Hi, Lucas:

You'll have to skip the trike. Although you would almost certainly be
more comfortable--and probably enjoy the view and riding experience--if
speed is the most important factor, you will be a bit slower. Almost
all trikes are heavier, have more rolling resistance, and climb hills
more slowly. For hill climbing especially, you'll be hard-pressed to
beat a good upright bike--or a really high end recumbent (think Ti and
carbon). Some recumbent bikes (not trikes) can be very fast,
especially something like a body-socked Gold Rush, but you'd be on two
wheels.

Have you considered slowing down and getting more in touch with the
places through which you ride? Then you can ride whatever is the most
FUN and not worry about the miles so much. A fine gentleman, whose
name I can't recall, kept cutting back on his daily mileage to
experience more closely the land and people around him. He called it
"learning to linger." He believed 30miles a day was about perfect.
Now that's a bit on the short side for most days for me, but the idea
is generally sound. Why turn a bike tour into a job?

Anyway, for what it's worth, that's my philosophy these days--always
subject to revision, of course!

Good luck on your search, wherever it leads.

Cheers,

Scott



wrote:
Hi,

I do loaded touring on my regular standard bike (sitting upright,
Brooks saddle, Aero bar) using panniers.
I'm interested in buying a tadpole trike for my next "expedition" being
roughly 4000 mi/6000 km. I'm not interested in recumbents - only
trikes.
My main reason for buying a trike would be the speed increase. But
browsing various forums and newsgroups it turns out that the speed
picture is different.
So I have a question for those who ride both a trike and a regular
bike: Without talking about weight, rolling resistance etc, I would
like to know if you go faster on a trike (with or without panniers).

On my loaded touring bike I go 125mi/200km a day, even in mountains
like the Rockies. Usually I'm only limited by the daylight hours. I
average at 15 mph/24kmh.
I know it's a bit extreme, but it would be cool to go even faster.
Feeling that my power is used efficiently is VERY important to me -
this is why I don't have any bike generators (like the ones in the
front hub) or internal gear hub systems on my touring bike.

I know recumbents and trikes call for a much more relaxed driving style
which eliminates soar etc. But if I ride from dusk til dawn on my
regular touring bike (and not biking when it's dark) I do those 125 mi
averaging 15 mph (loaded with 35 pounds of gear) and that's it. The
values are, of course, without hourly brakes, eating, shopping etc. If
I cannot go faster/longer I will not buy a trike. This is crucial.

I must admit that I'm the stamina type of rider - I don't like to waste
excess energy because I know the wind resistance is squared, so I ride
at 15 mph but for a LONG time. I would adapt this riding style to the
trike.

On my regular bike I usually bike 1 hour, make a 10 min break, ride one
hour, 10 min break, at noon shopping, eating for 1 hour and so forth.
I'm only making breaks to give my butt some rest (it might irritate a
bit) and eating snacks. So, if I could eat snacks while riding the
trike, because I would't get soar at all anymore - it would of course
be interesting.

So what are the experts saying? Can I gain 1-2 mph compared to a
standard bike (we're talking loaded bikes here)?

Thanks in advance, Lucas Jensen