The
XL has 406 ERTRO wheels all round and is a much
lower machine than my Trice, with a seat height
of around 8 inches and a minimum ground clearance
of, ooh, not a lot. The seat angle is somewhat
more reclined than the traditional Trice: About
35 degrees maximum recline, I'd say (the recline
can be adjusted in the workshop; I rode with the
seat fully reclined). The mesh seat is taller
than older Trice seats and has a more upright
section at the top for shoulder support, but stops
short of providing a headrest a la Greenspeed.
A mix of Shimano 105 chainset and front mech,
LX rear mech and 11-32 9-speed block, and bar-end
shifters provides a gear range of 19-95 inches.
The chain has a single pulley on the drive side;
upstream and downstream of the pulley and for
the whole of the return side it runs through a
tube, so it's exposed only at chainwheel, pulley,
and rear mech: No more black right legs... The
bottom bracket is relatively low in relation to
the seat. Braking uses Sturmey Archer drums on
the front wheels; left Nexave lever controls left
brake via a short cable run, right lever controls
right brake. There's a V-brake on the back wheel
actuated by a thumb lever on the lower left bars
to provide an extremely neat and effective parking
brake. The elegantly curved bars are in three
sections, secured by neat metal clamps, so are
adjustable for width and reach. Cable runs seem
excellent; nothing looks as though it might snag
or get abraded. Rob's XL has Schwalbe City Jet
front tyres and a Tioga Comp Pool rear.
The XL seems to
be built to a very high standard, with fillet-brazed
joints and an excellent paint job. There are lots
of classy touches: brazed on dynamo brackets on
the chainstays, allen bolt rear mudguard mountings
(no bent metal bridges), an extra set of bottle
bosses under the seat. So that a conventional
rear rack can be mounted at around head height,
machined extender plates attached via bosses near
the dropouts provide lower attachment points for
the rack legs. The rack has a plate at the back
that aids light fitting. A neat bracket off the
bottom of the left kingpin provides an attachment
point for a cycle computer sensor. The frame appears
very stiff. Using the informal 'How hard do I
grunt when I pick it up?' test, the XL is a bit
lighter than my Trice, so at the svelte rather
than chunky end of the trike spectrum.
It's a very good-looking
machine, in the eyes of this observer and just
about everyone who got a look at it over the weekend.
The course for
the National 400 was quite hilly and encompassed
a wide range of conditions: smooth main roads,
minor roads, potholed and gravel-strewn lanes,
'gated roads' (single-lane jumped-up cart tracks
with cattle grids and rocks and vegetation everywhere),
speed bumps, steep climbs, steady climbs, gradual
descents, steep descents, heh heh heh.
The XL handled
it all with aplomb (indeed, with several plombs).
A few observations:
It's very quiet--no
chain slap, only a faint chatter from the tubes.
So quiet that my friend Ian, who rode with me
on the Cheltenham 200, immediately noticed the
difference from my Trice.
It's extremely
comfortable. In the best part of 24 hours on the
road I felt no need for neck support with the
reclined seat. The extra recline means less weight
on the buttocks and seems to help lessen road
shock.
It descends like
a brick dropped off a cliff. I recorded 80.7 kph
on Streatley hill (16 percent), despite having
to brake briefly and swerve to avoid a lump of
wood.
It can swerve at
80 kph ;-) The extra lowness makes a perceptible
difference to handling. I rarely even considered
leaning on the XL.
It climbs well--for
a recumbent trike. On numerous occasions I was
able to pass riders on steady climbs (this is
not totally without precedent on my Trice, but
it seemed to happen quite a lot on the XL). On
steep climbs the XL was marginally slower than
uprights. I finished in the middle of the field
(entrants, not grass), which is rather further
up than I would expect on a trike.
It's very quick
when conditions are favourable: Smooth surfaces,
gently rolling terrain. You can build up speed
and hold it. Extra effort goes straight into the
back wheel; if you kick, it kicks.
It makes a very
comfy bed for roadside naps.
It can handle speed
bumps OK, despite the lowness. Nothing grounded.
Though the rear
derailleur is low to the ground, it emerged unscathed
from the 'gated roads.'
So much for the
praise. What about the bad points?
Perhaps half a
dozen times in 440 km the heels of my size 43
shoes grazed the ground in places where there
were undulations in the road surface. (A switch
to Comp Pools on the front wheels would give a
bit more heel clearance since they have a larger
section. Of course, if this is a major issue there's
always the Trice Explorer, which shares many of
the features of the XL but has a higher seat.)
I'm happy to accept this as a price for the efficient
climbing.
An encounter with
vegetation on a cratered gated road neatly removed
a full waterbottle from the underseat cage. Next
time I'll velcro the bottle into place.
That's about it
for the carping... Apart from the worst point
of all--it's got to go back to Rob after PBP :-(
Peter |
