New trike in the house

[oldfatfool]

Picked up my first recumbent trike yesterday and after fighting with it for 3 hours or so managed to get it built up and roadworthy.

Rode it to work and back this morning,only about 2 miles in total, first thoughts

God is it hard work up hill.
Fast down hill
corners well
SCARY being at eye level with a 40' ers exhaust
Stops well

Surprised but even white van man crossed to the otherside of the white line to overtake, and cars where tending to stay behind and pass safely rather than squeezing as they do on the roadie.

MUST remember to change into a very low gear when stopping especially on an incline

Used muscles I only usually feel pull when I am trying to pedal in circles on a long uphill so hoping riding this in conjunction with the roadie will improve my hill stamina?

Anyway a couple of pics as promised:

 

[byegad]

Looks good. I'd recommend changing the pedals for clipless. Even with the straps tight a good bump can have you foot out of the clips and onto the floor. Running over your foot will result in drastic redesign of the knee/lower leg/ankle.

 

[BlackPanther]

You'll find that drivers give you far more room when you're on a 'bent. I've had maybe 3 or 4 close passes in the last 3 months.....I used to have one most days on the road bike! I'm new to the trike lark, today was my 1st commute on the Ice Trice S. Harder work then the Bacchetta Strada, but I'm hoping that the new thinner tyres that are winging their way to our house will give a fair bit more speed....for less effort.

Oh and +1 for clipless. The spd pedals were a challenge on the Strada at first (twin 650 wheeled high racer) but I wouldn't want to ride without them. Makes even more sense on the trike, 'cos you can't fall off that.

Does the TW have a parking brake? I ghought I'd be removing the BB7 rear on my trike, but it's pretty invaluable for getting on.

Have fun on your new trike........we all need to sort a ride out.

 

[oldfatfool]

Cheers both, to answer both points,

Yes it does have a parking lock on both front brakes, very handy.

The pedals are spd on one side, I used the straps today in my work boots but they will becoming off now I have fitted the cleats to an old pair of Aldi shoes, I will see how they go and maybe switch over to froggies to match the roadie.

 

[ianrauk]

that's a nice looking bike. Would love a Trike but simply haven't got the space. I borrowed Auntie Helen's hubby's Ice Trike for 3 months a couple of years back. Jolly good fun it was too. I have a couple of cracking hills near me and got up to some scary speeds. But as I said lack of space and London traffic meant I had to give it back.

 

[starhawk]

Nice looking trike I like those lightmounts right inside the front wheels. Yes those uphills are a pain, according to some experts it is a mental thing, being in a trike you see them as longer then they actually are. I finally bought an e-bike kit, a good antidote to those pesky hills, I love it

 

[Pemsey]

SNAP!! Well, nearly - I cheated and bought an "electrified" conversion secondhand - the extra help comes in very useful uphill or when feeling jaded - though I have only managed one ride since buying it a couple of weeks ago......being that low down I'm scared I might drown . The lightmounts inside the front wheels are "accessory" mounts and are supposed to take all the extras - mudguards (though the supplied ones do seem worse that useless), bottle holders, lights etc etc.

With everything on board and the electric kit it's a bit of a weighty beast - probably getting on for 30kg all up so a bit of effort will be needed if the battery runs out! Downhill is fun though - no big hills near me - just lots of smaller ones - but still got to 35mph down one

 

[machew]

Coming down long hill near me, just free-wheeling. The road turned into a very short dual carriageway; heard a car start to over take then pull alongside me, waiting for the abuse for holding the car up for about a mile and all I heard was "F**k me you were F**king shifting down that hill".

 

[numbnuts]

WoW that's very nice

 

[DCLane]

Nice, I thought it was the one on Gumtree for a moment: http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/any-idea-what-this-one-is.101787/

 

[CopperBrompton]

Looks good. As you've discovered, hills aren't much fun on the way up but the uphill is soon forgotten as you fly down the other side. :-)