Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?

In article , Simon Brooke wrote:

This was actually on the trike? Can you give us a brief review of the
machine itself, ie how it handled, how comfortable it was, how
manouverable, any particular foibles, good things, bad things...

Did you, in short, like it?

We very much liked it, and I think I can see a writeup coming on.
I'll do a proper one with pictures. Of course, best thing to do is not
take my word for it but try for yourself. Carol posts here, and
presumably will want her tandem back.

It takes a little getting used to. The steering is quite sensitive and
you get pull if you brake on one side only. Once used to the steering
its no problem at all, just natural, and the tandem has a nice turning
circle for something that long. You can also learn to use the brake steer
a little, though that may be more psychological than real.

Unlike the ICE's, seat angle isn't adjustable, but I think that again
is something you just get used to. Instead, you get S+S couplings, which
give a lot of confidence. These things won't rotate on you.

Its like riding a stretch limo. Riding solo isn't any harder, apart from
the weight on hills, than riding tandem. I was able to train on it even
when Lindsay was busy, and probably did well training solo up hills!
Riding with a partner, you can talk quite easily, which helps. Also,
the one on the back can map read if it comes to it. As on any tandem,
it helps if you both like working in the same gear range. We compromised
between my lower gear preferance and Lindsay's higher.

It is a road bike. Only limitation was traction at the back climbing
on wet shale, though it has road tyres on. We had to turn it round
and pull it up some hills, even on purpose laid cycle track. The final
climb to the high point on the trans-pennine is very steep, so we used
the road instead. Not many cycle tracks cater for something that wide,
so you're better on the road. Even if the track is wide, there are the
A gates and similar which can be quite frequent.

Also it is possible to bump the front chain off if not set tight enough -
and I'm afraid some roads round here can achieve that! That is the only
design improvement I'd require, some sort of spring tension or shorter
free spans on the front chain. That said, we were fine with this on the
charity ride, having set the front chain tight enough.

On road its an excellent ride. You can travel quite fast once used to
riding recumbent, even on slight climbs, and I expect the definition of
"slight" would become steeper as the riders become fitter. We did not
feel problems in traffic with it, and some people who said things like
"Recumbent, will never be visible on the road" changed their minds once
they'd seen it on the road. You can also get very used to having
mirrors, something I rapidly noticed missing on my upright.

I like the S+S couplings. They look like a sensible strong coupling that
won't rotate. The tandem goes into a long wheelbase van intact with
room to spare, but I expect would need decoupling for anything smaller.
The coupling is someting I think the Greenspeed has better than the ICE,
though ICE achieve their seat angle adjustability with their sliding
coupling. I've not looked at ICE's coupling in detail.

As for me, I think riding the recumbent greatly increased the distance
I could travel. We had no saddle sore at the end of the ride, and in
training my legs got tired but not the rest of me. I also find my pulse
rate lower for a given speed when riding recumbent. I wouldn't give
up on upright though. Switching between them brings out the fun in the
upright too. Each has its place.

- Richard

--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street,
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twighlight Zone.

"Richard Corfield" wrote in message
ale.dyndns.org...

It takes a little getting used to. The steering is quite sensitive and
you get pull if you brake on one side only. Once used to the steering
its no problem at all, just natural, and the tandem has a nice turning
circle for something that long. You can also learn to use the brake steer
a little, though that may be more psychological than real.

Interesting - I didn't find getting used to ours a problem, noticing no
problems with either steering sensitivity or brake pulling. Has he improved
the handlebar mountings? Ours suffered from swivelling if you yanked the
bars too hard while playing around.

The best thing about ours was that it was great fun - looning downhill with
corners was excellent. Lifting a front wheel was a good way to scare a
passenger!

The S+S is good - we got ours mostly in rucksacks with the seats loose. (I
think we had one of the first S+S ones, if not the first).

I don't think we ever lost the front chain, but it was quite tight. I wonder
if this was a factor in the way the drive train felt like pedalling through
treacle.

But eventually it had to go. All the fun in the world didn't help it go up
hills - weight and an inefficient drive train counted against it, and I
found visibility an issue when taking it round somerset lanes (that is, my
visibility - I didn't have any worries about people seeing us). The size was
jolly inconvenient sometimes too. We decided to stick with our upright
tandem (now plural).

(I'd still consider a solo one though - lots of the disadvantages wouldn't
apply).

cheers,
clive

In article , Clive George wrote:

Interesting - I didn't find getting used to ours a problem, noticing no
problems with either steering sensitivity or brake pulling. Has he improved
the handlebar mountings? Ours suffered from swivelling if you yanked the
bars too hard while playing around.

I'd spent some time test driving ICEs, so it was a change from those I
suppose. No problem with the bars on this one, though I'd learned on the
ICE that you don't pull on them as their demo trikes were set quite loose.


The best thing about ours was that it was great fun - looning downhill with
corners was excellent. Lifting a front wheel was a good way to scare a
passenger!


We didn't get that fast on the corners.

I don't think we ever lost the front chain, but it was quite tight. I wonder
if this was a factor in the way the drive train felt like pedalling through
treacle.

I found it was a balance between that, getting it slack enough not to feel
like treacle, but tight enough not to bounce off. On a perfect race track
there'd be no problem at all. I also wonder how older Sturmey Archer or
fixed gear bikes handled it, as I don't remember the problem as a child
on that kind of bike. Maybe the chain run was shorter on these. I think
some sort of spring tensioner, even maybe a rubber bush of some kind
on the pulleys on the return side, would make it easier to set up. Once
set up, it wasn't a problem.

But eventually it had to go. All the fun in the world didn't help it go up
hills - weight and an inefficient drive train counted against it, and I
found visibility an issue when taking it round somerset lanes (that is, my
visibility - I didn't have any worries about people seeing us). The size was
jolly inconvenient sometimes too. We decided to stick with our upright
tandem (now plural).

At 15kg per rider I don't think its bad for a trike. We're looking
at loading up with camping gear, which outweighs our upright tandem
(old Vango Force 10 tent, Trangia, sleeping bags, even the weight of
modern bike locks), and eating less chocolate will probably make more
of a difference for me ;-).

We're going for singletons, though it really is a difficult choice. I
wouldn't be surprised if one day we own a tandem as well, but singletons
do give us a lot more flexibility. We both commute in different
directions for example. That said, riding together you can't beat
tandem. It really is great fun! It's between buying the tandem and
commuting on our uprights, and selling the upright tandem which would
otherwise collect dust - or singletons for commute, some leisure, and
remember to take out the upright tandem sometimes.

Someone who doesn't already own an upright tandem should consider the
recumbent as a going out together vehicle. It really is great fun! You
can talk more easily, and if you're mismatched on speed then tandem
keeps you together. Its also cheaper than two singles, and not everyone's
commute would be best on recumbent.

- Richard

--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street,
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twighlight Zone.

Richard Corfield writes:

In article , Clive George wrote:

I don't think we ever lost the front chain, but it was quite tight. I wonder
if this was a factor in the way the drive train felt like pedalling through
treacle.

I found it was a balance between that, getting it slack enough not to feel
like treacle, but tight enough not to bounce off. On a perfect race track
there'd be no problem at all. I also wonder how older Sturmey Archer or
fixed gear bikes handled it, as I don't remember the problem as a child
on that kind of bike. Maybe the chain run was shorter on these. I think
some sort of spring tensioner, even maybe a rubber bush of some kind
on the pulleys on the return side, would make it easier to set up. Once
set up, it wasn't a problem.

Would the jockey arm off a rear derailleur, either without the
pantograph or with a fixed pantograph, do the job?

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Women are from Venus. Men are from Mars. Lusers are from Uranus.

Simon Brooke must be edykated coz e writed:

Richard Corfield writes:

In article , Clive George wrote:

I don't think we ever lost the front chain, but it was quite tight. I wonder
if this was a factor in the way the drive train felt like pedalling through
treacle.

I found it was a balance between that, getting it slack enough not to feel
like treacle, but tight enough not to bounce off. On a perfect race track
there'd be no problem at all. I also wonder how older Sturmey Archer or
fixed gear bikes handled it, as I don't remember the problem as a child
on that kind of bike. Maybe the chain run was shorter on these. I think
some sort of spring tensioner, even maybe a rubber bush of some kind
on the pulleys on the return side, would make it easier to set up. Once
set up, it wasn't a problem.

Would the jockey arm off a rear derailleur, either without the
pantograph or with a fixed pantograph, do the job?
At some stage I seem to have missed which Trike was used, Greenspeed
perhaps?

--
Ian

http://www.catrike.co.uk

Richard Corfiel wrote:
Well, we did it, or mostly did it. We cycled from Runcorn to Leeds in 2
days, and had an excellent time in the process.


I'd be really interested in hearing about the section in Langendale (I
think its called) from Crowden to Penistone parralleling the Woodhead
Pass road. Did you use this part ? Is it doable on a touring bike ?
Where did you break your journey ? Did you follow the TPT all the way
back to Leeds ? I am planning on riding sections of the TPT from Leeds
towards Barnsley then west towards Manc later this year/early next.



--
--------------------------
Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com

Richard Corfield writes:

In article , Simon Brooke wrote:

This was actually on the trike? Can you give us a brief review of the
machine itself, ie how it handled, how comfortable it was, how
manouverable, any particular foibles, good things, bad things...

Did you, in short, like it?

We very much liked it, and I think I can see a writeup coming on.

[snip]

Thank you very much for this review, I look forward to the writeup.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; I'll have a proper rant later, when I get the time.