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I bought a TerraTrike Rogue at a shop in Portland, Rose City Recumbent, last weekend. It is a lot of fun. At my age, 64, I think was a good choice. It is amazingly light and the Envilio Hub is super smooth and easy to use. I can fit into my Kia Soul with the back seats down, rear wheel first, with the rear tire extending between the front seats just a bit. I've only had it 4 days and my longest ride was about 10 miles. I have pedaled up all the hills so far. My balance issues are not a problem on it. Since I will of do a lot of rides on the streets and side walks near my home and it will still allow me to get in some longer rides it was a good choice. I will confess I was eyeing the Spyder they had in the shop. I will probably add a mid-drive at some point. That is why went with the Rogue with the Envilio hub. But I'm in no rush.
Yes, you can configure your ICE trike for a shorter rider. They offer 150mm cranks which are ideal for people with shorter legs, and short-back seat with a shorter back for riders who need the neckrest lower than seats, and their Seat-Forward bracket if your legs are too short for you to pedal comfortably on an ICE trike at its minimum adjustment with short (150mm) cranks installed, this bracket moves the seat forward 2 (50mm), fitted during the factory build.
I've been watching your video's. They are great by the way. I have a vertigo/balance issue that has plagued me the last couple of years. I got out onto a rail trail on my road bike on the weekend to "test" it. I got an 8 miler in without crashing but the trail banking to right or washboard sections threw my equilibrium off. I can still haul on it, but I'm thinking that it's not worth risking it, I'm in my 60's. My road bike has a (too big) frame size and that is fine if I do rolling mounts and dismounts but the balance issue makes doing those kind of sketchy. A step-thru might help but the balance issue is risky. I'm going to make an appointment with the TerraTrike dealer out here Portland to check out a few of their trikes.
My husband and I have Catrike Villagers. They have adjustable booms, which is so handy. His boom was out too far, so we brought it in a little so he can sit completely back into the seat. Villager has a mechanism that adjusts the chain length as the boom is moved. This is a great feature, and will make it easier if we ever want to sell a trike to someone else.
Yes, Catrike sells a quick fit Chain Gobbler that fits on most models. You can get it here laidbackcycles.com/products/catrike-chain-tensioner-gobbler?_pos=2&_psq=chain&_ss=e&_v=1.0
Number 10,,, make sure your packing small parts ,,, tools and supplies and learn how too Maciver things... its not as if its hard too correct issues if they arises... learning how to is part of the pedel bike/ trike thing... just saying
One important step left out of the video is to run you fingers inside and around the tire before replacing the new or repaired tube. Doing so you might find a thorn or a piece of glass still sticking through the tire to the interior and if it isn't removed it will just flatten the new tube again.
Why would people be lifting their trike in and out of their car? Why not just ride it? A suspension trike will be heavier. And a folder will be heavier... You can higher or lower your tire pressure to get more suspension if you need it...yes you might want to drive some where with your trike, but I think most the time you don't need to carry your trike any where, just pedal it...
It is certainly possible for you to fit a third party motor system from someone like Bafang/EBO etc, it just needs to be fitted professionally (which your team would be able to do) and a maximum of 250w for it to not void the warranty.
You didn’t mention that hub drive setups maintain all 3 rings up front making for better non e assist riding. I currently ride a 559 and a 700 and so far I don’t need it but when I do the 559 will get a hub drive. The 700 is built for pure natural speed on its own!
I instaled a middrive motor bafang 250w and a Hailong 17A battery for 750eur but I did it myself following youtube videos , It works great, did not have the money for a shop to do it.
I added an EBO system to my older catrike 3 years ago. They were great to deal with. I went with a hub drive and its a great system. Came with all the correct cables. Bought the battery rack from hostel shop. I went with hub mainly because i can still use the system if the chain brakes and get back to where I started and I did have it installed by a dealer.
As someone that is good with a spanner and fitted an aftermarket motor kit to my trike , I’d say letting the trike shop do the job if nothing else, because they can make sure you have all the right parts needed to do the job , buying an aftermarket kit does not guarantee you will have everything you need to make a good job , you can end up fiddling around for ages getting it dialed in.
You are so right. As a shop we are still making improvements for install of our aftermarket kits. When putting on an approved kit that the manufacturer has designed to work with their trike, it makes it much easier to install.
You did a great job describing why these trikes cost more than a traditional bike. Everything was spot on. Especially pointing out the difference in quantities between trikes and bicycles. There is a big difference between making thousands of a product a year versus millions a year. If you divide the cost of the engineer's design, for example, by a few thousand trikes and add it to the cost of the product it will cost noticeably more than if you spread it out across millions of trikes. That being said, I still can't bring myself to buy a trike for the price of a used car...I'm just too much of a cheapskate. Maybe I'm just making excuses to start another project and build my own. 😅
I'm not sure the Full Fat would fit, but the GreenSpeed Magnum XL would be a great option - could always add knobby tires if you want to take it off the trail.
Tim Fricker here, from Bikes@Vienna. I often tell my customers that part of the reason ICE trikes cost more is because they offer such a wide array of customization options. You can pick and choose from a variety of drivetrain choices, brakes, suspension, as well as a ton of accessories. I believe at least some of the cost difference is related to the expense of being able to provide so many choices.
OK, so about a minute in I realized there is something else called trike then what I am interested in (like Can-Am Spyder). However, not interesting for me, I give you kudos for making a good video. Cheers
I made a major change when I ride my trike (559) versus the upright road and mountain bikes…I changed my attitude. If I want to go fast I ride the Trek, if I want to have an enjoyable, comfortable ride it is always the 559. I don’t care that my average speed is less than 2/3 of the bike speed. When I am cruising along on the trike I am in a different zone. As a retired giant (I’m 6’8 and down from 260 to 240 in the last two months of retirement riding) I spend about the same amount of time on a ride (2-3 hours) and cover less distance on the trike, but find the ride significantly more enjoyable. I usually cruise along at 10 -12 MPG on the trike and just like on the road bike will push it to catch up to someone in front of me or to stay ahead of someone coming up behind me (still too competitive according to my wife), but back of much more quickly on the trike and remind myself that it is 2-3 hours of good steady exercise, not a race.
I have a question about recumbents. Why are the dual wheels in the front and the drive wheel in the back? With the drive wheel in the front, you could have a much smaller chain.
I might have figured out the issue with my ramps. They have holes that are raised on the edges thus turning the wheels right or left. I just dropped an order for your ramps. Your education means a sale!
Also, check the downward pressure on your handlebars, that will help the wheels to stay straight and track better on the road. A good trike mechanic can help.
Mickey doesn’t mention taking the trike on BART, the Bay Area train system; or taking it on Amtrak. Will the train systems accept the trike if it’s folded and smaller? 🤔
I've had a trike for a few months now. I experience a few disadvantages compared to a bicycle, but I can deal with it. I still have my bikes, so I can switch whenever I want. I go for the comfort of a trike and cycling in a country where there are ± 23.5 million bicycles for a population of 17.5 million people, a trike is still a niche and I like that. In this case I put my head under the majority! 😂
They have done it before. I think its a custom build. I'd have to ask if they would do another one or not. www.icetrikes.co/19-news-and-blog/310-ice-trike-news-karen-darke-mount-kilimanjaro-handcycle-on-ice-full-fat
My only beef is judging oncoming traffic when entering from a side street, especially when parked cars make it impossible to see anything unless half the trike is poking out to allow you to get a view.
TerraTrike aims to offer more affordable models, while Catrike focuses on comfort and performance. On the MAX, you get better components, better engineering/design/ergonomics, and more features. The Maverick is a great trike for riders that want to start triking on a budget and aren't as concerned with performance or ultra-comfort.
Always wear a helmet. I was hit by a car on an E-scooter. I knew that thing was more dangerous than the bike so I'd taken to wearing a motorcycle jacket as well as a solid helmet. That gear saved my life. Helmet took a good wack, arm got run over, I walked out of the ER 2 hours later with some deep tissue bruises and a forehead laceration from my glasses breaking. The EMT's were surprised how well geared I was but told me afterward that they've had to try to scoop grey matter back into skulls to transport accident victims without a helmet before. Never assume you cant hit your head just because your in a lower and more stable position. Even if its less likely you can still tip a trike and anyone can have a runin with a reckless driver.
I have an ICE Sprint X Tour and I currently use toe and heel straps on standard pedals... much akin to the platform pedals shown here, only the Velcro straps are fitted to standard flat pedals. I struggle to confidently 'spin' with these though, as I don't feel comfortable pulling back on the straps. I would like something like clip-in pedals, only I have a badly healed right ankle break... when I stand up, as straight as I can (without looking at my feet and adjusting), my right foot points out to the right at a roughly 45 degree angle. I've also got very prominent and misaligned ankle bones (the pointy-outy ones on the outside), meaning that anything low-topped will most likely cause an horrendous amount of chafing and bleeding over time, so I almost always opt for high-top shoes or boots... something lacking in the cycling shoe market, I've found. I have tried clip-ins before, but I didn't realise I could twist my foot in either direction to get out of them, so I struggled, and the ICE dealer, whose trike I was testing at the time, had to twist my foot to release it, which REALLY DAMN WELL HURT LIKE BALLS, BY THE WAY!!! Anyway, I may take my trike to a shop somewhere and see if clip-ins will work for me after all, all things considered, as I do desperately want to spin properly, and get all of my muscle groups working well!
Wondering how this is any better than Fat Tad CXS? I love mine, gave it a mid drive/CVT/belt upgrade, and rock n roll! This thing climbs the bowls at the skate park and gets air on the BMX track...can't say enough about not letting dumb stuff like missing part of your spinal cord hold you up.
@@LaidBackCycles it's just cheap, that's all - I got mine for 1800 USD new on sale. Everything is being changed or modded so I'm glad I didn't spend more (I have a Cattrike EXP R and a no name two wheel bent as well). The front suspension travel is better than nothing but it needs to be improved as it tends to limit out at the worst times lol If I was going to offer something as top shelf as the Rohloff, I'd just go straight to Pinon, TQ, or Fazua for a powerplant. Pinion is the game changer because their MGU is fully integrated mid drive/gearbox. Now everyone else is going to have to try to do it or explain why their way is better. Enviolo already released a variant of their Extreme gearbox for cargo bikes that is frame mount last year; the times are changing quickly.
Something not mentioned in this video. The Full Fat is rated for riders up to 275 lbs. The HD is rated up to 330 lbs. If you're a heavier guy and thinking about the FF, keep that in mind.
I can confirm almost all of your tips. Especially the accessibility is a thing. I threw my car out of the garage and store my shopping trailer there instead of folding it. There's no more shopping trip by car anymore. But loading a trike into a vehicle? The trike IS the vehicle to ride. Maybe it's just me, riding as a commuter or the US making any trip on a bike a mere death wish. But I won't loaf any of my bikes into my car to go on a bike ride. Especially since I plan on getting a velomobile, that thing can and will replace my car completely - as long as my kids are not in need of a taxi.
Love mine. I've had it for 8 yrs and it's absolutely perfect for riding in the Rockies or any trail. I got it with a Rohloff, had a Schlumpf Mtn Drive put on, and now the gearing is exactly what I need. Great for going too fast down gravel roads, and I can climb almost any hill (assuming my legs last...). It gets me way out from everything, I can stop in the middle of a hill without dismounting if I need to rest, and I can go for hours without getting saddle sore. Worth every penny. I used to transport it folded in my older model Escape, where it fit perfectly in back, but now I use a modified HitchRider rack. It does attract a certain amount of attention, and just freaks out horses...