OK! Here is the review and some pics of the
TerraTrike SnakeSkin recumbent bike (trike) that was given to me by Soldiers' Angels. First I must again say "Thank You So Much" to the Soldiers' Angels and Toby
Nunn who made this happen. I don't feel that my words are enough to express the gratitude I feel at such an awesome show of care and concern for my welfare. Thank you. I won't go into details on the components here because I did so in the captions of the pictures.
When the delivery driver opened the trailer doors the first thing I saw was a sticker saying 73lbs and I thought "holy crap!" My superSIX weighs 14.6lbs... I started getting anxious and thinking "oh, boy, what the heck kind of a bike weighs 73 freakin pounds!?!" I think it must have been a government contractor that weighed that box for shipment because I don't think it was anywhere near that. The driver used a hand truck and wheeled the very large and somewhat unnerving box into my garage where I saw it was undamaged and so signed for the shipment.
We opened up the box and found the coolest bike I'd seen in a long, long time (when I was a kid I had a "swing" bike that had a pin in the frame you could pull releasing the frame into two pieces on a pivot, like a door hinge, so it was like sitting on a unicycle while holding an orbital floor buffer out in front of you... and it was really cool too). With Mick on the stern and me on the bow we lifted her gently from the box and placed her in the center of the garage floor where we all stared for a while and walked around her pointing at various parts and saying things like "cool" and "will ya look at this." Then TC said "well, sit on it and see how it feels." That sounded like a really cool idea and so I stood next to it and stopped short just long enough to realize that I was not in the most favorable of positions to mount this bike. I then went around to the bow, straddled the crankset and mast, grabbed a wheel in each hand and eased on down into the seat. Now, I've ridden plenty of different bikes, BMX bikes, mountain bikes, "swing" bikes, unicycles, various conflagrations of road bikes but never had I sat on a recumbent trike. Somewhat awkwardly at first I settled back and reached for the bars and pedals only to find the bars were folded for shipping. Right about that time Mick announced that the tires were flat as well. I dismounted and while I set up the handlebar and placed the flag in the seat tube, Mick aired up the tires and TC popped open the garage door. Once again I mounted the trike and, this time finding everything where it's supposed to be, pedaled out of the garage, down the drive and up the street for my maiden run. I pedaled around the neighborhood then returned to give Mick and TC their turn on my new baby. Each took her for a spin down the street and returned with large grins displayed upon their faces. It was the neatest thing on two, no wait, three wheels!
After our test rides we returned to standing around the trike in the garage sipping on sodas and just admiring it. The paint scheme is just really wild and simply pretty at the same time... natural camouflage. And carried over to the wheelset is just totally gucci! The paint is even and cleanly applied with no visible defects. Of course the cool thing about camo is that it would hide defects if there were any, or, if any are acquired over the years of riding I plan on doing. The embroidered snake on the seat is just the coolest. I love that snake! With his raised eyebrow and tongue hanging out you can just feel his attitude. The whole machine just flows simply like a raindrop from fore to aft. Terratrike did an excellent job of building the trike and then setting it up to my specs. The components were all nicely installed and the accessories (headrest, rack, bags) were ready to be fit to me; an easy task that Mick helped me with and took only a few minutes.
Since then I have pedaled some 300+ miles on the trike and we are a pretty good fit now. At first I was a bit hesitant and leery of sitting so low, having a wheel jutting out of the bike lane and finding just the right position on the seat to maximize effort and comfort. Those concerns have fallen away and with each mile I get more and more comfortable on the trike. I ended up moving the seat forward a notch and leaning it back 2 notches at about a 45 degree angle. I added a quickie solution for a lumbar support by halving a pool noodle; its a little too hard but it does take up that space and gives me a more solid platform from which to push the pedals. The SRAM Force road drivetrain with Shimano Ultegra front derailleur and FSA SL-K crankset perform flawlessly... smooth, quiet and efficient.
Aside from the obvious changes from an upright, diamond-framed bike to a recumbent trike the first thing I noticed was the use of a number of different muscles in my legs, butt and back. While there was no more pressure and pain on my lower back, neck and arms, my butt and hamstrings were quite worn out for the first few rides until I started to build them up a little. My lower back hurt a little at first but not the deep, bone hurt from the jarring of a bicycle saddle and compression of my vertebrae from bumps but, rather, a tired muscle soreness from having not regularly used those particular muscles very much in a long time. In other words, it was a good hurt and one that would soon be ameliorated by continued use and strengthening. All I keep thinking when I go out to ride now is "man, I should have been on one of these a long, long time ago."
The combination of the newness of the trike and the oldness of the motor had me cruising at about 12 mph for the first week or so. It left me wanting more each time I got home from a ride. Now I am cruising at 14 to 15 and with a little effort making 17 to 18. Last week while riding back from WeeMart on Mustang Rd. I managed 21 mph for the entire length of Mustang. Another difference with the trike is that you don't "spin" the cranks; you have to "push" the cranks, almost like walking up stairs. If you "spin" the cranks the trike will tadpole... the front end will move back and forth with each pedal stroke like the it is trying to walk rather than roll. Thus, you ride in a larger gear than you would normally.
I noticed one other huge difference... motorists tend to either give you more cushion or stay completely out of your way just so they can watch you as you ride past. The trike is such an odd looking machine that it commands attention. I have had motorists who would normally pull right out in front of me on my road bike sit and wait for me to go past all the while staring and pointing and smiling and waving. I continually get thumbs up signs instead of middle fingers. Adults wave just as quickly as children. Motorists in Z-06 corvettes wave just as enthusiastically as those in ford focus'. It just looks cool, period. Of course, uneducated, red neck punks joy riding in daddy's overly-large, tremedously expensive diesel pickups are still jerks but, hey, you can't please everybody.
So now I'm enjoying my rides more than ever. I get to sit up and see what's going on around me much easier and I don't feel like Quasi Moto when I get home. Overall, I'm totally satisfied with the product and the company who produced and sold it to me. I definitely recommend TerraTrikes if you are thinking about purchasing a recumbent trike.
Let's see... it's got a sporty 30 speed close-ratio manual transmission, front wheel high-performance disc brakes, custom velocity wheels, racing tires, carbon fiber high performance drivetrain, digital programmable instrument panel, digital dash-mounted GPS navigation system, environmentally friendly air conditioning and an Ipod compatible stereo docking system... be "Part of the Solution" with www.TerraTrikes.com
Enjoy the ride!
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