something like their friends have.

That said… I agree that it does feel more visible, when it’s in the field of view, simply because of the ‘WTF IS THAT?!?’ factor.

The one context I’ve seen a bunch of them is in the long-haul cycle touring crowd. Some of those folks also raved about how good they were for daily commutes: No saddle-sores, you can hang a bag off of OSS bars to hold maps and food. Trikes are great, even in the snow, with appropriate tires… When I took mine on a trip 20 years ago, end of day recovery was mostly limited to swallowing an entire pizza, and then going for a walk around wherever I was. No bow-legged hobbling around like a cowboy.

I get plenty of comments and questions when I’m out and about, and everyone is curious. But I doubt any of those folks will buy one.

Recumbent bikes were most popular in the 90s and peaked in 2000, I believe. I am the only recumbent rider in my town, and I know two others in adjacent towns. I’m on the east coast of USA. In Madison in the state of Wisconsin, they are much more popular (relatively speaking), and you’ll see them more often. So it depends on your location a bit. As @bogiesan_02 said, e-trikes are the future of recumbents as people age out of bikes. I don’t see much of a comeback for 2-wheeled recumbent bikes. I think they will always exist, but just in sparse numbers.

As for safety, this is what I wrote about some time ago on my blog:

“Would you rather be careening down a street avoiding potholes and car doors while on a regular DF bike or on a recumbent? Turns out you’ll be safer on a recumbent. Research has shown more severe injuries occur on a DF bike compared to a recumbent bike. On a recumbent, your center of gravity is much lower and you’re traveling feet first. You’re certainly better off crashing with your feet than your head! Plus you can brake much harder without the prospect of flipping over your handlebars and suffering a severe head injury.

Also while you’re on a recumbent, your head is more upright allowing you to spot road hazards and make eye contact with drivers more easily. Not to mention the fact that you’re riding something weird, so drivers will notice you much more readily.

When talking about safety, I have to at least mention the recumbent trike. You can’t fall over on a trike (unless you really push it to its limits on a high speed turn and flip it). So for riders of a certain age, or those with balance problems, or those who exceed the weight limits of a two-wheeled bike, the trike is a very safe option. Many young recumbent bike riders of the 80s and 90s have since graduated to trikes in the past 15 yrs for this reason, leading to tremendous growth in the trike market (and a parallel shrinking of the recumbent bike market).”

I think that a big part of this is social and image. If I get any comments when riding my Tour Easy, it will almost always be a kid, usually under the age of 12, and almost invariably positive and enthusiastic. Trikes certainly have their place, but I think that many older folks assume that they need a trike, when in fact, a long wheelbase recumbent would suit their needs and be nearly as safe.

So I live in Raleigh and regularly go out to the Neuse River Greenway.

When I started riding about 4 years ago, I think there were only two other people regularly riding along the greenway with recumbents. I bought mine from The Bike Guy, who's located at the top of the greenway near the dam.

In the past 4 years, I've seen a definite uptick in riders. I've also been stopped by people asking me about my recumbent; for a while I even carried a stack of business cards because I sort of got tired of the conversations.

Now; well, there is still the two other people who ride out there regularly--but I see a lot more people riding recumbents on the weekends, including one weekend when I passed a group of 8 riders all on recumbents riding as a group.

I think the problem--at least out here--is that not a lot of people sell recumbents because not a lot of people are riding recumbents. And not a lot of people are riding recumbents because they don't know where to buy recumbents.

But they became so popular with The Bike Guy that I swear, half his shop is basically a recumbent showroom. And apparently he can't keep up with the demand.

I used to ride mine in traffic (to get from my house to the greenway) but I stopped doing that a couple of years back because it was a bit of a distance to ride, and because while 99% of the drivers gave me a lot of space and were otherwise friendly--it just takes 1 guy not paying attention on the phone while driving.

But I did increased my visibility by not just putting a flag on the back--but by buying UV degradable flagging tape and attaching about a yard and a half of each color to the end of the flag. The multi-color streamers definitely made me more visible to the cars and other bicyclists out there.

Edit to add: most of the recumbents I see are tadpole-style trikes (I ride a 559), but there are definitely a handful of recumbent bikes out there on the greenway that I periodically run into.

In the UK, I've seen three other people with them near me since the pandemic began. I don't know if they got them in the pandemic (as I did) or if they were always there but not around when I commuted (as I now always work from home so see them go past).

I think in the UK, GCN's coverage in which a GCN presenter starts by writing it off as nothing to look into but then keeps getting them involved has actually done a lot to "normalise" them amongst the DF riders I know, taking them from "weird, they shouldn't exist" to "yeah I might try yours" (and some have). Unfortunately with the trying thing, few people try it for long enough to get used to it.

I consider myself reasonably fit, but someone who I guess is about 40 has a recumbent with a child seat on the back (toddler). Low racer, underseat steering, very low to the ground - kid is absolutely the highest point. I got "stuck" behind him when I was in the car and clocked him at 29 mph on the flat. With his child. It was about 31 C as well. Made me feel very inadequate. However, even from a few cars back, they were extremely visible. It's not like cars can't see down - if they can't see you they've already run you over. The idea that cars can't see recumbents, is, in my mind, purely a result of bad drivers not watching the road. They'd probably also be surprised by someone trying to cross. Of course, no one's perfect and we all have lapses in judgement, but recumbents are absolutely visible to anyone actually looking where they're going... End rant.

I have a recumbent bike in front of my tv. I watch TV and play games while exercising. The only advice I'd say is to put a pillow or a folded towel to sit on or it will start to hurt after a while.

I have a stationary bike that I use nightly. It’s been the primary key to my weight loss journey so far, apart from CICO.

I cycle and PS4. Normally average an hour on an RPG. Great for griding levels and stuff.

I have a TV PS4 and bike all setup in the garage.

Normal output is 550-650 calories for the the hour per the peloton's calculations.

Highly recommend it!

I watch tv/movies while using my treadmill. I don't understand why anyone runs outside. lol

You get used to it. (AZ here).

I use a recumbent exercise bike with my swith and I love it!

A lot easier to say "ten more minutes" when you have levels to pass

I have a Cruzbike Sofrider that I've done some on-road touring, and several gravel/dirt day rides. In my experience the front wheel loses traction very quickly on unpaved surfaces as soon as there's an uphill slope. It's fine on flat or gently undulating terrain, but just doesn't work well for climbing on loose surfaces. It's true that it climbs really well on paved roads though. I have road-ish tires (Panaracer Pasela), so it's possible it would climb better with more aggressive tires, though there would be a tradeoff in on-road performance. You should probably check the Cruzbike forums to get a wider range of experiences!

I'm not familiar with the Schlitter Freestyle, but of the two that might be my choice.

If you haven't decided it has to be one of those two bikes (neither of which is really ideal for touring), then you might consider looking at the Classifieds on Bentrideronline. There are several bikes for sale currently that are tried and tested for touring - .e.g. Bacchetta Giro (both 20 and 26) or Lightfoot Ranger. Plus others from Rans and Lightning that would probably be good too. And you could save some money compared to buying new, if that matters.

If you really want to handle gravel trails, then the widest tyres you can find - some bents only have clearance for skinny tyres. Not sure where the upright market is wrt ‘gravel bikes’, but that may have widened, so it’s worth looking at what’s available tyre-wise in 26”, 700 and 650. Mtbs went from 26, to 29, to 27.5 - stuff is available in all those to a degree but individual bent designs will obvs have some diameter limit according to tyre/rim. (Chain management/routing tends to point towards relatively narrow brake arch for the front fork… there was a UK designer - Mike Burrows - that produced single sided forks to order for not a crazy price which had more clearance , sadly he recently passed away.)

And another thing, in the olden days of international touring, an important consideration was how easy the bike was to get repaired here er it was. That usually meant a steel frame and off the shelf components.

Is there a low rider recumbent bike (not a trike) that would make a good touring bike?

I wish I had one to offer up!

That being said if you are located in Minneapolis, I would check out TCAC, they rent out Adaptive cycles for the afternoon if you just wanted to go out on a ride, they are located right on the greenway so the location is great!

https://www.tcacycling.org/

Try Perennial Cycle in Minneapolis. They specialize in folding, tandem and recumbent bicycles.

Rover is least expensive tandem trike I've found.

https://www.terratrike.com/product-category/trikes/tandem/

You want IPS (Independent Pedaling System).

Also, transporting these big bikes is a challenge. Best for local rides.