Any tricyclists onlist?

[PATRICK MOORE]

I've got my eye on a trike in Seattle and I've got some questions and
would be grateful for any experienced (emphasis!) answers and advice.

Thanks.

--
Patrick Moore
Albuquerque, NM
For professional resumes, contact
Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html

[Tim Whalen]

Patrick,

I've owned and ridden a couple of ICE trikes.  What do you want to know?
Tim

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[Steve Palincsar]

On Fri, 2011-09-16 at 10:49 -0600, PATRICK MOORE wrote:
> I've got my eye on a trike in Seattle and I've got some questions and
> would be grateful for any experienced (emphasis!) answers and advice.

"Trikes" come in several flavors: 'Old Fart utility cart', which you
already own; 'recumbent tadpole,' brands like Greenspeed, ICE,
Windcheetah; and 'English racing trikes' made by makers like Longstaff,
Bob Jackson, etc. You've asked about English racing tricycles in the
past, but not, if I recall, about recumbent tadpoles. Which are you
considering now?

[Geoff]

I've owned and ridden 'tadpole' style(two wheels front, one wheel rear) trikes for the past several years.  I've owned a Greenspeed GT3, an ICE 'S', and currently own a Catrike Road which I ride when I'm not riding my Rivendell Hunqapillar.

If it's a recumbent trike you're asking about, please feel free to ask away.  

[John Blish]

I ride a Catrike Expedition, CTE1610, a tadpole style with 20" font wheels and a 26" rear. 9 speed triple crank w/ disc brakes and Schwalbe Marathon Racers.

Trikes are a lot of fun with very quick, tight steering and the smaller diameter wheels allow you to experience pavement irregularities more profoundly than with bigger diameter wheels.

John

Sent from my iPad

[PATRICK MOORE]

Thanks for all the replies. My possible trike is a Ken Rogers "Delta"
upright; old British iron. My main concern is its left hand drive
(only the left wheel is driven): I've read that this is Bad for US
cambers, but the seller who is in Seattle says it wasn't for him, and
our roads here in NM are generally not very high crowned. But ...

Curious: what does a lowriding tadpole weigh? The seller says that the
KR, built with SunTour Exage and medium end late '80s parts weighs 32
lb -- a hell of a lot lighter than my Worksman (just carried home a
big load of boxes from the PO for Mom).

[Tim Whalen]

Patrick,

My ICE is 35 pounds or so.  Given the heavier seat and frame on a tadpole, I'd say the advertised weight for your Delta is plausible.Tim

[PATRICK MOORE]

Good to know that mine is (or may well be) lighter than yours.
Seriously, thanks -- at least it shows that an upright does not
necessarily come with a huge weight penalty. I am enjoying the very
basic but now upgeared Worksman immensely even though it is a real
barking dog of a dog: I would not be surprised if the tires contained
"thornproof tubes" -- those worse-than-goathead "solutions" to
punctures. Must investigate. Add to that the 50 lb weight and less
than Campy quality bearing quality (the drive wheel spins as if it
were built around a dynamo hub, this despite some ad hoc lubing and
adjustment) and you have a 10 mile workout in a five mile run to the
PO and back. But still, it's great fun, even though it does make me
look like a dork.

(Speaking of recumbent trikes: I remember a recumbent, tadpole, tandem
trike with huge boom tube of carbon fiber, which I once passed up a
long, steep hill. That thing was longer than my car! Of course, I
drive a 2 CV.)

[PATRICK MOORE]

Forgot to add this:
https://picasaweb.google.com/BERTIN753/BIKESMISCELLANEA#5651293956491781234

[Joe Bernard]

Catrikes - which all have aluminum frames - generally weigh 30-33lbs. My steel Greenspeed GT3 with folding mechanism is closer to 39.

 

Joe "how the hell did we get to talking trikes on the Riv List" Bernard

Fairfield, CA.

[Joe Bernard]

 "how the hell did we get to talking trikes on the Riv List"

 

That pithy comment was intended to reflect my pleasant surprise that so many Riv folk also ride trikes. Fixed.

[John Blish]

Patrick,

One of the issues with tadpole trikes can be visibility to other road users and you will not have that to deal with on the upright any more than with any diamond frame bike.

On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 12:24 AM, Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote:

Catrikes - which all have aluminum frames - generally weigh 30-33lbs. My steel Greenspeed GT3 with folding mechanism is closer to 39.

 

Yes, Joe is right.  My Catrike Expedition, which is one of the heavier Catrikes (wider track and larger rear wheel), has an official weight of 35 pounds. 

I have a heavy, very solid Surly rear Nice rack on it now although I may switch to a Tubus Cargo.  The Surly was excess as I thinned the diamond frame fleet. 

In that range a little more weight is not much of an issue.  Although you can't stand up to muscle up a hill, you can generate a lot of force pushing against the back of the seat.  The trike is designed specifically so you can do that.  I was surprised at how hard I can push.

Joe also wrote:
 

Joe "how the hell did we get to talking trikes on the Riv List" Bernard

Fairfield, CA.

And I took in in the spirit it is intended.  Indeed, the Wide-Ranging Patrick has lead us down another only loosely-related path.  He said he would behave but look where we are.
 
However, allow me to relate fast trikes with nice mix of road and mountain components (I have DA bar-ends running in friction, and Avid discs) to RBW by mentioning this. 

Grant once said or wrote that some of us should consider getting a mixte as we get older since, among many other nice features, you don't have to throw a leg over a mixte to ride it and in one's older years, this could be an advantage.  I'm not sure he meant it literally, but for some reason that stuck with me, and for me the answer to what to ride in older years may very well be the trike, not the mixte.  Not only do you not throw a leg, or anything else, you ride it almost lying down.  It does not require any balance or require engagement of the core muscles in any way and you can stop to rest on a hill, assuming it is safe to do so, and be sure that you will be able to get started again without heading out into traffic or needing to face back downhill to get going.  The real question is when will RBW release the prototype of the (lugged steel) tadpole trike they have secretly been working on?  You heard it here first.

John "think of it as being ahead of the curve when it comes to having a supply of Wheeled Devices For One's Older Years" Blish         

--
John Blish
Minneapolis MN USA

[Geoff]

"The real question is when will RBW release the prototype of the (lugged steel) tadpole trike they have secretly been working on?  You heard it here first."

Hi John,

Wouldn't that be something?  I can only imagine how beautiful and expensive a Riv lugged steel tadpole trike would be...and what inventive name Grant would give it.

Regarding the visibility issues of riding a very low profile tadpole trike on roads shared with cars, suvs, and trucks- I agree, though the use of high visibility flags really helps.  I've also found in my riding experience, that motorists really tend to give a wide berth of clearance to low profile trikers...probably because they're not sure about us, thinking that we're handicapped or something along that line.  That courtesy really runs counter to the all-too-often adversarial treatment that traditional cyclists receive from those very same motorists.

Still, it's really unsettling to have a humongous suv pull alongside you(in your trike), and you find yourself eye-to-eye with the hubcap/rim of that 18" front wheel.

Best regards,

Geoff

[Geoff]

Hi Patrick,

That lugged steel Ken Rogers is a cool looking hunk of steel, for sure, and I've never seen anything like it.  Not sure how the handling would be with the big wheels and all.

Here's a pic of one of the most popular low profile delta style trikes, the Hase Kettwiesel from Germany(borrowed off the web).  I got to test ride one at a recumbent trike dealer here in Northern California.  Test result- a lot of fun to ride.

[Jim Cloud]

Patrick,

There's been a thread recently on the Classics Rendezvous google group
about racing trikes. Those guys probably have much more experience
with this type of machine than most other forum group members. For
what it's worth, if you can pick up the Ken Rogers trike at a very
favorable price, I'd personally go for it!

Jim Cloud
Tucson, AZ

[John Blish]

Hi Geoff,

I agree.  Somewhat unnerving when I am waiting at a light and big truck / SUV pulls up on my left and the driver can't even see me or the trike other than my flag out his passenger side window.  I am thinking about getting another flag and placing it more forward.

Yesterday I was in a  left turn lane behind a Cadillac sedan that started to back up and apparently did not see me but the guy behind me honked and she stopped backing.  I was ready to get off the Trike and start running.

Add to the visibility issue the whole distracted driving overlay and there is some potential for problems.  My preference by far is to ride the trike on the open road and I think it will make a great touring machine - probably with a trailer.  On the open road drivers do seem to give more room.  I have a bright Portland Design Radbot 1000 tail light day and night that also seems to help.

John

 

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[PATRICK MOORE]

Thanks; I've seen that and might pose my questions there. I am tempted
by the KR but wonder about the left hand drive on American roads.

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[PATRICK MOORE]

Thanks, Geoff -- it looks fun. I've no particular desire for a recumbent, three or two wheeled, but I've long wanted an old fashioned British trike -- can't say why, unless it's the same inclination that has me riding fixed gears. One advantage of the upright is that it is as visible in traffic as a regular bike and a thread on the CR list had someone saying he had done a century in under 5 hours with really fit riders doing it nder 4. 

For me, I think the handling difficulty is part of the appeal: it's a new skill to learn. We'll see; I am stil not sure about left hand drive.

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