Edin Ti Fly

I see confirmation of delivery, so I call David to arrange a time to meet to build my Ti-FLY...... I feel like a kid at Christmas.

After 9 months & 4 days since I placed my order, I finally have a box of trike parts to assemble at the brand new location of Laid Back Bikes in Edinburgh. David is there already, and fortunately he hasn’t opened the box yet. On a personal level, part of the fun of opening anything new is the smell you can get from a product. Strange I know... but considering this was manufactured & partially assembled at the factory I wanted to know whether there was a smell of the factory/tyres/hydraulic fluid, etc etc. It didn’t disappoint. I dont think that David noticed my deep intake of breath as I opened the package, but he did notice my huge grin once it was opened.

My favourite three words in the English language, especially today. Im refreshing my browser page every 5 minutes for a notification of a signature.

SPEZI 2016 comes and goes... Azub officially announce their new full suspension trike to the world. I discover that my trike now wont be ready until mid-July. Im still glad that I chose to wait for this over the original.

In the coming weeks, I was eagerly awaiting the delivery of my Aub Tricon. Whilst browsing the Azub Facebook page, I read of their development of a full suspension trike. Immediately I contacted Azub to determine how far away into the future this full suspension trike would be available to purchase. I was advised that they were doing very well in the development & testing of the components, and that they would expect to officially announce their new product towards the end of April at the SPEZI 2016 show in Germany.

It was the 12th of January, my trike frame had been painted, but no components had been assembled. Do I let Azub continue with the assembly of my original purchase, or do I wait until late April/early May for a full suspension version. I was told that I would be the first ‘person’ to receive their latest trike with the exception of a couple of large US based dealers who would receive theirs a few days before. These would be shipped to us all after the event.

Having looked extensively at all my options, I had finally made a decision. I had managed to tick all but one of the boxes in my requirement list. I accepted that my trike would be a rear only suspension offering. This evening I eagerly emailed David with my order requirements.

Azub Tricon

Rohloff hub gear (16T)

Schlumpf high speed drive (34T)

Folding option

Fox float shock

Tektra hydraulic brakes

Big apple tyres

Remix power strong wheels

Ventisit seat pad

Front & rear mudguards

Multi holder

Handlebar bag bracket + Ortlieb 6M bag

Head/neck rest

Front light holder

A unique bag which attaches to rear of seat via neck rest/seat bars side bags

Son dynamo hub

Over the coming days/weeks I looked extensively at my trike options. Typically they are considerably more expensive that your average bike, so I wanted to make sure that my potential purchase ticked as many boxes as possible. My criteria was as follows..

Comfortable. Full suspension was preferred.

Maintenance free. Hub gears & hydraulic braking systems preferred.

Well engineered. I wanted to buy from a company that shared Davids passion in their products. Optimally something built in house, rather than manufactured in the far East.

One Saturday in August I was in the vicinity of the recumbent bike shop, and due to the shop being open, I decided to take a look inside. The shop in the city of Edinburgh was called Laid Back Bikes, and their I met the shops proprietor, David.

Davids enthusiasm for the recumbent bikes was plainly very clear to see. He lives & breathes recumbents (better known as bents). He offered to let me take a test run out of one of his models he stocked, which if I remember correctly was an Ice Sprint trike with rear suspension. The 20 or so minutes spent on the trike was eye opening and in those moments I had an epiphany.