AKA my Gentleman's Touring Contraption.

You can read about why I ride a recumbent trike here.

I test-rode seven different trikes, and the TRICE Q just felt right. Made in Britain by Inspired Cycle Engineering, they epitomise the idea that efficient engineering is usually beautiful engineering.

The quality of the workmanship is fantastic:

It's worth being aware that ICE are the BMW of the trike world: the price-tag you see in the showroom bears very little relation to the final total you'll pay by the time you've added even a modest number of options. Even something as simple as a mount for a front light is an option! While the base price is £1800, I now have about three grand invested in mine.

This sounds like a huge sum for a bicycle, but it really is that good. It's the last bike I ever expect to buy, so the cost per mile is really quite reasonable.

The options I went for are shown below ...

Gears

I've been through a few iterations of gears. The 2008 model I bought came with 26/36/48 front rings and an 11-32 rear cassette, giving a gear range of 15-85 inches.

I wanted more top-end speed, so originally swapped the front rings for 30/48/60 (the latter a hard-to-find ring which we eventually found from HP), giving me 18-106 inches.

However, ICE then brought out a new rear cassette, with a greater range of 9-34. This wasn't compatible with my big ring, so I upgraded to the new cassette and swapped the front rings to 30/42/52, which gives me 17-112 inches. :-)

Quick-release kit

Trikes are not as easily transported as conventional bikes. Although you can get bike-racks to carry them, most of these are towball-mounted, which isn't an option with an SLK. Most trains also don't allow trikes to be carried (though I've had no problems on local commuter services with double doors).

The trike can be reduced to something that will just about fit into a conventional bike-bag. The quick-release kit enables you to do this in about 15 minutes (yeah, I know the ICE website shows them doing it in just over two minutes, but they've had a bit of practice ...).

Most importantly, once it's in a bag, it is no longer a trike for train company purposes: it is now merely a piece of luggage.

Side pod bags

A very clever pair of panniers that mounts to the trike without the need for a rack:

A set of straps go around the seat, and that's it. By eliminating the need for a frame, the weight is kept to a minimum. The position of the bags also means that the contents are accessible from the seat, which is handy for things like taking a photo or grabbing a snack.

Each bag holds 12.5 litres; a total capacity of 25 litres is good enough for a weekend away if you're not camping.

Streamer fairing

While everyone assumes this helps the aerodynamics (and HP - makers of the fairing - play on this), the reality is that it makes negligible difference. If you want to make a vehicle slippery, a rear fairing is the way to go.

What this fairing does is keeps the rain off your legs, and makes the trike significantly warmer in winter. Oh, and it increases the 'Cool bike!' comments by 47%. :-)

The HP-supplied mounting system really is rubbish. It kept working loose, and broke twice. After trying a couple of variations, I eventually commissioned a local light engineering company to create a bespoke mount for it.

The front is just a minor variation on the standard post, to lift it high enough to clear my size 11 feet without having to have the entire fairing titled at a high angle. The rear discards the bottom part of the support post, the top part fitting into a hinged aluminium mount that clamps onto the front post of the trike:

This is much more secure, lighter, neater and provides easier entry and exit.

It's not pretty, but the new mount has done well over 1000 miles without any problem. I really ought to get around to swapping the jubilee-clips for black ones ...

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres

I hate p*nct*r*s. Most of the protective measures around (harder compounds, tape linings, etc) are of limited value, but Marathon Plus tyres really work.

They have a special rubber barrier layer between tyre rubber and lining that is designed to catch any objects before they can reach the lining.

TANSTAAFL, of course, and the barrier layer does add 200g per tyre, so an all-up unsprung weight penalty of 600g. But this, in my view, is a small price to pay. I've done 3000 miles on a set of tyres without a single ... you know.

Parking brake

Unlike a two-wheel bike, a trike will roll away if parked on a slope or caught by a gust of wind. The standard TRICE comes with velcro straps to fasten around one or both of the front brakes, but these gradually lose their stickiness over time and are in any case a clunky solution.

I bought the parking brake, which is a disk-brake that fits to the rear wheel. Although it can be used with caution as a drag-brake, it is really designed to be used as a handbrake when parked. It's also nice to be able to sit at traffic lights on a slope without having to hold on the brakes.

Trivia

Mudguards, neck-rest, front light mount, second mirror, Space Grip (for the GPS).

People sometimes worry about storing a trike, but mine started out life stood up on its (chocked) rear wheel leaning against the hall wall. I subsequently had a bit of a rejig of my rather compact garage, and it comfortably stores an SLK, a TRICE and a Pashley: