It was a fantastic day for a bike ride as evidenced by the many cyclists on the road. This was our weekly Valley VeloRiders group ride and we there is still a small turnout but is is early yet and the weather up until today has been less than ideal for the recreational cyclist. I was joined on today’s ride by Landa Terblanche and we had a great ride from Fort Cyclery in Fort Langley through Bedford Landing and then to Derby Reach and back via the Fort to Fort Trail. The morning warmed up quickly and it felt great to be back on the bike for a longer ride after a couple of weeks off the bike.
In the last couple of weeks I had made another major change in my diet for a number of reasons and since I was still attempting to gain my cycling fitness back, I had decided to take at least a week off cycling to give my body a chance to adapt fully to the new diet. It turned out to be a good idea as my body went into a bit of a detox mode which also affected my energy levels. Cycling during that period would have had a negative impact. This week my energy levels not only returned but surpassed previous levels so this week I got back on the bike after adding a couple of components to the bike with the intent of improving my hill climbing.
After installing the new components this week, I have already experience a positive difference, particularly on hills. The changes involved replacing the existing road triple crank (30/39/50 165mm crank arms) with a more mountain bike geared (23/33/44 ) triple crank with 152mm crank arms and Q-Rotor rings. I purchased the Truvativ triple crank from Mark Stonich of BikeSmith Designs. He does excellent work and provides excellent service. The new components allow me to spin up hills at a higher RPM which is much easier on the knees and easier to climb steeper hills. Once I have put in a few kilometers with the new crank I will post a review but I have seen a positive difference after just two rides. It should now mean there will be very few hills I won’t be able to climb. I won’t be that fast, but that isn’t the point. This will enable me to involve more hills in my ridea which will help to build my fitness especially in preparation for tis year’s BC Lung Trek for Life and Breath ride which has quite a few hills particular once we get to Cultus Lake.
All in all it has been a really good week and the new diet plan has been work really well for me, but more about that in another post.
Fort Langley – Derby Reach Loop – 5-08-2010 by rjedge1954 at Garmin Connect – Details.
Hello, I see from your older post that it’s been just about a year since you purchased the Actionbent trike. I was wondering how your experience with the bike has gone. Are you pleased with the overall design compared to the catrike that you had thought about earlier? Any regrets about the choice or any upgrades you should have done when you ordered it? Also what was the cost to import it to Canada if you don’t mind telling me? I live in Nanaimo and so there is no one in the immediate area that sells recumbents. So I have been doing a lot reading about the various trikes on the market, but it would be nice to get a real world impression and not company hype.
Hi Glen,
Sorry for the delay in responding. I thought I had replied already but there is no indication in the admin panel that I have done so.
I’d say that overall I am pleased. There are a few niggling things that I am still working on such as a front end shimmy if I ride hands free at certain speeds. Not a biggie since this is not a safe thing to do anyway. It was worse but at least now it takes a very light touch on the handlebars to prevent the shimmy so I think I have it licked.
Other than that, I feel it is very good quality for the price and I’d say it compares favourably with many trikes at the same price and even a little higher. Of course if I had more funds, I probably would have liked to have gone with the Catrike Expedition or with one of the newer ICE FS models, but I don’t have that kind of budget available to me. The Actionbent has stood up well with no problems (other than the previously mentioned shimmy) after 2300 kilometers. I have upgraded a couple of things such as Avid BB7 brakes in place of the BB5′s it came with, a Shimano Alfine 8 internally geared hub, and of course the front fairing. I am thinking of going back to the original derailleur gearing as I have to climb a few hills around here and the Alfine hub adds a few pounds to the ride and it not quite as efficient. The only part of the trike I consider to be of poor quality is the chain idler (which is the case with others as well) and I feel that it and a foam seat upgrade are the only necessary upgrades after purchase. If one doesn’t mind spending a bit more the Ventisit seat pad (approx. $100 cdn) is the best seat pad option.
There are no cracks in the frame or anything like that as the frame seems to be well designed and the welds are excellent. About my only gripe is the lack of mounting options. This is the case on most recumbent trikes but at least some manufacturers include some brazeons for mounting water bottles etc. There are after market options, of course, but it would be nice to see at least one or two. If I were buying again I would probably go with the steel frame instead of the aluminum frame that I have. Aluminum is a little harsher of a ride which may be more noticeable on a trike as steel is supposed to be more compliant. The reason most tourers go with steel frames I guess. Not having anything to compare with, I am really only guessing from what I have read online.
If you live in the lower mainland and wanted to try it out, let me know and we can arrange something.