Greenspeed GT3
A recumbent trike that folds   

(This review was published in A to B #39, Dec, 2003. A to B is published by David Henshaw, 19 West Park, Castle Cary, Somerset, BA7 7DB, England. 
  
        Recumbent trikes are cumbersome things, which helps to explain why they remain relatively unpopular for day-to-day use, although for recreation and sheer entertainment, laid-back cycling is unbeatable. The GT3, manufactured by Greenspeed, stands out for its ability to be transported by car, bus or train with relative ease. 

        Once the boom length has been set and you’ve levered your feet into the toe-strapped pedals, you’re away. Like all the best trikes, the GT3 has lots and lots of gears, fingertip control, and a transmission that translates every ounce of effort into forward motion. If you haven’t ridden a well-sorted recumbent trike, you’ve missed out on one of life's great experiences. And by any standards, this well-balanced and agile, yet forgiving, machine is an experience you're unlikely to forget in a hurry. Like all the best mid-engined sports cars, geometry and weight distribution have been chosen to give handling that's broadly neutral - in other words, should you over-cook things on a sharp bend, the GT3 will neither plough straight on nor head for the apex. We rode the trike in all sorts of conditions, with a variety of tire pressures and several drivers, and the thing cornered throughout as though on rails. This seems to hold true on dry surfaces, wet surfaces and even manure-covered surfaces. You need to concentrate, because things happen very quickly when you're sitting on the ground, but we'd guess that's part of the fun with a mid-engined sports car too. With a bit of familiarity, you soon find yourself cruising through corners that would send a cyclist on a traditional two-wheel bike sliding into the hedge. Once in a while, the front Primo tires scrabble for grip, and occasionally the rear end ducks and dives on a bump, but at bicycle speeds, there's plenty in reserve.

        Unlike an upright bicycle, it isn't really possible to absorb bumps using your legs and body. Initially, we inflated the Primo tires to their maximum pressure of 85psi, which worked well enough at the front, but the jarring and vibration from the back wheel was enough to give blurred vision on indifferent surfaces. After a bit of fiddling, we settled on 40psi at the rear, which improved the comfort level immensely, and had no obvious effect on performance. The front tires seemed less critical, presumably because vibration from the front passes through a squidgy bottom rather than a relatively bony upper back. In all the excitement (yes, every ride is exciting), you tend not to notice that you've become plastered in the water, mud and bovine waste material that made it all so entertaining. The GT3 has a substantial rear mudguard and mudflap, but there's no protection at the front. Normally, spray from the front wheels shoots clear in two muddy arcs, but occasional changes of direction or errant wind eddies send a chocolaty spray across your arms, chest and face. There's not much you can do about this when riding in those conditions. Just be prepared to take a hot shower after every ride.

        Progress on the GT3 is exceedingly rapid, and even when it isn't, it appears to be, which is what getting from A to B is all about. The GT3 can climb hills at an average speed of 15.4mph - much faster than a 16-inch wheeled bicycle, indeed broadly similar to a full-size racing bike. On steep descents, speed rises rapidly, and when you're this close to the ground, 20mph seems fast, and 30mph makes it seem like you are breaking the sound-barrier.

Brakes

        Steering a 30 inch-high projectile down country lanes is all very well, but sooner or later you'll need to apply the brakes. The GT3 has no rear brake, so the legal requirement for two independent systems is taken care of with separate Sturmey Archer front drums and levers. This not only gets around the brake balance problem, but enables the rider to make hand gestures whilst braking in a smooth and controlled manner with the other hand. The magic ingredient is some carefully chosen geometry, including 'center-point' steering that puts the tire/road contact patch immediately under an inclined steering pivot. Should you apply one of the two front brakes, there's very little tendency for the bike to swivel around the contact patch, so it stops in a straight line. On the GT3 you can make quite harsh stops with one brake and feel barely a twitch in the steering. A panic stop locks the wheel at 0.3G, but the trike still pulls up more or less straight (or in a curve, if you happen to be cornering). Peak performance, using both brakes, is around 0.6G, and those with strong hands can hit 0.65G, at which point the rear wheel begins to lift off. Either way, the stop is nicely controlled and drama-free. To get the best from the brakes, you have to juggle the levers for perfect balance, but the GT3 provides plenty of feedback, particularly at higher speed. Within a few miles, your body learns to react to the subtle messages from the wheels, but even if you get it wrong, the trike is essentially fail-safe.

Gears

        Hill climbing is a bit disappointing, not because the GT3 climbs particularly slowly, but because the climbs are markedly slower than the descents. Actually, the trike maintains a good pace on the sort of mild nagging gradients that might depress a bicyclist, but on steeper climbs, the bicycle is quicker, leaving the trike rider to sit it out and think about the fun they'll have going down the other side. Thanks to their relatively poor hill-climbing and slick descents, recumbent trikes usually come with enormous gear ranges, with Greenspeed typically providing three separate stages, and as many as 72 gears. On the 16-inch wheeled GT3, there just isn't the space, so the machine is fitted with the new Shimano Capreo dérailleur, specifically designed for small-wheelers. This nine-speed gear cluster, coupled to Shimano Tiagra triple chain rings, gives a near 500% range, and 27 gears in three groups: 20"- 57", 27"- 79" and 34"- 98". Not quite low enough for serious climbs, or high enough for spinning down long fast descents, but a fair compromise. The Capreo gear cluster is unusual - the six largest sprockets slide onto a conventional freewheel hub, with the 11, 10 and 9-tooth tiddlers individually mounted on a smaller splined shaft. This will no doubt prove useful, because you can bet the small ones will wear out fairly quickly and cost a fortune to replace. With such tiny sprockets, the chain tends to oscillate in speed as each tooth passes, which can be felt as a soft (but by no means annoying) vibration in the highest gears. It's hard to judge how efficient the Capreo is, but it provides a good range of gears, and helps to keep the chain rings down to a manageable size, even on a 16-inch bike.

Other things to consider

        The GT3 makes an excellent platform for the school run - a bit unconventional, but you'll get home before the other parents have walked their children to the car. Generally, a child seat is mounted above a 26" wheel, putting the child behind and slightly below the rider. On the GT3, the seat mounts atop a smaller 16-inch wheel (albeit on a 20-inch rack, so not quite as low as it might be), but you're sitting lower still, giving the child a grandstand view over your head. Perching 20kg above the rear wheel is a bit like strapping a rhinoceros to the back of a sports car. On corners, the GT3 betrays a definite nervousness as the child seat gently twists the rack and frame, but it still runs true as a die, at the usual rocket-like speeds in a straight line. Panniers, of course, are mounted much lower, so this pendulum effect should be minimized. Any of the shorter jobbies suitable for 20-inch bikes will fit, and there's plenty of clearance. The rack has a bracket for a standard LED rear light, and the frame features braze-ons for a dynamo (not a great idea with frail Primo tire sidewalls), a front light and a bottle cage. There's also a mirror, mounted on the kingpin in classic trike style, but the stem is really too short to provide much information. Obviously, light touring is well within the GT3's capabilities, but with ground clearance of only 3 inches, you'd be well advised to stick to the black top. On a more practical note, the turning circle of 3.3 meters (10' 9") is one of the best around, making U-turns and other dubious maneuvers very easy. This may not look like a shopping or nip-to-work machine, but provided you're willing to mingle with traffic at wheel-nut height and you keep clear of road humps, all the practical elements are there.

Folding

        So how does one fold the GT3? Folding involves removing the single seat bolt with a 6mm allen key, which exposes the hinge in the main frame tube, or 'spine' in recumbent-terminology. The hinge is a nice bit of engineering:  the quick-release pivot shaft forms the catch, engaging through a hole on the front hinge face.  A peg on the shaft engages with a cam cut in the hinge body, so the catch will only disengage when the quick-release is rotated down and back.  Furthermore, the hinge is asymmetrical, so the rear frame swings up and to the left, allowing the rear wheel and rack (if fitted) to nestle snugly between the left front wheel and the boom. The lengthy chain pivots at around the same point, so it stays in tension. With the seat strapped to the right of the fully retracted boom (another 6mm allen key job), the trike measures 82cm wide x 52cm tall x 101cm long. In bicycle terms, a folded volume of 430 liters (15 cubic feet) would be vast, but for a trike it's really quite compact. And the folding process takes only a minute or two. This sort of performance brings the GT3 into train territory. We'd strongly recommend putting it in a bag, both for protection and disguise. A typical hatchback car would be easy, although squeezing the GT3 into the trunk of a car might require a little more work. If you're prepared to get into the oily dismantling zone, there are plenty of other options to make the machine quite a bit smaller. Remove the wheels (a single allen screw for each front wheel), steering assembly (one bolt, again), dérailleur and chain (more fiddly) and boom, and in about 30 minutes, the bits can be squeezed into a case measuring 38cm x 71cm x 77cm. Yes, it's big by train or plane standards, but a transport trike nonetheless.

Conclusion

        With most of these machines being unashamedly roof-of-the-car jobs, the GT3 has very little competition. A bit disappointing that the ultimate HPV has to be carried everywhere by car, but there you are. Green transport, eh? The traditional trike manufacturers seem to have become a bit set in their ways, selling increasingly expensive machines to wealthy and slightly paunchy middle-aged men with beards.  The 'entry level' GT3 is a nice, simple practical, foldable package, selling for $2500 (USD) or so. No super-duper components, but enough performance to satisfy the hot-blooded younger generation. Quite how many of these un-bearded types with a mortgage and two kids would be allowed to part with two grand is another matter, but there's no doubt that the GT3 represents a breakthrough pricewise. It's also an exquisite machine with exquisite workmanship.

For a review of the GT1, click here.