Getting my Metropolis ready for winter

 

My Metropolis gets me to work, my commute is a 70 miles (110km) round trip and I’ll riding all through the winter (unless its snowing!). As it gets colder I have ordered and fitted the bits I needed to add to the trike as protection from the weather, here’s how I have got on…

Leg cover

I decided to go for the Peugeot Leg cover. It was really easy to fit with four fixing points. It protects from wind very well, it allows easy access to the storage opening buttons/ignition and its pretty easy to get in and out of. It also has internal flexible bars on the sides which stop the cover flapping at speed which work very well. There are some negatives, it blocks access to the glove compartment, it allows water to hit the front of your shoes in heavy rain, so you do still need waterproof shoes. It also gets in the way as you fill the trike with fuel as you have to hold the seat up. Lastly the rigid sides and method of attaching to the seat means it does become a bird bath in the rain!

Handlebar Muffs

I started off by purchasing Tucano Urbano R363 Scooter Handlebar Muffs, these are neoprene, so I thought would be warm, they have a ridged outer edge which I thought would help them hold their shape well. For the Metropolis, they are a very poor choice. The design means that there are a number of the controls you can’t use with you hands in the muff (the flash for the head lights and the mode button for the computer) plus it is difficult to feel the buttons you can reach through the neoprene. The muffs are meant to attach to the handlebar weights, but the standard screw on the end of the weight slips straight through the hole on the muffs. The way they are designed means that a cold draught gets onto the right hand glove limiting the effectiveness, and lastly the hard cover catches on the bike as turn the handlebars.

 

I’ve now bought the Peugeot universal handlebar Muffs (PEA09018), they are more expensive, and you have to remove and re-attach the mirrors to fit them (there is a 14mm bolt hidden under the rubber trimming,) but they are massively better, allow full access to all controls and stop the wind.

 

Large Screen

Mike has already written an article on windscreen choice, so I won’t go into huge details, I choose the Faco screen and bought it from the E-bay seller he flagged, costing me approx. £70 inc shipping to the UK. Its an absolute doddle to fit and took me about 10 minutes. On the trike I have set it at the highest point and it makes a massive difference to wind noise as well as offering loads of protection. The only downsides, it drops the top speed of the trike by approx. 10mph (15kph), makes the trike slightly slower to accelerate at high speeds and I assume will effect fuel economy.

 

If anyone would like any details on fitting any of these bits, please let me know and I’ll happily guide you through what to look out for, I’m no mechanic and none of it is rocket science!