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

I would definitely concur with everything Dave said about the XXL.  I am a
happy owner as well.  Although this is the first trike I've owned, I can't
imagine a better one.  ICE does an excellent job with the details of the XXL
and I imagine this is true of all their machines.  The company is a delight
to work with.  The XXL was expensive, but I have never regretted the
purchase.  When I speak of details I am referring to water bottle cage
fittings, places for lights, place for a computer, place for a GPS, etc.  I
didn't have to change anything or hassle with any little detail after the
trike arrived.  It was as close to perfect as you can get.

 

I too like all three wheels the same and the 20" size seems right.  Some
argue that the Monster is faster with its 26" rear wheel and 18 inchers up
front.  Maybe so. But the XXL moves along pretty well for a trike and I have
been pleased with both its climbing ability and its seat comfort.  With
trikes there are four necessities for me:

 

1.    Disc brakes - I am spoiled with the Avid mechanical discs.  

2.    Hard shell seat - for performance and comfort.  Some would argue the
comfort part, but I have never been comfortable on a mesh seat of any kind.
The ICE seat almost seems to disappear beneath you

3.    Seat angle recline to at least 25 degrees

4.    Narrow track for aerodynamics and to fit through door jams

 

Like Dave, I am hardly an objective observer of the scene.   Howard

 

Howard Veit

veithr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you
miss all you are traveling for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<<<<<Dave Warnock wrote:

 

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



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