Month: August 2022

THE PUFFERBELLY TRAIL

I thought I had written at least one article about the Pufferbelly Trail previously but upon doing a search I discovered I haven’t. I have talked about it a few times in various posts but I have never featured it. So guess what? Yep, I decided to do so now. The Pufferbelly Trail is an ongoing rails to trail project located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Nearly 7 miles of the Pufferbelly Trail have been constructed: 4.75 miles from Washington Center Rd. north to Life Bridge Church and has now been extended further north another 4.5 miles.  Another 2.25 miles is constructed from Lawton Park and Fourth St. north to Lima Rd and Ice Way.  To the south it will connect to the Rivergreenway in downtown Fort Wayne.  The Pufferbelly Trail is one segment of a State Visionary Trail. When completed, the trail will be part of the Poka-Bache Connector, running from Ouabache State Park near Bluffton to Pokagon State Park north of Angola. This 81.3-mile connector trail will bring Steuben, Dekalb, Allen, and Wells counties communities together. This trail is a crucial part of the United Trails project in our region.

Poka-Bache Connector info

Wells County trail info

PBS Indianapolis news article

Although** I have not seen or heard of any of it being built other than about 13 miles here in Fort Wayne and Allen County our local trails manager tells me that about 50 % of the 81 miles is already complete. **Until just now I was unaware that anything has been done in Dekalb County north of Allen County. I was wrong. They will build a trail that goes right past where I used to live. It starts near the intersection of County Rd. 11A and County Rd. 56 will go alll the way into and thru  the city of Auburn (right past the Auburn-Cord- Duesenberg Automotive Museum). The trail connects to the Rieke Trail going north out of Auburn and will follow along Betz Rd. to connect to the pre-existing Auburn-Waterloo Trail. HERE is some information of the Steuben County plans.

In Allen County right now** the Pufferbelly Trail ends  just a little ways north of Carroll Road at Life Bridge church. Life Bridge church has generously built a connecting trail over to their church and provided a trail head to park motor vehicles there for trail users. They have even built a pavilion near the trail for trail users to use.

**UPDATE 11/16/23 — The Pufferbelly Trail has now been extended further north 4.5 miles … almost to the Dekalb County line. Right now it ends at Fitch Road. Google shows that the distance from Washington Center Rd. to Fitch Rd. is 8.9 miles. It sure seems like it is farther than that. My measurement of it is 9.25 miles.

Currently there remains less than a half mile of trail to be built to the north to reach the Allen County line where Dekalb County takes over. Dekalb County has not done anything yet that I am aware of which means the trail ends at the north county line in Allen County. I have no idea how long it will take before Dekalb County  builds their portion they are responsible for.

I hope Dekalb and Steuben Counties get their portions built.  Steuben County has built a trail  from Angola clear up to Pokagon State Park. Fort Wayne is located about half way on the trail so it would be approximately a 40 mile ride to the northern end. That would involve more than an 80 mile ride in one day to go up there and back. I don’t think my battery would last long enough to make it even if I were to try it.

Now if Dekalb County will get their two connecting sections built the trail will be rideable up to Waterloo at least.

Right now the trail ends to the south at Washington Center Rd. There is a delay continuing it further south from there to connect to the next section they have already built. A major busy road (Indiana State Highway 930 otherwise known as Coliseum Blvd.) must be crossed which eventually a bridge over it is planned but that is a couple of years off as it will be very expensive. Meanwhile the plan was to have the trail cross at ground level. I find that scary. It is very busy and very wide, especially at this planned location. I am told the crossing will be near Industrial Rd. Indiana state government has said no to the street level crossing so they are making most of the funds available for the bridge which has sped up the planned construction and completion date. It was 10 years out, but now it is only 2 years.

The map below shows the future planned trail route from Washington Center Rd. south across  Coliseum Blvd. and further south connecting to  the existing Pufferbelly Trail which goes right behind the Trek Bike Store making it very handy to cycle to. The Trek Bike Store is our local Catrike dealer.

I am sure many have already figured out where this trail got its name. Those who are old enough probably remember the popular childrens’ song …

Yep, steam engines, affectionately called “pufferbellies” used to operate on this railroad corridor. Thus the powers that be named it Pufferbelly Trail.

I had a little fun photo editing …

Years ago I read that this trail will eventually connect into a future east-west trail in northern Indiana … all part of the “visionary trail network” in Indiana. I see on the map that connecting trail will follow along Indiana State Highway 4 running northwest.

The Pufferbelly is a really nice trail … perhaps my favorite local trail. It is quite popular having more traffic on it than any other local trail. It also goes by Salomon Farms where another trailhead is provided. Solomon Farms has a nice nearly 2 mile long trail around it which I always ride. Nice restrooms are available there at the north end of the barn type building.

Much of it is pretty well shaded which I always appreciate.

I have ridden on the trail when it was snow covered. It looked much like this picture below of another bridge on another trail.

The trail passes under Dupont Rd., a busy 4 lane city road.

One of the trail extensions underway.

The trail as it crosses over W. State Blvd.

Some homeowners have the trail right in their back yard. How handy that would be.

Above is a bridge on the Poka-Bache Connector trail in Bluffton, Indiana which is at the sound end of the trail.

Riding north on undeveloped train track corridor. See my update below. This was developed and paved last year.

UPDATE – – 4.5 miles of paved trail are now open for use going further north to the county line. I rode it the other day and really enjoyed it.

Speaking of State Visionary Trails here is a map of future planned trails in NE Indiana …

 

There have been two incidents of trail users on bicycles getting hit by cars while attempting to cross the roads. The first one was killed. The most recently one was seriously injured. I haven’t heard any updates on her. Both of these happened the same way …  motorists stopped at the crosswalks to allow trail users to cross. They are not supposed to do this as it creates a very dangerous situation for trail users. They start to cross the trail and get hit by motor vehicles who are not stopping. In Indiana if there are  people already IN the crosswalk motor vehicles are required to stop and give them the right of way. But if they have not entered the crosswalk motor vehicles are not required to stop. Not only are they not required they are not suppose to because  this is what is happening. People need to get educated. If someone stops to let me cross I motion them to drive on. And I am finding more and more trail users are doing the same. Still, however, there are trail users who take off across the road. Just yesterday I saw a car stop to let trail users cross and a pick up truck went zooming around the stopped car. Fortunately the trail users had not attempted to cross. All of this I am sharing has been explained on the local TV news a few times but there still seems to be a lot of drivers who are not aware that they are not suppose to stop. I have written articles about these two incidents … https://tadpolerider.com/2022/03/07/trail-crossings-dont-become-a-victim/  and https://tadpolerider.com/2022/08/19/another-bicyclist-on-pufferbelly-trail-hit-by-car-at-road-crossing/.

Right now there is no practical way by bicycle  to get to the Pufferbelly Trail where it takes off north from Washington Center Rd.  I have a route I take but I end up riding down the the turning lane on Coldwater Rd. and the outside lane of Washington Center Rd. Most cyclists would not do that saying it is way too dangerous. Honestly I feel quite safe doing so and never have any issues with motor vehicles. I have the outside lane on Washington Center Rd. all to myself. A couple of days ago I was driving my car on Washington Center Rd. and spotted a guy on a tadpole trike riding in the outside lane. He turned off to ride on the Pufferbelly Trail. So I am not the only one who does this.

I just found this about the trail development in Dekalb County so now I know a little bit more about what has already been built in Dekalb County … https://www.co.dekalb.in.us/egov/documents/1626786696_485.pdf

BTW, I am originally from Dekalb County and know it well … probably better than I know Allen County where I live now.

If you ride on the Pufferbelly Trail be safe crossing the roads.

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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WRIST RESTS ADD GREAT COMFORT

I was under the impression that I had covered this subject before but upon conducting a search I did not find anything other than an article on new handlebars I bought that came with the mount for the wrist wrests. Since I had the mounts for them I went ahead and bought them. WOW, what a difference they make! That being said, now that I have been using them for a few years I find them a bit uncomfortable and wast to make a change in them. Catrike uses a pretty firm rubber compound. I want to find something softer to use to replace them. BTW, I am open to ideas/suggestions.

There are a lot of different brands of tadpole trikes on the market but only a very few that I am aware of offer wrist rests. There is good news however. Trike owners and trike dealers have been using the wrist rests that are available and installed them on trike brands that don’t offer them. Utah Trikes installed Catrike handlebars with wrist rests on a Sunseeker FAT Tad trike.

That is one solution. Below is another solution.

As you can see in the picture above of the HP Velotechnik wrist rest they have a removable mount which would be used on other brands of trikes. Yep, both HP and ICE wrist rests can be installed on most trike brands. And, of course, there is always the option of a person making their own and saving the money involved in buying them. Of course, rarely do they turn out looking as good as the ones that can be purchased.

Yes, wrist rests make a big difference in comfort. I would have to say that adding them to my trike was some of the best money I ever spent to improve my ride and personal comfort.

I would have to say that this is one time ICE and HP outdid Catrike in the design of their wrist rests. That is so hard for me to admit as it is so rare in my opinion. The man said it in the beginning of the video … recumbents are all about comfort and wrist rests add greatly to any tadpole trike.

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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IMPORTANT ADD-ONS FOR ANY TRIKE

Once again I find myself in agreement with my fellow triker, David, of David Riders a Trike fame. He covers various items he highly recommends to add on to a trike. Although he likes SPD shoes and pedals and recommends them I don’t personally care for them. He did not cover alternative methods of foot retention but he does mention that there are other means.

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A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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COME RIDE THE FORT WAYNE TRAILS … KIDNEY BELTS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

I have been riding the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Trails for quite a few years now and have racked up over 120,000 miles on them. During that time I have experienced poor trail maintenance and it keeps getting worse. The problem as I see it is that there is no designated maintenance dept. The city of Fort Wayne assigns sections of the trails to the various city departments … Street Dept., Parks Dept., Right of Way Dept. and Allen County Road Dept. They all have their own responsibilities to tend to so the trails are down the list in priority. The city used to hire two men who worked only on trail maintenance and it made a huge difference. But that ended years ago and nothing has been done since to replace them. Most recently we lost our trail maintenance manager who did a lot of trail maintenance all by herself. She was awesome. She quit to take a job in another city up on Michigan. She is really missed. The guy they hired to replace her is next to worthless in comparison. Trying to get the city to do something about this falls on deaf ears. I pretty much believe in … “if you are not going to maintain the trails, don’t build them”. I think it is shameful.

All I have talked about so far is trail maintenance but what I really want to address is trail conditions … the condition of the surface of the trails. I mentioned wearing a kidney belt. I was joking but  it might not be a bad idea. One could lose tooth fillings riding on our trails. They definitely are rough. Even the newest pavement, Becketts Run Trail, is rough. I tried to film a ride on it holding the camera in my hand. I got tossed around so much the video didn’t turn out very good.

I don’t have any suspension on my trike but I do have balloon tires on all 3 wheels and it definitely helps. I don’t have a kidney belt but if the trails get in any worse shape I may have to consider getting one. And I thought they were only for Harley riders. COME RIDE THE FORT WAYNE TRAILS … if you dare.

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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ANOTHER BICYCLIST ON PUFFERBELLY TRAIL HIT BY CAR AT ROAD CROSSING

It has happened again. Another woman was hit by a car while crossing a road here in Fort Wayne. She was riding her bicycle on the Pufferbelly Trail when it happened.

This is the second such incident in  less than a year. The first victim died in the crosswalk. This rider suffered life threatening injuries. Of course, the driver was not ticketed.

The video below is local news coverage of the first incident. They cover the proper procedure for trail users and motorists at these trail crossings.

I have crossed these same roads many times. They are dangerous in my opinion. I don’t know what the answer is. Trail users certainly need to be careful  and not be lulled into crossing the road if someone stops to let them do so. Motorists are not suppose to stop to allow trail users to stop if they are still over at the side of the road. They greatly endanger the trail user when they do this. It is much safer to just waive the motorist on and wait until there is no traffic before attempting to cross. All too often other motorists don’t stop and then these horrible accidents happen. I have a hard time calling them accidents. In my opinion there is no excuse for motorists to attempt to go around a stopped vehicle at these crosswalks. When they do this they are guilty of murder as far as I am concerned. Of course, they usually get away with it.

In the video below I am riding the Pufferbelly Trail. Starting at about 3 minutes 17 seconds into the video I am coming upon Carroll Road where the woman bicyclist was killed last year. At the very end of the video I come up to Wallen Road where this latest incident happened.  The trail ended there back when this video was made (2016) but since then it has been expanded a few more miles southward.

Be very careful at trail crossings. Don’t be a victim. Everyone needs to learn what to do and what not to do in order to safely cross roads. The life you save may be your own. We all want to …

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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MOBILITY 4 LESS

Many people are looking for tadpole trikes for a lower price. If you do an online search for “tadpole trike” guess what happens … at least on some search engines. Up will pop images in ads for tadpole trikes offered by Mobility4less. They are paid ads . They offer several different products and I noticed that they also offer financing and layaway.

If you are looking for non-motorized don’t look here as all of their products are motorized. They offer two tadpole trikes  (one regular and one FAT tire) and one FAT tire quad. The frames are made of mild steel. The e-motor systems on the regualr tadpole are 36 volts. It is a crank drive motor. The FAT tire tadpole trike and quad are 48 volt.  Strangely the safety flag is not included. The product arrives at your door shipped on a pallet. It comes with a full fender set and a neckrest. A rear luggage rack is provided which holds the 36 volt 12 aH lithium ion battery which is included. Mirrors are also provided. Below is a picture of the regular tadpole trike model they sell. It has 20 inch wheels on the front and 26 inch on the rear. Disc brakes are found on the two front wheels and a V-brake is on the rear wheel to be used as a parking brake. The trike has rear suspension and the trike folds up for storage and transportation. My guess is that the boom will need to be set for the rider’s x-seam and the chain adjusted to the correct length. I see in one of the pictures they show on their website the chain is way too long and the rear derailleur is not able to handle all the chain.

The trike comes with a hand throttle.

Main Technical Parameters:
Top Speed: 26 MPH (pedaling increases speed)
Top Range: 25 miles/charge (pedaling increases range)
Power: 550 watts or 1500 watts with PowerBooster**
Battery: Lithium 36V 12 ah
Re-charges in: 4 hours
Tricycle Length: 81″ Tricycle Width: 34″ Tricycle Height: 29″
Seat width: 15″
Ground clearance: 7.5″
Wheel base: 40″
Chain: 21 speed chain  (NOTE – their ignorance is showing as there is no such thing … it is 7 speed chain)
Mirrors: Aluminum alloy blue plated
Pedals: VP500 aluminum alloy
Max Weight Limit: 400 Lbs
Crankset: Shimano TX71 48 teeth
Front derailleur: Shimano TX51
Battery Charger: Included
Foldable: Yes
COLORS: Red
MOTOR TYPE: Brushless motor  drive
VOLTS: 36 volt
TIRE SIZE: Front: 20 * 1.5: Rear: 26 * 1.5
SHIPPING WEIGHT: 100lbs
TRICYCLE WEIGHT: 54lbs

They are currently offering free shipping according to their website.

Your Purchasing Options:

Electric Recumbent Tricycle with Lithium battery: $2,495.00
**Optional PowerBooster to get the 1500Watts: $289.50
Here is the trike folded up ….

I chose not to cover the FAT tire trike and quad here. If you are interested you can check them out on their website. I will say this much … they don’t come with fenders and they are a 48 volt e-motor system..

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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CAN’T COMPLAIN ABOUT THE WEATHER … WOULDN’T DO ANYGOOD IF YOU DID

Seventy Five degrees, blue skies, gentle breeze … great cycling weather … and it is mid August which is usually the hottest time of the summer. I am taking advantage of it each day that I can. Tomorrow (as I write this) rain is forecasted as well as the following day. Oh well, I can’t complain … it wouldn’t do any good if I did.

I met up with a fellow tadpole trike rider today. He is from out of town but said that he comes to Fort Wayne a couple of times a week during decent weather to ride the trails.The first words out of his mouth when I pulled up alongside of him were about the great cycling weather we are having. He rides a Catrike Expedition. I rode a few miles with him and his friend who was riding an e-bike.

Yes, rain is in the immediate forecast for a couple of days but then it is more of the same for most of next week. I can handle that. I check the weather forecast in a few other locations daily. Most of the locations are in the Southern U.S. I don’t like dealing with winter up here in Indiana but I sure don’t like dealing with summer down in the south. I lived in the NE Atlanta suburbs for ten years. They don’t call it Hotlanta for nothing. And Florida, is just plain miserable almost year around. The only good thing I can think of to say is they have nice pavement … not potholes and nasty bumps like we have here in Indiana. Those potholes and bumps have cost me a few thousand dollars in trike repairs and wheel replacements. The one thing I did like about Georgia weather besides a much shorter and milder winter is the long Spring and Autumn seasons. But Summer was always brutal.

It is time to go out for another ride taking advantage of this great weather. Adios! I expect to be back.

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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STUPID Bright

Is it possible to have too bright of lights … front or rear? I say yes. And yet manufacturers keep increasing the power of lights. That would probably be okay if they included lenses which direct the light so it does not shine upward any higher than it needs to be.

But very few manufacturers do this. Most of the lights have the light beam going out 360 degrees shining upward illuminating everything out in front including the eyes of those who don’t appreciate  it. I have only had one headlight thus far with such optics.. I don’t use it as it has more lumens than I care to use in the daytime.

My 300 lumen headlights are certainly guilty of this. They are only rated at 300 lumen but man are they bright! I only use one at a time and I use it on flash mode. The picture below is with both on and on steady mode. That is STUPID  Bright!

Now I have a question to ask you … how bright are you? Riding at night in darkness we need lots of light as long as we are by ourselves.

We need lots of light so we can see the path ahead of us. It is downright dangerous to ride faster than our headlight is illuminating  the path ahead of us. In the daytime when most of us ride we still need lots of light but for an altogether different reason … to be seen by others. With headlights that shine the light beam equally 360 degrees  it does not do much good to aim the light downwards unless we aim it way way down. And if we do that we  then risk others not seeing us at all. So what is a person to do?

I am sure most of us have noticed and complained about newer motor vehicles whose headlights are blinding even on low beam. We often question whether or not they have their headlights on low beam as they are just too bright and seem to be aimed up at our eyes. I doubt very much if anyone is going to do anything about it. We are just stuck with dealing with it. Too bad, so sad! It also seems to be the case with bicycle lights. We want to be seen which means that others are just going to have to deal with it.

I was taught as a young child that if a driver in an oncoming car (truck, etc.) does have his  high beam headlights on and won’t/doesn’t dim them all I can do it look over at the right side of the road … hopefully at a white line painted along the side of the pavement. That is the best I can do in that situation. I would say the same is true for those dealing with our trike headlights. Don’t look at them. And if someone complains about our lights being too bright I suggest apologizing but explaining that I would rather offend someone than get hit by someone who says they didn’t see me.

Every once in awhile I encounter a bicyclist with an extremely bright headlight … so bright that it truly blinds me if I look toward it rather than look away at the side of the road or trail. As far as I am concerned there is no excuse for a cyclist to have such a bright light in use in the daytime. But they are out there and we just have to deal with it. I mean, after all, we can’t hardly shoot their light out. It is stupid and irresponsible to be STUPID  Bright. We all need to follow the commandment of Jesus … “do unto others as we would have them do unto us”.

I know this bicycle lighting subject is somewhat controversial and not everyone agrees with me. I just had someone say to me that my headlight is too bright and blinded the car driver who almost hit me yesterday when they turned in front of me forcing me to brake hard to avoid getting hit. I don’t agree with that person who said this. If this happened quite frequently I would have to consider it as a possibility. My headlight is bright, but it is not STUPID  Bright. BTW, there is a bicycle light named Stupid Bright. They make various lights besides this one I linked to.

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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NOT ALL LIGHTS ARE CREATED EQUAL

That’s right … not all bicycle lights are created equal. It is possible to have a 35 lumen taillight appear to be brighter than  a 100 lumen taillight. How can that be you ask? I have written about this subject before. It is all about optics. Some lights just have better optics in them. The term optics here means lenses along with reflectors. They can sure make a big difference in lights. My 300 lumen headlights are amazingly bright on flash mode in the daytime. Anything brighter would be blinding. People find it hard to believe when I tell them they are only 300 lumen. They think they must be at least a thousand or more.

Here is an excellent example of what I mean. Bontrager offers their Flare R City  taillight pictured above. It is very small in size and is rated at only 35 lumen. Years ago 35 lumen was a powerful taillight but nowadays it would be considered low powered. Yet this particular taillight is quite bright. You would have to see it to believe it.

I just bought a 350 lumen Cygolite Hypershot taillight (pictured above). It is extremely bright of course. I would not think of using it at night time as it would be blinding unless it can be “dialed down” sufficiently. But I ride in the daytime almost exclusively and I WANT TO BE SEEN.  Anyway, I have the same brand of taillights in 150 lumen and they are extremely bright as well. 150 lumens was their most powerful taillight when I first bought mine.  Cygolite first came out with a much lower powered taillight and then kept making new models increasing the lumens each time. They have 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and now 350. I wonder what is next.

You don’t want to look at it up close as you will be seeing a dot before your eyes for awhile. Would you believe that the 35 lumen Flare R taillight is as bright as this 150 lumen? It would seem impossible but I have witnessed it with my own eyes.

I have some 35 lumen taillights (pictured above) made by BV that came free with their 300 lumen headlights I use.

The taillights are very bright but they are not as bright as the 35 lumen Flare R City cube. And the battery charge only last 4 or 5 hours on flash mode. At present I am using my new 350 lumen taillight along with two of the 35 lumen BV taillights. They are working very good together. Here is a video of them flashing.

I was going to buy the Bontrager Flare R cubes to use but I already have these BV taillights and they offer much better side visibility. I still have the 150 lumen taillights I can use if the 350 turns out to be too much as in too bright, obnoxious, overbearing. I don’t want to be guilty of “STUPID Bright” which is the title of a soon upcoming article on this website.

I have such a difficult time understanding most British people when they talk. I found another one I wanted to share but I could not hardly understand a word they were saying. This one is a little better.

 

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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GOTRIKES, A PRODUCT OF BRASIL

 

Years ago I posted an article about another tadpole trike which is manufactured in Brasil. I am pleased to say that this manufacturer is producing a nicer looking trike. GoTrikes website is in Portuguese  so I am out of luck trying to decipher much from it. I did not see anything to click on to translate it into English. I am told that this no longer is a problem as the website now offers English. FYI, I discovered that if I use the Google Chrome browser (something I avoid as much as possible) I can read it in English as Google translates it.

They offer a couple of models and they are available non-motorized and motorized. They also offer one they call Cargo Dog which is simply a trike which comes with a trailer. The prices are listed in Brazilian Real. GoTrikes sells directly from their website.  GoTrikes is like Ford’s Model A car … you can have your choice of black or black as far as colors it comes in.

The Scorpion Mach 3 lists for 4470 Brazilian Real which currently is about US$860. The Mach3E (motorized) lists for 9480 Brazilian Real which is about US$1823. Of course shipping is extra. GoTrikes will sell to customers on credit card for 12 equal monthly payments. You can EMAIL the founder of the company, Ricardo Chede . And HERE is the company’s regular email address for contact. Their telephone number is (41) 98886-7578. Lastly, here is the company’s physical address:

Rua Felisbina Rosa Cordeiro 126 São José dos Pinhais – Paraná

They offer a newsletter via email that you can sign up for.

GoTrikes videos

Got any questions? HERE is their FAQ page.

Well, I reckon that’s all I\ve got to say about that.

**********

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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The UPHILL CHALLENGE

Recently I posted a picture on Faceboook Tadpole Rider group of a winding mountain road in Chile, S.A. which is very similar to this one in Italy. Here is a video of a tadpole trike rider riding up this road in Itally dealing with the climb involved. Unlike the mountain pass in Chile it is pretty countryside.

 

 

Lots of bicycles and motorcycles climb this mountain road in Italy.

One doesn’t see many tadpole trikes however . I think he has a 50 tooth rear cassette sprocket …

Below is the picture of the mountain highway in Chile known as Los Caracoles Pass which means the snails pass. It is often snow covered and usuallly bumper to bumper with semi-trucks traveling both directions.

BTW, near the top of this highway pass on the border with Argentina stands a  statue of Christ.

Uphill is followed by downhill …

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KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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7th MOTOR IS A CHARM

I am on my 7th e-motor on my trike as my 6th one has the clutch going out in it. I had never heard of this company before. It is an NBPower and is rated at 2000 watts at 72 volts. I don’t have a 72 volt battery however. I am using what I already have which are 48 volt batteries. I hope someday to get at least one 72 volt battery to take advantage of the potential this motor offers. With 48 volts it is still the most powerful motor I have had yet. My 6th motor (an eZee) was faster at top speed by about 6 mph, but not nearly as powerful. Of course, with 72 volts this NBPower motor should be much faster … by at least 16 mph. I really like the price of this motor conversion kit … only $469 plus tax. That includes everything but the battery. Oh, and the wheel does not come with a tire or inner tube. (The eZee motor did.)

I don’t know how strong the rear wheel is. My eZee motor came laced in a wheel that did not hold up to the torture the streets, roads and trails of Fort Wayne, Indiana dish out. I replaced it with a heavy duty BMX rim which has held up great. Anyway, I would recommend this NBPower rear hub motor to anyone looking for a motor for their trike. Amazon charges my State’s Sales Tax.  BTW, this is for a 135 mm rear dropout. I had to spread my rear dropout further apart  to accept a 135 mm width. I did that several years ago for another motor so it was already to go when I installed this one. This does have a cadence sensor for e-motor pedal assist, but it is not torque sensing. It also comes with a manual throttle. It is available in many different wheel diameters.

For those interested here are the e-motors I have had installed on my trike thus far:

3 BionX  motors (had problems with all 3)(finally took  it back and got a full refund)

1 Golden Motor (faulty from factory)(sent it back for full refund)

1 eZee motor (ran it for about 4 years before clutch started going out)(the repair part is currently unavailable as is a new eZee motor)

1 Tongsheng crank drive motor (quit working in less than 2 months)(it destroyed my expensive idler pulleys)

1 NBPower motor (working great with lots of power)

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

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