I have now owned a Trice* for just over 500 days. As of four days ago, it has covered 2717 miles (approximately 4300 Km). This equates to about 5.5 miles per day or 38 miles ridden for every week since purchase. I don't think this is a bad average, but it does have a downside. As we all know, the downside of using pedal power is the wear and tear that can be inflicted on the machine, it's component parts and the rider! So last week and purely out of necessity, I replaced the tyres and drive chain. My total spend was 60GBP (90USD or 70EUR). Costs were kept to a minimum simply because the chainset and derailleur block are still quite serviceable.
Helping to keep expenditure down was the fact that back in September 2009, I purchased two complete sets of almost new Schwalbe Marathon Racers from ICE designer Chris Parker. The cost of these tyres was negligible (5GBP per tyre including inner tube) so what hurt, was the cost of a new recumbent drive chain. Bought directly from ICE in Falmouth, this essential item set me back almost 46GBP (67USD or 52EUR) excluding postage. Initially I did think this was a lot to pay for a chain. However when I sat and considered the situation, I realized the chain had actually cost less than 1.7p for every mile of use. Apart from a Trice, or any other recumbent trike for that matter, where else can you have so much fun whilst getting fit for less than 2p a mile?
*My trike is a 2005 model ICE QNT which carries no Trice branding
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