Commuting: ICE Sprint vs Thorn Audax

[UpWrong]

I've been commuting to work on an ICE Sprint 26 for about 2 yrs now. It's a round trip of 9 miles a day with one significant hill climb, maybe 250 feet over ¾ of a mile. Prior to that I used an ICE T (in 2007-2008) and a Catrike Speed (2008-2011). For a while I had a cycle computer on the Speed. I didn't keep records but my recollection is that my moving average was about 9.5 mph.

About a year ago I put 26” wheels on the front of my ICE Sprint. This improved the rolling resistance and also improved the aerodynamics because it tilted the seat back by about 2.5 degrees. I stuck a wireless computer on it and found that my moving average was 10 mph. To be fair to the Speed in the interim I had altered my route slightly on the Sprint, queuing up in traffic and sticking with the road across a dual carriageway roundabout. On the Speed I had gotten off and used a pedestrian crossing which possibly reduced the moving average a bit. However, downhill speeds are significantly higher on the Sprint than the Speed.

Last week I used my new Thorn Audax Mark 3 which is shod with Ultremo ZX tyres. I had bought it in August and done a few short rides. It's my first bike with STI levers. It's the special compact 555S short top tube geometry which allows the bars to be higher and closer which is better for people like me with a history of neck problems on drop barred bikes.

My rides on Monday and Tuesday were rather shaky. I had the challenge of getting a foot down when stopping. Where's the ground gone? Oh bugger, I wanted to change down not up. The brakes didn't seem to work (calliper brakes operated by hands on the hoods compared to twin BB7 disks on the ICE). Cars pulling out of side roads in front of me, a car trying to overtake me on the inside when turning right at a T-junction. By Wednesday I had got the hang of it and was comfortable and confident enough to filter past the queue at said dual carriageway roundabout.

My moving average for the week was 10.4 mph, so that probably saves me around a minute on each leg of the journey. I shall be continuing with the Thorn for a while, but my intention is to return to using the trike later in the year.

[hercule]

I must admit that despite having a few really nice upright bikes, they've been gathering dust since I got my first bent. It's not really the comfort factor - I don't find DFs that uncomfortable - it's just that they aren't as much fun as the bents. I feel I've had a bit of a second rate experience if I'm go out for a ride on one of my uprights. I do get them out every so often, but it's as much related to guilt that I'm not using them rather than wanting to. The view from a bent is just so much better!

[UpWrong]

Only two days into the secong week but my average is up to 11.4 mph. My lungs are getting much more of a workout than they do on the trike.