Month: July 2022

LOOK MAW, NO PEDALS

TIME FOR SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT

Sooner or later it had to happen. Somebody would make a reverse trike with no pedals … just a motor … and not an e-motor. What we have here is a 3 wheel motorcycle. It is powered by a relatively small 1981 Yamaha SR 185 four stroke engine. This would definitely require registering it as a motorcycle and having a  licence plate on it to operate it on the road. Eventually he plans on making this into a velomobile. He is not that far along yet in this video. He only has a cheap small engine muffler on it which is way too loud. I noticed that he is wearing earplugs while riding it.

More of his videos

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GOT QUESTIONS ABOUT E-ASSIST?

Are you more less uninformed about e-assist and wanting to learn about the subject? Glen Aldridge has compiled a webpage that has lots of information to help others learn. Glen is not only a fellow triker but he has his own business involving bikes and trikes. He rents out such cyclery as well as sells and services customers with e-motors, batteries, etc.

https://mid-islandadventures.weebly.com/electric-assist-kits.html

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ARE RECUMBENT TADPOLE TRIKES FOR YOU?

I am only going to say that the only regret I have is that I didn’t know about recumbent tadpole trikes as a kid growing up as I sure would have been riding them all my life.

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HOW SHARP ARE YOU?

Yeah, I know … I should have titled this “how sharp can your trike turn?” but I am just too ornery to do so. 😉  It is amazing the differences in turning ability of various trikes. My Catrike could easily make these turns as could my homemade trike. I have friends with ICE and TerraTrike trikes and neither of them could make these turns. They would be stopping and going back and forth to get around these turns. I love my Catrike. It truly is a product of Inspired Engineering.

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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MY BEST DAYS MAY BE BEHIND ME, BUT …

Yep, I am getting old … going on 76. My best days may be behind me, but riding my trike nearly every day helps me keep going and looking forward to each passing day. Trike riding definitely adds fun and enjoyment to life and even some excitement … sometimes more than I really was wanting.

I came up alongside a fellow tadpole rider today. He was riding along at 15 mph without any e-motor assistance. I said to him that I was envious that he could ride at that speed without the help of a motor. His reply was right on … “I am younger than you”. Yes, I most definitely have slowed up as I age. I just am not able to ride anywhere near as fast as I could 20 years ago … not even 10 years ago.

I am so thankful for the e-motor which enables me to ride like the wind making riding enjoyable instead of misery like it would be without it. The breeze feels mighty good at 20 mph making it far more comfortable which equates to enjoyable. I can go out riding and not get all sweaty. It really makes a big difference.

Of course, I have no way of knowing how much longer I will  be sucking air. I am already living on borrowed time so to speak … anything beyond 70. I am hopeful that my health will hold up and permit me to continue to ride right up until near the end of my life or the Lord takes me in the rapture … whichever comes first.

My trike is now over 13 years old as far as the “running gear” and it is still performing like it did when it was brand new. Catrike sure makes a great trike. I am confident that it will continue to perform superbly another 13 years or more.

I retired at age 62.5 so I have 13 years of retired life behind me already. I jokingly said that upon retirement my job will be riding my trike and for sure that has been the case. I have over 102,000 miles on my trike. Almost all of it has been since I retired. That is an average of 7846 miles a year. I have slowed up not riding as many miles as I used to but I still manage over 7000 miles per year. I had some years over 10,000 miles early on. I still have a lot of 50 plus mile days. Of course, I could not say that without the e-motor assistance.

My first e-motor was in 2017. Since then I have had 7 e-motors. All have been rear hub type except for one crank drive. I am sold on hub motors and don’t care for crank drive motors at all. E-motors are an expensive addition to a trike. The motor I have now is the cheapest of all of them I have ever had. It is also the most powerful of all of them. I am really liking it and have no regrets having bought the cheapest one I found. They are all made in China and I think they are all of the same quality. I am hopeful this motor I have now will outlast me.  I reckon I will just have to wait and see. One thing is for sure … I definitely want to …

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I DON’T RIDE TO …

I was looking thru David Goldman’s videos and found this one I thought I would share here with you. He explains why he rides as well as why he doesn’t ride. That may not make much sense to you now but watch the video as it explains it.

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SW900 LCD DISPLAY CONTROLLER — INSTRUCTIONS WOULD HELP

I make no claim of being an expert on e-motors. That being said I have had seven different e-motors on my trike thus far. The first three were all BionX which the dealer installed. Even with them I had the experience of uninstalling them and reinstalling them myself. And all of the rest of the motors I installed myself. What I am trying to say is that by now I have had quite a lot of experience installing and uninstalling e-motors. The clutch went out on my last e-motor so I started looking at what is available to replace it. I don’t care for crank drive motors so didn’t bother looking at any of them.

I found a complete motor conversion kit for only $469. That does not include a battery but I already have a few batteries so $469 was an attractive deal. Of course, it comes from China and there are no helpful instructions that are provided. Installing it was not a problem but getting it to work without instructions was quite challenging. Fortunately I was able to find instructions online which was a big help. I got it running but the top speed was quite slow. I was ready to send it back for a refund when I sort of accidentally stumbled across the problem and got it resolved. If only the Chinese would include instructions all of this could have been avoided.  For what it is worth, I just now found one user manual which covers what the problem was and why I wasn’t getting much speed or power out of this new motor. Anyway, I am writing this article in hopes it will help others in getting their self installed e-motor system up and running.

My new system uses the LCD-SW900 display console controller which is a common display console controller various e-motor manufacturers use. I did not use the cadence assist hardware component in my installation. I may install it sometime in the future. I only have a manual thumb throttle hooked up. Upon completing the installation using a 48 volt battery (this motor is made for 72 volts) my top speed was only 5.6 mph and had no torque available at all to climb the slightest incline. I rode it that way for a couple of days.That is a mighty slow ride but still better than I can do on my own without any e-motor assist. About 2/3 of the way into my second day of riding so slowly I just happened to discover the answer to more speed and power. I pushed the UP ARROW button on the 3 button control which caused it to go from power level one to power level two. (PAS — power assist — level is displayed at bottom left corner of SW900 display) Simple enough but without any knowledge and understanding of how it works … well … I was stuck at 5.6 mph as when first turning the system on PAS 1 is what it starts out in by default. If only they had provided instructions. Anyway, I knew that 5 levels of e-motor assist were programmed into the SW900 display console controller so I continued to press the UP ARROW button watching it change up to assist level 5 and experiencing more speed and power with each level of increase. Hallelujah! ! Happy days are here again! Definitely this is the most powerful e-motor I have had installed yet. It is not as fast top speed as my former e-motor but I am really liking it as it is whisper quiet and far more powerful. I am tempted to buy a 72 volt battery just to see if this motor will perform as advertised … about 45 mph top speed. I am nearly 76 years old and probably should avoid the temptation as I would likely find myself careening off of a tree unless I wrapped myself around it. BTW, to go down in the assist level pushing the DOWN ARROW button lowers it one level at a time. Turning power on and off is accomplished by holding the middle button down a few seconds. So if you find yourself in the same situation I was in hopefully this will help you.

Speaking of help:

SW900 manual

SW900 manual

SW900 manual with the error codes for troubleshooting

SW900 manual with the error codes for troubleshooting

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WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

“They” say we are having a drought here in northern Indiana where I live. If we are I think it is safe to say that it has come to an end. It is raining hard and the forecast if for it to continue to rain …  for the rest of the week.  Boo Hoo!  So it doesn’t look like trike riding is going to happen. Oh well, I will just have to figure out something else to do. Maybe I could and should build a boat. It is looking and sounding like I might need one. It is really coming down hard out there. I know we need the rain. If nothing else the farmers’ crops need the rain. I just hope they don’t get too much.

With all of this rain the rivers are sure to flood and most of the trails I normally ride will be closed due to flooding. I don’t like having to ride in the streets and roads but with the trails closed I don’t have much choice.

Even if it were to stop raining long enough to sneak in a short ride it would be a wet one with all the standing water on the streets and trails. I have a full set of fenders but they are limited in how much good they do. They don’t stop all of the water and crud from being flung up onto me.

It is so sad that Adam and Eve blew it committing sin (rebellion against God). After they sinned a curse came upon the earth and mankind. Prior to this there was no such thing as rain and flooding. God watered the earth with a dew on the ground thru the night. Wouldn’t that be nice? Yes, if only man would not have sinned things would sure be a lot different. Of course, we will never know. And it is unfair to put all the blame on Adam and Eve. We would have done the same thing. As to the reality of things, they were absolutely pure prior to that. Adam chose to disobey and BECAME a sinner. You and I can’t make any such claim. We were born sinners and therefore we  are at enmity with God Who is Holy and Pure. Being holy and pure He can not allow us into His presence as we are unholy and impure. That is the problem we have and what keeps us separated from our Creator Who loves us and wants us to be in a relationship with Him. We have a serious problem that only God can fix. And He did fix it. He did His part. Now the ball is in our court. You can read all about it HERE. Oh how He loves you and me!

Rain rain go away, Come again another day. I want to …

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MATT’S SAD STORY

Many of us follow the adventures of Matt Galat. And those of us who do and are keeping up with all that is going on with him know that he just took possession of a brand new Azub tadpole trike said to be worth … are you sitting down? …US $13,000. W ell, he was on his way back from Europe to the U.S. with it when the airline lost it. Here is Matt telling the whole story about it. The bad news is the airline has no idea where it is. The good news is that I have a Friend Who knows exactly where it is at. I have asked Him to help the airline to find it and quickly get it returned to Mat plus a proper monetary compensation for all they have put him thru. I am waiting to hear of the safe return of Matt’s trike.

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TrikExplor

Notice: This article may contain commentary that reflects the author’s opinion.

By now many of us have seen and/or heard of TrikExplor, a Chinese manufacturer of tadpole trikes. They have come up with some interesting models over the years. They have an online store on AliExpress.

Their prices used to be quite appealing but with inflation and the world economy they are now about the same as what we are used to seeing for tadpole trikes being sold here in the U.S.

I find their motorized FAT quad most appealing. It looks truly to be a vehicle which can go just about anywhere and handle about everything. For $8000 it ought to. I much prefer this e-motor setup over a crank drive.

I really don’t know where I would ride it so I don’t have a need for it. I could not justify it. I could not afford it anyway. It is what I consider a rich man’s toy. I am sure it would be great fun if you can afford it and have someplace to ride it..

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