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.