Month: February 2019

TOURING WITH E-ASSIST

Sylvia Halpern with Moto-Myrtle

(A 700 watt EcoSpeed mid-drive electric motor assist tadpole trike)

Myrtle the Turtle, known far and wide among the recumbent trike world. (Myrtle is actually the name of the trike.) Sylvia Halpern is the owner’s name and she is well known among the recumbent trike world. And if you don’t yet know the name now is your opportunity to meet this world traveler. Travelling by tadpole trike many thousands of miles and sharing her adventures online we have the privilege of being/getting acquainted with Sylvia. She is on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and her own website and probably other social media I am not aware of.  Among her articles is one about touring with e-assist. It is well written and I recommend it to you. Click HERE to do so. She has titled it “Why not use electric assist?”.

Whether you ride with or without e-assist …

ENJOY THE RIDE!

You can get better acquainted with Sylvia via Gary Solomon’s interview with her when she was featured on the Laidback Bike Report …

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

ELECTRIC BIKE OUTFITTERS

Are you considering adding an electric motor onto your tadpole trike? Anyone who has looked into doing so will surely notice that there are lots of motors out there. However the vast majority are pretty much intended for conventional bicycles with 26 inch wheels. If your trike has a 20 inch rear wheel there are not nearly as many choices. With BionX out of the picture there are even fewer main players. Some that do exist are not very well known. I personally have an eZee hub motor. Most people have probably never heard of it. I have pretty much made the decision not to recommend any brand over another brand and let the trike owner research their options and choose whatever they want. Quite frankly I don’t want anyone upset with me over the choice they made.

I have written several articles in the past about e-motors and shared about my own personal experiences with hub motors on my trike.

One of the companies offering e-motors for trikes is EBO … Electric Bike Outfitters. EBO offers several different packages of hub motors as well as a mid-drive motor. Their packages are complete and ready to install. Motor, controller, display console, throttle, e-brake levers, pedal assist, and battery … it’s all there.

Their batteries are limited to 11 aH however as seems to be the case with many suppliers. 11 aH is fine if you don’t ride all that far, but just not large enough for those who ride greater distances. Nobody likes hauling around more weight than they have to so having two batteries is not something most people want to do. They are not only heavy, but they are bulky as well. And, of course, they are the costliest part of the components. Still this company is offering their wares and I simply want to make others aware of them.

Looking thru their offerings THIS ONE would be my pick as it is 750 watt. The total price was $1528 for the various selections I made. Most of their motors are 350 watt including their mid-drive. 350 watts is sufficient for most unless one does a lot of steep long hills. The 350 watt BionX hub motor I had was quite sufficient for my riding needs.

Here is the 500 watt hub motor.

Whatever you decide on may you …

ENJOY THE RIDE!

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

 

THE GREAT AMERICAN RAIL-TRAIL

The Great American Rail-Trail is an ongoing project as well as a great vision. From sea to shining sea … from Washington (D.C. ) to Washington  (Seattle) … better bring your pajamas as you won’t make this ride in one day. I like the idea of riding across the country on a bike trail and not having to deal with riding on dangerous roads.

Most definitely one challenge and important concern to such a trail is providing toilets all along the route. We can’t be going behind a bush or tree and definitely we all have to go sometime … in more ways than one.

HERE is an article about this trail explaining the plan and providing some information about what has been built thus far and where things stand.

Much of the trail utilizes rail trails that are already in existence and are simply being linked together rather than starting from scratch and building all new. In my State of Indiana the Cardinal Greenway is a part of it.

I hope the governing body has the good sense not to restrict e-assist cycles from using the trail. I wonder how the governing body is going to work seeing how this long trail system is utilizing existing trails which already have their own governing entity.

One thing about it … if a tadpole trike rider took off on this nearly 4000 mile long trail they certainly could …

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT awaits you!