BikeArkansas

Being very new to recumbent trike cycling, I have found many favorable attributes, but group riding is not one of them. Fitting into a group ride with my old cycling friends has proven to be very difficult. My groups would cruise at 20 MPH and take hills crisply. I cannot do that on the trike, especially the hills. So, I have been on a few rides with C or B- groups. I can reasonably keep up with them, but I know I do not "fit" into a paceline, so I mostly hang out off the back. I have tried to hook up with other trike riders in my area, but there are only a couple that routinely ride and they are basically into solo riding.

Group riding has been a favorite of mine in cycling. I am looking for suggestions to better meld into a DF group knowing there are no trikes to ride with. Thanks for any tips.

Kontact 

I can't imagine it ever working out well, primarily because the riders on the tall bikes are going to be very wary of getting too close to your trike. It is too dissimilar to predict and dangerously under their large wheels. I would not know what to watch if I were behind you and I would be nervous about your front wheels and crank if you were behind me. And you don't lean in corners.

CliffordK

You list several bikes. Do you still ride upright bikes? You could go with a standard road bike for the group rides, and use the trike for other training and pleasure rides.

If you have a few riding friends, perhaps they'll adapt. You could add electric for the hills, just be straight with your friends that you're not just driving a motorcycle while they're huffing.

BikeArkansas

Due to a neck injury, I am actually in the process of selling my bikes. As much as I have ridden bikes, the pain the last few rides was so severe I do not want to ride another bike. My neck does not hurt on the trike. I am fully determined to learn the skills to ride a trike.

CliffordK

Thanks for the clarification.

If you have some riding friends, perhaps they would continue to ride with you, not on official "group rides". Do you have routes you can hammer it out on the flats?

You could also talk to the riding group leaders, and see if you could organize rides through them, clearly stating mixed modes on the signup sheet.

If pacelines are a problem, then do you have to ride in pacelines? You can still hammer it hard without drafting.

VegasTriker

You may have to accept the limitations that come with a trike if you need the comfort. I don't know what the weight of your DF bike is but the Scorpion FX starts out at 36.3 pounds without any accessories. You also have the contact patch of 3 tires versus two on the DF. I will never own a trike that weighs as little as my 1973 Motobecane Le Champion but it became so uncomfortable to ride as I got older that I finally gave it away to a charity a few years ago. I was a lot faster on it but for how many miles? In most years it was zero.

BikeArkansas

I have 5 bikes, but my favorite is the Fuji Transonic which comes in at just under 16#. This bike was set up with all DURA ACE drive train and DURA ACE wheels. I rode three charity event metric centuries this summer with times under 3 hours. Yes, I do like to hammer. However, my 68 year old body has revolted, along with a lingering auto accident (very possible surgery soon). I am amazed that there is no pain on the trike. Love that!

I have some great friends I have ridden with for years. On many rides we stop for coffee and pastries. Of course on the event rides we do not stop for anything, except flats. I am missing those group rides, a lot. But I simply cannot keep up.

I do have a Catrike 700 now. I have not ridden it much yet, but I already know i cannot keep up with my groups. Maybe with some training, seat time and acquiring some skills, I will be able to stay close.

BlazingPedals

Out of recumbent choices, highracers such as a Corsa would have the best chance of sticking with roadies through hills. They give up a little in climbing but they let you rest up everywhere else. Nobody will want to be the one riding behind you in a paceline long-term, though. A good lowracer can keep up, too; but while highracers mix marginally OK, lowracers are like trikes in that there's just too much height differential to mix at all. I tend to hang off the back, until 'happy legs' sets in and I'm forced to ride off the front for a while. I think they like me being around as the group's 'attack dog' they can sic on anybody who passes us (which is rare.)

BikeArkansas

I did consider a recumbent bike, but decided that if I go recumbent I would go all the way with the trike. I watched a Cat II racing friend of mine who went to a recumbent because of a neck injury and he could not keep up on the hills. I decided if he could not climb with a recumbent bike, there was no way i could. So, I went with the trike, and I enjoy the trike very much. The only problem is not being able to ride with my groups. Guess I will just accept that and go with what I can do.

StephenH

Check smaller groups, local bike shops, the next town(s) over.
Hammer solo, slow down and ride with slower people for social interaction.
On occasion, you'll find ladies that want to ride (such as triathlon training) but don't want to ride by themselves- if you can coordinate speeds, that can work out well.
Consider a tandem.

HTupolev

My usual group includes a couple people who sometimes ride Bacchetta CA2s. The highracer design is relatively reasonable for paceline riding; the wheelbase isn't obnoxiously long, and the rider's height allows diamond-frame bikes to get a bit of draft off of them. These guys have about the same climbing performance as on their diamond-frame bikes (on shallower hills, they're faster on the CA2s, but their diamond-frame bikes have enough of a weight advantage to be a tiny bit faster on really steep hills). They do tend to spend a lot of time at the front when they ride the recumbents; sometimes we trade off pulls behind them.

CliffordK

I will say that I am still somewhat new to my trike, and it has been parked a bit. I still have to do some adjustments on the gearing (high gear on dualdrive hasn't been working right, and may try a Capreo build).

But, so far, it seems to be moderately slower than my other bikes.

Perhaps I'll also try to get the SpeedMachine recumbent up and running this winter.

I agree with the assessment of others that a racing recumbent may at least augment the choice for fast group riding. Then hopefully both the rider and group will get comfortable with the riding dynamics.

My belief, however, is that I'm generally cardio-vascular limited with my riding, and slight changes in body position (cadence/standing, etc) don't seem to amount to a lot on my normal upright bike.

With that in mind, perhaps some tuning of the trike would be in order (changing 406 to 451 wheels, right gearing, etc).

Otherwise, there might be an element of training to get up to snuff. Get out and hammer the rides to get used to the new cycling dynamics.

BlazingPedals

I guess "all the way" means different things to different people; but to me it means maximizing the speed potential. My legs aren't getting any younger. I'd have a Milan velomobile if I could afford one.

Trsnrtr

When I was slightly skinnier, I had no trouble keeping up on a two-wheeled machine but a trike was totally out of the question for me and I owned/own some of the “fastest” trikes out there -a couple 700s, a Vortex, a VTX, and a Windcheetah.

For me, a trike won't cut a fast upright ride.

BikeArkansas

Curious - Which trike was overall fastest>>> Guessing the VTX

Trsnrtr

I don't really think the bike means as much as the individual when you get in to the higher end machines.

However, I'd give the edge to my Windcheetah if I had to pick. Mike Burrows definitely is a genius when it comes to fast bike/trike design. The Windcheetah doesn't look like a fast design but it's as light as the others and the tiller steering brings the arms in close to the body instead of sticking out in the wind like most tadpole designs. the tiller also allows a more aero cabling placement. Combine that with the narrow track and enclosed drum brakes and you have a pretty aero machine.

Shame that they are so rare and getting rarer by the day. AVD, the current Windcheetah builder/owner has apparently gone Tango Uniform along with my money and several others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Burrows