UK Tricycle Riding

hercule
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Joined: 5 Feb 2011, 5:18pm

Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by hercule »

One other difference is that the Picador is 70cm wide and the Tri-1 is 80cm wide. The 7 speed gearing of the Tri-1 whilst potentially needing bit more maintenance than the 3 speed hub gear should give you a wider range of gears, could be helpful if you choose to load up that basket to the max.
Trikegirl
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by Trikegirl »

That is a very good point, so much so that I am now leaning towards the Tri-1. There are some gradual inclines here and if I am on the main road the 7-speed might be very useful in getting some speed up the hill, especially if there is a weight in the rear basket. I doubt though that there will be much in it other than art supplies and maybe a sweater. I assume the gears are useful for going downhill, too, and will help regulate speed. I haven’t used gears on a trike before. The Picador is a three-speed but I am not sure if that would be sufficient.

I am also assuming that the 80 cm Tri-1 would be a tad more stable than the 70 cm Picador - assuming the extra width helps stability but not sure if that is true.

Both trikes have 1 3/4 inch tyres.

It is unfortunate I never had a two-wheel bike when I was young and so never learned to ride one. I bought a mountain bike when in my 40s but just couldn’t balance it. And so came the Schwinn trike. I just loved the feeling of going out in the sunshine with the breeze in my face and cycling into the countryside. So much fun! It doesn’t have to be about racing!
Cyril Haearn
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Most of us would have to learn to ride a trike :wink:
Many cycle paths have narrow bits to stop motor vehicles using them, often these are problematic for trikes too, 70 cm wide might be better. Probably not easy to lift a trike over an obstacle
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drossall
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by drossall »

Not quite sure what you mean about gears regulating speed. They kind of do that in a car, because you have considerable reserves of power, and each gear (sort of) covers a range of speeds. On a bike, you've just got your legs; gears help you to use them more efficiently but, if you want to go slower, the primary thing is to pedal less hard, and you may then want to adjust your gearing to make that more comfortable. But it's mostly your use of your legs, and of course the brakes on downhills, that regulates speed.

In reality, that's true both with bikes and with cars - you adjust the power you're putting in if you want to regulate speed, and then match the gears to that because it's more efficient.
tatanab
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by tatanab »

Trikegirl wrote:I am also assuming that the 80 cm Tri-1 would be a tad more stable than the 70 cm Picador - assuming the extra width helps stability but not sure if that is true.
Yes it does, greatly, but there is a reason that enthusiast tricycles have been 70 cm for decades. 70 cm will go through almost all household doorways. 80 cm is the width that was used on tandem trikes. I have 6 tricycles (British lightweights not at all like Pashley or Schwinn), 5 have a width of 70 cm and are no issue, one is 75 cm which will only come through the slightly wider front door if I need to bring it indoors - usually they are in a shed but I often use my dining room for maintenance or tinkering.
xerxes
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by xerxes »

Question for you (and any other tricyclists for that matter) - why do you prefer a trike to a bike?
tatanab
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by tatanab »

xerxes wrote:Question for you (and any other tricyclists for that matter) - why do you prefer a trike to a bike?
I ride British lightweight tricycles. I saw my first on a club run in 1969 as a schoolboy and was interested to get something to try out. For the first few decades I used it only about 20% of my riding, the rest on 2 wheels. For the last 20 years I've been riding trikes for more than 90%.

Why? I tell people - it is obviously heavier than a comparable bike (stress comparable), there is more wind resistance, I am working physically harder to keep it rubber side down because balancing a bike is done by little tweaks on the steering but on a trike it is body movements that are needed at anything other than low speeds. This amount to it being 10-15% slower than an equivalent bike (equivalent again). So why do I willingly ride something that is slower, physically harder and arguably more difficult to control --------- BECAUSE IT IS FUN. I am doing something only a very small percentage of riders can imagine coping with. Only approximately 1% of CTC members are tricyclists. It is much more demanding and much more involving- I have to read the road differently to a bicyclist. All this makes it FUN FUN FUN. Many years ago it was said that tricycles are for people who find bicycles too easy. Occasionally I go out on a comparable bike, and whilst it is faster I always get home feeling something was missing.

Whilst my ideas of "tricycle" are very different to the utility machines it does not stop us trying to pass on advice and the benefit of experience.
Last edited by tatanab on 13 May 2020, 6:50am, edited 2 times in total.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Reminds me of Mick F and his Moulton, even of my fixed-wheel machine

Is a fixed-wheel trike feasible?
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Mike Sales
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by Mike Sales »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Is a fixed-wheel trike feasible?


The tricycle was invented long before the freewheel.
A friend used to TT on one.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
tatanab
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by tatanab »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Is a fixed-wheel trike feasible?
I learned to ride on one back in 1969 because it was all I could afford to cobble together as a schoolboy. Cornering is different because you cannot hang off the side anything like as much as in the photo.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by Cyril Haearn »

tatanab wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Is a fixed-wheel trike feasible?
I learned to ride on one back in 1969 because it was all I could afford to cobble together as a schoolboy. Cornering is different because you cannot hang off the side anything like as much as in the photo.

Different = slower?
I do not like going fast on a bicycle, a fixed-wheel trike might suit me
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Mike Sales wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Is a fixed-wheel trike feasible?


The tricycle was invented long before the freewheel.
A friend used to TT on one.

Right again, on my fixed-wheel thread I reported how in 1899 Mr Puch dismissed freewheels as new-fangled gadgets, a gimmick to try to sell more machines
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further
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by further »

My wife has a TR1 and loves it, we have used it on roads and cycle paths the good thing with it on roads because it is unusual car drivers tend to give it a wide berth,Good luck.
Trikegirl
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by Trikegirl »

@xerxes I like tricycles because I can actually ride one. I never learned to ride a two-wheeler as a child and when I tried to ride one later in life, I couldn’t balance and was ever so scared of falling.

I have just been reading some a Pashley reviews on another forum found via Google and it was said that the paint flaked off within two years, built with gas pipe engineering, replacement parts from Pashley never fit, and so on. These comments were from 2009 and one of the comments said that “Pashley had upped their game recently”.

Did Pashley gave a spell of bad manufacturing around 2009? Hopefully, the quality is good now since I am about to buy one.

I have also read a few more recent comments about them being a bit different to ride. I think that comment was aimed at the Picador. Not quite sure what was meant by that comment.

Still trying to decide between Picador and Tri-1, assuming the quality is okay.

Thankfully, I do have a garage I can keep it in.
Trikegirl
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Re: UK Tricycle Riding

Post by Trikegirl »

@further I am so glad your wife enjoys the Tri-1. I am debated over the Picador and the Tri-1.
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