Month: February 2020

COME RIDE THE FORT WAYNE TRAILS

Fort Wayne is Indiana’s second largest city with a growing population currently around 268,000. We are blessed to have about 130 miles of trails at this point in time. About 79 miles of them are connected together. They are all paved … mostly with asphalt and a small amount are concrete. The original trails are known as the Rivergreenway because they follow along the three rivers we have here in Fort Wayne. The Rivergreenway consists of about 21 miles of linear trails. The Rivergreenway consists of the St. Joseph Pathway, the St. Marys Pathway and the Maumee Pathway. Two other trails I recommend are the Towpath Trail and the Pufferbelly Trail. HERE is a map of the entire trail system.

For those who are campers there is a very nice campground conveniently located in Johnny Appleseed Park which has one of the Rivergreenway Trails (the St. Joseph Pathway) going right past it. There are also two fenced in dog parks available just across the street from the campground for those who have dogs with them. It is called Camp Canine and is 60,000 square feet in area. To check out the cost and requirements click on the dog parks link above. I often times stop by on my trike just to watch the dogs play and interact with one another. On the map below the black line area is the campground, the blue line area is the dog parks and the red line is the St. Joseph Pathway (bike trail).

I am available to ride with anyone who wants to come here and ride on our trails. I will help with learning the trails and making sure you are safe and don’t get lost. I look forward to meeting you. You can email me for further communication, information and planning. My email address is …   tadpolerider2 at gmail dot com.

May we all …

ENJOY THE RIDE!

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

 

 

eZEE … HAS BEEN A WINNER

It has been just over two years since I bought and installed an eZee hub motor on my trike. I am writing about it now as a sort of a review. I am pleased to say that I have been very well satisfied with this motor. It has performed flawlessly. It is a geared motor which means that the nylon gears are suppose to be changed every 8000 miles or so. I have new gears on hand to do so as I am well past the 8000 mile point as I usually average about 8000 miles  or more a year. Last summer I opened up the motor with the intention of changing the gears but I found the gears inside still looked like brand new so I closed the motor back up and just kept riding. I was impressed. Being a geared motor it is a little bit noisier than I would like. My first motor, a BionX, was gearless and ran quieter so that spoiled me. One thing I like about this motor is that is weighs so little compared to some hub motors. The second hub motor I had, a Golden Motor Magic Pie Edge, was a whopping 19 pounds and was a monster to lift. This eZee hub motor weighs only 8 and a third pounds. With gears it can be made smaller diameter too which I like. Although it is rated at 1000 watts it is not the fastest or most powerful but it does a good job of moving me along. It is geared and designed to top out at 28 mph and that is what it does. I have had it up to 30 mph a few times on declines. My BionX motor was suppose to go 20 mph but it topped out at 17 mph. Oh, it would be fun to have a motor capable of propelling the trike along at 50 mph, but I would probably end up wrapping it around a tree or losing control and wrecking. So I am happy enough with what I have. At 73 years old I don’t need to live dangerously taking chances like that.

I feel that I should mention that I was not impressed with the aluminum rim that came with this e-motor kit. Of course, I have to say the same thing about the rims that came from Catrike. None of them have held up for me. I had to replace all of them with heavier duty BMX rims. They have held up great so far.

I have purposely withheld from making suggestions/recommendations to others when asked what brand of electric motor to purchase. Part of my reason for doing so is to is I simply don’t want to have someone buy a motor on my recommendation and then not be happy with it. I have not changed my position on this. However, I will readily say that I am very pleased with the eZee hub motor. It is my third brand of hub motor I have had after bad experiences with the first two. I have not missed out on any riding due to any problem with this motor. As I stated, it has been flawless. I am truly blessed and am …

ENJOYING THE RIDE!

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

For those who are interested I have written/posted numerous articles about e-motors in the past. Click HERE to view them.

WORLD INTEREST IN TADPOLE TRIKES

As you know I have this blog about tadpole trikes. What you may not know is that it is viewed in nearly every country on the face of the earth. I find that amazing that there are people in places where they probably don’t even have a good clean safe source of water have been online checking out this blog. Here is a world map showing in green what few countries have not had anyone view this blog.

As you can see there are not very many. All of the black are countries that have had someone view this blog. Below is a list of the countries and the number of views from that country as of this date (Feb. 10, 2020) when I am composing this.

United States 391476
Canada 42388
United Kingdom 38304
Australia 19912
Germany 19707
France 14719
India 6793
Sweden 6588
Brazil 6485
Italy 6258
Netherlands 6218
Spain 5965
Poland 4758
Hungary 4363
Philippines 4270
Belgium 4062
New Zealand 3358
South Africa 3075
Finland 2899
Mexico 2770
Indonesia 2686
South Korea 2672
Denmark 2648
Russia 2627
Argentina 2499
Switzerland 2472
Japan 2469
Turkey 2448
Romania 2412
Thailand 2385
Czech Republic 2290
Norway 2082
Ireland 2056
Singapore 2053
Malaysia 1861
Ukraine 1831
Colombia 1774
Portugal 1659
Austria 1636
Serbia 1381
Slovakia 1372
Chile 1316
Taiwan 1295
Croatia 1283
Hong Kong SAR China 1201
Greece 1147
Slovenia 1095
Lithuania 1056
Bulgaria 1045
Israel 922
European Union 894
Saudi Arabia 858
Vietnam 652
Pakistan 580
Peru 569
Venezuela 528
Latvia 489
United Arab Emirates 480
Egypt 463
Puerto Rico 430
China 413
Ecuador 389
Estonia 372
Morocco 368
Bolivia 290
Uruguay 280
Belarus 280
Costa Rica 278
Kazakhstan 196
Bosnia & Herzegovina 192
Bangladesh 176
Georgia 174
Macedonia 168
Iceland 165
Luxembourg 159
Algeria 155
Kenya 155
Panama 151
Sri Lanka 149
Nigeria 147
Dominican Republic 144
Cyprus 141
Moldova 137
Trinidad & Tobago 130
Oman 121
Paraguay 119
Qatar 117
Malta 113
Jamaica 112
Guatemala 110
Lebanon 108
Brunei 108
Réunion 104
Kuwait 104
Tunisia 98
Barbados 97
Myanmar (Burma) 97
Iraq 97
French Polynesia 80
Albania 78
Nepal 74
American Samoa 70
Mauritius 68
Montenegro 62
Azerbaijan 61
Jordan 57
New Caledonia 54
Cambodia 52
Ghana 51
Bahrain 49
Ethiopia 49
Bermuda 47
Belize 46
Jersey 46
El Salvador 44
Rwanda 43
Bahamas 39
Tanzania 38
Uzbekistan 37
Isle of Man 36
Aruba 35
Guam 33
Mongolia 32
Nicaragua 31
Caribbean Netherlands 31
Kyrgyzstan 28
Mozambique 27
Fiji 26
Guernsey 26
Honduras 26
St. Lucia 25
Cayman Islands 23
Palestinian Territories 21
Zambia 21
Namibia 20
Guadeloupe 19
Macau SAR China 18
Armenia 18
Zimbabwe 16
Senegal 15
Haiti 15
Uganda 14
Botswana 14
Laos 14
Suriname 13
Sudan 13
Norfolk Island 13
Antigua & Barbuda 13
Cape Verde 13
U.S. Virgin Islands 11
Cuba 11
Andorra 11
Guyana 10
Libya 10
Faroe Islands 10
Cameroon 10
Madagascar 9
French Guiana 9
Turks & Caicos Islands 9
Gambia 8
Côte d’Ivoire 7
Guinea 6
Solomon Islands 6
Martinique 6
British Virgin Islands 6
Maldives 6
Liberia 6
Papua New Guinea 5
Monaco 5
Yemen 5
Angola 5
Åland Islands 5
Congo – Kinshasa 4
Gabon 4
Gibraltar 4
Grenada 4
Congo – Brazzaville 4
Malawi 3
Curaçao 3
San Marino 3
Afghanistan 3
Chad 3
Burkina Faso 3
Cook Islands 3
St. Vincent & Grenadines 3
Mali 2
Swaziland 2
St. Martin 2
Liechtenstein 2
Niue 2
Micronesia 2
Benin 2
Seychelles 2
St. Pierre & Miquelon 2
Lesotho 2
Sierra Leone 2
Somalia 2
Dominica 1
Falkland Islands 1
Togo 1
Burundi 1
Bhutan 1
Equatorial Guinea 1
Mayotte 1
Turkmenistan 1
South Sudan 1
Samoa 1
Timor-Leste 1
Syria 1
Antarctica 1
Kosovo 1
Anguilla 1

Like I said, I find it rather amazing that there is such interest in tadpole trikes all over the world. Of course, I am sure that some landed on my blog very much by accident … by misdirection by a search engine … or whatever. And I am equally as sure that some who visited the blog didn’t stick around to actually read it, especially when they discovered it had nothing to do with what they were looking for.

Even so I am also confident that there are some who live in some place where they have no hope or means of ever having a tadpole trike. They can only dream and wish. My heart goes out to them. If I had the ability I would provide them with a trike.

Then again some live places where it would be quite impossible to ride a tadpole trike if they did have one. Even a bicycle could not handle the place where they are at.

Many of us need to count our blessings. Some among us have more than one trike. Some even have several trikes. I sometimes ask myself … would I have more than one trike if I could afford it? I don’t know the answer to that. I can only ride one at a time so do I need more than one? Well, I won’t go any farther on that subject. I know I am grateful that the Lord has provided me with the means of having one. I was able to buy it just before I retired as extra funds became available as I started receiving SS just before I retired. Yes, I am so thankful to have my trike as I truly …

ENJOY THE RIDE!

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

3D PRINTING … A HANDY GADGET

Over the last few years I have been seeing everything from a small part to an entire bicycle which was created by 3D printing. I don’t profess to know the first thing about 3D printing but as a metal fabricator most of my life I find it interesting and intriguing that various things I have always made out of metal can be made out of plastic and function quite well. I understand that the plastic used is quite inexpensive and is lightweight.

Here are some 3D printed mounts for taillights one tadpole rider has made for his tadpole trike:

 

Below is the mount made for the camera on a telescoping selfie stick.

Below is a water bottle holder.

As you can see all sorts of stuff can be made using a 3D printer. I would have to say however that for the average person it would not be all that practical to have such equipment. First of all it is expensive to buy so unless one would use it a lot it just would not be justifiable. And most of us probably would not be savvy enough to be able to use it. Lastly, most of us probably would not find ourselves needing to make all that much stuff for our trikes. What little we might have come up we can buy for a lot less than the 3D printer and supplies would cost. But for those interested and able it is an option.

May we all manage to …

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

THE ONLY WAY TO RIDE (INDOORS)

For those who don’t care to venture out riding during colder temperatures there are “indoor trainers”. However nearly all of them are made for bicycles. They may or may not work on a tadpole trike. I highly recommend one that is made for tadpole trikes … the Sportcrafters trike trainer which is a set of rollers as shown above.

I would have one if I had the money to spend on one but I don’t so I stick with my bicycle trainer. It works but I know that the rollers would be far superior. I don’t usually ride indoors anyway. I go out thruout the winter months and ride boldly ride.

The Sportcrafters rollers come in two different models for tadpole trikes. They no longer offer their basic model. Now they have all models with built in resistance to provide a true workout. Here are the two models available for tadpole trikes:

OverDrive Trike Trainer (MR110) $199

Resistance mimics real-road conditions, and is well suited for active trike riders who want to maintain fitness. Click HERE to read more about it.

Double OverDrive Trike Trainer (MR120) $249

So many customers have asked for more resistance from the OverDrive trike trainer for strong interval sprints that we are happy to offer the Double OverDrive trike trainer with two identical progressive resistance drums.  Click HERE to read more about this model.

So if you are among those who don’t go outdoors and ride during colder temperatures and/or snow on the ground this is an option so that you can …

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

TRIDENT CANOPY WITH NECKREST

Trident offers several accessories for their trikes. One of the newest to be added to their offerings is a canopy  which also incorporates a neckrest in its design. I have been seeing pictures of them lately. In 2019 Trident won the BentRider Recumbent Accessory of the Year Award for their canopy. I don’t know if there is any adjustment for the height but the frame is solid as in ‘not flexible’ so I don’t know how difficult it would be to get in and out of the seat since the canopy doesn’t move out of the way like those which are “spring loaded” and move up and out of the way when the front tie down is released. Perhaps it is short enough not to be in the way.

Without a front hold down I don’t know how this canopy would do in high winds or high speed. Definitely the canopy’s tubing framework would get a workout. The thickness of the tubing would come into play in this scenario. Hopefully it is thick enough not to bend when encountering wind. From my personal experience with my canopy I would be quite concerned about this canopy holding up to high winds.

I saw a picture of a tandem trike with two of these canopies installed on it. I would love to show the picture here but I don’t have permission to do so so I won’t. In the picture the canopies are low enough to offer more shade than they would be if they were high like the picture above.

Definitely canopies provide some protection from the sun and precipitation and help us to …

ENJOY THE RIDE!

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

 

SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER

I just checked and there are about 38 days left until Spring arrives.  (I asked Google and “she” said that there are 21 days left. So much for being able to trust what Google reports.) Of course, that is just a day on the calendar. It may or may not be reflected in the weather department. We can only hope. I know I am sure ready for it. Even though this has been a pretty mild winter for the most part, this month (February) winter weather has finally arrived for many of us. Even so, it still isn’t all that bad. Here in northeast Indiana we are having pretty much typical normal winter temperatures and so far bitter nasty winter weather has not reared its ugly face. Even so many tadpole trike riders are hibernating waiting for much nicer weather. Most of them haven’t even ventured out when the quite mild winter weather was upon us. I know some who don’t venture out on their trikes until the temperature is in the mid 70s. By that time several weeks of nice riding weather have passed by. Oh well, it is their choice and their loss.

Anyway, Spring arrives Thursday March 19th this year. That is the earliest since 1896. I just hope the weather is in tune with it and we do have decent weather even before then. It is my understanding that the groundhog did not see his shadow this year so that means we are suppose to have an early Spring.

Spring is my favorite season of the year followed by Autumn.  Of course, winter is my least favorite even though the snow and ice can be beautiful as captured in the image above.

Certainly the beautiful blossoms of Spring are breathtaking and I love seeing them. During winter where everything looks so drab and ugly for so long (with the exception of a new snowfall or ice storm) this natural beauty appears faithfully which only Jesus (the Creator of all that exists) can produce reminding us that He is still there and very much in control.

We don’t have many cherry tree blossoms here where I live and ride but we do have tulip tree blossoms which are quite pretty.

Yes, I am counting the days awaiting all of this knowing that I survived another winter and better riding weather has arrived. It is great to …

ENJOY THE RIDE!

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

THE HARDEST PART OF RIDING A TADPOLE TRIKE

I have always been one to joke around and try to get laughs. I guess I got it from my dad. It has got me into trouble more than once starting back in my childhood. Throughout school I was the class clown … always doing or saying things to get a laugh out of my classmates. Once a teacher sent me out of the classroom to stand in the hallway when I said something in response to him that he didn’t like. The class laughed but he didn’t. I don’t think he had much of a sense of humor.

Why am I sharing this you ask? Well, I am leading up to something which has to do with tadpole trikes. Really, I am. One of the things I have said numerous times with people about tadpole trikes concerns how comfortable they are to ride. I tell them that “THE HARDEST PART OF RIDING A TADPOLE TRIKE IS TRYING TO STAY AWAKE”. Although I say that jokingly it is not far from the truth. It would not be all that hard to fall asleep while riding along as they are just that comfortable to ride. Riding a tadpole trike is much like having a recliner chair on wheels. I won’t go as far as saying it is “overstuffed” but, hey, it sure beats the extreme discomfort or riding a diamond frame bicycle.

Here is a well made video on the subject …

There are things some manufacturers do to add additional comfort to their trikes such as extra padding on the seats and wrist rests. And there are things individuals do to add additional comfort such as seat pads, neckrests, pedal extenders, shorter crankarms, etc.

There are some adjustments on some trikes which can be made to accommodate the individual. Seat back angle is one of those. Some riders prefer to be very reclined while others want to sit quite upright. Seat height also comes into play but that is usually a matter of the particular model of trike one chooses as the seat height varies between manufacturer’s models.

I have written about the subject of comfort before. Yep, riding a tadpole trike is quite comfortable. DO TRY TO STAY AWAKE! We all want to …

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

AN AWESOME VIDEO

With today’s technology and skilled video editing comes this awesome video. Up until now I have not cared much for the 360 cameras (pictures and videos I have seen) but this one I like.

KUDOS to Preston Toombs for his accomplishment in capturing and producing this excellent video. May he continue to

ENJOY THE RIDE

and

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

and

PRODUCING GREAT VIDEOS

**********

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

WE ALL GOTTA GO

I wrote about this once before several years ago. Nothing has changed since then. It is still a most serious and desperate matter. I am talking about building trails to use but failing to provide restrooms.  I mean … come on now … we all gotta go. It is a human need. Why don’t these people involved in trail planning and building accommodate the people they are building the trails for? I mean it is not just something that would be nice but it is a genuine need. What is wrong with them? Do their brains not work? Do they not care about us? Yes, I know trails are quite expensive to build and adding restrooms into the picture would greatly increase the cost. It does not matter. Restrooms are necessary. Here where I live we have very few restrooms available on our trail system. Most of the ones we do have are located in city parks. Not all of our trails go thru or near city parks. To make matters worse most of them are closed for 6 months out of the year for concern of frozen plumbing and expensive damage from that happening. There are just a very few “port-a-potties” the city rents but they are too few and too far apart. And again, come winter time most of them disappear. I don’t know what the answer is but as far as I am concerned as much as I like to see trail expansion (more trails being built and added to the trail network) I would rather see them use the money to add restrooms to the existing trails … even if they are simply port-a-potties. Right now we only have two restrooms that remain open thru the winter as they are heated. One is in a city park near a trail. The other is in another city park but no where near a trail so to use it means riding several blocks off of the trail. Yep, we all gotta go, but where? Is anybody listening? I don’t think so. I know I have brought the subject up before the city before but it falls on deaf ears. I tell ya if I was in charge things would be different. Having somewhere to go would definitely help all of us to not only …

ENJOY THE RIDE!

but to be able to remain out there longer and ride farther instead of having to try to make it somewhere to accommodate our human need which grows quite desperate.

What about where you ride? Are restrooms available along the trails? Please tell us by leaving a comment.

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

Hey, I would even settle for one of these with a hole in the ground like we used to have a long time ago. The Amish still use them.

70 steps to the outhouse by Will E. Makeit

I am reminded of the joke about the “two seater” outhouse where a couple of guys decided to have some fun. They rigged up a loudspeaker down under the seats and had a microphone hooked up to use a distance away where they were out of sight. They would wait until someone came along (preferably female) and sat down to use the outhouse. Then that person would hear a voice coming from down below them asking them to move over to the other hole (seat) as they were performing some work below where they were seated. The person would panic and rush out of the outhouse as quickly as they could.

And speaking of “WE ALL GOTTA GO” … God has said to us that “it is appointed unto man once to die and after that comes (His) judgement” Hebrews 9:27 … and  says “It is a fearful and terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God [incurring His judgment and wrath].” Hebrews 10:31  Are you prepared to meet Him? What have you done with Jesus?