Trikes and Mondeos (joining the dark side)

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

The "return to bike" issue that I have found is not the wobbles, but rolling up to road junctions  and expecting to stay upright.

Clipless moment ensued 

[harrumph]

Was definitely going in straighter lines today than last time...

Constant practice is the secret... the only times I ever felt confident on mine were after three or four consecutive days of fairly high mileage. Then it all came together, and we looked good! But put the beast aside for a couple of weeks, and the knack went missing 

[Tiger]

Best way to transport it must surely be on standard roof rack. Front wheel out and forks clamped and back wheels bungeed onto the rear bar. I certainly would not faff about taking the wheels off!

[seumasl]

[quote)

Rogers hubs and stub axles, while perfectly serviceable, are not exactly precision engineering. 
                                     (quote)

That is putting it quite politely, the Ken Rogers Tandem Trike we had needed the rear axle bearings replacing very frequently, special bearings were tried to no avail.
                                         Seumasl

[drossall]

I was hoping to take the machine out on a group ride this weekend. As a test, since my commuting trip is quite quiet, I took it to work on Wednesday.

Not entirely a success. On the way out, I had couple of hedge moments and worried one driver. Funnily enough, the return trip was fine. I concluded that I wasn't ready for a group (don't want to knock someone off).

And yes, I did have trouble the next day with my bike refusing to keep itself upright...

Haven't given up though

[harrumph]

...I had couple of hedge moments...

  As in picking bits of it out of your hair?

[drossall]

More a case of running up the verge owing to a sudden inability to steer where I wanted to go, and then finding that the gentle bank sent me back out into the road

I'd like somewhere traffic-free to practice, but I'd have to ride there...

As I said, though, the return journey was encouraging. I just need to keep practising at quiet times.

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

More a case of running up the verge owing to a sudden inability to steer where I wanted to go, and then finding that the gentle bank sent me back out into the road

I confess that after 3 years (although admittedly of intermittent trike riding) I have those sort of moments.  It's as if the brain freezes and no longer has any idea of what it's supposed to be doing.

I usually respond by tossing out the anchors and waiting until normal service is resumed.

[LeeW]

Dunno about upright trikes in salons but my Trice trike fits in a 01 Zetek estate nicely.

[drossall]

Would have thought any trike would fit in a salon, but we had a topic on that recently.

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

Presumably if a trike can fit in a salon, there should be no saloon bar either...

IGMC   

[drossall]

Well I was rather put off by that last experience. Anyway, I finally tried again this week and took the machine up to the club room. It was like I had never been off it, which is good.

Strong cambers are still unsettling and corners aren't brilliant, but I'll get there

[LeeW]

A trike ontop of a 2001(Y) Zetec 1.8

[drossall]

I rather think my upright would have hit the roof there...

[drossall]

Does the panel have any tips on learning to corner then? I'm up to 20mph in straight lines (if slightly downhill...) but that's only useful on motorways and I'm not allowed to ride there. Braking to less than 10mph for every corner is becoming a pain.

Or do I just throw myself into it?

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

You need to set yourself up for the corner - get off the saddle, inner foot down, start leaning over and pushing away the bar on the outside of the curve... at least that's what I do.  Pedalling round sharp bends is rather more difficult.

If you look at the TT photos on the Tricycle Association website there are some photos of experts showing how it should be done.  Just don't touch that inside wheel with your bum...

[resus1uk]

Getting the inner foot down is the key, but swapping back to two wheels is confusing. Getting muddled leads to the risk of inspecting the hedgerow again, or grounding the bicycle's pedal.

Even though it is not instinctive, I've managed to increase my cornering speed on both the Pashley & the Longstaff. The Pashley is heavier especially when loaded & has a lower centre of gravity but it still helps to lower the inner pedal.

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

If you're talking Pashley Picador, then I'm impressed.  We have one but going faster than 10mph in a straight line is unnerving, trying to corner at anything faster than slow walking pace is terrifying.  As a result it's sitting in the garage right now with three flat tyres (Woods valves not being renowned for air retention).

I'm amazed at the difference, "common sense" telling me the Rogers should be much harder to ride, but it's not so.

[tatanab]

You need to set yourself up for the corner - get off the saddle, inner foot down, start leaning over and pushing away the bar on the outside of the curve... at least that's what I do.  Pedalling round sharp bends is rather more difficult.

That is a bit un-nerving at first.  I'd say stay in the saddle and lean - tuck your elbow into your waist and lean your shoulder right in to the turn.  Getting out of the saddle will lead automatically from there.  If you lean from the saddle you can still get you weight pretty low and far out (some of the TA pictures show that) and you can pedal through the corner as well to provide  a bit more push.  I learned on fixed, many years ago, so getting far out of the saddle was not practical.  Once you get practised you will find you need to lean (or get out of the saddle) less.  Look at somebody who has been ring a short time, verus somebody with lots of experience.  You don't need to move around half as much as the novice believes for minor curves.   Hand position can be useful as well.  Inside hand low on the hood or drop, outside hand high and more central - on the tops or straight part of the bars perhaps.
 

Just don't touch that inside wheel with your bum...

An every day occurence, part of the fun.  The worst is riding a short wheelbase machine when tired, getting sloppy with the cornering and burning your calf on the tyre.  That stings!

[resus1uk]

The Picador is definitely harder to ride than the Longstaff conversion. when I bought it I had to push it home under cover of darkness as I couldn't ride in a straight line & kept running into stationary cars.

Extra weight (like a bag of "fertiliser" or the shopping, in a separate bag of course) helps.

I've converted from Woods valves to Schraeder & added slime to keep the tyres OK.

I bought for my wife but she says its unsafe at any speed including stationary.

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

I bought for my wife but she says its unsafe at any speed including stationary.

Oddly enough Mrs Mudtracker said almost exactly the same thing...

[drossall]

Send me an email and I'll reply with some photos and description of how it is done.

Well, I went down to Byercycles today to get some rims and spokes to rebuild the back wheels, and they found me an odd Shimano dual-pivot, so thanks to tatanab's encouragement above I now have improved braking I may fit some spare aero levers - I didn't feel that the old Weinmanns were getting the maximum out of the new brake. And a new cantilever when I find an odd one. And...

Now cornering at nearly 5mph instead of 0.5mph, so gradually improving The new wheels may improve things when I get them built, as the old rear ones are very loose.