I made the trip down to the Recumbent Cycle Con in Pomona today. I had a chance to check out the new Greenspeed prototype and have a chance with Ian Sims. This is a very interesting trike. To me it looks like an updated version of the old GLR. It has the new curvier seat and aero tubing on the cross members of the cruciform. It also has negatively cambered front wheels like the X-series and the SLR. Unlike the GLR, it has the steering above the frame. Ian says that this is just a prototype and that the production version will have disc wheels and perhaps a hard shell seat option. He expects it to be available next year.
Ians says the goal of the trike is to make a trike as fast as a two-wheeler so that people don’t need to buy a trike and a bike. I’m not convinced that any trike will make that step in speed, but I’m very happy to see Greenspeed get back into the fast trike business again.
Please excuse the poor quality of the photos. I didn’t realize that my flash was lighting up the Kojak lettering on the tires so badly..
Laid Back Log 
Seems someone is pushing the patent envelope on the Big Cat, LLC spaceframe design.
I don’t know anything about patent law, but the layout of the frame of this Greenspeed is basically the same as the early Greenspeeds going back into the 90’s – long before Big Cat existed. It would be a shame if Big Cat’s patent could prevent Greenspeed from selling their designs in the U.S.
Oh, I certainly hope there is no issues. The difference with this new model over the previous models is that it appears the frame is fully welded with the integrated seat. This is how it is similar to the geometry of the patented space frame design. I wonder if Ian thought about this or talked with Paulo about it?
Greenspeed built fully welded frames back in the 90’s. The GT3 and GT5 do have a removable seats. But those came along well into the 2000’s. My SLR had an integral seat too. Here’s a picture of a Greenspeed from 2001. Notice the seat is fully welded to the rest of the frame – much like the new prototype shown last weekend at Recumbent Cycle-con:
Cool! In patent terms that is known as “prior art”. That probably gives Ian the right to create anything up to and including space frames. Thanks for pointing this out.
Seems to me as if Greenspeed is safe from any lawsuits. It’s a beautiful trike and likely to give the 700 and Vortex a run for their money.
hmw46
Good reeading