Alfie the trike has arrived!
As my Trice Q had done SUCH a lot of miles (24,680 in the last three-and-a-bit years) I felt that it was time to buy a new trike to give me a bit of variety - and also to experience some alternative features.
For example, the twist-shifters on my Q proved very awkward when it rained as I couldn't twist the gears properly without gloves with wet hands (and I don't usually wear gloves). The rubber for the twist-shifters also started flaking off after 15,000 miles.
I also found that I don't get on too well with rear derailleur gears and did bash my derailleur once, bending the hanger and requiring rescue by car from my father. I have carried a spare gear hanger since then when touring abroad but I did like the idea of a hub gear which would mean I only needed a fairly small chain tensioner at the axle.
I decided a Rohloff hub was too expensive (almost £1,000) so went for the new Alfine-11 hub gear by Shimano which got good reviews and which the chaps at ICE had successfully fitted to another trike previously.
So today was the big day!
I went out for a haircut in the morning and when I returned home there was a giant box in the lounge...
Which my dog Poppy thought looked interesting.
Here I am, ready to cut the packing tape...
The box is open! Lots of bubble wrap and a surprisingly thin 'assembly instructions' book!
After removing lots of goodies (seat, rack, chainring guard etc) I got my first glimpse of the actual bike!
A very expensive meccano set!
James is impressed by my Schmidt hub dynamo...
The frame is unfolded...
And we bung some wheels on to see how it looks. Now how to fit that chain tensioner?...
And there it is!
Now here's something neither of us have had before - disc brakes!
Fitting the disc onto the wheel...
Now to line up the callipers/pads (this took about 15 minutes!)
Poppy inspects - number 1 is done, hurrah!
We had a tea break before starting the right hand side wheel discs. This wheel also has a dynohub which is rather cool!