Recumbent News

Big Cat HPV addresses a long standing customer complaint in move from stickers to engraved serial numbers.

A topic that has come up repeatedly among Catrike owners is Big Cat's use of stickers to identify the serial number of a trike. Many owners considered this a security issue (stolen trikes can easily have their identifying stickers removed) and a number of municipalities require a frame stamped serial number for local pedalcycle registries.

Catrike has finally addressed those concerns with the introduction of a new Mecco frame engraver that etches in both the Catrike logo and the frame number.

In making this transition, Catrike is also altering the numbering scheme. The prior serial system included the model of trike in the serial number - CT7 for 700, CTE for Expedition, CTT for Trail, etc - followed by a four digit unit number that also revealed how many of that model had been built.

The new serial number does away with the readable model identifier and instead uses a five digit number.

Another change is in the placement of the serial number. The serial stickers were typically placed on the underside of the main frame tube, just rear of the crossmember. The new engraved serial numbers will be located in one of two places depending on model. 

The serial number appears on the top of the main tube on the Trail, Villager, and Road and on the rear bottom of the tube on the Expedition, Pocket, and 700. The split in serial number location is driven by whether or not the model has an adjustable seat angle as the frames are significantly different in the rear half of the trike. 

The new engraver can be seen in action in the recently posted Catrike Factory video (at the 2:56 mark):

Andrew Rubin of Team Larry sent us word that their documentary film is playing in San Diego this weekend.

If you're not already familiar, Ride With Larry is the story of Larry Smith who, despite his Parkinson's, successfully rode his Catrike 300 miles across South Dakota.

The film will be shown October 5th at the San Diego Film Festival from 3:30-5:15PM at the ArcLight Theater. Tickets are available online and are $14 each (plus fees for online fulfillment).

"Ride with Larry" puts a human face on the day-to-day fight against Parkinson's through the story of Larry Smith, a retired police captain, now beloved small-town baker. After twenty years with Parkinson's, Larry attempts to ride 300 miles across his state of South Dakota with the support of his family and community to show the power of keeping your body active and mind positive, proving that the best cure is living life to its fullest. The film follows Larry as attempts to push his limits and expand the boundary of possibilities for those with Parkinson's. Weaved amongst his journey is an intimate portrait of Parkinson's, illuminating the day-to-day fight of those diagnosed, their families, and caretakers. It is a film for all those stigmatized or mired in the darkness of illnesses without cures. Larry and his wife Betty refuse to be defined by this diagnosis, proving that sometimes the best cure is living life to its fullest.

"In a city the rider is visible over, and can see over, parked cars or sleeping reindeer."

First of all, Finland is not Sweden or Russia. It is a complete country with its own language and everything. Secondly, the MirageBikes Nomad is a complete recumbent bicycle. It is not an upright bike and it does not have a drive chain.

What the Nomad does have is a drive shaft, a smooth ride and excellent visibility. I will get past the obvious. There is no chain. Beveled gears drive a steel shaft that runs invisibly through the frame to the rear wheel. It is smooth, quiet and “responsive”, by which I mean when you start pedaling there is no brief moment while the chain tightens up before you get power. The Shimano 8 speed Nexus hub shifts easily. The drive train works and that is all there is to it.

The bike is physically impressive in order to hide the shaft in the frame. The steering passes to the left of the drive shaft so it looks off center. In fact the steering is comfortably precise and the shaft passes to the right of it. The steering and the stability of the bike are so good I was playing with riding with no hands, though I didn’t do it for long because if I went to the disastrous limit the demo bike would be scratched. But even thinking of riding no hands gives an idea of the stable riding characteristics of this bike.

The longest test ride was the first day of Autumn. Here in western Montana that meant clear skies and snow on the peaks. I spotted a beaver swimming the local river and a Bald Eagle soaring on the cool breeze. That little travelogue is to show how fantastic the view is from the seat of the Nomad. All recumbents have you looking forward, but on the Nomad the seat is much higher than the average bent. It was designed from the beginning as a commuter bike. The seat easily moves UP the frame to adjust for a taller rider. The rider’s eye level is similar to an upright bike with the added comfort of a recumbent field of view. In a city the rider is visible over, and can see over, parked cars or sleeping reindeer (who knows what constraints Finnish bike designers must contend with?).

And what if you do hit a skittish reindeer? I wouldn’t worry. The Nomad is a hefty bike with full suspension and mechanical disc brakes. At a substantial 42 pounds (21 kg) it appears sturdy enough to tangle with urban wildlife. The suspension keeps the ride comfortable on my local gravel road and the cobblestoned street of the medieval core of the town I imagine our European readers live in. Chip sealed roads and smaller pot holes would not be a concern.

What about speed, you ask. This bike is a commuter, not a racer. It will get you where you want to go if it is over the pythons in Florida or herding caribou. The gravel road I mentioned above climbs a reasonably steep hill. I moved into the lower gears and climbed it easily enough. Coming back down I quickly spun out the 8 speed hub and just let gravity work on those 21 kilos. I bumped over ruts, rocks, sand and gravel at a respectable speed and felt fabulous. No control issues at all.

I can see this bike as a city commuter that will run for years. With folding or detachable pedals it could be easily stored indoors with no fear of chain grease. With the weight I do not see it being carried up stairs to your office or apartment.

Catrike to enter folding trike market in 2014 with Trail folder.

Continuing on their steady path of incremental improvement, Catrike has their first ever folding trike set for release in 2014, based on their popular Trail platform.

Folding represents a bit of a "final frontier" for Catrike as they've reacted to shifts in the market around them. First came the introduction of an adjustable seat back for the Road, Trail, and Villager, followed by rear suspension on the Road - all changes meant to counter offerings from the likes of ICE, HP Velotechnik, AZUB, and others.

Now with the imminent introduction of a folding model, Catrike will no longer be excluded from consideration by riders who require a folding trike for portability. This leaves TerraTrike as the only major trike manufacturer without a true folder (the absence of which does not seem to have slowed their sales at all).

An image from Catrike lists the following features of the folding Trail:

One could be forgiven for thinking we'd just read the promotional materials for the HP Velotechnik Gekko fx, a trike that surely served as inspiration for the Trail folder. The Gekko fx is also an upright standing, frame locking, chain managing, seat folding trike with wheels for rolling into storage.

As these images are an early look at the 2014 Trail, there is no information just yet regarding final specification or price. Also unmentioned is whether or not the folder represents the stock Trail or if it is an option. Given Catrike's penchant for streamlining process, chances are good it will be the stock offering.

• Catrike Trail folded Catrike Trail folded
• Catrike folder features Catrike folder features
• 2014 Catrike Trail 2014 Catrike Trail
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If you're part of the recumbent industry and heading to Interbike, here are the details for the industry dinner this year.

To any and all in Las Vegas for Interbike this year, the annual dinner/get together for recumbenteers is Wednesday night at 7:00PM at More the Buffet in the Luxor.

Annual Interbike Recumbent Dinner
More the Buffet, downstairs at the Luxor
Meet at 7:00 PM, go in together as a group, we have 2-1/2 hours to eat and chat

The Luxor is just north of Mandalay Bay. They are co-owned properties and so they encourage walking back and forth- through their mall, of course.

From the Convention Center, turn left and walk north through the Mandalay Bay to the "Shops at Mandalay Place". Walk through the mall to the Luxor, and take the escalator down to "More the Buffet".

The price is $28.00 with tax and gratuity included, which is pretty good for Vegas. We are being less formal this year, just meeting up at 7:00 and going in together. They assure me the line won't be long on a weekday. They said they won't try to kick us out for 2-1/2 hours, which should be enough to fill our bellies and talk about recumbent goings on old and new.

If you want to get ahold of me in Vegas, call or email Robert at our office and he'll forward your message to me. To those that have my cell number, just give me a call or a text.

See you there!

--Pat Franz
TerraCycle, Inc.
1-800-371-5871 www.t-cycle.com 

Trident Trikes sent us quite the press release today full of updates including two new models.

It has been quite some time since we've received news from Trident. There is quite a bit packed into this release, so if you're interested in Trident's lineup, take a look.

Trident Trikes is pleased to announce 2 new models, 1 discontinued model, some new improvements and unfortunately a few price increases.

First improvements. Starting with production dates in August 2013, we will be changing some of the standard equipment on Stowaways, Transports & Chameleon. We have decided to eliminate the front light. In our opinion the front light made a decent flashlight, but not many people were using it to ride, and would use that space instead as a bicycle computer mount. To offset this though we are pleased to announce that we will be using a much nicer rear light – which everybody really uses. We found this light at the Shanghai Bicycle fair and we are really pleased with it!

We will also be switching over to the new BS-T09 Bar End Shifters from Microshift sometime this fall. We have gotten many many requests for this. Really the only difference is the BS-TO9 can be switched between Index and Friction shifting on the right hand shifter. We LOVE friction shifting as you can adjust perfectly on the fly.

We also now have 1 sided accessory mounts for customers that either just want an extra mount for the right or just want to mount a single accessory on the left.

Starting in October 2013- we will have a limited number of Stowaway 2’s available in the Wasabi Green color.

With great regret we have decided to discontinue the Monorail. It is one of our favorites, but low sales just didn’t justify all the extra work it takes to machine all the parts in the rear end of a Monorail. That being said-we have 6 of them left and we will offer these 6 for $1650.00 each!!! You can save $650-$750 . Call if interested.

Next a few price increases on a certain models. We have not had any price increases in over 3 years. Unfortunately components, shipping costs and manufacturing costs have just skyrocketed over this period, and virtually all recumbent manufacturers have announced some pretty hefty price increases. At the same time we are committed to getting more people into Recumbents in general, and we strive to position ourselves as the “Value” leader in this industry. In keepng with this philosophy we looked at every possible saving to keep our price increases to a bare minumum and you will see that there will be no “Sticker Shock” on our increases. To give everybody a little time to order Trikes, price increases will be effective on October 1st.

Spike 1 -we are commited to having a quality entry level folding Trike that retails for less than $1000.00 . There will be no price increase on Spike 1.

Spike 2 will increase by $50.00 from $1249.00 to $1299.00.

Stowaway 1 will increase $50.00 from $1499.00 to $1549.00.

Stowaway 2 will increase $70.00 from $1699.00 to $1769.

There are no price increases on Titan, Transports, or Chameleon.

We are also pleased to announce 2 new models to our lineup.

First is a total departure for us.. a 2 Wheeler.. We have always heard that the 2 wheel market was shrinking, but after some investigation we concluded it was because there was really no nice entry level bikes out there- mostly just some $2k+ High Racers. We built a prototype of one of these to bring to the Smoky Mountain Recumbent Ride and the response was tremendous! Then of course what would we do with our “3 Wheels Good, 2 Wheels Bad” logo? It turns out 2 Wheels are not so bad after all!!! We are pleased to announce the Trident T.W.I.G (Two Wheels IS Good). In keeping with our philosphy- the T.W.I.G. is an entry level 26/20 2 wheeler. Do not let the price fool you though- it is packed full of upper end components! It comes with a Triple Truvativ Crankset, a Microshift Drivetrain with Twist Shifters and Avid Single Digit 5 V Brakes .. Also standard is an adjustable heght/angle Hardshell Seat with Neckrest and Ventisit Type Pad, Alloy Double Walled V Rims, and Tweener Bars with an adjustable stem. The T.W.I.G. also folds!! When riding a T.W.I.G. there are no suprises- it is a great low speed handling bike and not twitchy at all. This will satisfy not only entry level Recumbent riders, but also more experienced riders seeking better performance. The T.W.I.G. will retail at $1249.00.

Initial colors are Orange, and for a limited time we are doing some in the Wasabi Green color. T.W.I.G. is available now, however the initial production run was only 4 bikes and 2 of them are already sold. We are building more right now.

Our next new model is E Spike. This is a project we have been working on for a while. I cannot tell you how many requests we get for Electric Assist. There were so many component choices . We tested them all. Most important is the motor. There are basically 2 choices in motors – direct drive and geared drive . Direct Drive is a simpler and less expensive system . The advantages are less moving parts, a little quieter, and of course costs. Geared Motors are a little more complicated as they have more moving parts, but they are substantially lighter in weight , have much better torque and efficiency levels and consequently feel much sportier up hills- even really steep ones . They are though a bit noisier than direct drive motors. The other advantage of Geared Motors is that unlike a Direct Drive Motor they completely disengage- Direct Drives are not much fun if you pedal only for longer distances . We tested them all and concluded that the benefits of Geared Motors far outweigh the drawbacks. We also wanted a system that used separate Motor, Torque Sensor & Controllers because on those “all in one systems” the failure of just one minor component affects the rest.

We settled on a system made by a Japanese Company named Dapu. We are using a 350W motor- (for you techies I have been told it can be “overclocked” to 500W) , a Rear Rack Mounted Lithium Ion 36V 13Ah system battery with a built in rear light, a special rear rack, Electronic controls, a Throttle, and a special Torque Sensor Crankset they make. The really great thing about this system is that you can switch from throttle control only to 6 different assist levels that tie into the torque sensor. The 13AH Battery will give you far more range than the batteries you see from other manufacturers that are usually 6.4- 9.6 Ah And… this entire setup only adds about 18 ½ Lbs to a Spike.

E Spike is $2499.00 and will be available mid October. We will be offering E Upgrade kits for Spike owners and other models in the near future.

Lastly we are pleased to announce that we will be showing at the Recumbent Cycle Con in Pomona California, and will bring as much as we can for test riding- right now our plans are to bring a Chameleon, an E Spike, a Stowaway 2, a Titan, a Transport 26, and a T.W.I.G.- We hope to see a big crowd.

• Trident E Spike assist controller Trident E Spike assist controller
• Trident E Spike battery and rear light Trident E Spike battery and rear light
• Trident E Spike assist hub Trident E Spike assist hub
• Trident TWIG folded Trident TWIG folded
• Trident TWIG in green Trident TWIG in green
• Trident TWIG 26/20 Trident TWIG 26/20
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For the month of September, get $300 off a TerraTrike Sportster Pro and $200 off a Rambler Pro.

The Pro-Tember Sale discount is available to anyone purchasing a new TerraTrike Sportster Pro or Rambler Pro through an authorized dealer or direct from the TerraTrike website.

The sale savings reduces the Sportster Pro from $2,999 to $2,699 and the Rambler Pro from $2,399 to $2,199.

The Pro spec of each trike gets you 27 speeds, FSA Omega Mega EXO triples, a Microshift FD-439 front derailleur, SRAM PG-950 11-32 rear cassette, and Avid BB-7 disc brakes.

Catrike celebrates Labor Day with a look at how Cats are born in their new factory.

With EuroBike behind them, ICE has released just a bit more information about their new for 2014 ICE VTX racing trike.

Press release follows:

Inspired Cycle Engineering (ICE Trikes) announces the launch of their new racing recumbent trike: the ICE VTX^TM.

Building on decades of specialist recumbent knowledge and technical expertise, the ICE VTX is a new breed of recumbent trike. Sleek, lean and finely tuned the ICE VTX delivers superior performance, speed and precise handling to the most exacting rider.

Carefully considered design and specialised components, such as a lightweight boom and carbon fibre seat brings the VTX⁺ in under 30lbs. An optimised cruciform and one-piece handlebar provides stability and nimble handling at high speed. Advanced race components and customised features efficiently convert pedalling effort into speed, and a low recline angle down to 25° minimises frontal area to reduce aerodynamic drag. The hydroformed back-end gives optimal strength and stiffness while remaining lightweight.

The obvious advantage of the ICE VTX recumbent trike is the comfortable, anatomically shaped Air-Pro seat which supports through aggressive cornering and provides a firm brace to pedal against. The seat is based on a handmade shell, made in either glass fibre or, on the VTX⁺, carbon-fibre. The shell is faced with a single piece cover designed with padded zones separated by air flow routes for ventilation. Technical fabrics in each zone have been selected for breathability and durability.



Using the latest technologies, finest materials and expert engineering skills ICE has produced yet another trike that is second to none in its class.

The ICE VTX will be exhibited at Recumbent Cycle Convention in California, USA this November. Detailed information on the VTX will be available at the Convention. Until then the VTX can be watched in action on the ICE Trikes YouTube channel.

The ICE VTX will be available to purchase from the start of 2014.

Catrike has released a list of the serial number ranges of each of their models affected by the faulty spindle issue. Here's how to check yours.

If you've never looked for your Catrike serial number before, you'll want to take a look at the underside of the main frame tube, just behind the crossbeam.

The serial number is comprised of three elements. The first two letters are always CT for "Catrike". The third character denotes your model (7 - 700, E - Expedition, R - Road, T - Trail, V - Villager, P - Pocket). The final four digits are your trike number.

Here are the impacted trikes:

Model	Serial Range
Catrike 700	CT71014-CT71250
Catrike Expedition	CTE2996-CTE3360
Catrike Road	CTR1978-CTR2078
Catrike Trail	CTT1861-CTT2027
Catrike Villager	CTV2201-CTV2539
Catrike Pocket	CTP1072-CTP1165

Catrike anticipates replacing upwards of 1200 spindles within the next four weeks and continues to recommend that all affected Catrike owners stop riding their trikes until the replacement spindles are installed.

They also urge you to contact your Catrike dealer if you have not yet heard from them directly about scheduling your spindle replacement. 

To contact Catrike directly for more information, e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or call them at .