Paul,
A Ken Rogers trike; top of the line of trike makers I think. Do you have a differential on yours. I'm curious if that helps the behaviour of these beasts any? Before this past ride, I was willing to part with my trike if the person who was interested produced the money to take her home. Now that I have proper gearing it's a LOT more ridable. I doubt I will let her go now. It really is a great conversation piece and I actually learned a lot while riding it on the open road Sunday. I could get the hang of the whole thing without too much difficulty. Apparently there is enough lard in my ass to counterbalance her in the truns at speed. Now, if I could just keep it from bucking like a bull moose while I take my hands off the bars to scratch my nose; everything would just ducky. But from what I understand, that ain't goint to happen. The shimmy is built into every trike because there is no rear suspention, which causes the bike to rock sideways unless you are riding on glass. The rocking becomes a front wheel shimmy that will knock your dentures out before you can blink. Lovely. I'm still curious to know approx. how many trikes are in the US. Just don't become organized; then "they" will know where we all are when they come to round us up for the loony bin. Trike riders are a "special lot" if you know what I mean.
Correction. Earlier I gave Chuck Schmidts' gearing on his fixed gear Mercian as 88", which as we discussed at lunch, was actually 81 gear inches. Chuck was really spinning on the downhill as I was going full bore on his wheel in 53-13.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
>
> Brian,
> I really enjoyed reading your description riding a trike! As a trike
> owner/rider I must say that there are elements of truth in alll of it but....
> Don't worry about the flexing in the rear wheels on corners. The wheels
> on my Ken Rogers are almost 30 yrs old and still true As for taking your
> hands off the bars----well, you'll never do that again will you? Once was
> enough for me.
> I have tried aero bars and the shaking on descents REALLY gets bad.
> Don't do that. Two trikes in a pace line gets interesting. There is a very
> nice pocket between the rear wheels that gives a fantastic draft but make
> sure that you aren't there when the trike turns. It is real hard to miss
> that rear wheel. Another thing that you won't do twice.
> If you guys want to see more English trikes, try
> http://www.tricycle-association.org.uk.
> I usually ride my trike in the winter when everybody is willing to play
> around a bit. And as awkward as it can be at times I always end up glad that
> I have kept the bloody thing all of these years. You always have something
> to talk about when new people show up.
>
> Paul patzkowsky "the trikerider"