Tag Archives: trike

Twenty Thousand Miles

4 Replies

Sometime this spring I’ll pass the 20,000 mile mark on my 2008 Trice Q recumbent trike (now the HDQ).  Chump change for some, but to me a lot of miles.  Between daily, four-season commuting; weekend sport rides and overnight tours; occasional week-long commercial tours; and one epic 5 1/2 month, 4,500 mile tandem ride across the U.S.; this trike has seen a lot of action.   I thought it would be interesting to document how the trike has held up through all of this.

Continue reading →

Trike Build Phase I: Ultegra Di2

2 Replies

At long last, I’m riding a complete installation that meets at least a portion of my original goals.  It’s been a rocky journey but now I can tick off “fast, precise, and reliable shifting that is impervious to freezing” and “high quality, ergonomic shifter” from my list.  Here are the gory details of the recent build that got me here.  Once I’ve had time for evaluation and to refill my coffers, I’ll embark on Phase II—Dynamo Lighting and Hydraulic Brakes and Phase III—Schlumpf.  Stay tuned. Continue reading →

Road Test

1 Reply

I’m still waiting on my order for 166mm spokes so that I can rebuild the Alfine wheel as a cross-2 to address the spoke angle problems of my original cross-3 build.  Apparently spokes this short are pretty hard to come by but Cambria Bicycle Outfitter assures me I’ll have them in about a week.  Meanwhile the weather has dipped into the teens again and I’ve been stuck in a single gear for my work commute.  Last night I’d had enough and decided to throw what I have on the trike and see how it works.

Continue reading →

Di2 Secrets Revealed!

Leave a reply

Shimano does an impressive job documenting all of the Alfine Di2 components and making it readily available through the internet.  Even so, I had a hard time finding answers to a variety of questions before I took the plunge and just purchased the stuff.  To be fair, many of these questions come from the fringes of trying to adapt to a recumbent trike a system that is designed for upright bikes.  Now I know the answers to most of my burning questions, and so do you.

Recumbent Belt Drive

24 Replies

Now that I’ve seen belt drive in action on a couple of “city bikes” in town, I can’t seem to let this one go.  On an upright bike, belt drive is smooth, reliable, light, and silent.  On a recumbent it has the potential to solve what for many is their bane:  a long, greasy, noisy, unwieldy chain.  This post is my attempt at taking a closer look to see what might be preventing the adoption of belt drive for recumbents and, specifically, ‘bent trikes.  I’ll discuss the issues I see, many unique to ‘bents.  Then I’ll see if I can figure out what it would take to adapt my current trike to belt drive. Continue reading →