It has taken me a long time to purchase a GT3 trike. I have been looking at them for the last couple of years and decided over 18 months ago that I should buy one. But other things got in the way. I had a photography hobby and was buying camera equipment to have a basic set up. This has not stopped, though I have enough kit now that I have stopped buying more for the time-being. Then I purchased my current unit and sold my old one. So I had a money short fall for a while. I came close to buying one, but paying off the home loan became a higher priority. But in the last 6 months I have got my finances back under some kind of control, even with the stock market bust. So I have lunged out and purchased a trike.
The decision was made more than a month ago. I had been vacillating for a while. A few things have caused me to get the trike.
One day when I went out one day to reconnoitre the near by cooks river bicycle track, I met two recumbent riders. One let me ride his trike (one made in the UK) up and down a street a few times. It was good, though my legs were only just long enough for his set up. I was quite happy with riding the tike. They had lots of advice on makes and models. They said that riding the trike is a completely different experience and that I will need to learn to ride again.
Another factor was the lease on my car ran out on 5 April. I decided not to renew the lease of the Prius and have not purchased a new car. I am now riding the 10 km from Marrickville to Paddington to get to work and on Fridays I ride into town. I am currently using my old Giant hybrid I purchase back in 1992 and I am absolutely loving it.
The Friday after I met the riders on the Cooks River Track I went into the Clarence Street Cyclery and ordered a GT3. They are the only Greenspeed distributor in Sydney. I had actually been in there about a year before and they had got their only display trike off the hanging from the roof mount, to let me sit in it. But I was unable to ride it. Mark Jessup in the shop helped me with the order. He was quite surprised as I had pretty much had every thing worked out. I had on several occasions before been ready with an order to buy the trike. So the order went through smoothly. I had to pay a bit less than half the cost of the bike as a deposit.
I have bought a red GT3 with mudguards, rack, sram dual drive hub gearing for steep hills when loaded.
It was then Easter, Mark said the trike would be ready the week before Easter. After Easter I had not head and the week after I called. They had not received the trike. That was last week. Today (Friday) I went into the shop. I asked at the counter. The man said that the trike had been delivered and sent me down to the workshop. In the work shop they did not know what I was talking about. But the Trike was there. So I arranged to go in tomorrow to pick up the trike. I expect to need to have it adjusted which will involve changing the length of the drive chain. I hope the man who is there tomorrow is a little bit more with it than the men that were there today. I will have to pay the outstanding amount.