Trike Upgrades

Okay - this is a longish page about upgrades which I have made to my trike in the hope that you will find something useful in your own quest for trike perfection.

There are ten topics on this page, as follows:

making your own headrest
adding a gps
setting up for off-road riding
upgrading pedals and cranks
altering gears and the drivetrain
adding panniers
safety upgrades
pros and cons of suspension
choosing the right tyres
fueling the body (making your own energy bars)

read on...

1. Making your own Headrest:

I made headrests for my ICE QNT as well as for my first trike. The procedure is really simple if you have mesh seats:

Measure the outer diameter of the trike’s seat posts. On both of my trikes this was one inch
Purchase two feet of 1" inner diameter irrigation tubing (or whatever size is closest to your needs). Make sure you get thickest wall tubing you can find. The wall should be thick enough that you really have to work at bending the two foot length - about $3.00 worth.
Remove the top half of the seat mesh, exposing the bare aluminum seat posts.
Place one end of the tubing over the end of the seat post. Use liquid soap to slide it on - it should be really snug. Temporarily wrap some duct tape around it to hold it onto the seat post in preparation for the next step.
Sit on the trike. Put your helmet on. Have your assistant bend the other end near, but not onto, the other seat post. Have her move it up and down beside the post while you tilt your head back. The correct length of tubing will be when the back of the base of your helmet contacts the tubing such that your head can rest comfortably. Have your assistant mark this length.
Remove the tubing from the seat post. Cut the tubing to the correct length from the previous step.
Now, the rake of the headrest (the amount it deviates from the perpendicular) is important for comfort. The correct rake should be just enough to completely clear your helmet while riding, but be upright enough to stop the head in case of whiplash. Rake is controlled by cutting both ends of the tubing at a slight angle. The way I did this was to cut about 10 degrees, put the tubing on the trike’s seatposts, sit on trike wearing my helmet, and try it. After some experimentation, I found that about 16 degrees of rake worked for my body. YMMV. Take your time and experiment with rake until you find what works for you.
When you are satisfied, push the tubing onto the seat posts (use liquid soap inside the tube ends to make the job easier). When the soap has dried (after 24 hours or so), wrap electrical tape very tightly around the seat posts and the tubing. Then put the mesh back over things to hide the wrapping. This set up is very strong - I can lift the weight of the trike by the headrest without any problem.
Wrap some foam (look at the picture) around the middle of the headrest for comfort.
On the top of the headrest opposite the foam, I added a bright red flashing light. I can reach it while seated to turn it on or off, but since it is behind my head when riding, I do not see it. Highly visible from behind and at the same hight as my head.

At the end of this simple process you should have a very comfortable lightweight but strong headrest, which is completely out of the way when riding yet provides a comfortable rest whenever you want it. It should also prevent any chance of whiplash. The tubing is sufficiently flexible to have a little give if suddenly struck by the head - exactly as a car’s headrest is designed to do. You can also get out and push the trike by the headrest if you want to, say up a steep climb on slippery gravel. Have fun.

Update: I added a small diameter bit of irrigation tubing about 15" long to the back left of the headrest. It attaches vertically to the headreast and to the highest metal horizontal bar of the seatback. The top end is open, but I sealed the bottom end with some silicone glue. This makes a perfect flag holder. I chose a diameter just slightly larger than the flag pole (a snug fit). Now I can just lift the flagpole out when I bring the trike in the house, and jam it back it when I go for a ride. Works very well. Total cost: $0.50.

2. Adding a GPS

GPS:gps mounting on my ICE QNT

Due to illness I can no longer spatially orient - translation, I get lost going to the corner store. Hence a good GPS has become a necessity when going anywhere on the trike, especially far back in the mountains where I usually ride, far away from human habitation. So I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX wherever I ride. This model is highly sensitive and so works well under the tall trees and in narrow mountain valleys where I ride. For me, it is much better than the Garmin 305, 605, or similar GPS systems made specifically for trikes. Why? Because it has more features, is more sensitive, has a longer battery life, is highly visible in bright sunlight, is more waterproof, works better in ice and snow, and I do not need (or want) the so-called racing features of these bike-only GPS systems. But it costs the same as a "bicycle GPS". Just my opinion

At any rate, I wanted the GPS in a position tilted toward me so that it would be easy to see with a glance down, without moving my head. And where I could easily reach the bottons to change screens or functions. And finally, where the antenna could have an unhindered view of the microwaves beaming down from the GPS satellite system. Originally I mounted it on the cruxiform, but this did not meet these three criteria very well. As it turned out, the water bottle holder on my ICE QNT trike was the best place.

Here’s how to mount the thing: an image - please see terms of use

Purchase a suitable holder. For my Garmin 60Csx I purchased a standard Garmin car holder for $15.
Next, drill four holes in the holder as shown in the pic below.
Get some strong zip-ties ($.20 each) and thread them through the holes (see pic).
Cut an old water bottle cage at the point shown in the picture below. Use a water bottle cage which has two pieces of metal holding the base of the cage together for strength. If you cannot find one, just put a small piece of wood between the two sides of the cage held to the cage with a little epoxy.
Screw the now cut water bottle cage onto the cage holders on the trike.
Put some thick rubber strips onto the water bottle cage (the GPS will sit on these). Just cut an inexpensive ($1.00) rubber shoe insert or use something similar. The idea is to provide a bit of padding for the GPS so that it is not sitting on bare metal. Thick rubber works best, as it is semi-rigid. Then zip-tie your gps holder onto the water bottle cage as shown in the picture below.
Thread a lanyard (Garmin supplied a nice one for a couple of dollars) into the GPS. You can just see it in the fourth pic below on the as the black thing directly to the left of the GPS.
Pop the GPS into the holder.
Use a piece of two sided velcro to strap the lanyard securely to the trike. I do this as an extra precaution in the unlikely event that a sudden pothole will knock the GPS from the holder. It has never happened to me, but I would hate to loose this expensive device. The velcro and lanyard ensure this will never happen.

The only problem I have found is that in winter when wearing heavy gloves, it is a bit difficult to push the buttons on the GPS. A Garmin 305 or 650 has bigger buttons, but IMHO is very inferior to the the features of the 60Csx. The 60Csx also has a much longer lasting battery. I use topographical maps exclusively as these give me elevations of mountains - something really important to know in my riding area, though YMMV. Incidently I still use a cycle computer, which I attach to the left fender support. I have found that when deep in a valley with mountains, forest, and rainfilled clouds all around the GPS sometimes cuts out for a minute or so - the cyclecomputer is nice therefore to keep the odometer accurate. I use a $30 Fitzer 4-line display cyclecomputer which in last 60,000 Km on my trike has never failed regardless of rain or temperature.

Update: Someone wrote to ask how I use the water bottle now that the gps is mounted where it usually goes. That’s easy. I mounted two water bottle holders underneith the seat by useing zip-ties and some electrical tape to secure them. This mounting does not interfere with the seat quick release when folding the trike, nor with the swing of the steering arms. Nor does it interfere with the panniers which line the sides of the seat. It is easy to just reach down and grab a water bottle from this possition, which also has the advantage of keeping the weight low and right on the center of gravity, as well as keeping the metal of the stainless steel water bottles well away from the GPS antenna.

How I mounted a gps on my ICE QNT trike gps mount for a trike thread the zip-ties gps on my ICE QNT gps on my ICE QNT.

3. Off-road triking

Every now and again someone writes to ask about off-roading with a trike. A well built trike can go off-road on mild tracks. But to do real "mountain bike" off-roading on a trike, there are a few things you should consider.

First and formost, a stock regular road trike will be destroyed if you try to do ’real’ off-roading with it. Now, I have seen a couple of trikes which were marketed as ’off-road’. But I was not impressed - more marketing hype than reality.

So in my experience real off-roading, riding very rough single-track logging roads filled with stones, loose gravel, mud, etc. requires setting up a stock trike in a particular way. Here’s what works for me:

Buy a frame-kit (a basic trike frame without wheels, brakes, etc.) from a reputable manufacturer such as ICE, Greenspeed, or any of the other good manufactures. It would be nice is the manufacturer offers an option to configure the frame to be rear-weighted rather than the more usual centre weighting. ICE has an optional add-on to their stock frames for this. This will allow for the extra traction needed for real off-roading. But if the frame-kit you like does not offer this option, be prepared to add a little extra weight to the rear panniers of your trike.
Get wheels with extra-strong spokes. Stock road-spokes are not strong enough for the side-entry debris invariably picked up from single tracking up mountain roads.
There should be no rear dérailleur. Get and internal hub such as the NEXUS, so that tree roots and rocks will not chop of the dérailleur. And of course, low gears for climbing dusty single track trails through the hills.
Big strong knobby tires - Schwalbe has a good selection of 406 sizes for this. Get Schwalbe liners and tubes too - in my experience they are much more resistant to rocks than the stuff sold at most bike stores.
The chain must be totally enclosed. I use irrigation tubing for this.
Do not use disc brakes. They are too low to the ground for real off-road riding on a trike. I use Sturmey-Archer drum brakes - impervious to small rocks, branches, mud, and water. And will not overheat and ignite grass on those rapid descents.
Try to find a frame-set with full suspension. Only a few manufacturers offer this, but in my experience if you do serious off-roading on your trike, full suspension is very nice. At the very least, make sure you have rear suspension! A full mesh seat (offered by most manufacturers) really helps preserve your tender body too

If you start with a good frame-set, then add the above - all of which all the major trike manufacturers can set up for you - you will end up with a really good off-road trike. It will be slower than mountain bikes, but... you can go most (not all) of the places a mountain bike will go and have a lot of fun doing so. Watch out for bears!

4. Pedals and Cranks

In my opinion you must use a foot retention system of some sort on a trike. It can be very dangerous not to do so - quite a number of novice riders have been severly injured by using ordinary pedals. The reason is simple - remember that on a trike your feet are out in front of you, about a foot above the road surface. If your feet disengage from the pedal at speed and a foot falls to the ground, it will be sucked underneath the rapidly moving trike. If you have very strong bones, the steel of your trike will likely be damaged. But if your bones are not stronger than steel, you may either crash or parts of your leg may be left behind you lying on the road. This has actually happened - so be forewarned.If you have heard stories about the dangers of clipless pedals - these are invariably from bicycle riders. Trikes are different. Use clipless pedals if you are physically able to do so! trike cranks

I tried various clipless pedals. After considerable experimentation I settled on Look Keo pedals. These have been perfect - easy to get into and out of whilst at the same time holding the feet securely in place. They are adjustable with 9 degrees of movement - important for keeping the knees healthy. Feet on a trike must be able to rotate during each stroke or your knees will soon give out.

I have my pedals adjusted so that there is very little effort required to release (there is an adjustment screw for this). Good retention, good customer support, cleats easy to find, wide platform free from hot spots, eliminate foot numbness, and… they look good. I ordered cleat covers with my pedals which easily snap on when I am off the trike, allowing me to walk fairly easily with my walking sticks. I have also found that the Look Keo cleats last longer (and are less expensive) than Shimano cleats. Be careful when getting your cleats though - Look Keo cleats are different from normal Look cleats or the third party knock-offs from China. Get the red cleats (Look cleats are colour coded for degree of movement - red is best for trikes). And get the red cleats which have white teflon sections in them - these are pretty much obvivious to mud, ice, snow, or rain - all of which just rolls off the teflon.

I use Lake road shoes. Mountain bike shoes are IMHO far too flexible for trike riding. I like Lake’s line for a number of reasons - they ship anywhere in the world, they often have sales, you can order online and not have to deal with "bike" stores, and they come in different widths. Although my feet are normal sized, I always order Lake’s extra-wide shoe. Why? Because they can take winter socks without crowding the feet, and allow lots of foot movement (ie. cooling) in hot summers.

I also use short cranks. Normal crank length is 170mm to 175mm. I use 127mm. For me, this has meant far less strain on the knees, faster cadence, and less fatigue. If like me health issues mean that keeping a steady cadence is problematic, try short cranks. They have really helped me. Incidentally, if you use short cranks be sure to increase the distance of the pedals from your seat (i.e. increase boom length) by the same amount that you decrease the crank length. For example, if you shorten the cranks by 10mm, increase the boom length by 10mm. Very important.

Some Science concerning short cranks:

James Martin at the University of Utah Sports Medicine Center has done some interesting testing using cranks of different lengths. He looked at maximal sprint power less than four seconds duration using cranks of 120, 145, 170, 195, and 220mm. The finding? No significant difference. He also tested 145, 170 and 195mm cranks verses pedaling at 30-, 60-, and 90 percent of lactate threshold at rates 40, 60, 80 and 100 RPM. Result? Pedaling rate times crank length is the principal cause of variation in metabolic cost. Additional studies led him to conclude that one should cycle in a gear just below the highest at which one is able.

Now all of this was done on racing bicycles, not recumbents. And certainly not trikes. There are a host of other studies which I could quote here, but again, all done on upright (normal) bicycles. And always with a view toward maximizing power, speed, and to some extent, distance.

Trike riding is different. To maximize speed and distance traveled, I find that the combination of short cranks, moderate (rather than high) rpm, sufficient hydration and proper nutrition, and a gear one down (easier) than that which I feel capable of works best. Comfort makes a difference too - which for me means moderate suspension (an elastomer will do) combined with the right tyres and flexible seat mesh work well. I never pedal at my maximum power. For one thing, this is not really smart for someone like me with serious health problems. But more importantly, it is the average distance over time which I am interested in. A tired body cannot make this average distance high. It’s a tortoise and hare thing So while I am slower than my upright friends on their 5lb carbon fiber bikes, I tend to arrive at the destination more rested than they with far less need to rest along the way.

You should also ensure that you have properly set hip-to-pedal distance. On most trikes the seat does not move for and aft, rather the boom moves in and out to change this distance. One important point though - if you change the boom length you must also change the chain length by adding or subtracting chain links. Some trikes have a part you can purchase which compensates automatically for boom length change, but the part is expensive and adds weight. Adjust things so that your knees are always slightly bent even at full leg extension while riding. Your toes should not reach foreward at full extension either. It took quite a bit of fiddling around, but I have found an optimum boom and crank length now which works reasonably well. If you have similar problems, you can also use “X-seam” measurement. Here is how to get your X-seam:

Sit on the ground with your legs stretch out, bare-footed, with your hips and bottom flush against a wall
Point your toes toward the sky (i.e. upright, not pointing foreward)
Have a close personal friend measure from the wall to your heels. This is your X-Seam measurement. Give this measurement when ordering your trike, and the manufacturer or dealer will use it to set the optimum boom length for you which corresponds to their particular trike (different trikes, different optimal X-Seam setups). You can them do micro adjustments when you get the trike to find your best comfort point.

5. Gears and Drivetrain

On the trike’s drive train, I have upgraded the gears by adding a Schlumpf mountain drive (a huge success - very happy), short cranks (very successful), Terracycle chain idlers (a complete disaster), a better quality chain (big positive difference), and upgraded the rear gears and gear shifters (very positive change). Read on...

Schlumpf Mountain Drive for climbing steep hils

After some initial problems, I now really like my Schlumpf mountain drive. Read on...

When I got my trike I immediately found that the 30-42-52 Campagnolo triple in the front, and the nine speed 11-32 cassette in the rear did not give a sufficiently low gear for riding here in the mountains.

So the first thing I did was to change the 30T (30 teeth) on the front to a 24T. None of the bike stores I called carried the required 24T 74BCD (BCD=bold circle diameter, or the size needed to fit). But I found a nice Blackspire 24 T online for a good price, and ordered that. It is ramped (makes gear changes smoother) and nice and light. It worked out very well, giving me a gear inch range (see below for a definition) of 14.12-94.5.

However as the illness I have progressed and I became weaker, I found that I wanted something even easier. After looking into various options, I decided to purchase a Schlumpf Mountain Drive from Switzerland. Various online retailers carry them. Order the Mountain Drive, the Installation Kit, an extra lubrictation kit, and a spare set of gear change buttons. I made the mistake of going through a dealer (silly me!). After three months of waiting, the wrong items arrived at a cost far in excess of what the dealer had quoted, or what I would have paid if I ordered online instead. Ouch! Installation is very simple. Just follow the instructions that come with the Schlumpf Mountain Drive. Here are the basic steps:

Remove the current chainrings, pedals, and bottom bracket. On my QNT this meant purchasing a $20 Park tool specifically designed to remove a Campagnolo bottom bracket. With this tool, removal is easy. Use a crank puller (I found a $10 one online), then remove the cranks, chainrings, and the bottom bracket. Pack it all up and save it for that second trike when you win the lottery.
Camphor the edges of the bottom bracket shell. The Mountain Drive is held in place by pressure. So the bottom bracket shell is camphored to exactly match the mounting rings of the Schlumpf drive. To do this, I rented a camphoring tool from a Schlumpf dealer - he mailed me the tool, and I sent it back when done. Using the tool is easy. There are only two small tricks involved - (1) turn the tool in the cutting direction only, never backwards or you will get burs in the metal and (2) measure very carefully with good calipers, as in the first picture below. The camphoring must machine the bottom bracket shell so that the outer diameter of the camphor is 39 to 39.5 mm. This exact dimension is important, so work slowly. It is actually very simple, just take your time and measure frequently. Do both sides of the bottom bracket shell. Then on the right hand side, use a small file to slightly roughen the section you just camphored. The slight roughening will help hold the Mountain Drive in place.
Install the Mountain Drive. Place it into the bottom bracket shell which you have camphored to the right size. Use the tool in the middle picture below, which came with the Mountain Drive. Tighten everything to the pressure indicated in the instructions supplied with the Mountain Drive. If you do not have a torque wrench with which to do this, just tighten it really tight. Then the first few times you ride, take the tool with you so that on the off chance there is any slippage, you can snug it up again. The third picture below is the Mountain Drive installed on my trike. The big round thing is a "trouser guard" or bashee. Not necessary but a nice thing to have to protect the drive and your pant leg.
Adjust front Derailleur cage to the right hight for the new gears. Since I went from a triple to a double, I also needed to adjust the "stop screw" (the small screw which limits how far the derailleru cage moves when you change gears) so that it did not go too far too the left when moving from the large chainring to the smaller one.

Finally, when you order from Schlumpf you can specify crank length. I chose a 127mm crank length (the usual length is 170mm). Sort cranks work very well for me. They save the knees and automatically increase your cadence (a good thing). See here for more information and some science regarding the the pedals and cranks I use. I personally would never go back to long cranks, although YMMV. See above under "Pedals" for some science regarding short cranks.

Schlumpf Mountain Drive Pros and Cons:

Pros:
- o Wide gear range perfect for very steep hills
- o Can instantly change from high to low or low to high gear range while stopped at a traffic light
- o Solidly built
Cons:
- o Very expensive
- o Heavier than some alternatives
- o Requires several rotations of the cranks to change gears when in low mode - fast gear changes are problematic
- o Need to permanently modify the boom by camphoring (grinding) the bottom braket shell by renting special tool
- o Noisy even after the break in period of a few hundred Km
- o Noticable drag in low gear even after the break in period
- o Need to add special oil every couple of thousand Km (the O-ring leaks, albeit slowly)
- o Cannot use elliptical with the Mountain Drive
- o Cannot install or swap ordinary chainrings without removing entire mechanism from bottom bracket (a real pain)
- o Must spin the pedals much faster than normal when in the low gear range. If you have health problems making this difficult or impossible, it means that whilst you can indeed climb steep hills, you will be much - even very much - slower than with alternate systems such as an SRAM rear internal hub.

I now have a range of 8.8 to 90 gear-inches, which is fine for most of the riding around here on steep logging roads. an image - please see terms of use

Incidentally, the correct formula for gear inches is: (number of teeth on the front cog / number of teeth on the rear cog) * actual-tire-diameter.

Update1: Well this is interesting... after struggling along for a maybe 400-500 Km with the situation described above, the Schulumpf Mountain Drive has suddenly started to work much better. It is quieter, smoother, easier to change gears from high to low range, and had less drag. I wonder if there was a manufacturing flaw in mine, because the change was very sudden - over the space of about 5 Km everything suddenly and drastically improved. Now the drive is noticeably better, and I actually have started to like it (whereas before I had been cursing having wasted my meagre finances on the thing). Hmm - yes I feel there must have been a manufacturing flaw which self-rectified somehow.

Update2: Okay, an additional 10 thousand Km have gone by. The Schlumpf has been flawless since the change described above. I actually like it a lot now, and would highly recommend the Mountain Drive for anyone needing a really low gear range on a trike, with the sole caveat that you cannot use elliptical chain rings. Would I choose it over an internal rear hub such as the SRAM or Shimano NEXUS? Yes. It is easier to use (at least for me), and less complicated during riding. Using the Schlumpf allows me to use any rear cassette I wish, yet still achieve the nice low gears I need for mountain riding. For me, it now works extremely well and I am very happy with it. Also Schlumpf’s customer service is excellent.

Chain idlers:

Well, unlike the happy story of the Schlumpf mountain drive, adding these chain idlers has not worked for me.

My birthday was coming up and I had heard great things about Terracycle’s chain idlers. I did a little research, checked with some other trikers, and heard only positive things. And one of those things was that with the Terracycle idlers it would be possible to get rid of the chain tubes. Now do not get me wrong, the chaintubes on my ICE QNT and the chain idler work extremely well together. Never any problems at all. But... and this is just me, the noise of the chain going through chain tubes on my quiet rides high in the mountains had always bothered me. The other thing people kept telling me was that the power transfer of Terracycle’s power-side idler was very good.

So, I ordered two chain idlers (power and return idlers). My first hint of possible problems was that within days of my order Terracycle began to offer much less expensive idlers - something they had neglected to mention when I ordered. Oh well... so I installed the rather expensive idlers. They did not work. They were very noisy, and very stiff. After much back and forth emailing to Terracyle, I returned them. The company tested them, found that they were indeed faulty, and sent me new ones. I only had to pay shipping and customs duties - twice.

I tried the repaired idlers, and this time they did indeed work. Great. I liked them and rode for a few thousand Km. Then, one day whilst ascending a hill, the Terracycle-supplied bolt holding the idlers to the frame snapped in two. It broke is such a way as to leave part of the bolt firmly embedded in the frame. And part somewhere on the street. Luckily I was able to retrieve the idlers but it was a very long way home in the rain. Since health problems make walking extremely difficult, it was quite difficult to get back home.

After finally making it home I found that the Terracycle bolt was so deeply embedded in the frame that it could not be extracted. No amount of drilling with cobalt drills, seeking help online, seeking help from Terracycle... nothing could extract the broken bolt. In fact the effort of so doing had destroyed the threads in the frame which had held the original ICE setup. Sigh. After some emailing to the company, they suggested I purchace a clamp from them to hold the idlers - another $75 after shipping, duty, etc. Well made, but unfortunately after it finally arrived, it did not work for me. More money down the drain.

Now - a word about bolts on trikes: On airplanes there have been problems with rivets, bolts, etc. breaking. Investigations by airlines and various governments has turned up literally millions of poorly made counterfeit bolts and rivets originating in China, stamped and packaged to look exactly the same as properly forged steel. Including the ’made in Britain’ or ’made in the USA’ counterfeit. Impossible to differentiate without electron microscopy. I wonder if that is why my apparently strong solid steel bolt broke to strew my shiny new idlers all over the road, and destroy the part of the frame which held the bolt?

Conclusion - I purchased some parts from ICE, including their excellent new line of idlers (much better than the ones which had come with my trike originally). After over a month stuck at home with an unusable trike, I am now riding again thanks to ICE. Good.

Update: Someone wrote to me telling me about his experience in making his own idlers. I have since tried this and it is actually quite straightforeward to make nice idlers for your trike. There are several ways of doing this - use your favorite search engine to find a method you like and make your own in an afternoon. Fun!.

Chain:

The inexpensive KMC z-series chain supplied with my trike began to wear out after only 800 Km. You can tell if the chain is wearing when, even though you keep the chain nice and clean and well oiled and the dérailleur is in good shape, gear changes become sluggish, jumpy, or noisy. So I replaced it with SRAM chains. Remember it takes three chains linked together to make up the length needed for a trike. Much better! The SRAM chains last me around 30,000 Km before needing replacement. Just keep them clean and well greased with any good chain lube (I use ProLube and Phil Woods oil). The chains come with gold colored quick connectors which make it easy to open the chain up for maintenance if you should need to do so. If like me health issues make it too difficult to use a chain tool, these gold links are the only way to go. Practice a bit at home first. I find that I can open the chain up without needing hand strength - it is just a matter of the right technique. Practice and you will be fine.

Update: ICE now provides SRAM chains as standard. Some other manufacturers do as well. But seldom on the less expensive models.

Rear Cassette:

I next removed the old Shimano 11T-32T rear cassette and installed an SRAM 11T-34T casette instead. This worked perfectly with my new chain, and also provided a lower (easier) gear for the hills. And it was a nice bright red color matching my trike - vitally important .

6. Panniers

I always used rear racks and panniers on my bikes. So naturally enough on my first trike I went this route also. But I found the rear rack added weight in the wrong place, and also tended to hide my head from the back so that an oncoming driver could not see that there was a human ahead of him rather than just some strange looking piece of metal.

So I purchased two Radical bags from ICE which are made to fit the shape and size of the seat (take a look at the picture they are the black things slightly overlapping the rear wheel). I can easily reach inside them while seated on the trike. They hold rainwear, camera, medical kit, a snack, extra water bottles, tool kit, and whatever else seems appropriate. The bags are contoured to the seat and so cause no noticeable wind resistance at speed. Since they are not completely waterproof however, I just use plastic freezer bags in the panniers. These come a plethora of sizes, last forever, are easy to open, and seal easily into a totally waterproof lightweight container. Not to mention very inexpensive. an image - please see terms of use

I also put outer side pockets on each pannier, by purchasing some cordura from the local sailing shop ($3) and sowing/glueing (with fabric glue) onto the panniers. This is where I keep, ear plugs for the highway, and some homemade cookies for the engine.

Although the QNT does very will with a BOB or similar trailer, I have stopped using these for long rides. Instead the extra large Radical (or similar) side bags carry everything I need, keep the weight very low to the ground (a good thing), and in my opinion are much safer than an out-of-control trailer during a sudden emergency stop. For extended touring, I also attach a small rear rack which holds tent and poles. I really do not see the need for a trailer.

7. Safety Upgrades

If you ride a human powered device along a road with 4000lb. vehicles, you are taking a risk . I decorated my trike and mudguards with fluorescent police tape, five high intensity strobe lights (two white front lights, three rear red lights), fluorescent tires, carry a 7ft. tall pole sporting two homemade fluorescent flags in the rear, and wear bright reflective clothing. I’m pretty easy to see. I also carry an AirZound 130 decibel horn for cars, and pepper spray for the local farm dogs who attack to kill. As far as safety regarding falling, this is very unlikely on a good quality trike. For ultimate safety just remember that the relationship between intelligence and driving an SUV is frequently an inverse one, and ride accordingly.

In my opinion, as a general rule trikes are safer than bicycles. But a few upgrades can help improve this even more:

Mirrors:

Put two mirrors on your trike. Two mirrors allow you to see behind you during a tight turn in traffic. I use MirrorCycle mirrors - on the QNT they easily attach to the steering mounts. A quick glance gives a nice wide view of the road behind. an image - please see terms of use

Brakes:

I had disk brakes on my first trike, and Sturmey-Archer drum brakes for my ICE QNT, which I actually prefer. I know this goes against common wisdom that disc brakes are superior, but this is not my experience. Although YMMV, for me disk brakes on a trike are 1) overkill 2) require constant changing of the brake pads if you live in the mountains, 3) wander out of adjustment fairly regularly 4) sqeal during hard braking or cornering (yes, even when properly adjusted), 5) complicate removing the wheel, 6) accumulate mud and grit when riding in ice, snow, or mud. At least that is my experience with them. an image - please see terms of use

The hub brakes on the other hand are integrated into the hub and so make removing the wheel trivial. They do not require pad replacement until you have about 30,000 miles or more on them, although I have found that I can get substantially more milage out of them even here in the mountains. They have excellent modulation (no wobble or pumping during hard braking), and are outstanding in rain being completely imprevious to water, mud, and snow. I really like these brakes - good modulation, good stopping power, trivially easy to adjust, and zero maintenance required.

The one point in favour of disc brakes however, is if illness has effected your hands such that you cannot grip very well. Since this is a problem for me, I installed good quality brake levers. With these, gripping stength is not an issue, so that a small amount of pressure is enough to create strong stopping force. I now use SRAM Spetra 7 carbon fibre brake levers. To reduce the strength required even further, I removed the stock brake lines and installed teflon coated lines which help reduce the friction. Into these I add a few drops of Phil Woods Tenacious Oil (available form any good bike store) every two weeks in dry weather and every two months in wet weather. Finally I adjusted the brakes and the levers so that the distance required to engage the brakes is very small. All in all this has allowed me to stop on a dime so to speak, even though my hand strength is low.

The next step is to install hydraulic brakes, which fortunately I have not yet had to do. The advantage to hydraulic brakes is that no strength at all is needed to brake. The disadvantage in my experience with them on bikes when I was still able to ride a bike, is that their reliablility is not great and they are complex (relatively) to repair. Small punctures in the fluid hose can really cause problems. So for me, good quality hub brakes with good quality brake levers and brake lines are reliable, simple, and completely trouble free. YMMV.

Horn:

I carry an Airzound horn - very very loud. Loud enough for people listening to their car radios to hear. Loud enough for cell-phone-using drivers to look up from their important conversations about their hair. Loud enough to stop dogs in their tracks. And loud enough to prove to a police officer that your trike can be heard as well as seen.

To attach the horn, I purchased a curved barend for a normal bike at a cost of $2. I then cut the bar end just long enough to fit the horn onto the end - about 2". Then I removed the grip shifter, slid the barend onto the handlebar, and reattached the grip shift. an image - please see terms of use

As you can see from the pic (yes I know the pic is small - I have very limited bandwidth here in the boonies), this places the hord button directly under my wrist when holding the grip shifter. So sounding the horn is fast and easy. I do not need to move my hand at all - just a flip of the wrist onto the horn’s button. The air bottle for the horn is attached under the seat with electrical ties, and does not interfere with folding the trike for storage in a car’s trunk. It has been secure there for the last 50,000 Km.

Flags - your trike should be visible:

Take a look at the picture of my trike taken from the back. It is easy to see with all the reflectors and LED lights all over it. So why use a flag on your trike? Because the highest point on a trike - your head - is lower than a child standing upright. It is lower than many car windows. To to be seen when you are beside a vehicle - flags are essential. I use two bright flags made out of flag cloth from a sailing store. Flag cloth made for sailboats does not tear or rip in the wind. It also comes in very bright reflective colours that can be seen from far behind. I mounted my flags on a day-glo orange/red flag pole at 6.8 feet and 5 feet above ground. I also sowed Ministry of Transport yellow tape around the outside of the flags which makes them light up like a Christmas tree at night when a car’s lights shine on them. Highly visible an image - please see terms of use

Fenders:

Speaking of being seen - look at the picture of my horn above. Notice the yellow Ministry of Transport tape attached to my fenders. I use both front and rear fenders all year round, and have this tape on all of them, as well as across the back of the seat and on my homemade headrest. This, plus my bright yellow helmet and riding shirt and super bright front and rear strobe lights makes the trike very highly visible day or night. Let the road racers laugh - I want to be seen by cars and avoided.

Fenders are also IMHO necessary at all times. Why? Because unfendered wheels kick up a lot of small stones, slugs, worms, feces, small dogs, and other items directly into ... you. Not all fenders however are created equal. On my ICE QNT I use the excellent ICE fenders - a bit more expensive, but worth every cent. Once properly set up you never need to readjust them. And they pop off quickly if needed with an optional quick release. Greenspeed also makes excellent fenders. Good fenders are rigid, lightweight, adjustable front-to-back and left-to-right, and clear wide tyres with ease.

Helmet:

What can I say? There are riders who passionately swear that helmet wearing is uncomfortable. They quote "statistics" which talk about the injuries people sustain simply from wearing helmets. And on and on. They say it is their right to wear or not wear what they want. Sigh.

So let me just say this - I have travelled tens of thousands of miles by trike. Passing trucks have thrown up stones which have dented my helmet. Sub-humans (teenagers) have thrown beer cans at me from passing cars which bounced off my helmet. I have been forced off the road and down an embankment by a drunken driver, and only my helmet protected my head from some very large boulders as I tumbled over. I personally would not go around the block on my trike without wearing a good quality protective helmet.

8. Trike Suspension

If you tour, ride off road, or if your local roads are chip-sealed and bumpy, IMHO suspension is an absolute essential. Suspension also means that potholes do not launch you into the air when traveling fast down mountain roads. an image - please see terms of use

My first trike had an expensive coil suspension which was heavy, difficult to adjust, and was prone to failure. The suspension did not did smooth out the bumps much at all - bad design! A properly designed suspension is different.

While a prefer a hydraulic suspension system, it is amazing what a simple elastomer can do to help smooth out the bumps.

My ICE QNT has an adjustable elastomer rear suspension which has worked flawlessly these last several tens of thousands of miles. Not as good as hydraulic, not as good as air suspension, less travel than more expensive suspension options... but it has never needed maintenance, and is simplicity itself. No pogoing (bouncing as you pedal) at all. The elastomers are easily replaceable with softer or harder versions depending on your needs, but I have found my yellow elastomer (different colors, different amounts of bounce) to be fine for all my riding. It has a three position adjustment which takes only moments to change according to riding conditions, but generally I just keep it at the middle setting. Suspension to me also means I can ride much longer without fatigue. It’s a subtle thing. Some trikes without suspension ride very smoothly because they flex. But on long tours I have found this mild flexing eventually tires the body, although YMMV.

But with suspension - even a simple elastomer one - I simply feel less tired, even on smooth roads.

My original ICE QNT came without suspension. But after a few thousand miles I upgraded the rear end to a suspended one. That’s the curved part of the frame in the picture. It works well, and to me at least, was worth the cost of the upgrade. Newer offerings from ICE and various other manufacturers offer full suspension (all wheels). If you do a lot of off-roading, then I would suggest that elastomer type suspensions are really not up to the task. For this type of trike riding I much prefer full suspension with real shocks (air, hydraulic, etc.). But this is a very expensive way to go, and most manufacturers do not offer real shocks on full suspension models. The full suspension from ICE and HPVelotecnik are excellent however.

Bottom line: for most riding conditions, some sort of rear suspension will really help reduce your fatigue level. But for most conditions, full suspension is not necessary on a trike, particularly if you are in a mesh (flexible) seat (rigid seats generally give a rougher ride) or if your trike has direct steering (direct steering usually transfers more road shock to the body so full suspension may help if you ride a direct steering trike). So... go with rear suspension, and only spend the extra money and weight penalty for full suspension if you are sure you need/want it. For my personal riding needs, rear suspension on an indirect steering trike with the body suspended in a mesh seat has worked fine. YMMV.

9. Tyres:

Okay, I know this is a boring topic. But tyres matter! (Incidentally, thank you to the several nice folks in the United States who wrote to tell me ’tyres’ should be spelled ’tires’. Thanks for your help!)

Tyres on most trikes are ... adequate ... for normal riding by normal riders on normal roads. I - and probably you - do not fit this description.

I have tried many different tyres. The fast ones puncture too easily. The puncture resistant ones are too slow. The ones that work well in summer are too slippery on winter ice. Sigh. One thing I have found though, is that wide tyres on a trike work better than skinny tyres. Because trike tyres are smaller than bicycle tyres, the rolling resistance of wide vs narrow tyres is negligible (yes, I know I am simplifying here and that there are many other factors involved). Wide tyres on a trike also in my experience (not scientific - just lots of riding on different tyres), seem to me to grip the road better in rainy or icy conditions. Just my opinion.

After much experimentation I found that for my particular needs three Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres (size 406-52) do the trick. These are slooow tyres, but my last set was still going strong after 25,000 Km!

And in the last 60,000 Km I have only had two flats with these tyres!

Of prime importance for me is flat prevention as my hands do not work properly due to illness. Fixing a flat is next to impossible. This is where the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres really shine. I have been very happy with these - zero maintenance required. Schwalbe provided an easy and helpful purchasing experience too. One thing though - make certain that you put Schwalbe inner tubes inside your shiny new tyres. These are much thicker than the almost-useless cheap stock tubes supplied by most bicycle shops. The combination of these tubes and tyres makes for super long lasting, no flats, good stopping, and zero maintenance rides. Great! J

On a tadpole trike (two wheels in front, one in the rear) the rear tyre wears out faster than the two front ones. I get around 20,000 Km from the front tyres, and 15,000 from the rear. Actually that is incorrect. I can get much more than that mileage, but prefer to change them earlier before they really need it due to the aforementioned health issues.

I had my last flat 30,000 Km ago. It took me three and a half hours sitting in the rain in a ditch by the side of the road struggling to get the tyre off, patch it, and back on the rim. Not because the tyres are difficult to get off and on. But rather because illness means controlling my hands to do these simple tasks, can be a problem. But hey, I did it and have not needed to do so again despite regularly riding over glass and other things which would destroy normal tyres. Just always carry three tyre irons in your patch kit. I altered mine to have extra long handles - easier if your arms are weak. And of course, I practiced at home first to make sure that in case of emergency, I could fix flats myself - however slowly.

At any rate, upgrading to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres was really worth it. Almost completely flat-free. If however, you enjoy changing flats or speed is your thing, these tyres are probably not for you. Instead, Greenspeed’s Scorchers are pretty good for fast riding, or some of Schwalbe’s racing tyres.

Now get out there and ride!

10. Homemade Energy Bars

Okay, this is not exactly an "upgrade" despite being in this area of my site. But the proper engine fuel when you are triking long distances, matters. I got tired of paying inflated prices for so-called energy bars, and decided to upgrade the junk in stores by making my own energy bars instead. Here’s the recipe I came up with. The mix makes about three dozen small bars. It works well for me, so in the hope that you will like it too:

1 C muesli (I get mine from inexpensive bulk bins at the local health food store - organic oats and other organic ingredients, no GMO "foods" here please)
1 C whole wheat flour or spelt flour or gluten free flour if celiac disease is an issue
2 tsp baking powder (I use the kind without aluminum or similar toxic additives, from the local health food store)
1/2 C raw sunflower seeds
1/2 C whatever other nuts you have on hand or can gather from your own trees (there are several large nut trees growing wild down the road - we gather those and dry them every fall)
1/2 C organic flame raisins (every other type contains sulfur and other chemical preservatives)
1 C organic coconut milk (do not use non-organic, as this stuff is laced with pesticides otherwise)
1/2 C organic peanut butter (same caveat)
1/4 C oil (cold pressed grape-seed oil works well - no trans-fats or other horrors. You can easily distill your own oils if you have a small garden. How-to directions at you local library.)
1C orange juice
water as needed
OPTIONAL: add a sprinkling of carob powder, coconut flakes, or whatever grabs your fancy. I particularly like to add black crushed cardamon seeds, but YMMV.

Preheat oven to 190 C. (Quiz: Guess how many countries in the world do not use the metric system. Give up? Two - both of them somewhat backwards, ha ha.)

Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients, then stir in the wet and mix completely. Add a little water until the mixture is wet but not runny - sort of like a loose mud. Then drip about a teaspoon or so per cookie onto a baking sheet. Put them in the oven for 20-30 mins until brownish. When done and cooled, I put most of the cookies into freezer bags, then into the freezer. I take out just a few to thaw the night before I ride. They keep much fresher for much longer this way.

These taste good, give lots of energy, and are not heavy in the stomach while riding hard and fast. Enjoy.