Face to face: Trike vs. standard bike on expedition

[bikepimp]

Hi,

I do loaded touring on my regular standard bike (sitting upright, Brooks saddle, Aero bar) using panniers.
I'm interested in buying a tadpole trike for my next "expedition" being roughly 4000 mi/6000 km. I'm not interested in recumbents - only trikes.
My main reason for buying a trike would be the speed increase. But browsing various forums and newsgroups it turns out that the speed picture is different.
So I have a question for those who ride both a trike and a regular bike: Without talking about weight, rolling resistance etc, I would like to know if you go faster on a trike (with or without panniers).

On my loaded touring bike I go 125mi/200km a day, even in mountains like the Rockies. Usually I'm only limited by the daylight hours. I average at 15 mph/24kmh.
I know it's a bit extreme, but it would be cool to go even faster. Feeling that my power is used efficiently is VERY important to me - this is why I don't have any bike generators (like the ones in the front hub) or internal gear hub systems on my touring bike.

I know recumbents and trikes call for a much more relaxed driving style which eliminates soar etc. But if I ride from dusk til dawn on my regular touring bike (and not biking when it's dark) I do those 125 mi averaging 15 mph (loaded with 35 pounds of gear) and that's it. The values are, of course, without hourly brakes, eating, shopping etc. If I cannot go faster/longer I will not buy a trike. This is crucial.

I must admit that I'm the stamina type of rider - I don't like to waste excess energy because I know the wind resistance is squared, so I ride at 15 mph but for a LONG time. I would adapt this riding style to the trike.

On my regular bike I usually bike 1 hour, make a 10 min break, ride one hour, 10 min break, at noon shopping, eating for 1 hour and so forth. I'm only making breaks to give my butt some rest (it might irritate a bit) and eating snacks. So, if I could eat snacks while riding the trike, because I would't get soar at all anymore - it would of course be interesting.

So what are the experts saying? Can I gain 1-2 mph compared to a standard bike (we're talking loaded bikes here)?

Thanks in advance, Lucas Jensen

[jeff-o]

Ummm, you might be able to go longer between breaks, but probably not that much faster. Some front and rear fairings might help you though, your speed is right on the verge where they actully help.

[Ric]

Lucas,
I see know reason you could not adapt your riding style to a trike with or without panniers. As far as a speed increase goes, I could see a 1 maybe 2 mph gain for the type of riding you are doing. I think your big gain would be in comfort though, I know trikes have a much more relaxed driving style which eliminates most of if not all the upright pains. The thing that I will warn you about is your using a different muscle group so it may take a few miles to get those recumbent legs going.

As far as panniers go, I have used bags on all my trikes for years, but three months ago I purchased a Burley Nomad trailer and the bags now stay in the closet, just something to consider if your buying a trike and both fit in the Motel rooms without a problem. Good luck on your adventure.

[dougfoot]

I ride a Trice Micro, pretty small for a loaded tour, however, I do long distance rides (the ride I train for is the Seattle to Portland, 200 mile one day ride) and complete it within 14 hours, stopping 15 minutes every 50 or so miles. My averages for the 200 miles is around 16.5 miles.
I used to ride road bikes previously, but not as far or as often. The trike is a much better/comfortable ride IMNSHO.

[bikepimp]

Hi, how would you describe the terrain you are riding in? Do you really push it to go 16,5 mph or would you consider it a rather relaxed style where you could just continue day after day?

Lucas

[bentcruiser]

So what are the experts saying? Can I gain 1-2 mph compared to a standard bike (we're talking loaded bikes here)?

Most likely you will not find this on a trike.

[ppc]

My main reason for buying a trike would be the speed increase.

Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't a trike actually be slower than a bike? After all, there's an extra wheel on the ground creating rolling resistance, and more weight to haul uphill. Or does the aerodynamical drag improvement due to the lower seating position allow the trike to be faster anyway?

[dougfoot]

Hi, how would you describe the terrain you are riding in? Do you really push it to go 16,5 mph or would you consider it a rather relaxed style where you could just continue day after day?

Lucas

The terrain for the Seattle to Portland varries, some of the hills I can only manage 5 mph, for the overall average, I am able to comfortably maintain 18mph on the flats - not an all out effort. Going down hill I have reached speeds of 50mph.

My normal riding takes me into rural NW Oregon (south of Portland), some hills, relatively decent roads (some chip seal). During the riding season, I'll ride between 100-200 miles a week, during the winter, I'll get an occasional outside ride of 25 to 100 miles, during much of the winter, I'm riding the trainer.

For an all out effort, my 25 mile loops I can average 20 mph.

How fast you go really depends on what type of riding you do.

Doug

[sch]

This is not a straight forward question. Looking at the bikes and your average speed on the DF, most likely you would be a bit slower on the trike, as the lightest trike is going to be 5-8# heavier than your DF and typical trikes 10-15# heavier. OTOH, you will load the bike up with what? 20#, 30#? 40#? of supplies etal which will even out the difference significantly. I know from experience that putting as little as 20# in panniers on a DF makes a huge difference on the climbs. I had to bail from the Blue Ridge parkway after the second day when riding from DC to Ashville NC and go down to the valleys to meet my schedule. If the trike could carry your pack on the bike then I suspect you might actually find the average speed to not be much different. Adding a trailer though while making loading easier would mean another 15-20# weight on top of duffle and would cancel out the advantages. Comfort factors of the trike over the DF would be significant IMO and if a trike could be loaded safely and adequately without the trailer then I think it would be a go. This is a scenario where disc brakes would be very attractive.
Some trikes have gross weight limits, but this is usually in the 250# to 300# range.
Steve

[Ric]

This is not a straight forward question. Looking at the bikes and your average speed on the DF, most likely you would be a bit slower on the trike, as the lightest trike is going to be 5-8# heavier than your DF and typical trikes 10-15# heavier. OTOH, you will load the bike up with what? 20#, 30#? 40#? of supplies etal which will even out the difference significantly. I know from experience that putting as little as 20# in panniers on a DF makes a huge difference on the climbs. I had to bail from the Blue Ridge parkway after the second day when riding from DC to Ashville NC and go down to the valleys to meet my schedule. If the trike could carry your pack on the bike then I suspect you might actually find the average speed to not be much different. Adding a trailer though while making loading easier would mean another 15-20# weight on top of duffle and would cancel out the advantages. Comfort factors of the trike over the DF would be significant IMO and if a trike could be loaded safely and adequately without the trailer then I think it would be a go. This is a scenario where disc brakes would be very attractive.
Some trikes have gross weight limits, but this is usually in the 250# to 300# range.
Steve

I can agree with what you say about the weights of bikes VS trikes, the trike would run 5 to 8 lbs more than a bike but I disagree with your trailer theory. You said I know from experience that putting as little as 20# in panniers on a DF makes a huge difference on the climbs.
Anytime you add weight on a bike it makes a difference I agree but I also know that it's easyier to pull weight than carry it. I can pull 40lbs of weight plus the weight of the trailer easyier than you can carry it on your bike, and IMO I definitely feel safer on three wheels pulling 40 or 50 lbs than to carry it on two.

[sch]

When you are up in the 40# range, the addition of a trailer probably won't slow you down that much but the extra 15-20# will make a difference. OTOH, handling of the bike would definitely be improved by use of the trailer especially at the 40# level so the tradeoff might be worth it on a DF. Not so sure on a trike, depends on how and where the load would go, doesn't seem like the handling of a trike would be as affected as the DF would be.
Steve

[bikepimp]

Hi everybody and thanks for your replies. It seems like everybody is talking about weight being the bad boy in this game. Hence I would like to rephrase the question: Assume that the fully loaded trike will have the same weight as the fully loaded DF. What then? See, I have a bad feeling that on a trike you are using different muscles and have a different riding position; and this may not favour efficient biking.

Lucas

[BlazingPedals]

...Assume that the fully loaded trike will have the same weight as the fully loaded DF. What then? See, I have a bad feeling that on a trike you are using different muscles and have a different riding position; and this may not favour efficient biking.

Lucas

ALL bents use different muscles than uprights. So you WILL be slower at first. That has everything to do with bents in general, not just trikes. Also, with bents you're stuck using the same muscle group all the time. No standing to give one group a rest. At least with a trike you can stop, lock the brakes and rest, without unclipping. So, the real question is, will you be as fast or faster after acclimation? The answer to that question is going to depend on how hilly the terrain is, but Rockies certainly qualifies as 'pretty hilly.'

IMHO a recumbent trike will NOT be as fast or faster than a DF touring bike. But it WILL be more comfortable.

[hiracer]

I'm interested in buying a tadpole trike for my next "expedition" being roughly 4000 mi/6000 km. I'm not interested in recumbents - only trikes.

My main reason for buying a trike would be the speed increase.

These two statements are contradictory. If you want speed, you should be looking at two-wheeled recumbents. Trikes are slower that uprights or recumbents because of the 50% increase in rolling resistance.

[funbun]

There is a reason you don't see trikes breaking speed record at Battle Mountain. You're gonna be slower on a trike, fully loaded or not. People don't buy trikes for speed, they buy trikes for confort and stability.

[NextLevelMentor]

Unless you bought a Windcheetah Hypersport and have ridden a 53 min. 25 TT ;)

[ChiliDog]

Trikes ARE going to be slower than a DF tourer. If you want to tour in comfort, why not select a 2-wheeled bent where you can have comfort AND speed?

[funbun]

Chill has a great point. A swb machine would be great. Why not try a Bachetta with 700C wheels?