That mystery didn't last long!

The Catrike web site was updated today with a bold, red Flash ad for their newest addition - the Catrike Dash. It is a recumbent trike built specifically for kids. And, I might be crazy, but the whole thing looks to be inspired by the character of Dash from the Disney/Pixar film The Incredibles.

Information is scarce aside from the limited specs in the ad: the usual Catrike aluminum frame; Schwalbe Kojak tires; the return of the Muscle seat (but now with pockets); a 28 lb weight. The image of the trike shows it also sporting the Catrike chain tensioner and a single chain ring at the front.

Price has not yet been announced by Catrike. Will it be low enough to go up against KMX?

UPDATE: Since our initial publishing of this story, Catrike has revealed specs and price for the Dash.

SRAM is working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to announce a voluntary product recall of SRAM 10 speed chain PowerLock connector links. SRAM has determined there is a potential for the PowerLock connector link outer plate to fail. This presents a safety issue. As a result SRAM is retrieving and replacing all affected SRAM 10 speed chain PowerLock connector links from the marketplace.

THIS ISSUE IS SAFETY RELATED. SRAM will be advising consumers to stop using this product immediately. In the near future, we will be asking you to help us inform consumers about the recall by posting a Safety Recall Poster in your store, which we will provide you after coordination with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Failure of the SRAM 10 speed chain PowerLock connector link, while in use, may result in loss of bicycle control and possible injury.

IMPORTANT
- SRAM 8 speed chains and PowerLinks are NOT affected.
- SRAM 9 speed chains and PowerLinks are NOT affected.
- SRAM 10 speed chains are NOT affected.
- ONLY 10 speed PowerLock connector links are affected.

ISSUE
PowerLock connector plate may develop a crack.
Crack may develop during installation and/or early use.
Potential occurrence rate - 2.5 connector plates out of 1000

CONSUMERS
SRAM is working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to develop the materials to be used to notify consumers about this recall. We will advise you when this recall is going to be announced publicly to consumers. In that public announcement, we will be asking consumers owning one of these products to stop riding immediately and return their chains to any SRAM dealer for verification of the product date stamp and to obtain a free replacement PowerLock.

SRAM DEALER ACTION
SRAM dealers inside the United States - contact SRAM USA (1-800-346-2928) to obtain a return authorization number and replacement Power Lock connector links.

SRAM dealers outside of the United States - contact a SRAM distributor in your region for replacement PowerLock connector links, and to arrange for the return shipment of affected PowerLock connector links.

PRODUCT AFFECTED
SRAM PowerLock Connector Link (for SRAM 10 Speed Chain)

POWERLOCKS AFFECTED (PRODUCTION RANGE) - DATE CODE
Date codes M and N (on PowerLock ONLY). Date code letter is stamped onto end of each PowerLock connector link outer plate. To verify date stamp, check BOTH PowerLock connector link outer plates! See Fig. A.

CHAIN MODELS/PART NUMBERS - POTENTIALLY AFFECTED - AFTERMARKET:
85.2737.270.074 PowerLock Chain Connector 10-speed (4 pcs)
91.2712.114.005 Chain PC 1090R HollowPin 114 links PowerLock 10-speed
90.2712.114.005 Chain PC 1090 HollowPin 114 links PowerLock 10-speed
89.2711.114.005 Chain PC 1070 HollowPin 114 links PowerLock 10-speed
93.2712.114.005 Chain PC 1050 114 links PowerLock 10-speed
92.2711.114.005 Chain PC 1030 114 links PowerLock 10-speed

SRAM DEALER CUSTOMERS - PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
PowerLock connector links date-stamped with letters M and N must be removed and replaced with new PowerLock connector links date-stamped with letters other than M and N. All PowerLock connector links date-stamped with letters M and N must be returned to SRAM. Please make arrangements with your SRAM Sales or Customer Service representative.

UPDATE: Yeah... uh... The Villager has had a 27 speed option for a while now. This has nothing to do with the new Catrike model rumor. Sorry about that.

The rumor mill is currently grinding about news that a new Catrike is on the way. Believe it or not, I'm not usually privy to such tidbits - most likely because I'd spill my guts.

However, the 2009 Product Specifications sheet over at the Catrike web site does mysteriously list a previously unknown 27 speed Villager for a price of $1,750, bringing it up to the same price as a Catrike Trail.  The specs are all the same as the current $1,550 Villager with the exception of a SRAM SX5 twister shifter, Truvativ Touro Trip 165mm cranks, and a Microshift front derailleur.

Shouldn't be too long before we (as recumbent fans) get official word from Catrike on this, but the 27 speed Villager is looking to be the likely answer. Or maybe the Villager upgrade is just part of a larger announcement? Only time will tell.

Oh no... I can't believe I so quickly went for the pun! This is what happens when I go for a week without posting anything new. The pent up need to be clever surfaces in terrible and frightful ways.

But not as terrible and frightful as a man so requiring potassium that he decides to trike RAGBRAI XXXVII in a banana socked trike while wearing a banana costume. Actually, he's part of Team BananasRus.

Recumbent news is new? Then what's all this blogging stuff? Believe me, I understand the potential for confusion, but here's the deal.

The Blog is where we chat about the shop, present original content (photos, videos, articles), and let the resident blogger yammer on about cycling in general and recumbents in particular.

Recumbent News is an area that shows news from other sites like BentRider, Recumbent Blog, VeloVision, et cetera. We're providing a single area where you can get bent news from all over the place. In fact, if you have a favorite site and would like to see it included, use our Contact form to send it to the webmaster.

The Recumbent News page updates every 5 minutes, so refreshing it constantly won't do much for you. However, and this is just weird on a meta level, you can subscribe to an RSS feed for our page that pulls together RSS feeds from other sites! This is the part where, if we were tripping*, we'd all pull back and say, "Whoa..."

*Please note that the author has no experience in this realm and is therefore basing the plausability of this scenario on the many movies he has seen depicting similar circumstances. All I know is that Toni Basil freaked me out in Easy Rider.