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Pimp My Trike - Ashley's Race
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This is a running commentary on my modifications to my Race. Last updated on 8/8/07.

I like to go fast, ride long distances and occasionally perform trike tricks. With this in mind, I chose the WizWheelz TerraTrike Race when I decided to upgrade from my Cruiser. The Race uses linkage steering on an aluminum frame, and boasts the highest-grade components offered by WizWheelz on any of their trikes. The Race also has a weight capacity of 250lbs and ultra-strong Velocity Aeroheat wheels, making it great for my two-wheel tricks.

Gearing First
The main issue with the Race is that it's stock gearing is not really "race" suitable (Read here for details). With this trike's lighter weight I can easily propel myself to about 25mph in the highest gear before I spin out. Problem is that I am always riding in the tallest gear with no more gears to go. I really like the Ultegra and X.9 derailleurs on the Race, so I wanted to keep them. I didn't want to add the inefficiencies associated with an internal hub or Schlumpf drive, after all this is my speed machine.

I wanted to squeeze the highest gearing that I could out of my front gears, while still using the Ultegra derailleur. I've done a lot of 56T chainring conversions, so I figured that is where I wanted to start. After riding several hundred miles on the Race with the 56T through a variety of terrains I came to the conclusion that I did not need the two smaller chainrings. I also discovered that there are many times when my gear ratios are too far apart. For example, for a given section of road 8th gear might be too low but 9th might be too high. So, I disassembled the crankset, removed my small chainring and put the original 53T chainring into number 2 position. Now I have a two-gear front end with 53T and 56T chainrings. This just about splits all my rear gear ratios in half and lets me dial in the gear ratio. Pulling off the small chainring makes up for the difference of my heavier 56T FSA chainring. I had to severely modify the front derailleur positioning to get this to work. The Ultegra can easily handle a 56T chainring, but it was not designed to shift between chainrings that only have a 3-tooth size difference. To get this to work properly I moved the
Ultegra to the very end of the derailleur post so the cage would clear the 53T ring. I set the limiters to give me just a little bit of overshift and set the shifter to use the 1 and 2 gear positions. It works great!

At the rear, there was really only one way to go, and that was with the Capreo Hub and cassette. An 11T sprocket is standard on most cassettes as the highest gear, but the Capreo adds a 10T and 9T sprocket. This provides me with the extra high gearing that I'm looking for. The 53T/56T combo in front lets me dial in the gear ratio I need in case the jump is too big. Since I no longer have a granny gear up front, I still need at least one larger sprocket in back to help on the hills. I accomplished this by unriveting the capreo cassette and a stock 9-speed cassette and removed the 23T capreo sprocket and put a 32T sprocket for the low end. The nice thing about using a Capreo wheel to make gearing changes is that it only requires swapping the wheel out and not making any other changes to the rear derailleur. For my review on the Capreo click here.

On 8/3 I made a further modification to my Capreo wheel. I took the 32T and replaced it with a 34T from a MegaRange cassette. It gives me just a little lower end, so I can handle any of the hills I've encountered with no problems. So now I actually have a gear inch range of 31-124. Not bad with just 53T and 56T chainrings.

Efficiency
To go faster means everything needs to run smoothly. The biggest efficiency-related change I made to the Race was the High-Performance Idler Kit upgrade.

This is something I developed with much trial and error, and with some help from Robert at TerraCycle. The new idler kit increases efficiency by eliminating the sideways bending of the chain as it goes through the idlers. All the idlers now have a floating axle which means the idler can move side to side making shifting through all the gears work perfectly. Quick and responsive shifting means that I can stay at my ideal cadence easier. Another big bonus is that the kit completely eliminates one of the power idlers and makes for a much cleaner chainline.

Aerodynamics
The light weight of the Race makes it easy to propel and generally a fast ride. When I'm doing over 20mph though, the biggest force working against me is the air. The Race has a lot of adjustability, so I've played around with a lot of seat positions in an effort to decrease my frontal area. I found that by moving the seat all the way forward and then angling it all the way back I get the most laid back position, and the air tends to roll off me more. To get the seat to lay back even more I drilled an extra hole in the rear seat mounts. So, now the seat goes back until it hits the fender. I figure I'm laid back at about 35°.

The next step was to add a fairing. I have lots of experience with the Mueller Windwrap GX fairings and I have been very happy with them. One of the biggest advantages of the GX fairing is that it is a full fairing and keeps the weather off. I decided to not go with one on the Race though because it is fairly heavy with all the mounting hardware, and I need to keep this guy as light as possible.

So, for the Race I decided to go with the Windwrap XT. This fairing mounts on the front derailleur post and, according to Mueller, has about the same aerodynamic benefit as the GX. I'll keep you posted on this, as we plan on doing our own tests.

For my race I chose the 6mil tinted version of the XT fairing. This fairing is definitely lighter than GX fairing and mounts very easity to the front derailleur post. The mounting hardware is somewhat generic and works with a variety of recumbent bikes and trikes. Because the fairing mounts directly to the derailleur post, the angle of the fairing is determined by the angle of the post. To get the bubble how I wanted it, I drilled an additional set of holes in the polycarbonate so I could push the bottom down a bit. I'll have a full review up soon.

Tires
The Race comes standard with the Schwalbe Marathon tires, which are great tires. The Marathons are nearly bulletproof with a kevlar liner built in. They are prety fast, but I was looking for something faster. According to Schwalbe, the Kojak tires have their fastest speed rating. Besides being faster, these tires look amazing. They are racing slicks with no tread and add a great old-school racing look to the trike. I wrote a full review here.

Comfort
I normally ride about 30-40 miles everyday commuting, but I am seldom on my trike for more than 25 miles at a time except for the occasional longer weekend rides. I am always tweaking and adjusting things to make the trike fit me better, but I often don't know that something needs tweaked until I go on a longer ride.
As a test, I decided to take the Race from my home in Benjamin up to Vivian Park
in Provo and back, which is about a 75 mile ride. After about 30 miles I had a slight ache in my forearms and realized I needed to tilt the handlebars back a little bit. No big deal. About 2 minutes later I was all fixed up. After about 45 miles though, I started feeling some slight pain in my shoulders. A consequence of having the seat leaned back as far as it will go is that it no longer supports the shoulders of a big guy like me.

So, when I got home I started building a seat extension and ended up with a headrest as well. I'm very satisfied with this creation. It should serve me well on the longer rides.
It's a very simple design, but extremely practical. I contemplated working on a
head rest that was more similar in design to other brands of trikes, like the
Catrike headrest. But with the cost of this headrest being so affordable, I'm
really happy with this design. I don't know if I'll always use it, but for now,
it's a fun and easy to add accessory. For details on how I built the headrest click here.

Cargo
For some reason I am resisting putting a rack on the Race. I've had racks with bags and panniers to carry lots of cargo, but I'll wait until I really need it. I guess I'm trying to keep the weight down to a minimum. In the meantime, I do need to carry some basic stuff for my commute so I found a small bag I can strap to the side of the rear seat post. I've decided to get rid of the bottle holders I had for now and am using a CamelBak bag for refreshment.

Fenders
My Race is equipped with a custom rear fender. I simpy hate riding through water and getting water splashed on the back of my head. To save a little weight I am using a front fender with modified fender stay rods instead of the larger standard rear fender. Because it's a shorter fender it doesn't go down as far as the regular rear model, but that will only affect people riding behind me.

I'm not a big fan of front fenders usually. They tend to be a little more finicky and rattle around some. Riding around in the rain is not great though. One thing I have noticed with the Kojk tires is that they don't pick up that much water at all. With the Marathons I would get sprayed anytime I turned in a puddle. I guess having bald tires has its benefits.

Safety Upgrades
Besides being just for the symetry, I've installed dual rear-view mirrors. The right mirror is mainly helpful when I'm riding with others.
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Share your comments below:
I too do not like the "total" rear fender and wanted to use a front as the rear. Would you please explain a little more on what you did to the stays?
Posted by Robert N.
09/04/2008 12:26:46 AM

aaaaaawwwwsssssooommmeeee
Posted by d man
04/16/2010 01:17:51 AM

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