Compare and Contrast (bicycle style)
I sat my Trek alongside the midlifecrisismobile so I could compare the frame geometry between them. The rear end geometry is radically different, of course, but the front triangles are identical except for the size (58cm vs 56cm; I upsized the Soma frame a little bit because when I ride in the drops on the Trek I end up feeling a bit squashed after half an hour or so.)
The Trek + xtracycle makes a very lively frame; when I’m on level ground it feels like it wants to go really fast, even though I tend to poke along like Pete the flamingo on it. The mlcm, on the oher hand, is a very sturdy nonflexy frame that doesn’t seem like it’s going that fast, even when I’m whipping down Foster at 25(!) mph (it never did that during the 650b trial, even on days when I had a stiff tailwind assisting my return down the hill.)
I’m going to have to sell my way to a considerably longer stem for the Trek, and I’m going to have to adjust the seat and bars up a little bit to make them fit more closely to the driver’s cab on the mlcm; If I can desquash the Trek a little bit I might be able to get it a little faster
and a little better suited for shorterflatter brevets & populairespermanents.