Sunday, March 4, 2012

Greenway Shake-down Ride





I finally had an opportunity to get a good 36 mile ride on my new Greenway. This is my 3rd and longest ride so far. As with anything new it takes a while to get things adjusted. When I first got the trike I felt like I was a kid trying out my new 2 wheeler with training wheels. I was bit unsteady and shaky. It is a completely different feel than my tadpole ICE T trike. The turning radius is quite small and you have to be careful not to take turns too sharply. As with my T you have to lean into turns to keep from lifting a wheel. After taking the trike out for more short rides, I learned to trust it and was feeling more confident. I got the bike set up for the moment but I know it will be months before all the minor adjustments are tweaked. I originally bought this bike to give me a greater road presence around town. I hope to use it for commuting and small self contained tours. The rear cargo area is enormous and goes well with my utility riding and car light life style. This trike is no light weight and is considerably heavier than my T. I average the same as my T The trike came with these humongous Kenda Komfort 2.125 tires. I just purchased a pair of fast Continental Super Contact 1.6 tires. I believe these will add 1-2 mph and still maintain a comfortable ride. One thing that stands out is how quiet the drive line is. The only sound I hear is the hum of the tires. The trike has 192 gears. It has an 8 speed rear cassette, 8 speed mid-drive cassette and triple crankset. I wasn't sure how I would manage all those gears. As it turns out you pretty much set the rear derailer in one place and do all your shifting with the mid-drive. On today's ride I only used the granny gear once for a very short and steep hill. Speaking of hills, this trike climbs surprisingly well. I don't notice the extra weight and feel climbing is a little easier than my T(slow and steady). The Terracycle Windwrap fairing is also dead silent due to their new rubberized mounting system and offers a good amount of protection. The seat bottom with it's air filled cushion is quite comfortable, but I find the seat-back to be a little short. Rob of Lightfootcycles advised me they will have a seat back extension available in the next few months.
Today's extended ride was a nice prelude to what I hope will be a long love-a-fair.
KEEP RIDING!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is jj from Lorain, Ohio, I know Steve gold rush), anyways I have four EZ -3 trikes, two steels & two aluminum .i have 40 thousand mile on one speedometer, and 20,000 on another . Been riding the EZ-3th since 2003. on

Marty Garnick said...

impressive mileage