Tigerbiten new trike.

[Tigerbiten]

I finally picked it up on thursday ............ 

Specs :-
It's based on a Sprint/Quest.
Full suspension. Hopefully this will damp some road buzz.
Twin hydraulic disks in front worked off one lever. They take almost no force to work but are very grabby.
Rohloff back hub, High Speed Drive front hub. Gear range 10"-130".
Toxaholic long grip shifter.
Schmidt SON hub and B&Q IQ front and back lights.
Performance Tailbox.
Hardshell seat.

I'll not state the total but its more than double the standard price.

I've only done ~50 miles sofar.

First impressions.
The front suspension makes it feel a little twichier than my old trike, counter steers better, but its still feels safe at speed.

Gears range is great but I need to get used to hub gears and a twist grip shifter.
The Rolhoff is noisy in the bottom 7 gears but that should inprove with use.
The High Speed Drive at the front is great but I need the kick plates to make shifting between top-bottom range a lot easier.
I shouldn't use the bottom 3 gears due to over torquing the hub, Gear B14 is ~13.5 mph so it's a usefull speed before kicking into the top range.
Gear T7 is ~13.5 mph, T10 is ~20, T13 is ~35 and I've yet to use T14 ...... 

I tried a Windwrap fairing at ICE, but I felt there was not enough room for my knees.
So I've fitted my old Streamer fairing.

My only quibble sofar is the topbox clicks open if I hit a bump at over 25 mph.

Luck ............... 

[Tim Hall]

Sounds lovely.

Got it up on two wheels yet?

[Cunobelin]

Nice machine, can I pick your brains abut the design specs?

1. Which front ring do you have?
There is a larger 34t ring that is available for the HSD. I though this was within the limits for the Rohloff Hub. Loses a few bottom gears.

2. Who sourced the drive and did your fitting?
I am looking for someone to rerofit  to my Gekko. Basically send the boom and have it returned with the system fitted.

Thanks

[mmmmartin]

will we see it on the Whistable ride?

[plantfit]

Thats great news, I am pleased for you, looking forward to getting a few miles in with you again, maybe Draycote or Rutland

Roger

[Auntie Helen]

Sounds exciting but we need pics!!!

[LindaG]

I'm pleased you've finally got the trike Tigerbiten.  AH is right though, we need pics 

[barakta]

Hurray, and ditto to pics.  It sounds like an impressive beastie with all those mods and extras you've added - you and it have a fantastic time!

I need to harass Kevin some more to get him to sort my trike out and make a post like this - phones, so not my medium 

[Tigerbiten]

Nice machine, can I pick your brains abut the design specs?

1. Which front ring do you have?
There is a larger 34t ring that is available for the HSD. I though this was within the limits for the Rohloff Hub. Loses a few bottom gears.

2. Who sourced the drive and did your fitting?
I am looking for someone to rerofit  to my Gekko. Basically send the boom and have it returned with the system fitted.

Thanks

1:- I picked the 30t ring HSD and the 16t on the Rolhoff on the 20" wheel.
The bottom 3 gears are out of spec for the Rolhoff so I shouldn't use them but the top end is 130".
This spins me out at ~43 mph downhill. I know that as I just tested it down a 9% hill ....... 
Staying within the Rolhoff spec of 14" at the bottom end means a combo of 34t/13t on the 20" wheel, this puts the top end up some where silly.

2:- ICE sorced all  the parts and fitted the trike up to my spec.

I'm planning to be on the Whitstable ride.

[barakta]

Tigerbiten were you able to get VAT exemption for disability from ICE? 

[cycleman]

great to hear about your new trike tigerbiten  .i to would like to see some pictures 

[arallsopp]

Pics, or it didn't happen.

Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh.

Andy.

[Tigerbiten]

Sorry no pics.
I've nothing to take any with ...... 
I'll have to get someone to take one on the Whitstable ride.

I've finally spun out T14, ~43mph.
It great being able to pedal at +30 mph ........... 

[Cunobelin]

Nice machine, can I pick your brains abut the design specs?

1. Which front ring do you have?
There is a larger 34t ring that is available for the HSD. I though this was within the limits for the Rohloff Hub. Loses a few bottom gears.

2. Who sourced the drive and did your fitting?
I am looking for someone to rerofit  to my Gekko. Basically send the boom and have it returned with the system fitted.

Thanks

1:- I picked the 30t ring HSD and the 16t on the Rolhoff on the 20" wheel.
The bottom 3 gears are out of spec for the Rolhoff so I shouldn't use them but the top end is 130".
This spins me out at ~43 mph downhill. I know that as I just tested it down a 9% hill ....... 
Staying within the Rolhoff spec of 14" at the bottom end means a combo of 34t/13t on the 20" wheel, this puts the top end up some where silly.

2:- ICE sorced all  the parts and fitted the trike up to my spec.

I'm planning to be on the Whitstable ride.

Thanks for that I have contacted ICE to see if they would be willing to retrofit one to my boom if I send it down.

The bad news is that I have just discovered that when you search for Schlumpf of the MAC spellchecker you get:

The German word for smurf. (See also the link to the Wiktionary entry and the German version of this page.)

Can I really fit a "Smurf" drive on a blue bike and retain any shred of credibility?

[Kim]

Oooh.

Looking forward to seeing the shiny on the Whitstable ride...

[Von Broad]

Is this the new ICE Vortex Trike you have recently acquired?

I was looking at the ICE site last night and getting really quite over come with desire.

Boy, what a beauty. Happy riding 

[Tigerbiten]

Is this the new ICE Vortex Trike you have recently aquired?

Mine was built to order so it a cross between a Sprint and a Vortex.
It started life as a Sprint but has the Vortex hardshell seat on it.

[mmmmartin]

I'll have to get someone to take one on the Whitstable ride.

Assuming we can keep up with you Nige.....

[Tigerbiten]

Just done a 56 mile ride ......... 

General impressions.

Its slightly slower than the old trike as it feels it needs slightly more effort to do the same speed.
But this could be caused by the hub gears needing a few hundred miles to run in and loosen up a bit.

Low range spins out at ~15 mph.
And its great being able to pedal at around 35mph downhill and still have one gear left.
At the moment without the kick plates on the High Speed Drive its a bit fiddlely changing between the ranges.
Shifting low to high range is ok as it tends to happen going down hill, so no real loss of momentum.
But I'm still having a bit of trouble getting the shift down from high to low range right going uphill as I also need to climb 5-7 gears on the back hub at the same time to keep the momentum.

The hydralic brakes and the Maraton Supereme tyres are grabby.
Its the first time I've been able to lift the backend under hard braking ... 

The front suspension does smooth the worst of the road buzz without adversely affecting the handling.
But it does feel that its slightly more senative to counter stearing when you lean left or right.