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Trikes are getting more and more popular. While some producers are introducing full suspended models, others are trying themselves in a new field of tilting trikes. I personally do not see a lot of sense in that, especially when the construction of such a trike gets too complex and cycling with it requires practice to get it running.

Tripendo trike

For me, a trike is a comfort machine. I own an ICE Qnt and I use it for trips and to enjoy in the surroundings around me. To have a comfortable seat with me all the time so I do not have to look for a bench under a tree, as every tree for me is a perfect spot to rest in a shadow. And complex systems are certainly not what you would want on a cycling trip. But if you want a trike also for fast riding, then a tilting version is of course welcome. But if I would decide for one, I want to feel free on it – same freedom I feel on a two wheeler, but safer because of an additional wheel.

There is one tilting trike that actually made a step forward from last Spezi show. Tripod was this year presented on the Optima stand which certainly means better sale numbers. The design is also quite simple, which is positive, but I do not like the general idea of tilting, where the angle is related to steering position. Lets consider an older road where the side of the asphalt surface is sloped. With a normal trike your seat is always at the right angle to the road surface and in such a situation you do not sit vertically. While on a bicycle you are always vertical. If the tilting angle is related to the steering, then you can not tilt and cycle in a straight line, so even though you have a tilting trike you can not adjust your position to sit vertically. Tripendo on the other hand allows separate control over tilting angle, but why would we need any complex mechanisms to do that, if we can control our tilting angle the same way as on a bicycle?

Tripod

I found a prototype made by Bram Smit that I really liked. It is a tilting delta trike with two rear wheels and front wheel drive. Well, it is true that front wheel drive has weak points. Especially when climbing hills, as there is no pressure on the front wheel and tyre will start slipping, but the way tilting on this prototype works, it gives you total freedom and exactly the same feeling as when you are on two wheels. When unlocked you actually cycle a bike and not a trike.

Munzo tilting trike

So this is what I’d call a real tilting trike. Giving you freedom of a bike and safety plus comfort of the trike. Of course I would prefer rear wheel drive and having just a front break is certainly not enough, but it is the idea of tilting that I am looking at. It has to be simple and you have to feel free and natural using it. No learning
curve needed and no complicated tilting angle mechanisms.

Article by Peter from www.udobnoposvetu.si

Especially on recumbents our knees are very exposed to excessive load
as we have a solid support behind our back. I am sure everyone has at
some point experienced knee pain after more intensive cycling. Even
diamond frame cyclists experience that and their pressure on knees is
much lower. There is a very simple solution available and it is called
eHub. And no, it is not a motor and it has no electronics inside.

a-Hub in black (available also in beautiful red and silver)

It was developed for diamond frame bikes and it even has UCI
certificate, which means it is allowed on international races. The
main purpose of this special hub is however not related to knee
strain. It was developed for overcoming the pedals’ backlash,
consequently allowing cyclists a better output and increased overall
performance by 7-10%. It seams this really works, as more and more
famous cyclists around the world are already using eHub. Considering
the fact that it is heavier than standard rear hub, noone in the DF
world would use it without gaining something that can be realised and
of course, measured.

For me this 10% better performance is not so important. It is true I
cycle with a Nazca Fuego which is built for speed, but at the same
time it is made for comfort and safety on the road. And comfort was
deffinatelly not sacrefised for speed and that’s what I like about it.
It is fast and comfortable. I already cycled 800km with the eHub in my
Fuego rear wheel and I experienced first hand how climbing feels like
when you have eHub inside. When you first push on the pedal you will
feel they are softer. I started with eHub 5 and it is perfect for
“normal” terrain for not so strong riders. It actually propells you up
small hills and you will have a feeling you just flied over it. You
will have to find the right combination of gears and cadence to feel
that perfect effect. That is why they have different numbers which are
suited to different strength of the cyclist and the way they climb
hills. At the moment this scale from 1 – 6 is designed for DF bikes
and for recumbent cyclists only 5 and 6 are suitable, as our pressure
on pedals is so much higher compared to DF world. They have decided to
develop a recumbent version though and considering the just mentioned
fact about high forces present here, this is certainly a very welcome
addition to the recumbent cycling industry.

Cycling with eHub in the rear wheel makes the ride smoother. Peak
pressure on the pedals gets “eaten up” by the spring and it is
released later, when the pressure in “dead area” is the weakest.
Spring stores that excessive energy and releases it later when it is
needed to sustain fluid forward motion. There have been many solutions
on how to overcome this pedalling problem. From eliptical chainrings
to special pedal arms, but many of them have a steep learning curve
and they require symmetrical movement and only work at certain angles.
Spring does not care how much pressure you have in your left or right
foot and where is your dead end, it simply stores energy when pressure
is very high and releases it when it is lowest. Not depending on left
or right leg exact position. Besides removing those peak stress points
for your knees and muscles, it also reduces side forces on the frame.
Frames in recumbent world are long and are thus prone to bending as we
have no triangles to keep them rigid. Even DF cyclists have noticed
the lack of resonance in the frame that without eHub happens
sometimes. With every possible gram of weight reduced, this can get
problematic. So we have more than just one positive side effect.

Facts they advertise:

- better output of the thrust (by 7-10%)
- overcome pedal’s backlash
- lower muscle and knee strain
- high quality material

And they have a lot of references on their website to back this up.
But as I said. For me it is the comfort that counts and having less
knee strain and climbing more fluently certainly increase comfort.
Being a little faster is just a side effect as Fuego is already a very
fast bicycle .

www.ehub.si

Article by Peter from www.udobnoposvetu.si

It has been already quite some time since our last post and since SPEZI show in Germersheim. In next few days you can read here some pretty interesting reviews of new slovenian e-Hub and some commets about tilting trikes which appeared on SPEZI. At the moment just look at the gallery from SPEZI which we think is the best and with the nicest pictures posted.

Gallery by udobnoposvetu.si