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I hit a nice groove to 32mph today on the Actionbent along a 1 mile dead-flat stretch. About the same drill... some spare energy at mile 19.

I know all too well about the little efficiency upgrades as well as the bigger ones. Have you found the article on the 12 and 13T jockey wheels yet? By reducing the chain deflection around the jockey, one could gain as much as 5%! So they claimed... but there was a stink about this for quite a while.

Personally I don't care. I run a dirty old ABTT as fast as the shiny new 700 will carry me. Imagine what that lowly ABTT could do spiffied up! Or think what the potential of the 700 could ultimately achieve!
1st thing I'll tell you that I noticed over the past few weeks is the difference in material. The 6061 frame and who-knows-what of the boom extrusion is a lot weaker than the ABTT 7005 boom and frame. I can just watch the 700's front derailler post dancing (torsionally) at every pedal stroke where the ABTT is just rock solid. I can feel my whole back supported on the ABTT FRP seat where the mesh of the 700 is like a slign that stretches and creaks at every power stroke. Imagine... just image a 700 out of 7005 alloy! Imagine a seat with solidly supported back to the frame when you really want to poor on the power!

Seriously, my ABTT with its slugs for tires, a chain well overdue for changing, and maintenance lacking from lack of wanting to give up riding... I still average the same time over distances as I get from the 700. Imagine what a tuned ABTT could do against the 700 on a course? Its been done! I remember a whisper of it in a regional event where the lowly ABTT took 1st place... and it didn't surprise me one bit. An honest 35lbs out of the box with pedals and a heat treated 7005 alloy and a seat that for some, fit like like a glove. I bought this thing sight unseen... didn't even know what a recumbent was! But it was the best buy I've ever made. It is indeed the ride I compare all other too.

Don't get me wrong as I did need to do some significant engineering to make the ABTT what it is today. But I will still put it up against anything on 3 wheels in a fair run. These machines are history. They are out of production and even the hand care that Kevin Kao from TW/Bents put into them has past long ago. There is only a handful of them that I know of that can make even half the claims I make here. But the point is, the 700 can be more... a lot more! UNfortunately, it prbably won't come from Big Cat, LLC. ...not anytime soon, anyway. There is nothing I can do about the boom torsional play... but I can do something about the seat and a whole lot of other things I know about that will make a 700 probably 15% more efficient. Maybe -then- it wil deserve the "fastest trike" title that many want to bestow on her. As for now... it still trails the sunburst orange machine I've come to enjoy more than ay other since 2006.

If you ever make it up to Oregon with your 700R, lets hit up the local velodrome. I'd really like to challenge a strong rider and put the 700 through its paces... and see what you can do on the ABTT.

I push my heart rate way beyond what any sane doc would allow me to. I'll add 10 points just chasing the rabbit. I've been making a habit of catching roadies lately. Bent can't climb h#ll! If I'm going to keel over, I'd rather do it riding. than fading away in my sleep.