I get what you mean about riding in a competitive road bike group. It is possible with trikes, in fact the drafting advantage with trikes is much more pronounced than with road bikes. The problem is finding other trikers to form a fast group ride. :)

Thanks for watching, Tom! Yep, it made a big difference!

Hey Mark! Thanks much. Sometimes having a twin brother comes in handy! :)

@@bikestrikesrazors The one thing I notice, is that both of you always have a big grin on your faces when riding the VTX.

@@DemiGod.. The "trike grin" is a real thing. :) Especially when you haven't been on a trike for a few weeks. :)

Great point!

Side loading spread over 3 wheels= not much tyre flex. 3 wheels has less rolling resistance in a similar load range than 2, trikes allow use of smaller diameter wheels which accelerate slightly easier and reduce frontal area for less wind resistance than larger.(the fastest trike- gs aero- has 16's and a 20" wheel.) Ps, when a bicycle weaves as a natural riding motion, it still makes drag and tyre flex- which is rolling resistance. The only difference to a trike is a bike doesn't have the same side loading on the wheel bearings. Considering the efficiency of a pair of 30mm dia. wheel bearings in a 20" wheel, nobody could measure any drag from side loading outside of a laboratory.

Thanks for the information, Gary!

and thanks for the information, Ross! :)

@@rossbrumby1957 You are not disagreeing with anything I said.

@@rossbrumby1957 One geek post beaten by an even better geak post - rofl.

Hi Greg and thanks for watching! That's an idea! I'll look into it.

Hi Ross! Yep, we both ride bikes and trikes, although my regular bikes are not as spiffy as his BMC. :) I've always got my eye out for an Aero to pit against the VTX. :)

Thanks for watching!

Hey, Evan! I was thinking about that the other day. I know lunges and squats would do wonders for my riding.

@@bikestrikesrazors Both of you are in great shape and excellent riders. Weight training and HIIT workouts will make you that much better. Train and gain ,brothers...

Don't make me do it again! :)

@@bikestrikesrazors No pain, no gain.

Thanks for watching, Benjamin! I can testify to the "prostate" sitting. I just got back from a road bike ride, and it sure does get a lot more sore "down there" than a trike ride!

Hey, Glenn! That’s a great question. I’d say that we were both equally toasted and gasping for air at the end of these sprints. I don’t think either of us could’ve kept it up much longer. I wonder- Who would be able to hold out the longest in a longer high speed run? Something to try! :)

@@bikestrikesrazors maybe a longer endurance competition?

@@glenn_r_frank_author That's an idea. It would have to be a pretty flat route as when we hit the hills, the trike really suffers compared to the road bike. :)

Hey, K-eVin! You're in luck! I can give you a pretty fair estimate as to what you should be able to do, as I weigh 150lbs and have a current FTP of 196, so we're not too different as far as weight and power go! On the VTX, with the seat fully reclined, on a flat course, I hold between 19-21mph for thirty miles, and that's with taking turns drafting with my brother, who's also riding a VTX. I've never tried the ICE Sprint X, but from what I've heard, it's typically 1 to 2 mph slower than the VTX. I think that once you've built up your "recumbent legs", you'd be able to keep pace with your group on the VTX, but I'm guessing you'd be slightly slow for them, without E-assist, on the Sprint X (again, I'm just going by anecdotal evidence as I've never tried the Sprint X). Also, while I do know folks that ride trikes with road bike groups, it can be a bit of a pain to ride with road bikes, as the trikes and bikes don't draft well off each other, the bikes will climb faster than the trikes and the trikes will descend faster than the bikes. It can be done though! Now to the saddle sore issue! Do you just mean that your bum is getting sore from a long time in the saddle, or are you getting actual saddle sores? There's no reason you should be getting saddle sores after 80 minutes of riding. Do you ride every day? If so, do you use a chamois cream to moisturize your nether regions? That could help greatly with saddle sores. There may also be some other medical issue going on down there that may need to be treated. Have you talked to your doctor about it? Now, if your bum is just getting sore from time in the saddle, that may be easily cleared up by changing your saddle to something like a comfortable, broken-in Brooks leather saddle or the like. Some bums like some saddles and not others. Hope all this helps somewhat! Thanks for watching!

@@bikestrikesrazors Thanks for the info. Our group mostly ride on the trail between Sac State to Beals Point, so not much of climbing there. I'm awared of the drafting issues as I've tried to draft a trike and got nothing out of it, but what about a trike drafting a road bike? The reason I'm so set on the Sprint X is it's foldable so I can haul it inside my Prius to the trail, but if a VTX can fit in, I'd prefer to get the VTX. Knowing the Sprint is slightly slower than the VTX, I'm now leaning toward E-assist. What's your thoughts on the drum vs disc brakes? the disc brakes look so much better. Regarding to my saddle sore. It's more of sit bone pressure to my left side always. I've tried over 5 different saddles in the past 2 years with no improvement. I saw a chiropractor recently and he pointed out my left legs was shorter due to back issue(herniated discs) and something about my pelvis(can't remember exactly). He sort of fixed it. Then I had a bike fit at Davis SPort center. I didn't tell him anything about my legs, and he said similiar thing: leg length is about the same but functionality wise my left leg is shorter, so he added a shim to my left cleat. Now I can sit more square on my saddle, and ride pain free for 60-80mins. Before my soreness would kicked in in about 30-40mins. Love being out and ride, so hopefully a trike is my ultimate riding machine.

@@bikestrikesrazors I would also like to know your thought on suspension for trikes

@@k-evinshighshowcantonese9922 Ah, so you've already tried lots of things to solve the road bike seat issue with no success. My VTX measures 90" long, but the length will also vary with how long you have the boom extended. Yep, if you can't fit that, you'd have to go for a folding trike. If you can afford the E-assist, and you want to be absolutely positive you can stay with the group, that might be the way to go. A trike can get a not-so-great draft (but still a draft) from a road bike, but a road bike gets almost no draft from a trike. I haven't needed suspension on the trail or on the well cared for residential roads up where I ride, but it might be something to consider if you're thinking about taking the trike on an organized century or something on open roads where you may encounter messed-up pavement. If you've ridden the current detour on the trail that runs past Cal Expo to get downtown- That section is pretty messed up without suspension on a trike, but it's pretty messed up on a road bike, too. If you're going to get E-assist anyway, the weight penalty from the suspension shouldn't be an issue. Disc brakes/Drum brakes- Yep, disc brakes look cooler, but I've had trikes with disc and drum, and they both stopped the trike equally as well for me, and the drum brakes always had fewer issues with maintenance over time. I'm still constantly fiddling with the disc brakes on my VTX, and on rides with lots of climbing, you eat through the pads pretty quickly.

@@k-evinshighshowcantonese9922 Have you considered 2 wheel recumbents? A good one will absolutely smoke a diamond frame. Bacchetta Carbon Aero is a great bike. There are also some good Performers, Metabikes and Lightnings. Or for something really different, look at a Cruzbike V20 or S40. Only problem with trikes is that their aerodynamics are not as good as 2 wheel recumbents and they are really heavy. BTW, sure a recumbent can draft a diamond frame. And, BTW, if you get a 2 wheel high racer recumbent, diamond frame bikes can draft behind you. I've had that happen on the American River Parkway - been out on my own and picked people up along the way who very much enjoyed my draft.

Vs. Greenspeed Aero.

Hey, Dan! One day, we'll get a 700 and an Aero out on the "strip" and see how they do against the VTX. :)

@@bikestrikesrazors I know you will, twins that work together are unstoppable. I’m kind of happy mine haven’t quite figured that out. When they do my wife and I will be hosed.

@@Olyphoto7 LOL!

I wanna see cattrike 700 or aero vs vtx. Looking forward into the trike world myself as a stroke survivor

NNNOOOOOOOOO!!! LOL!

The real test is how long can you ride in the drops? Just did a sportive and I can’t recall seeing anyone riding in a tuck despite a decent wind complained about, apart from my Son trying to keep up on down hills. On my ice Sprint I didn’t even notice it was particularly windy or cold and never had to take an uncomfortable position to get aero. In reality the reason I often choose to ride my recumbent is comfort not speed. Oh and fun, plenty of that especially down hill.

@@kevinallen4604 I usually only ride in the drops for short periods when the wind is really bad. Most of the time, I'm on the hoods. You can't beat the downhills on a trike!

I suspect you’re right, David. We’ll have to do a video down the line to test out the theory! Thanks for watching!

Above about 7mph, wind resistance becomes the greatest resistance. At about 20mph, 90% of resistance is wind resistance as it increases proportional to the square of speed compared to rolling resistance which is linear. Rolling resistance at 20mph for gp5000 tires is about 10watts which isn't much really when you pumping out 250w+

only the trike has two 20inch front wheels with most weihgt on it, it must have a egg shell to have less resistance

@@davidwolfs9505 That would make a huge difference.

We'll have to give that a try, Rick! Thanks for watching!