Schwinn Meridian Adult Tricycle Review

Schwinn is a household name among cycling enthusiasts and they can seemingly do no wrong. They’re even trying their hand at creating adult tricycles, and the Schwinn Meridian adult tricycle is their best offering.

It’s a modern tricycle that helps provide a wonderful overall experience. 

You can select between 24-inch and 26-inch wheel variants, there are also multiple color schemes to choose between. 

All-in-all the Schwinn Meridian adult tricycle is a great option for anyone that’s looking to get the best possible trike experience.

Let’s take a deeper dive into what makes the Schwinn Meridian such an exceptional experience. 

Schwinn Meridian Adult Tricycle Overview 

Schwinn has tons of experience creating bicycles and that clearly translates into their efforts with the Meridian. It’s important to take a look at each component so it becomes easy to understand why it’s such a brilliant tricycle. 

Frameset 

Like most modern bikes, the Schwinn Meridian trike also uses aluminum to help form the frame. The use of aluminum ensures that despite the 17-inch frame, the trike remains light. 

Despite being very lightweight, aluminum is super durable. You won’t need to worry about the tricycle taking damage or suffering from any sort of corrosion. It’s also capable of supporting up to 300 lbs of weight. 

It looks very aesthetically pleasing as well. The design doesn’t feel chunky in any way and the aluminum finish helps give off a very sleek vibe. 

Schwinn also wanted to facilitate older riders with their design. That’s why they’ve gone with a step-through frame that makes it much easier to get on and off the trike. 

You can rest easy if you decide to purchase the Schwinn Meridian trike. The manufacturers offer a comprehensive five year warranty so you can cycle away without worry. 

Geometry 

When someone talks about the geometry of a cycle, they’re basically referring to the seating position it encourages the rider to take. 

The Schwinn Meridian adult tricycle encourages the cyclist to take a more upright and active riding position. 

Thanks to the wide adjustable handlebars and the saddle position being lower, cyclists automatically engage in a more upright posture while they’re on the tricycle.

Sitting upright means that there’s significantly less pressure on the lower back, hands, and shoulders. It also makes it much easier to view any potential obstacles that might come your way. 

Overall, the geometry of the Schwinn Meridian will ensure that every ride you take is as comfortable as possible. 

Size

Size is an important variable that you need to consider when buying a tricycle. If the size of the tricycle doesn’t fit properly, it makes them very dangerous to ride. 

The Schwinn Meridian is available in a 17-inch frame size, which generally caters to short people and tall people as well. 

While there’s only one available frame size, you can choose between 24” wheels or 26” wheels. It’s a minute difference between the two, but if the trike feels too big or small it might help. 

Tires and Wheels

Staying on the subject of wheels, regardless of the size you pick, both come with 2-inch wide tires. The inclusion of wide tires in these bikes is greatly appreciated. 

With wider tires, the ride of the tricycle becomes much more comfortable and its grip will improve significantly. 

They also improve the overall stability of the bike while on higher speeds. If you prefer having a faster ride, then you should stick with the 24-inch wheels.

 However, if you value stability and comfort more, stick with the 26-inch wheels. They help provide better stability at higher speeds, but also require more effort to pedal. 

Brakes

Just as important as the overall ride of the tricycle is the braking system. Good brakes can make a world of a difference while riding. 

Luckily, the Schwinn Meridian comes with linear brakes in the front and a hand brake on the rear wheels. As a result, the bicycle will come to a reliable stop whenever you desire. 

You get all of this braking power thanks to thick brake pads on the Schwinn Meridian adult tricycle. The lever placement on the front of the handlebars is also intuitive and feel naturally accessible when you’re looking to pull the brakes!

Gearing

Cyclists can choose between the Schwinn Meridian single-speed, Schwinn Meridian 3-speed, and Schwinn Meridian 7-speed variant. 

Beginner cyclists won’t be able to determine the advantage of getting a varied-gear bicycle because they don’t understand the purpose these gears perform. 

The purpose of a gear is to help the cyclist maintain a comfortable riding speed regardless of the terrain or gradient. 

If the cyclists want to descend or ride at a higher speed, they’ll put the cycle in a high gear. In comparison, while ascending or riding at a leisurely pace, they’ll put the cycle in a lower gear. 

These options aren’t available with a single-speed tricycle and are important to consider. However, one major advantage of a single-speed trike is that it requires less maintenance. 

If you’re worried about a multi-speed being too much maintenance, then a single speed bicycle might be the best option. 

Basket 

No Schwinn Meridian review would be complete without mention the brilliant basket. Instead of having to worry about getting an aftermarket basket, Schwinn provide a carry basket themselves. 

It’s not just a showy carry basket either. The rear-mounted basket offers a lot of utility to the cyclist. 

You can load the basket up with around 50lbs of stuff. The size of the basket measures out to 18.5” x 22.5” x 11.5”, and has more than enough room to carry basic groceries. 

Reflector 

Tricycles are all about safety and it’s good to see Schwinn make no compromises in that regard. 

The Schwinn meridian trike features built-in reflectors on a number of different positions. 

You can find the reflectors on the pedals, mudguards, front wheels, and the rear wheels. The presence of these reflectors is a great feature and alerts others of the tricycle presence in low light!

It’s a feature that’ll help avoid many accidents and unpleasant situations!

Fenders 

Last but not least, we’ll round up this section of the Schwinn meridian adult tricycle review by discussing the fenders. 

The position of the fenders on the Schwinn Meridian adult tricycle helps protect riders from any debris, gravel, or dirty water on the trail.

It also helps keep the bike clean if the cyclists wants to go riding through any muddy roads. While Schwinn did provide some coverage with the fenders, a lot of owners complain about their quality.

If you’re handy with the mechanical side, you can easily replace the fenders and pick some of your choice. However, while the fenders aren’t the greatest, they’ll do an appropriate job for most people. 

How to Assemble the Schwinn Meridian Adult Tricycle?

The Schwinn Meridian is really one of the best adult trikes on the market. However, one aspect that lets it down is the assembly. 

It’s not particularly difficult if you’re already familiar with the requirements of assembling a tricycle. For new riders though, it’s quite difficult because Schwinn fail to provide clear assembly instructions. 

There’s no to worry though, instead of just providing you with a Schwinn meridian trike review, we’ll also guide you through the assembly process

What’s in the Schwinn Meridian Adult Tricycle box?

Every assembly starts with opening up the box and sorting out all the pieces that you’ll find inside. Here’s everything that you can expect too receive once you order the Schwinn Meridian. 

The tricycle comes semi-assembled so there are a bunch of main parts that you’ll need to unpack first. 

The main parts are the frame, which houses the handlebars, brakes, chains, and drive train. There’s a rear part of the frame, and piece that you need to place between the two rear wheels. 

You’ll also receive a set of three wheels that you’ll have to attach to the trike. 

Assembly Guide 

Your job is made a little easier by the fact that the tricycle comes partially assembled. The main frame already has the brakes and chains set up so you don’t need to worry about that. 

Cyclists can start off by installing the handlebars first. These are easy to install because they’re already attached to the main frame via the brake cords. 

As a result, all you need to do is mount them in the proper position and screw them in place with a wrench. It’s very simple and will take you around 5-10 minutes at max. 

Once you’ve got all this down, you can move towards working on the rear section of the frame. Start-off with attaching the chain from main frame to the rear section. 

You can then move on attaching all the wheels and the cargo basket if you desire. Those are the main things you’ll need to worry about when finishing up with the rear of the tricycle. 

These are the basic steps that are necessary for assembling the Schwinn meridian adult tricycle. It sounds simple enough and most people should be able to follow these steps. 

Where things do get difficulty is when it comes down to lining everything up properly. If you fail to line the assembly together properly, the fenders position will be off. 

If you feel like you can’t do the job properly, you can take the tricycle to a bike shop and have them assemble everything properly. It’ll cost a bit extra but they’ll do the job properly. 

What to Watch out for When Buying the Schwinn Meridian Adult Tricycle?

No adult tricycle review will be complete without talking about things that cyclists need to watch out for when buying the Meridian tricycle. 

Firstly, the main thing to watch out for when getting the trike is ensuring that all the parts are properly aligned, if the alignment is incorrect, the bike will wobble and shake. 

These assembly issues can further compound problems down the line and it’s essential that meridian owners focus on ensuring that the assembly is perfect. 

After assembly is out of the way, it’s also important to talk about the necessary adjustment period. Tricycles ride and feel very different to a conventional bicycle. 

If you ride a bicycle regularly, then you’ve probably developed some habits that aren’t very useful when you’re riding a tricycle. 

One of the most detrimental habits is planting your foot on the ground when you come to a stop. While it’s necessary to plant your foot on the ground when your bicycle is at a complete stop, you don’t need to do the same for a trike. 

Another major difference that first time tricycle riders will experience is how noticeable slopes become. Most roads feature a slight slope which is barely noticeable on a bicycle. 

The slopes are present to ensure that water runs down the sides of the road and into the gutters. These slopes become much more noticeable on a tricycle. 

Thanks to the two rear wheels, the slopes become much more noticeable on a tricycle and they tilt significantly. It’s something that definitely takes some time to acclimatize. 

Wrapping Up

When it comes to tricycles, the Schwinn Meridian is one of the best on the market. It offers a sturdy and stable ride that’s incredibly comfortable at the same time. 

The only issue that might arise is that assembling the Schwinn Meridian is a challenge for new cyclists. For those new to assembling cycles, the best option is to visit a bike shop and hire someone to assemble it properly. 

Overall, the Schwinn Meridian adult tricycle is the best on the market. If you want to go for a tricycle, then there’s no better option!