Black Friday trike ride

[BentAero]

Mrs. Bentaero and I were in central Florida for thanksgiving weekend and decided to have a go at a trike ride.
A call to Cindy at Hampton's Edge recumbent shop in Floral City reserved us a pair of trikes for the day.
We arrived at the shop about 10, and after the paperwork, pedal changes, and boom length adjustments, we headed north on the Withlacootchie Trail into perfect clear skies, temp in the upper 70's, and a hint of breeze.

We didn't have a lot of options on trike choice as they don't rent the high-performance trikes. The Mrs. rode a Catrike Pocket (small x-seam) and I rode Catrike Expedition. They were both very capable for our low-speed needs.


For the past few months I've been plagued with pain in my left knee, so I've been off the bike trying to let it heal. Sadly, about 10 miles out, the all too familiar knee pain returned.
Just past 11 miles, we turned around and headed back.
Knee pain or not, we had a wonderful time. I can definitely see the appeal of a trike -on a bike path.
Some shots along the way:






"Bicycle Boulevard" banners are displayed on the light poles along the street that leads from the bike path into downtown Inverness. This one is right at the tail crossing complete with warning flasher for motorists that bikes are approaching. Obviously, Inverness is very cycling friendly.



We went into town and had lunch at the Pine St. Pub, which looked like the type of place you'd see on the waterfront in the Keys. Very friendly place.

We only rode a little over 23 miles, but can't wait to go back and do it again.

 

[LarryOz]

Great Pics - Gayle says to say Hi to Joy!

Hey Gary, I just thought of this.
If the cranks where longer than you are used to on your V, that might help explain some of you pain.
Get well soon - so we can go to the "secret test facility" soon and do some testing.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Thanks Gary, great to see pics with blue sky's, short sleeves, and miles with smiles. The knee pain can be horrible. What size cranks are you running on your V? I just changed from 155mm to 150's on my V. I would get a little knee ache now and then, but none after the switch. You wouldn't think 5mm (or 10mm over all) could make a difference.

 

[BentAero]

Good point on the crank length. I never checked the trike, I'll bet it was 170.
The V has 155.

 

[Cruzbiker]

Do you use Q rings with your 155 cranks?
I always have a little bit of pain on my knees. I use a triple crankset but the midlle 39T ring was for a single speed, thus it didn't have any pins or ramps and shifting from the small ring to it wasn't that swift. One day I decided to take it to a mechanical shop to add pins to it. So I took it off and replaced it in the mean time with the original round one.
The knee pain got immediately worse. This is just to confirm that oval rings really make a difference on the knees. You should try them in case you don't have them already. In case you do have them, no wonder that riding with a longer crank arm and round rings made your knees suffer.
Btw shifting is much better now with the added pins. And great pictures!

 

[VenRiderGuy]

One day I decided to take it to a mechanical shop to add pins to it.

Cruzbiker, with me being a not-so-bike-educated member, I would appreciate learning more what is meant by adding pins.......thanks!

 

[Eric Winn]

Cruzbiker, with me being a not-so-bike-educated member, I would appreciate learning more what is meant by adding pins.......thanks!

Small pins in the side of the crank/chain rings to help catch the chain as the derailleur is shoving the chain over to go from one crank ring to the next. The pins and ramps help the chain climb onto the next ring:

 

[jond]

pins can also be used to hold together old knees.

hi gary great to see you on a trike. i ride two of them frequently. catrike 700 and greenspeed gto. i found in both cases boom length is critical to knee comfort and takes a good deal of experimentation to set just right. just like the vendetta set up is critical to the individual and 1cm can make all the difference.

the seat angle also i think has its effect on knee and pedal style. subjectively i feel that the catrike 700 with it's 25 deg angle seat is most similar to the V2 in feel . whilst the greenspeed gto is another animal altogether.

certainly both trikes are very relaxing pleasant and easy to ride and not having to balance despite the extra weight is a real boon. the fantastic braking and handling add to the experience.

additionally the catrike is not that much slower than my 7kg roadbike. best speed over 30klm track is 35.3klm per hour and 33.7klm per hour over my usual training route. i surprise many a lycra lad.

the negatives are weight whilst climbing which is easily taken care of with a decent gear range. and of course the recumbents bane rough potholed roads. catrike 700 13.7kg. greenspeed 16.2kg

so gary go buy a couple of catrikes and have some fun.

hope your knee plays ball soon.

oops forgot to say schwalbe marathon plus are slow . not sure about the marathon racers.

but a nice set of duranos or ones or big apples will improve speed and ride and speed respectively.

 

[BentAero]

I have the 4 position (not the usual 5) Q-rings and have found that I like position 4 the best.

I briefly rode a Catrike 700 after returning to the bike shop and loved it. If I lived near direct access to a rail-trail I'd have one in a minute, but the bike-unfriendly roads of western north Carolina are not at all safe for a trike.

I found out the hard way about boom length; I moved it out, then out some more, then out some more. I got to where I didn't even need to stop to change length.
The further I moved it out, the better my knees felt, but I think the damage was already done.

 

[VenRiderGuy]

Small pins in the side of the crank/chain rings to help catch the chain as the derailleur is shoving the chain over to go from one crank ring to the next. The pins and ramps help the chain climb onto the next ring:

Thanks, Eric....much appreciated.

 

[jond]

I have the 4 position (not the usual 5) Q-rings and have found that I like position 4 the best.

I briefly rode a Catrike 700 after returning to the bike shop and loved it. If I lived near direct access to a rail-trail I'd have one in a minute, but the bike-unfriendly roads of western north Carolina are not at all safe for a trike.

I found out the hard way about boom length; I moved it out, then out some more, then out some more. I got to where I didn't even need to stop to change length.
The further I moved it out, the better my knees felt, but I think the damage was already done.

hi gary i have to tell you that a trike is much much much safer on the road than any bike even our recumbents.

this is my factual grounded experience.

without fail i have experienced a dramatic difference between bike and trike. to this day i am still surprised by the positive ride experience of the slower trikes.

motorists without exception on the open road all give me respect on the trike. it is uncanny. i think the trike registers with them as unusual and is wider than a bike. i think a lot of people assume some sort of disability too.
they all move over to the other side of the road as they pass and generally slow. no-one squeezes by ever.

even on a motorway with a breakdown lane i mostly see everyone take a wide berth.

yet on any two wheel bike everyone mostly squeezes by leaving my no more than 12 inches if i am lucky. and at speed so generally little consideration.

the abuse factor is again along the same lines and i have only been abused a couple of times on the trikes compared to often on the bikes.

i ride on the road with three flashing lights on the rear from 1-2 watts so very visible. on the trike i also add a flag.

my fellow trikers report the same considerations.

so i might imagine that it would be the american experience too???? anyone with a similar story chime in.

i think the cruzbike trike option would not recieve the same considerations i get on a tadpole as the profile is too narrow.

i hope i am wrong wrong wrong.