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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. |
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#2
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
"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 |
#3
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
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. |
#4
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
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. |
#5
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
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. |
#6
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
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 |
#7
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
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 |
#8
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
"MSeries" wrote in message ... 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. Not sure where Crowden is - but the bit you are thinking of is really from Hadfield Station to Durnford Bridge(that's going west to east) - the first part is an old railway line with a slow gradient - good/reasonable surface and no problem on a tourer (assuming something like 700-32C tyres) - when you get to the Tunnel (closed) there is a steep climb, some of which is steps, that is semi-rideable (but I walked up!) - there are then a few rough ups and downs over a short distance, again no real problem for a tourer. You then reach a road section at what is the highest point on the TPT - the road drops away deceptively steeply towards Durnford Bridge (it looks like a gentle slope until you see people grinding up the other way on the granny) - whatever, a great spin down touching 50 mph! Sadly for us (in May 2003) the pub at Durnford Bridge which was our planned lunch stop was shut for refurbishment - carried on along the trail for a bit and came to an old station that sold tea and home-made cakes. Bottom line - IMHO yes you can do that stretch on a tourer but be prepared for some walking over the top. A remarkably easy crossing of the Pennines. On a broader note, having done the complete route from Southport to Hornsea it's all doable on a tourer (in fact one of our group was riding his dad's ancient machine with 27inch skinny (bald and perished!) tyres with just the one puncture) RG |
#9
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
In article , MSeries wrote:
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. I was not always the map reader, so am not sure about all the sections we did. I generally took the map when we left the trail. Penistone up to Dunford Bridge is a good wide ex-railway, no problem at all. As said in the followup, the ride from Dunford Bridge to the high point is a steep road, then it's tracks down to the mouth of the tunnel (which looks to be full of National Grid, so I can't imagine cycling through it unless it gets well insulated). We used the A628 for a short section over Woodhead Pass. We found the track West of here OK, but very sticky in the wet. It sapped the speed. The Longdendale Trail was quite passable, though I'd recomend taking the diversion to Hadfield Station and then a short downhill on road to Woolley Bridge if it is wet. We did Hattersley to Wooley Bridge on the A628 then A57, as one of the teams in front of us reported difficult going on the TPT around Broadbottom. Going East. At Ospring we took the Alternate Road Route marked on the trail, having missed the turn for the off road route. The track descending to Silstone Common was a little rough and had to be taken with care. From here, along the Dove Valley Trail, I remember it being very smooth and nice openable gates, right up past the turning at Darfield into Cudworth. Track was bad for the GTT around Royston, so we took the B6248 and joined the West Yorkshire Cycle Route instead. The map at Haw Park is deceptive, and those lanes are really paths, but fortunately just wide enough for us and presumably surfaced to be wheelchair friendly. Sike Lane has a hawthorn hedge, not nice. We bypassed the Nature Reserve using Okenshaw Lane instead. The canal was easy, apart from a small section north of Stanley Ferry which was too overgrown for us, so we bypassed that using Ferry Lane (its only short), then being somewhat behind and somewhat tired (this only 11 months out of some quite nasty cancer treatment) we took the Aberford Road via Oulton to Woodesford and rejoined the rest of our group. Thanks to John, Paul and Louis for sticking with us through these sections. The canal path from Woodesford to Leeds is nice, though watch for that huge flight of steps at Stourton. We finished at the Royal Armouries. A lot of the sections that we decided not doable on the GTT, we could have done on our touring upright tandem. Width and ingress of weeds were the limitations, rather than surface which was mostly good. I don't think I'd have made the distance on an upright though. We did the journey West to East in two days, stopping at Dunford Bridge. - Richard -- _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street, _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twighlight Zone. |
#10
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Taking a recumbent trike tandem on the Trans-Pennine Trail?
On 10 Sep 2003 20:36:54 GMT, Richard Corfield
wrote: In article , Ian wrote: 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? Yes it was Greenspeed, and I imagine the jockey arm idea could work well. I wonder if you'd route the chain over both wheels, or just use one, or if there is a simple solution. I wonder how much effect chain wear has on it. My Pino has what sounds like a simliar soltution, used to allow adjustment of the front boom,so different sized riders can take the front seat. In this case it's just the arm plus a bit of aluminium profiled to match the curvature of the tube it's attached to. Chain wear doesn't seem to be a problem. Tim -- In space no one can eat ice cream |
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