Hey! It’s Saturday, March 16, 6:20pm and I just finished my first ride on my new AZUB TRIcon recumbent tricycle: 7.24 miles in 46.21 minutes, top speed of 25.6 mph.

AZUB TRIcon Recumbent Tricycle

Here are my first impressions:

1. WOW! This is too much fun! It’s awesome to simply sit back in a nice seated, upright position and just watch the scenery roll by.
2. I did not feel nearly as vulnerable as I thought I would. Alertness and caution are still a must, but motorists gave me plenty of room. It’s a great advantage when approaching a corner to simply creep along at 1 mph. You don’t have to worry about falling over while traffic passes and makes its right turns in front of you. You don’t have to go until you are sure all is safe from behind.
3. Rear view mirrors are a must. I have two, and surprisingly used both equally.
4. It was much easier to take off from a dead stop than I anticipated. Just be careful to gear down before coming to a complete stop, otherwise too much stress is placed on the knees. It’s very easy to break and downshift at the same time with a trigger shift setup.
5. The TRIcon was very sturdy and solid. The steering is amazingly tight and crisp, even for an indirect setup. Any wobble I experienced was me pulling on the handlebars for leverage while simultaneously mashing the pedals.
6. Tricycles are not built for speed. At least ones with 20 inch wheels are not. My largest chain-ring in the front is 52, smallest cog in the rear is 11. On level ground my top speed was about 21 mph. My road bike’s largest chain ring in front is 50. Given the same gearing on my compact road bike as I have on the trike, I would have easily achieved 27+ mph.
7. Let’s talk about speed. On a quarter-mile 2% downgrade I easily reached 25+ mph. On a 5% downgrade of any appreciable length, I can already tell that speeds of 40 or even 50 mph will be easily attained. My point? You can’t break the laws of physics just because you are on a tricycle. At 25 mph it was startling to experience how even the slightest correction on the handlebar was greatly magnified at speed. Long-story-short: you can flip your tricycle! Anything over 20 mph, you’d better have a good grip on those handlebars and pay attention to the road as to avoid sudden corrections or any otherwise jerky movements.
8. The only pain I experienced was in my right ankle. I hit a small pot-hole while I had pedal pressure on the right side. Because I was clipped in, it really jolted that joint. Lifting slightly on bumpy terrain helps.

All-in-all it was a great ride. I can’t wait to get back out there.