Front suspension

[starhawk]

I'm about to uppgrade my Trice-Q to front suspension, have any other Trice-owner already done that? Would be grateful for any experience of it.
Also plan to buy a second flag, would look nice with two flags, and an extra mounting-ring for the rearlight to the neckrest, the current ring is occupied by the mount for the rearlight-direction lights, but they are only LEDs so I wanted to have my much brighter old rearlight there as well.
By the way, how many of you have direction lights? I got mine when a pal said that it would be useful on a bike of my kind, hadn't thought of it before

 

[Tigerbiten]

My old Q didn't have front suspension but my new Sprint does.
The difference is the front suspension does damp down some of the road buzz but it does also make the trike feel more twichy.

Depending on the road surface you can get a mile an hour or two faster before you start to get rattled to death by the bumps.
Also it does smooth hitting minor pothole a lot, this is where the front suspension works best.

By more twichy the trike feels as if it counter stears a little bit more, by counter stear I mean when you lean right and the trike goes left and visa versa.
But as the stearing is light it make no real difference to the handling, I've had my new trike up to 45 mph already and it felt as safe at that speed as the old one.
As long as your not cornering sharply you can make use of this in long sweeping downhill bends, just lean a bit out and let the trike take its natural path around the bend. Thats when it starts to get fun and the recumbent gets bigger.

As for direction lights I see no real point.
Car drivers are not looking for them but are looking for a hand stuck out sideways.
So I don't think youd be safer with them in the day time, unless they were very bright and obvious.
Maybe if you did a lot of night riding then they may be worth it.

 

[starhawk]

Thanks for that info, that was the effect I was hoping for.

The direction light are useful in some instances, when you are waiting for a red light to turn green you don't sit waving your hand until you move do you? and I like to keep my hands on the handles when I turn. I mostly use them in interaction with other bikes, it avoids misunderstanding, Cars still gives me a wide berth and I'm happy with that

 

[markg0vbr]

i like the old indicators that popped out of the side of a car,on arms.
i left my head rest straps long and covered them with reflective stuff, they make the trike look wider i did think of putting a flashing led on each end.

i am still a bit undecided about putting the front suspension on my q, i am looking at the velo shell so might have to to stop it being vibrated to bits.

 

[starhawk]

i like the old indicators that popped out of the side of a car,on arms.

Yes I remember them! would have been fun to have a couple of them on the bike. Those headrest straps look scary, but would be excellent for mounting indicator light on. I opted for the easy solution, two units comprising of a front/rear light in the middle and indicator lights at the end, here is the front one

The back one is a little smaller

 

[byegad]

The problem with the pictured unit is it is too narrow, from a goodly distance a motorist may well see the flashing yellow but not be sure which side of the centre line of the trike it's on. Separation is all in signals, which is why cars mount them as far apart as they can. I still think a hand signal is best. Use reflectives on your gloves at night.

 

[starhawk]

The problem with the pictured unit is it is too narrow, from a goodly distance a motorist may well see the flashing yellow but not be sure which side of the centre line of the trike it's on. Separation is all in signals, which is why cars mount them as far apart as they can. I still think a hand signal is best. Use reflectives on your gloves at night.

Well That is a little different in various parts of the world, here in Sweden a hand is generally seen as someone waving, and the cars are generally not the problem, we have, at least in the Stockholm area, a good network of cycleroads so the signals are more for the other cyclists and pedestrians. You can of course use both your hands and the signals, but if you use only your hand chances are that someone gladly waves back at you and no one takes it for a direction signal.
Besides that at night the red/white middle light is on, it wouldn't be a problem to see which side of the red/white the yellow is flashing on

 

[Bill B-J]

I have had front suspension on my QNT, for he last 9 months.
Highly recommonded.

The worst thing about it is the price; but that more than made up for itself with the increased satisfaction from the ride.

I run Duranos, at max pressure. Feels like much reduced rolling resistance, with a nice smooth ride; more speed .

(Now up for sale ,in order to go towards the Quest XS fund, due in June.)

 

[starhawk]

Yes the price i a bit steep, thats why it took some time before I decided

 

[starhawk]

The suspension is now mounted and I have done a couple of testrides, small annoying bumbs are litterally eliminated, but the downside is that it is not as easy to go up curbs. Earlier the front wheels kind of jumped up the curb when they bumped into it, now the suspension just eases the bump and stops without going up

 

[CopperBrompton]

I've never been convinced by indicators on a bicycle, and I think they'd be only marginally better on a trike. As Tiger says, car drivers are not looking for them, while a hand signal is clear and unambiguous.

No, at red lights I don't sit with my hand out, there's no need for it: I signal once on the approach and then again when setting off, maintaining the signal until I turn (a huge advantage of a trike).

 

[starhawk]

I've never been convinced by indicators on a bicycle, and I think they'd be only marginally better on a trike. As Tiger says, car drivers are not looking for them, while a hand signal is clear and unambiguous.

No, at red lights I don't sit with my hand out, there's no need for it: I signal once on the approach and then again when setting off, maintaining the signal until I turn (a huge advantage of a trike).

Well then I'm in luck cause I have noticed on numerous occasions that car drivers do notice my indicator, and more importantly the other cyclists and pedestrians do also notice them. Hand signals are a rare thing over here, I don't think I have seen one for a couple of years

 

[CopperBrompton]

Interesting cultural difference. In the UK, hand-signals are the norm for cyclists. But then I'm guessing you don't spend a massive amount of the time on the road? I think you have a pretty good network of cycle paths? (I've never cycled in Sweden, only had business trips there.)

 

[byegad]

Interesting cultural difference. In the UK, hand-signals are the norm for cyclists.

Yes, over on BROL they talk about fitting 'turn signals' which I take means indicators in Americanese. Like Trikeman, I find people generally seem happy with my hand signals here in NE England.

 

[BlackPanther]

My trice has no front suspension. What I can say though is that since swapping the Marathon Racers that came with it, for Duranos front/Marathon Plus rear, the ride quality has deteriorated a bit on poor road surfaces (particularly on a fast downhill road section over that God awful 'shell grip' crap.) That said, I'm pretty sure that if I went the other way and fitted Big Apples, then the ride would improve significantly over the M Racers?

So I'm left wondering if Big Apples/no suspension, would be on par with Duranos/front suspension....and lighter too? Maybe I'm talking out of my ****, as I've never ridden a front suspension trike, so I'm fully prepared to be shot down in flames.

I'm sticking with the Duranos, as I like the top end speed/acceleration, but I don't think I'd ever go for front suspension, I'd just swap the tyres. I've done a bit of slow riding (with the kids) and my Durano set up is pretty good on the tracks/across fields.