Most of us went from 2 wheels to 3 wheels and are glad we did. Some folks have developed balance issues making it necessary to make the move to a trike. Then there are those who enjoy reverting back to riding on 2 wheels while seated on their trikes. They obviously don’t struggle with balance issues. See for yourself … Take a break and ride a trike!
I would caution anybody concerning such dare devil riding … things can go wrong and you can get hurt. As for me, I am quite satisfied to ride my trike as it was intended to be ridden … on all three wheels. That way hopefully I can ..
A new video series has made it’s appearance on YouTube. A man and his wife who are from Canada have joined the ranks of tadpole trike riders. He just bought a new Catrike 559 which is featured in this video.
This is the introduction video for their Recumbent Trike Series. They have been videoing the entire process from trike shopping, purchasing, and right through to riding and touring, They state that they will be loading more episodes shortly. This video is very well done and so I would have to say that I am looking forward to seeing more of their videos.
Matt Galat recently posted a video on YouTube that I am sharing here as it is something that tends to stir me wishing I was there sharing in the experience.
Back in Autumn I wrote an article on leaf removal featuring a homemade outfit which is pulled behind a trike to remove leaves off of the trail as the trike is ridden along. It is just nice to have a clean trail to ride on.
But hey, a V-plow is possible as long as it is made right … including keeping the size down small … especially if power and traction are limited. It has been done before … both straight blade and V-plows.
As you can see this man’s straight blade plow works pretty good.
Look HERE. Both straight blade plows as well as V-plows have been made. But so far all I have seen is for bicycles and none have been made for trikes. I don’t see any reason why a V-plow couldn’t be pulled behind a trike so long as the snow isn’t very deep. Of course, the wider the plow the more power and traction it would require to pull it along and the depth of the snow would be more of a problem.
I am sometimes tempted to try building a V-plow and give it a try. I know I could not pull it thru much snow and only a dry light snow at that. A wet heavy snow would be quite impossible as I can’t even ride my trike by itself thru much of that. A trike just does not have the traction and ability to roll thru snow as well as a bicycle.
Quite frankly most of the plows I have seen in these videos online are not very impressive as far as being practical and doing a good job. Certainly the best of them is this one. The man put a lot of thought and experimentation into his plows and indeed watching it go thru the snow is quite impressive.
I really think a larger heavier more powerful machine is needed to plow with. Trying to do this with a human powered lightweight vehicle is more less a novelty. One thing about a bicycle is that it doesn’t need a very wide pathway to ride on. A trike, on the other hand, requires quite a large width cleared off. That presents a problem as I don’t think there is anyway a trike could pull a wide plow thru the snow. And a V-plow is only good for the initial pass. After that a straight blade on an angle is needed.
LET IT SNOW … JUST SOMEWHERE ELSE!
A fellow tadpole trike rider shared his video on Facebook. It is of him riding his trike while it is snowing and has the song, Let It Snow, playing. It is kind of a neat video so I am sharing it here. I personally can’t go along with the theme though. I don’t like snow and having to deal with it. It is fine as long as it isn’t anywhere I have to walk, drive or ride. Unfortunately it doesn’t fall to earth like that. It is pretty to look at, but that is the only thing about it I like. And the older I get the less I like it. I mean, I don’t engage in snowball fights anymore. And another thing … my trike can’t roll thru much snow, especially wet snow so it really messes me up as far as winter riding. Brutal below normal temperatures and nasty wind chill factors don’t help any either. C’mon Spring!
Click HERE to view video of Let It Snow.
get out there and ride during the winter. I used to, but not any more.
It is said that water and oil don’t mix. I am sure there are other things that don’t mix, but water and oil are well known and what immediately comes to mind. Something else that doesn’t mix … 1.5 or more tons of steel, plastic, rubber, etc. we call cars, trucks, buses, etc. and bicyclists. When they “mix it up” the bicyclists almost always comes out with the worst end of things. That being the case there are those who attempt to come up with ideas to implement to make it safer for bicyclists and motor vehicles to coexist safely. One of those ideas is referred to as “PROTECTED INTERSECTIONS”. Several different designs have been tried.
You can read more about this subject HERE. And HERE.
Protected bike lanes are also a great concept. The Dutch people are light years ahead of most of the rest of us when it comes to cycling safety. There is hope however as various communities are looking at what can be done to improve things.
I just received an email from a local bike shop which had an advertisement with the words “Get FAT in ’16”. Of course, they were talking about a FAT tire bicycle and not about gaining weight. Unfortunately many of us, myself included, tend to do well at the latter. But FAT bikes and trikes are catching on and more and more of them are being sold. Most of them are a bit costly and so they are something I am not likely to ever have, especially since I consider them impractical as one’s only trike unless you ride exclusively someplace where they are needed over a regular trike.
I have never ridden one, but I am sure they are fun to ride. Going thru snow would definitely be easier on the FAT trike. Even so, FAT trikes have their limitations too. For me, riding thru snow would be about the only use I would have for one as all my riding is on trails, streets, roads and sidewalks.
More photo editing going on here. Powerful motorcycles can’t make it up this hill much less a human powered FAT trike.
Just like the “monster trucks” can do some pretty amazing things a regular truck can not possibly do so these FAT trikes can way outperform a regular trike when it comes to riding off road. They are not designed nor intended to go fast and are not nearly as safe as a regular trike if one is ridden fast. But for slow going over rough surfaces they are the cat’s meow. That is what they are made for. Yep, they are pretty amazing.
You don’t believe this, do you? Me neither.
Here is an interesting video of a person who is a paraplegic. Thru the aid of computer programmed nerve stimulation implants he is able to pedal a tadpole trike. Unfortunately I am unable to show the video here. In order to view it you will have to CLICK HERE and watch it on another website. The video should appear and start playing automatically.
On Facebook awhile back there was a discussion on colors … mostly white. It got me thinking about all the pretty colors I have seen trikes come in.
Yes, some tadpole trikes have some great looking paint jobs. I have noticed that some manufacturers change their offerings somewhat frequently. Catrike is among them. I can’t keep up with their color options. It seems like a certain color is here today and gone tomorrow. Then there are manufacturers which offer only a very few colors and some models only come in one or two colors at the most.
I personally have a 2013 Catrike Trail which is “Saber Green”. I thought it was a pretty color, but Catrike no longer offers it. Now in its place they offer Eon Green which is prettier yet. (The Catrike Villager pictured above is the Eon Green.) Prior to the saber green they offered another green, but I think the saber green was prettier. So at least in one sense they seem to be improving when they make these changes.
One manufacturer which offers an amazing number of choices is HP Velotechnik.
I once had a picture saved on my computer of a pink Catrike which was a lovely picture. I have searched and searched for it to display it here, but alas I have not been able to find it. Yep, Catrike used to offer the pink color, but they chose to discontinue it. Here is one of their old color charts showing it. I think the purple was quite pretty as well.
I sure wish they would bring it back and keep it among the colors they offer. Yep, lots of pretty colors not too mention custom paint jobs one can also get. Utah Trikes offers quite a selection of custom colors. There are way too many to try to display here so I suggest you take a peek at their webpage where they show them.
ICE trikes offer very few color choices and a couple models only come in one color.
I am amazed to discover that some of the trike manufacturer websites have absolutely no information that I can find about color options. To be most honest I literally got frustrated and tired out trying to look up such information as I just could not find it. I would think that this would be a pretty key thing to show if they want to sell their trikes. Hey, what do I know. One of us (them or me) must be rather stupid.
In case you are wondering about the last 2 pictures they are a bicycle frame which was purposely painted like this to “uglify it” as a deterrent to theft. Watch this video to learn more about it. It is a very controversial thing for sure. It might indeed deter theft, but who wants a cycle that looks like that? I just can’t fathom taking a gorgeous looking trike and painting it to look like that. It makes me shudder just thinking about it.
I have been watching some videos of a South Korean triker who rides a Catrike 700. In the one video I just finished watching I noticed the people he was riding by as several of them turned to look at his trike as he rode by them. Yep, tadpole trikes definitely attract attention.
He has several videos available to view. Click HERE to see what he offers.
Another thing I noticed is that the area he is riding in has nice bike/pedestrian trails some of which must have been expensive to build and perhaps a bit challenging as well. I like his whirlygig safety flag.
I am sure most of us who ride tadpole trikes can attest to the fact that the trikes get attention and admiration quite often from many different people we encounter. Some are curious and want to ask questions about them. Whenever possible it is a good idea to take the time to answer their questions as in doing so we are being good ambassadors for our chosen means of cycling. We have the opportunity to educate others and help them to know more about these awesome machines. And just maybe they too will join us in riding in comfort and fun.
With winter upon us riding has been curtailed somewhat. But I have my memories of warmer weather and getting out enjoying it. Here is one such day caught on video. I don’t know about you but it helps me at such a time as this to be able to view such a ride. I have noticed that over the last 3 years I just am not as motivated to get out to ride during the winter. I more less have to force myself. Thankfully once I get out most of the time I find it isn’t really all that bad. Of course, I am talking about riding when only the temperature is a factor and not inclement weather such as snow, ice, frozen whatever, rain, etc. There is no way I care to deal with any of that. Temperatures of 25 or above I can handle. Anyway, this video was in the summer time so there was none of that stuff to deal with.
I recently became aware of a new website I thought I would share here. It is called TrikeTech.com and it is packed full of useful information including adding electric power assist to a trike.
“While its true that the internet offers just about every piece of knowledge, the trouble is finding it.
At the time of the writing of this article I noticed that the creator of this website does not yet have everything fully functional. None of the links in the left hand column work. I assume in time he will have this remedied. It appears to be a “work in progress” so bear with him.
Referring to itself as Recumbent Trike Information it covers both tadpole and delta trikes.