Re: Which trike? ICE S, Catrike speed, Greenspeed X5 or another trike?

Thank you for all your advice, I finally decided on the ICE S.  I will be
getting it in mid Nov and will tell you how I get on with it.  I had a short
ride on one at the weekend and it really is beautiful, the quality of the
joints on the frame are flawless and the seat is very comfy, esp. with the
airflow pad. I will be selling my KMX since I don't really have the space
for it and the S.


-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Warnock [mailto:dw-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: 03 September 2005 18:02
To: Lee Wakefield
Cc: trikes@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [trikes] Which trike? ICE S, Catrike speed, Greenspeed X5 or
another trike?

Lee,

My thoughts as a biased, very happy owner of a Trice XXL.

1. Get that test ride of the trice.

2. From all I have read about the 3 of these the Trice is going to be
the most stable at high speed and when braking hard. ICE were the first
to design out brake steer and the handling of their trikes is superb.

3. But the trice is long and the folding is not something you want to do
too often.

4. Twist grip gears, not my choice either but easy to upgrade to bar end
levers later (at least on the trice and I would assume on others too).

5. Long lead time for the Trice, well the sooner you order the sooner
you will get it ;-)

6. Drum brakes. This is really the only downside to the ICE S. But drum
brakes are reliable and have a very long life and honestly I would have
to say my XXL is almost over braked with deore disc brakes. I can lock
either front wheel at any time. You might need to be cautious on really
long alpine descents and you will need to put more pressure on the brake
levers but with zero brake steer this is not a big problem.

7. I rarely adjust the seat on my XXL but I do have it more laid back
than either the greenspeed or catrike allow.

8. Yes I agree the cheaper rack on the ICE S is not fantastic, but you
can upgrade later to the one on custom trikes with the neat drop plates.
That is a super rack which I have abused on our xxl and x2 and never had
a problem with (and it looks good with a 20" wheel).

9. Scorcher tyres should soon be available for 20" wheels, by the time
you wear out your first ICE S tyres you will have better data on whether
they are as good as claimed. Personally I have 2 priorities for wheels
a) as large as possible (rolling resistance on poor surfaces) b) all 3
the same size (so I can carry 1 spare tyre and tube). If I understand
the 3 choices properly then this is a big plus for the ICE S (for me).

10. My XXL has a capreo cassette, no problems so far but I am going to
go for an XT for our tandem (the dual drive has blown up so going all
deraillier). With a 16" wheel you have no choice but for a 20" an XT
could be a future option (remember that with the ICE S you have £600 to
spend on upgrades).

11. A really big difference you have not mentioned is the seat. The ICE
S is the only hard seat. For me that helps performance a huge amount and
to me that sounds important to you.

12. Do they all have mudguards all round? ICE ones are good and reliable
and I find them an essential item on any trike.

13. If you really can't live with the colour and drum bakes of the ICE S
then I recommend saving for the XXL.

14. The greenspeed is cool in its folding but the combination of 16"
wheels, 40 degree seat and mesh seat do not make it appear to me to be
in the same performance league as the others.

15. I tried direct steering on a prototype roadshark and hated it. Maybe
the Catrike does it well, but for me I have much better motor control
for and aft than side to side.

Hope this very biased review (when we have the best in the world made in
the UK why import from the other sides of the world?) is some use.

Dave



"Download your pictures for free at ftp://www.ihpva.org/incoming/"
trikes mailing list  -  trikes@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.ihpva.org/mailman/listinfo/trikes
%(disclaimer)s