Thanks to everyone who responded to my post on recumbents and old age,
disability etc. There were some really moving and uplifiting thoughts in
that thread.
I was delighted to discover a local dealer in Paris, Rando-Cycles, 12th
arr., who deals in a few models of recumbent trikes. He had a
non-folding Scorpion available to try. He told me he was thinking of
stocking the Greenspeed GT0 as well, and that he was hoping to have one
to try at the upcoming world bike fair, Mondial des Deux Roues, in Paris
at the end of September. If that trial arouses enough customer interest
he will stock and support the GT0.
I tried the Scorpion. Weird experience, pushing out from the belly like
that! It does indeed seem very comfortable, except for getting in and
out of it, a much bigger liability than I had anticipated! I suppose one
gets used to it and eventually develops a technique, but overall I found
it harder than a narrow bathtub, which is why I take showers! Unlike the
Scorpion, with a Greenspeed you can have optional grab-handles
installed, which should make this easier.
The guy was full of information. He said he wasn't interested in
stocking the folding Greenspeed models (GT3/5) because their 18" wheel
size is so hard to support in France. Already with Flyzipper's 35-406
rims I have a problem. The 18" wheels would mean having to take
pre-ordered replacement tyres and tubes wherever I go at all times,
since the liklihood of finding these locally is close to nil. He also
recommended a cromoly frame (Greenspeed) over an aluminum one
(Scorpion), because he said it was much easier to repair and maintain
over the very long term. This guy builds his own bikes, and can handle
steel with a simple blow-torch, but apparently much more specialized
equipment and skills are needed with aluminum.
OTOH, I was impressed with the lightness of the Scorpion. I picked it up
with a hand on the rack and on the headset, and it seemed scarcely
heavier than Fly, and much lighter than Behemoth. Still a bit cumbersome
to take up and down stairs though.
I have contacted the lady in Derby and hope to pay her a visit on my
next trip to the UK in August, to check out the other Greenspeeds and
compare the GT5 with the GT0 (rim size notwithstanding). I also really
need to see these things being folded or dismantled for travel.
The Rando-cycles guy says there is a waiting period of about one and a
half months between order and delivery of a recumbent. I have been
looking at the ephemerides, and have found that the best day to take
delivery of the trike would be March 6, 2008 - birthday of the most
important romantic involvement of my life, and of Michelangelo
Buonarotti. How do I feel about a Piscean bike? Glamorous certainly, but
so vague! How does all that visionary artistic ability and subtle
emotional intuition translate into bike terms? Perhaps it just means
"tantalizingly attractive but permanently beyond my reach", as for the
two Gay men I just mentioned? Currently my bikes are one Virgo and two
Scorpios (Capricorn and Sagittarius ascendants respectively), and they
all really do resemble their native charts. There are better days for a
bike birthday in 2007, but too imminent to get the act together. Later
in 2008 I'm getting very bad angles from outer planets, which stay
active for many years, so it's March or a very long wait, perhaps never.
That means I have to start putting aside a large portion of my monthly
paycheck _immediately_, and cancel a solo tour along the Moselle that I
was planning for late September.
To cheer myself on that subject, I did a short off-the-cuff survey over
lunch of how much my colleagues have to spend monthly on their cars,
gas, insurance, maintenance and depreciation combined. They averaged
about 300€. Surely I can meet the challenge of putting by at least that
much! A recumbent trike starts to look really good financially when you
see it like that! ;°>
Cheers all,
EFR
Ile de France