More wheels is more fun!
Added on Saturday 19 March 16
A trike is a very odd thing for me to review because Trikes are generally used by those who cannot ride a bike.
I spent most if my youth riding bikes up things, down things and often off things. I love riding bikes.
I got the trike as a bit of an experiment. We were at Centre Parcs for a holiday and walking up to the bike rental place I saw the big red trike gleaming in the sun and I fell in love. The only thing able to make me more excited would have been a matching trailer!
As I was on holiday and it was fun I was allowed to rent the trike. I was really happy about it :)
The Tri-1 trike is red, has 3 wheels, 7 gears, some brakes and a luggage rack. Did I mention that it’s red? It is the best red ever. Seriously. It’s very red!
It has a step through frame so it’s really easy to get on and off. The seat is quite comfy and the position is very upright.
The luggage rack holds things well and the straps come in handy for carrying things.
The mudguards work pretty well, though I did have to adjust them a few times as they kept rubbing the tyre. This may have been due to excessive bumping against the scenery on my part.
The gears work well and I was able to keep up with my friends and got up and down the gentle but long hills without issue.
The brakes on the one I was riding were okay but not great. It has two brakes. A drum brake and a Cantilever brake; both on the front wheel.
It stopped well enough when needed but the brakes were extremely mushy with no precision. Nothing like modern hydraulic disks on a mountain bike.
If I owned a trike I’d get one with disk brakes on as many wheels as I could.
The trike is a really fun ride. As someone who rides a bike lots it was really weird to be held completely level when cornering. I am use too leaning in but on the trike you don’t lean anywhere near as much.
The trike encouraged me to be gentle and slow and that was nice. I looked at stuff more and just generally enjoyed a slow pootle. When I was more spaced out (eg after a swim) I liked that I didn’t have to worry about balancing and directions at the same time.
The trike could go pretty quick but it wasn’t very stable at high speeds so outside of a few experiments I didn’t go very fast.
The trike will lift the inside wheel slightly if you corner hard. By the end of the 4 days I was pretty use to lifting a wheel from time to time.
As we were in the woods I did a very small amount of light off-roading. The odd unsurfaced path with a few roots etc.
It was really fun. The tyres worked really well for grip and it feels very different to a normal bike.
The trike sometimes surprised me as one wheel disappeared into a hole I didn’t spot. But it was a good surprise. I imagine it would be fine on a gravel tow paths and the like.
It turned out having a cycle with decent cargo capacity is really useful!
During he holiday we popped to the shop several times and I loved taking the trike and carrying stuff. I felt a bit like postman pat :)
We were about a mile and a bit from the shop so walking would have been annoying.
It worked really well for carrying wide things like instant BBQs and Krispy Kreme donut boxes.
I really enjoyed my time with the trike and I would like to rent one again during our next holiday.
It was nice to feel useful.
If i had the space and could safely cycle too and from my nearest supermarket I would have a trike of my own. But for now I will keep it as a holiday treat.
From the spaced out angle it was nice to be able to hop on and ride without worrying about balence and direction etc.
I would recommend the trike as something really fun to try. It’s also super practical for carrying stuff.
Finally, it’s a bright red trike! What’s not to love about that!