Wednesday, June 14, 2006

OK, so, trike

Lots of suspense since the last post. New trike, injuries, what happened? How could I leave you hanging for two days? Easy, I've been busy. Sorry 'bout that.

Yes, I got a new trike. I found a good deal on a Sun EZ-Tad recumbent trike. Thanks to Jon for pointing out the craigslist ad! So I met the guy Monday after work, took a test ride around his parking lot and took it home. Here's the skinny. The bike was purchased new in January this year. He did some winter ice riding on it, but not much else. He's got the extra-wide 2.1 tires, fenders, and a rear view mirror added. Other than that, it's bone stock. And totally sweet.

Now the next question is, how does one go about crashing on a trike? Easier than I thought imaginable. Once I got home I took the trike onto the dead-end street behind our house with my kids. They were riding their bikes around and wanted to race. Of course, they were trying to take advantage of their old man by starting the race while I was still facing the other direction. So I gunned it forward and hooked a hard left hand turn. During the turn, the left wheel came off the ground. So there I am, two-wheeling it. No problem. But, soon enough I've got to straighten this thing out. So I reached for the brake. Nothing doing. I'm not in trike-think just yet, apparently. I squeezed the left brake lever, but since it has left and right braking and the left tire was off the ground, it had no effect. I'm not sure what happened at that point, but I overbalanced somehow and ended up sitting on the pavement. The moral of the story? Don't get suckered by a 7 year old. And because I know you're concerned, the trike is fine.

Jim's comment about me being all road rashed up at work was very humorous. Especially since I've had like 6 people in the last day come up to me and say, "What did you do to yourself? Did you crash your bike??" I tell them yes, I crashed. I even tell them that I was goofing off with the kids. But what I don't mention to most of them is that I was riding a three-wheeler...

Date: June 13
Mileage: 23
Ride type: Commute
June mileage: 127
Year to date mileage: 1589

Date: June 14
Mileage: 23
Ride type: Commute
June mileage: 150
Year to date mileage: 1612

6 comments:

LvilleTex said...

so is it FAST? it LOOKS fast! or at least fast while going on the flats or downhill. i would about its stability, but we know the answer to that. :-)

Doug said...

".....it's strength lies in its stability, comfort, and predictable handling.

I guess you proved two out of three is questionable, but it does look comfortable.

Frostbike said...

Fast? It sure feels fast. But then again, I haven't ridden it more than 100 yards in a straight line.

I think I should be a product tester. I can push just about anything past it's intended limits. Not always with productive results, but still...

Daniel Satele said...

Ahh, the cirlce of life, eh?

As children, our training wheels keep us from crashing . . .

As adults, those extra wheels evidently provide an opposite effect.

Beeee-autiful.

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh. So Pete enters his "I want a recumbent phase". This anonymous poster (me) also went through that phase when I bought a Vision R42. Recumbents seem so interesting, possibly more aerodynamic, maybe more comfortable. They are certainly _different_. For me, the muscles used were sufficiently different between a recumbent and an upright that it was frustrating going from one to the other. And recumbents stink on hills. And they aren't as maneuverable. I commuted for a summer and then dumped it.

Frostbike said...

Hmmm. So the "I want a recumbent" thing is a phase every cyclist goes through? It certainly is possible that I'll hate the thing and end up dumping it. We'll just have to wait and see.

And why so anonymous, Anonymous?