It's not a Ferrari !!

Beautiful Devon

Two more weeks of lockdown have passed since I last wrote on here. Two more weeks that replicated the time when I couldn't go out for long as the outside world seemed such a threat and I felt so weakened by the storm raging in my mind. Perhaps it was shame. It wasn't the done thing back then to talk about mental illness. I had spent half a lifetime trying to hide my own away, pretending that all was fine and doing things that, whilst on the surface seemed to help, underneath they added to my own personal angst.

What I have now, that I didn't have then, is a long list of skills that I learned in order to get through my own, partly self-induced, confinement. I take each day separately, not daring to look far into the future. That serves no real purpose. Let's just get through today and then see what tomorrow brings. It's living in the moment, kind of. It most certainly isn't a spiritual awakening, just a necessity to help me through this tough time. After all, I only have to entertain myself, I don't have children who are missing school, bored with home and going stir crazy.

This year saw my sixtieth birthday arrive and depart in January. It was going to be a special year spent with Teresa, cruising through France on our bikes for six weeks or so. Covid 19 has put a stop to that but I like to think my mind is fertile and still produces ideas when I least expect them. Creativity is a gift, one you have to cultivate and grow. Anybody can be creative, it's part of human ingenuity and intelligence. Once you get over the fact that we have been told so many times that we have to be good at stuff you can simply get on with enjoying doing it, regardless of skill level.

Ever since I sold Kermit, my recumbent trike, I've missed him. I've missed the laid-back lifestyle and the I-Max view of our beautiful world. I've missed the slower pace and sense of travelling in style that comes with three wheels and most of all I've yearned to find a way back to another one.

Trawling through countless, babbling YouTube videos I came across the story of the Sun Race, a cycle race from Europe to China. This one is a little different. For a start, most people don't race. For many of them it's a massive life challenge (18,000 KM?)  and a chance to travel under their own steam. Secondly, they all use electric assist bikes. The twist in the plot is that they can only get one charge from the outside world during the whole event. The rest of their charging comes from regeneration of energy and solar power. On top of that they have to maintain their own bikes and selves as they go. It peaked my interest.

The box makes a great workbench!

I love things like this. Always have. I could feel the excitement rise as I watched. I wonder. Who knows? It seemed like a true adventure, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I don't understand anything electrical aside from flicking a switch and have things magically work. Imagine a self charging Ebike? I did, and I liked the thought of it. The routes the Sun Race users follow go through many countries, some hotter than others. They generally use much bigger motors than we are allowed in the UK. This helps them maintain higher speed levels with average ability.

In the UK, it may seem a little optimistic that we might ever have enough sun to recharge a cycle battery once, let alone regularly, but it got me thinking. Not about joining the race, but about creating a machine that was effectively self-charging. The more I considered this, the more that I wanted to walk down that road and see what it felt like. At sixty years of age I have pushed my body to its limits for decades. Could now be the time for something more gentle? A little technical assistance?

Now those who know me will also know that, given the opportunity and the right frame of mind, I don't delve into new territory gently. I dive in from a great height and see what happens next! As far as I could tell there were several obvious stages to go through. Firstly, I don't have a suitable bike/trike. Secondly I know nothing about electric assist, other than the fact it helps people access cycling by reducing the effort needed significantly. Thirdly, I haven't a clue how electrical things work, so finding out should be fun. In my mind I leapt from idea to plan in an instant.

Now, recumbent trikes are rare beasts in the UK, although more and more are slowly appearing. I sold Kermit after five years of him being my daily transport for everything, including some long and arduous tours. He took a hammering and I learned that Azub trikes are superb and exactly what was likely to go wrong/cause problems over time with any trike.

White, to match the domestic appliances :)

As soon as you mention trikes to anybody who rides, they all shout I.C.E. Inspired Cycle Engineering in Cornwall produce the best trikes in the world. Beautifully crafted and finished with a huge choice of customisation available. Azub, are close behind, but the Kudos that ICE have built up takes an age to replicate. The problem was that both of these brands were so far out of my reach that my new-found dream would end right there, even if I contemplated an older, second hand version (pre-owned for any millennial readers). New, you are looking at the fat end of £3500 by the time you add mudguards, racks and the like to one of these. Possibly £6500 if you want electric assist! No thank you. I want a D.I.Y project, something simpler, something to own when it's done and feel proud of.

Starting with an older vehicle just didn't feel right. Worn chains and sprockets. Unknown history. It's a bag of worms and still expensive as ICE trikes hold their value well. Was there another way to go? If you can get past the ICE trike mantra from the rightly pleased crowd, there are other manufacturers around. They are not comparable to ICE, but that's another market. Unfortunately, they are all in the Far East or the United States. Import duties add 40% minimum to going down that road and again, that was beyond my means.

I've been around bikes and trikes long enough to know that many of the components that get used at the high end aren't necessarily longer lasting. You pay a lot of money to lose a few grams and if you want durability you need to add grams rather than remove them. In short, basic groupsets work well enough, not perfectly slick like a Ferrari, but that only matters if you race, doesn't it. They work and are ultra reliable. That is why many riders choose 8 speed based gearing over more up to date equipment. It is proven to be durable, easy to maintain, cheap. It's also readily available almost anywhere.

KMX Karts.com is a company that just happened to have been set-up by a friend of a friend many moons ago. In the recumbent trike world they are often seen as the poor relation. Is that fair? I don't know. They are not in any way showy, being built in square tubing with a slightly industrial look. They have no advanced features, but maybe that is a strength? Simplicity. How many times do we hear that simple engineering is a good thing? The word on the street is that they are seen as toys, an introductory trike before you progress to the real thing. Is this fair? I have no idea about that either, yet. Price wise they are accessible to most. We are still talking a minimum of four figures to get going on a baseline adult model. That would buy a lot of bicycle in the other world. Sadly, recumbent trikes still don't sell in big enough numbers for the price to drop significantly. Small numbers means big prices as the companies, like all others, have to be profitable to keep going.

I really like the industrial look.

KMX do have a reputation for durability. The MX part of the name stands for Moto-Cross,  or playing off-road. I personally think this is why they are seen as toys. The first ones were designed for the owners own children. People liked them so much that they started to sell them. And so it went until they were exporting them all over the world.

My own knowledge had me thinking that the things the wear out are mostly moving parts and bearings. Those are not so different whatever you buy. As a solid structure to work with I couldn't really see a big problem arising. It may not handle as well. It wouldn't fold and it may be a bit less advanced in the way it is built. But they work and are proven so I leapt in and grabbed one, to be delivered to my abode in a few days time after calling them up to find a warm and friendly welcome. When it arrived two days early I was ecstatic.

KMX trikes arrive in a box almost completely in pieces. If you are mechanically-minded, this is part of the fun. A three dimensional jigsaw puzzle for you to construct. The instructions are pretty clear and the parts all bagged in a way that makes it easy to find the right bits as you go along. I spent another couple of days of lockdown carefully solving the puzzle. I much prefer this as I know exactly what got greased-up, rather than either hoping it had been or deconstructing it to find out the answer. If it goes wrong it's my own doing, rather than a being Friday afternoon bodge because somebody would have rather they were at the pub than been at work.

It lives. Life outside, but not as we know it.

KMX have made quite a few changes to their adult trikes and I was surprised at how well thought out and put together it seemed (for the price). On my first ride the direct steering took me by surprise. It is very sensitive (twitchy?) but I soon got used to it. I put a triple chainring set on the front to give me 24 gears and changed the tyres for better quality ones that I had in my shed. That seemed to liven it up a bit and for general riding it feels every bit as good as other trikes I have ridden to date, which I think is a compliment.

Most importantly, I am on three wheels again. I have a good base to build on and I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat once more. Stage one is complete. Time to enjoy it. Stage two will be to find out more about electric assist and then decide what kind of set-up I would like to start with. In the meantime I shall save pennies by staying at home, protecting the N.H.S and saving my own life by riding my trike.

Until next time..........................