eBay recumbent trike: thoughts needed please

[Deleted member 26715]

Fantastic news

 

[Ganymede]

Is she back yet?

She probably needs a bit of a lie-down...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

definitely needing a lie down... just back and totally exhausted. will edit the photos - to convert to jpeg from raw, eat my scone - closest I come to cake, drink my hot milk. wait for my morphine and other pain meds to kick in and then write it up. and also for the heat mat to work its magic....

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

a first ride report is in the my ride today thread....
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/your-ride-today.173254/post-3570101

 

[Andy_R]

sounds like someone paid to have the front derailleur fitted. Whoever it was, chapeu!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Right, I recall promising a photo to the people who only come here... This is currently the only photo I have. I'll work on some more soon. It is this year's model, so the 2015 model.

Custom build ICE Adventure 26 with Rohloff hub (rear derailleur being used as a cheap chain tensioner) with triple front derailleur (22/34/44). Rear sprocket is 17t. Mobility aids to help me getting up and out, 2 mirrors, long handled Rohloff gear changer, bar end shifters for the front derailleur, single lever brakes, avid bb7 disc brakes, there will be a lights mount, barbag thingy for side mounting a handle barbag, head rest, mudguards all round. There will be a pannier rack at some point. Can't think of anything else. I need to add something to hold my crutches but I'm working on that. Probably a job for tomorrow and i need to shorten the chain a touch at the moment due to chain skipping.

 

[Scoosh]

and, of course because you are an inspiration** to all of us !




**bit of an embarrassment too (to us wimps), if truth be told

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Congrats.

What gear range are you going for ??
A 48-36-22 triple on the front and a standard 16 tooth sprocket would give you the ideal range of around 10"-114".

A Sora rear mech works fine for a chain tensioner, you just need to fit one longer limit screw to lock it at the correct line.
It's a lot cheaper and has more range than the one from Rohloff.

Your max power output on a recumbent is lower than on an upwrong because you use less muscle groups.
Your Gluts are less stretched and don't work as well so you rely more on your Quads
Plus because you use less muscles groups and you cannot get out of the saddle to alter how they work, they fatigue quicker.
This is why you hear that recumbents don't climb well and also the reason you need to build bent legs.

My basic rule of thumb for fast/fun downhill runs on a good road is ......
2% down = 20 mph. 4% down = 30 mph. 8% down = 40 mph, 16% down = 50 mph.
The only hard one I find hard to hit is the 30 mph one, all the others are easy ......

With these two points in mind and if you can afford the mods.

At the start I would go for the lowest gearing possible.
I geared my first trike down from the 15" standard first gear to a 12.5" first gear by dropping the inner chainring from 26 to 22.
The trike I have now has a first of only 9.5", 38/21 on a 20" Rohloff Wheel.
I know it's below what Rohloff recommend, but I haven't broken anything in 3 years and ~21k miles.
I found that each drop in first gear helps a lot when hill climbing, especially when unfit.
You may not use them, but they are there.

I'd also at least run a double up front to give you more range.
A 53/38 double will almost give you another 3 full gears up.
That what I run, my front shifter fits perfectly in the bottom hole of the handlebars below the rohloff shifter.

Plus I use a Schlumpf High Speed Drive, which works as a 2.5x overdrive gear just for downhill runs ................

@Tigerbiten I am having a problem with the rear sora mech acting as a chain tensioner. I will contact kevin as well but I thought you seem to know a reasonable amount about it...
Kevin has fitted a short reach derailleur.

At the moment the front 22/34/44 derailleur (at least I think that is what is fitted) is set up so that only the 22 & 34 can be used. Kevin did that. But I am having major issues with the chain slipping. If we get the 34 ring up and running then the 22 ring is slipping really badly. It is a new(ish) 17T sprocket, done may be 2-3,000 miles and showing no wear so there is no obvious reason for it to be slipping. If we set the 22 up for not slipping (by removing more links from the chain) then there is not enough chain for the derailleur to get onto the 34 ring. I was spinning out on the middle chain ring on the way home on my first test run on a very minor downhill on an old railway line.

Any ideas please? I'm going to email Kevin and as him as well.

This got the 22 chainring working


but left the 34 looking like this.


My OH has added another link pair back in which has the middle chainring (34) working again but it is now slipping in the inner chainring (22). so it does not look like above.... any ideas. the only one that sprang to my mind was that it needed to be a long reach derailleur to deal with the jump.

thanks.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Definitely long reach and I'd go for a top quality one so the spring is likely not to lose it's tension quickly. There is another option that quite a few recumbent riders go for.....the Schlumpf Mountain Drive. Excellent piece of kit, but quite expensive - I've had three overs the years on different Bromptons and they are simplistic and work faultlessly.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Definitely long reach and I'd go for a top quality one so the spring is likely not to lose it's tension quickly. There is another option that quite a few recumbent riders go for.....the Schlumpf Mountain Drive. Excellent piece of kit, but quite expensive - I've had three overs the years on different Bromptons and they are simplistic and work faultlessly.

Thanks. Kevin at D Tek fitted this one sadly. Funds are very tight at the moment, so I'll see if I can manage with the middle chainring for a while. About to go out and find out if legs are strong enough for the very short incline onto the whitegate way... Somehow I doubt it but... Thanks again. SNSSO

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Thanks. Kevin at D Tek fitted this one sadly. Funds are very tight at the moment, so I'll see if I can manage with the middle chainring for a while. About to go out and find out if legs are strong enough for the very short incline onto the whitegate way... Somehow I doubt it but... Thanks again. SNSSO

Good luck lass.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Just had my 2nd ride on the trike. managed twice the distance to last time - so make that roughly 2 miles out and 2 miles back in about 40 minutes. Only had the 34 tooth chainring available and struggled in bottom gear in a couple of places not exactly steep climbs but are mud or in one case a tarmac one which has always been bottom gear on every single bike! Definitely would benefit from that lower chainring being operational in a couple of places but I guess struggling is something I will have to get used to with the lack of use in my legs.... Feel like getting a disabled cyclist sign!

Still working on the crutches and barbag solution. I'll post a separate thread on that in a moment - also a water solution would be useful... just recovering at the moment!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Confucius said "it doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you don't stop, you will get there" quite apt in your situation I think.

 

[Ganymede]

Confucius said "it doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you don't stop, you will get there" quite apt in your situation I think.

Tbf, quite apt in the situation of any new 'bent rider encountering hills for the first time, if that helps! I hope your glitches get ironed out, SNSSO - hang in there!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

hang in there!

I will - the freedom it has given me already is wonderful. The last time I actually got further away from home than 400m without being on a stretcher was back at the beginning of November... over 4 months ago now. Just to have made it 2 miles away from home is wonderful! I don't care how many mountain bikers over took me, its not important. But I must get the crutches on the bike... it will reassure me somewhat to say the least. I am just waiting for some parts to arrive in the post which should help to deal with that along with some Velcro which I must locate!