Category: quadricycles

PODBIKE FRIKAR VELOCAR

Norway is working on bringing this velocar to market. They call it a velomobile which, of course, it is. I call it a velocar as technically that is what it is. It has some neat features. It has pedals but there is no mechanical connection of any sort to use them to propel this quadmobile along. What it does have is wires as pedaling turns an e-motor acting as a generator to supply power to charge a battery. BTW, pedaling backwards will reverse the direction the vehicle is going. They have designed this velocar so that the top speed going downhill is limited to 60 kph or about 37 mph. The motors will brake the speed automatically. It is capable of regenerating braking where it can put some charge back into the motors. Being a quadcycle it has a total of 3 motors … one of each rear wheel and one used as a generator to charge the battery when pedaling.

There is a stainless steel roll bar designed into this velocar to provide some degree of safety in case of a rollover. There is also  built in means of emergency escape if the normal exit mode is not able to be used.

With that huge clear canopy vision certainly should not be a problem. You might be wondering how the rider gets into and out of it. The canopy raises up out of the way but so does the body. I am not sure what the reason is for the body raising up. It seems to me that would make it more difficult, especially for a short person. I guess I would have to see it and try it to make a fair judgement.

Being made in Norway their main market is in Europe, of course. That also means that this vehicle is limited to only 250 watts. The idea of getting out of the weather is appealing. They say that this vehicle is about the width of a typical bicycle trailer. That means is would easily fit on bicycle trails.

It has special lighting along the sides to help it to be seen. Of course, it has LED headlights and taillights and turn signals. It has cargo space behind the seat. They offer a child seat option.

I am a little confused by their claimed turning radius as they show 138 inches which is about 11.5 feet but their video shows a circle which is the diameter not the radius. I would hope it is 138 inch diameter as 138 inch radius is quite a large turning diameter.

One nice feature they have incorporated into the design is the ability to park/store this vehicle in a smaller space than what it would normally require.

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

VIDEOS

One battery comes with the purchase of this quad. An extra battery can be purchased and this vehicle is designed to accommodate two batteries.

They made changing the wheels easy enough … just one bolt to remove and off it comes. I like the spokeless wheels. Extra wheels can be purchased to use for winter tires.

Now if your appetite is wetted and you live in the United States I am aftraid I have some bad news for you. So sorry Charlie! Due to stupid laws in place motorized quads are not legal here. So you can not buy one of these and have it shipped here. To satifsfy your curiosity the price tag for the premium model is about $7351. That even includes carpeting on the floor. Shipping charges are extra.

THE STANDARD FRIKAR E-BIKE WILL INCLUDE:
One external mirror
Easily removable canopy
Dual front lights
Dual rear lights
Sidelights *not in Germany
Direction indicator lights
Daylight running lamp
Reverse light *not in Germany
Hazzard warning light
Internal speaker for warnings
Adjustable seat
Adjustable pedal generator
Pedals with toe cap
Summer tires
Battery (reach up to 80 km)
Standard battery charger
USB charge port
Mobile phone mount
Bike bell
Ready for user-installed keyless entry kit (user-installable)
Bluetooth interface for free dashboard app

Initially they are only selling their Plus model which I called their premium model. It has a few features their Standard model does not have.

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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..

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Revolution eQuad RS – Pedal-Electric Hybrid Recumbent Quad

There is just no end to the products the craftsmen at Utah Trikes produce. They have been making quads for several years now. Their Catrike quad is very popular.  Of course, evolution is involved. For instance they went from using a hub motor on the rear axle to a Bafang crank drive motor behind the seat. I would prefer the hub motor as I am not a fan of crank drive. As I understand the hub drive is still available but only in a solid steel axle with no differential. That would wear out rear tires quicker.

For those wanting to know what my objection is to crank drive e-motors it is simple enough. Cycle drive trains were not designed to handle the extra power a motor puts on them. Of course, the same thing could be said about a wheel but I think a wheel can better handle a motor than a drive train (chain and sprockets) can. Crank drives are known to destroy drive trains and replacing various sprockets, idlers, and chain is expensive.

Understand that Utah Trikes manufactures this quad from the ground up. They are not taking a pre-manufactured tadpole trike and converting it into a quad like they have on some of their other offerings. Starting price is $6599 plus $599 shipping. It is what I call a rich man’s toy. That is more money than I paid for one of my toys  in years past … a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 426 Hemi. 555 horsepower according to the dynamometer of ground shaking window rattling brute power.

Check out their webpage on this toy.

Their statement:

“The UTCustom Revolution eQuad is the culmination of nearly 15 years of building custom quads. The Revolution eQuad has been designed to get you where you want to go on road or off.”

Mind you I have not as much as seen one of these much less sat on one. Never the less for what it is worth the handlebars look so high to me that I would think they would be uncomfortable. That is probably because I am a short person. For a taller person that may not be true at all.

There is a choice of two different seats.  One has it own seat frame which slides back and forth. It sits up right. It is shown in the picture above. The other is a fully adjustable recumbent seat with mesh material pictured below as well as most of the other pictures.

Quads are definitely more stable than trikes but as can be seen in the video below this rider is able to lift a rear wheel off of the pavement. So if one worked at it hard enough a quad could be tipped over.

I have to admit there are times I would like to have such a toy. My trike is just not practical to take off road riding. I have discovered  a few off road dirt trails just off of a paved trail I ride nearly everyday (the paved trail, that is). I have been riding on them a little bit but I would ride on them a lot more if I had a quad like this.

Let’s go off roading …

Looks like fun indeed. But at my age (mid 70s) most of my off road fun is behind me. It is probably just as well. I would probably find myself wrapped around a tree or worse. They say with age comes wisdom. I know better but dealing with temptation is hard. Here is a picture of me just a few days ago …

A trike does fine on this trail as long as it is not muddy or uneven ground. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have ridden on it 3 or 4 more times since the first time I tried it. These dirt trails were bullt for motorized 4 wheel ATVs by a guy who lives nearby and a couple of his friends who ride with him. I have only checked out a couple of them thus far. I would love to ride on all of them but I am concerned about my trike not being up to it. I would most likely get stuck as well as tip over. I am sure over time curiosity will get the best of me. Hopefully I will be able to …

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PODRIDE UPDATE 2022

It is even cuter than before and a lot of interest is being shown in it. It looks like a car but it is a human powered vehicle.  The developer thought they would have it in production by mid 2021 but it didn’t happen. They are working on it and are hopeful they will be able to make it available soon. They are starting out with a quad (4 wheels) and with or without e-motor pedal assist made to comply with European laws meaning only 250 watts pedal assist only (no hand throttle). Later they plan on making a 3 wheel version with a 500 watt motor and a hand throttle as well. As for me, I would want a quad not 3 wheels as a quad is more stable and practical. I wonder if one could get a quad with a 500 watt motor and hand throttle.

https://www.mypodride.com/

Their FAQ page provides quite a lot of information. They don’t know yet what the price will be. For sure it has increased considerably since I first wrote about the Podride over 6 years ago. Their FACEBOOK page is still available as well as their website.

Everywhere the Podride is shown it draws a crowd. I am sure it would be the same once they are being sold. Did I mention that they are such a cute little thing? I wonder how the  material will hold up over time? I wonder if the color will fade out?  I might even like having one.  If nothing else, it would be nice to have the protection it would offer from the weather elements. I wonder how it would do in high winds and gusts? It is not easy or inexpensive to bring such a product to market. I sure hope they make it and it becomes very successful. It is such a cute little thing. Did I mention that?

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NEW BAFANG ULTRA CRANKDRIVE MOTOR

If only I would have known about this e-motor sooner it is what I would have bought instead of the much lower powered Tongsheng unit. This Bafang is twice as powerful (twice the torque) .

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PODRIDE REVISTED

I first wrote about the Podride e-quad vehicle five years ago. It is a cute little thing but I assumed like so many prototype projects out there trying to make it to market it failed and faded away. Just moments ago I was re-reading my article and decided to click on the link to their Facebook page. I expected it to be past history and no longer exist but much to my surprise and delight I found it still very much alive and functioning. And the first thing I saw posted was that their project is still going and getting closer to reality. I would love to see these running around. They are just so cute! HERE is their update. The body has been totally redesigned and now it is even cuter than before.

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120 SPEED, 1000 WATT PEDAL/ELECTRIC HYBRID QUAD

Utah Trikes continues to come up with some pretty amazing custom made offerings. Here is their RevolUTion eQuad FS XL …

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TRIKEXPLOR … some interesting offerings

                                                      TRIKEXPLOR

I have written about one or more of the trikes/quads offered by this company before but as time goes by they keep coming out with more offerings. They always look interesting. I won’t elaborate on them as I really don’t know much about them as far as their quality and customer service.

Chinese made trikes have, of course, been around for awhile. And they are known for low cost. Again, I have written about them previously. And HERE is another past posting on them.

TrikExplor is a Chinese company which is something which personally bothers me as I don’t believe we as Americans should be buying all the products we do from China. In doing so we build them up while greatly damaging our own country. Besides that they are a Communist country and I think it is morally wrong for us to do business with them. Please understand I have nothing against the people of China. It is the Chinese government I have an issue with. Furthermore the Chinese are well known for totally ignoring the law and manufacturing copies of well known products selling them at a much lower price.

I truly wish we had such products being offered right here in our own country … made in the U.S.A. … and at a competitive price. I suppose however that the market is lacking for that to happen. Even some of these Chinese offerings are quite expensive … over $7000.

Right now as far as I know such products are not being offered here in the U.S. with the exception of certain offerings from Utah Trikes. I guess only time will tell as to whether or not these somewhat special trikes and quads will catch on and be sold in sufficient numbers for other manufacturers to offer them.

Whatever we choose to ride may we all …

ENJOY THE RIDE!

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

 

LOW COST FULL SUSPENSION TRIKE/e-TRIKE/e-FAT QUAD

Utah Trikes continues to offer their custom models and once again they just may have a winner. I am talking about a full suspension trike (or quad) with or without electric motor assist at a low price. They call it the Revolution Defiance FS. The starting price for the trike version is $2999 but it is currently on sale as I write this for $2599.

Here is a look at the front suspension. And below is a look at the rear suspension.

And below is the 3 speed internal hub along with the external cogs … 8 is stock or 10 as an option.

With a single chainring up forward and 24  (3×8) or 30 (3×10)  speed back aft the rider has a pretty fair selection of gearing. Other internal hubs are available as options.

For those who prefer 4 wheels …

The Revolution e-Quad currently sells for $5999. It has FAT tires, hydraulic brakes and a 1000 watt motor. It also has various upgrade options. In stock format it is not full suspension however … only rear suspension. But hey, with FAT tires who needs suspension? Front suspension is available as a $200 option. Various motor options are available as well. They are all 1000 watt but the top speed ranges from 12.5 mph for the stock motor and increases to 15, 20, 25 and 30 mph respectfully … the top one being the most costly as a $200 option. This is achieved by the rpm and gearing of the motor. All the motors offer a reverse … something very practical on a quad.

Looks inviting, huh? I mean one just might be able to …

ENJOY THE RIDE

on one of these.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

I put together this video for this occasion.  Yes, it is a repeat from 2018. I have decided to offer it every Christmas Day each year. It is a compilation of images of recumbent trikes out in the snow … riding in a winter wonderland. Merry  Christmas to each and everyone of you. May you truly know and embrace the reason for the season. 

BTW, we hear all the time that Jesus is the reason for the season. That is not really true. We are the reason for the season. Jesus did not come to earth for Himself. He came for us. We are the reason He came to dwell among us. He did all He could do … all that He needed to do … accomplishing the mission He was on. “The ball is in our court”. The video further below tells the story of the man and the birds. It is a beautiful illustration of what God did for us.

I love this story Paul Harvey is well known for telling … The Man and the Birds:

Christmas is known for gift giving. If you have not already done so please consider taking advantage of this limited time offer …

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Quadcycle from 1987 Named “Carmichael”

Reaching back a ways here is a custom built pedal powered side by side quadcycle featured on a local TV station.

Unfortunately the video quality is not very good, but you can get the general idea of what this man made so many years ago. I have no idea if it was the first side by side quad ever made.

Here is the video description:

From the VHS video library of Steven K. Roberts comes this local news report of a mid 80s built side by side quadcycle. According to the piece this was designed and build by Norm Ogle with help from Peter Johnson.

If I were a younger man and not having the physical issues I have now in my elderly years I would be fabricating various tadpole trikes and quads. I made one tadpole trike back in 2007 and I was already challenged somewhat with vision problems then.

Lastly, my thanks to Gary Solomon of Laidback Bike Report for giving his permission to share this video from his YouTube channel.

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HOMEMADE TRIKE AND QUAD FROM THE LAND “DOWN UNDER”

I received an email from Hector Alberto who is from Australia and is a reader of this blog. He sent links to some YouTube videos of the tadpole trike and quad he has built. I am sharing them here for the world to see.

trike & quad ride on trails:

e-assist quad:

quad ride to park:

I wrote back to Hector asking him if he would send some pictures and share anything about his homemade trike and quad he cared to. Here is his reply:

The trike frame Is made of aluminium and lots of bolts.

For the steering system I’ve used the cheap 17mm ATV stub axle found on eBay and its respective end rod bolts (I was trying to understand how steering works in real).

I want to mention that with those pieces it was easy to make adjustments about angles related with the Ackerman law.

I used 20” BMX front plastic wheels. The original axle and bearings have been replaced by high rpm bearings to fit on the ATV stub axle.

The handlebars were attached using a 90 degree metal bracket between the stub axle and the handlebars. In general the trike use to work fine, but eventually the brake system mounted on the aluminium frame just fell apart.

Front sprocket 42t, freewheel 3 speeds

This picture shows the quad frame standing up when I was painting it.

I decided to go with a quad in order to help my wife bring our son along with her. The Quad measurements are 185cm long X 85cm wide. Yes, it is really a compact size when one takes into consideration that there are two people travelling on it. It has a COASTER BRAKE in the left rear wheel and the right rear wheel has an electric hub motor and a 160mm disc brake system. The quad  is single speed. It has no front wheel brakes.

The trike conversion kits are so expensive in Australia, so I’ve been hunting for a used one. I got one old tricycle for Au$40.  It came with one wheel traction (left one). Once I cut off the back part of the tricycle I went to a friend who welded it as I required. It includes a bottom bracket shell (found it as well on eBay).

The quad frame is using the same steering system as the trike.

The electric hub motor wheel is a 250w 36v “front wheel” for bicycles. It is mounted in the rear right side of the quad. This configuration allows the use either of the rear wheel power drives individually. When the rear wheel with pedal power loses traction you can put extra power in the electric hub motor wheel just by using the manual throttle as needed.

The average travel speed 15-20km/hr. Max speed tested with 98kg aprox., 27km/hr. Realistically, this is not a fast machine but it works excellent for the purpose; plus, my wife and my son love it.

I hope this help others to improve their designs.

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UTAH TRIKES CUSTOM SUNSEEKER ECO QUAD WITH 1600 WATT MID DRIVE MOTOR

Utah Trikes is known for their customization services. Here is one of their projects. With 1600 watts there is plenty of power. Along with all that power is plenty of noise … something I find quite objectionable. I guess it doesn’t bother some people.

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4 WHEEL DRIVE REAR SUSPENSION ELECTRIC MOTOR ASSIST FAT TIRE QUAD

What more could you want in an off road human powered vehicle? This beauty is nearly unstoppable. It is an L Trike  or Camel Trike made in China and sold from China thru ZZMERCK (Zhengzhou Merck). I find their media coverage a bit confusing. One place they call it an L Trike and another place they call it a Camel Trike. It is not even a trike so I don’t know why they would call it either one. Googling “L Trike” turns up nothing, but Googling “camel trike” gets results. It doesn’t come cheap … $7500-$8500. It looks nice, but I don’t trust the quality of Chinese products. Hopefully this is well made. I will say though that this trike is definitely complex in its design which translates into … “there is a whole lot of stuff that could go wrong and cause problems”.

I said it is rear suspension and it is, but at first I thought it was full suspension, but after taking a closer look at it I guess it is not.This quad weighs approximately 110 pounds (50kg) so it is not light. The wheels are laced rather uniquely. Although I have seen this before I don’t think it is all that common. They are laced only on the inside of the rim. No spokes attach to the other side. This is covered in one of the videos further below.

The one thing I noticed is that the cables are hanging way down low where they could easily snag of lots of stuff riding off road. They created lots of road clearance only to place the cables way down low. That makes no sense! I see it all the time on people’s trikes. Some people just don’t seem to care about such things even if you point it out to them. I wonder if they would change their tune if a drooping cable ruined their day causing a bad wreck. At the very least it could cause serious damage to the cable and possibly other things.

4×4 Fat Tire Recumbent Quad

Model/Price: Model: MF426E, Price: US $7,500-8,500

Website: http://zzmerck.com/products/recumbenttrike/2017-09-28/398.html

Brief description: four-wheel drive system, aluminum alloy 6061 frame, Vee 26×4.8 tire, DNM air spring suspension, SRAM11 speed, 500w mid drive motor, 48v 20ah lithium battery, climbing angle more than 35 degrees. For All Challenging Terrain!

SPECS:
Transmission system     
Front derailleur: Sram NX11
Rear derailleur: Sram NX11

Drive system   
Crankset: Flywheel crankset
Flywheel: Sram NX11 11 speed 11-42T
Chain: Miche 11 speed
Chain tube: Nylon
Pedal: Exustar clipless pedals
Novatec bearing secondary drive hub
Customs Aluminum alloy 7075 secondary drive
Fouriers chainring
Customs power divider
Customs shaft, hub, shaft hub, cardan

Brake system    
Front brake: Avid E3 hydraulic disc brake
Rear brake: BB7 disc brake

Wheel system 
Rim: Alloy
Spokes: 304 stainless steel
Tires: Vee 26-4.8 foldable tires
Front hub: Novatec customs hub
Rear hub: Customs shaft hub

Suspension system
DNM air spring suspension (double chamber)

Electric system
48v 500w mid drive motor
48v 20ah lithium battery

Light system
Led headlight

Frame: Aluminum alloy 6061 T6
Seat: Nylon mesh

No way could I do this on my tadpole trike. I would find myself in a real predicament. This quad goes right up it …

 

The next video definitely demonstrates that it is all wheel drive …

This next video is suppose to be a demonstration of the quad riding thru snow, but there is very little snow on the ground so it isn’t much of a test. A standard trike with standard tires could go thru most of the snow shown, but probably not all the uneven ground, etc. as there would be traction problems  …

The next 4 videos are about the design and bulld of the quad. You may have to pause them to read the English captions in order to follow what is being said.

That is a lot of money to lay down to attempt some off road fun, but hey, if you have it to spend you might as well go for it. You can’t take the money with you when life is over. BTW, you can’t take the trike with you either. We can only enjoy them here in this life … so do your best to …

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

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CHINESE KNOCKOFFS

chinese-catrike-knockoff
Would you buy a brand new “Catrike”
like this for about half price?
China has long been known for blatantly illegally copying products of others and selling them … often on the black market … at least many years ago. But today they are so bold as to even display a picture of the real McCoy with manufacturer’s name clearly displayed on it. Those who don’t know any better might be deceived and go ahead purchasing the item thinking they are getting a really great deal. Of course, what they get is altogether different. It may look somewhat the same externally, but the components used are el cheapo. And I am pretty sure that even externally there would be some obvious differences in the trike you would receive. Here is an example of what I am talking about. I think this is a picture of an older model (2012 or earlier) Catrike Trail trike. It is the non-folding “space frame” design (my favorite). As you can see it has the Catrike name shown clearly on it. I think sells for about $1200, but I am not sure of that as they don’t show the prices on their website. I have emailed them to ask what the price is, but they haven’t answered back. Anyway, that is less than half price of what Catrike sells their trike for today. I would think that the Chinese businesses involved in this illegal knockoff production would at least take a couple of minutes with a photo editing program and remove the manufacturer’s name from the picture they use. Better yet, why not just use a picture of the trike they are building and selling? Here is the Chinese website (one of them) where this is found:
http://www.made-in-china.com/…/hot-chi…/Recumbent_Trike.html
And here is the specific trike’s webpage:
http://www.made-in-china.com/…/China-New-Design-Hot-Sale-Re…
I know Catrike is aware of this, if for no other reason than the fact that I emailed them about it several years ago when I first discovered it.
ice-fat-trike
Does this not look like an ICE FULLFAT trike? It is another Chinese knockoff they are selling. No doubt it would probably look a lot like the ICE FULLFAT trike. Again, they don’t show any prices so I have no idea what they are charging for it. I am sure it is quite cheap especially when compared to the cost of a real ICE FULLFAT trike (about $5000 for the base model).
Chinese FAT tire trike 2
I wrote an article about another Chinese FAT trike. It is shown in the picture above. As far as I know it is not a knockoff though. It is a “mini-fat” … that is it has 20 inch FAT tires all the way around instead of 26 inch. It certainly is cheap … $1,460.93 total which includes shipping ($950 for trike & $510.93 for shipping).
Alibaba is another well known Chinese website selling lots of different Chinese made products. They show the prices and as far as I know are legitimate … they just sell cheaply made trikes like the FAT trike I wrote about and linked to above. I have not seen any advertised that I identified as a knockoff.
https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=1204&SearchText=tadpole+trike
The prices are definitely cheap, but the shipping costs are pretty high so the total cost isn’t as attractive as it starts out.
So … back to my original question … would you buy one of these Chinese knockoffs to save money? I don’t think I could do it. I could probably buy one of the other Chinese trikes though. It is just the knockoffs that I don’t think I could deal with. Well, I don’t have any money to buy any of them anyway so I won’t concern myself with it. I am happy I was able to get the real McCoy and it continues to serve me well year after year. I do really miss my 2009 space frame though. I always …
ENJOY THE RIDE!
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PODRIDE VELOCAR

Another new velocar is attempting to be birthed into the market place. It’s a cute little thing called a Podride. HERE is their website. Both a 3 wheel version and a 4 wheel version are planned. It will be available with or without electric pedal assist.

They have a StartUp Campaign and a YouTube Channel.

Their website states that they hope to have their product available in Canada and the United States by late 2017 … first in a non-motorized quad and soon to follow a motorized trike.

2 wheel drive above, single wheel drive below

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FATCAT … SOUNDS GOOD TO ME

fat-cat

That’s a FAT CAT (& I know one when I see one)

(The question is “is it real or photoshopped?”

The head doesn’t look right … too small)

But hey, I am not here to talk about kitty cats. While out riding my tadpole trike recently I got to thinking about the fact that Catrike seems always to be slow to bring out models that other manufacturers have offered for years. One thing I can say is that when Catrike finally does offer such models they seem always to be superior to those offered by their competitors. Call me biased if you want, but I think this is a true statement. As I was riding along thinking about some of the models Catrike has come out with … their most recent being the Dumont … a full suspension model … it came to me that fat tire tadpole trikes have become quite popular and Catrike has not yet come out with a FATCAT model. There … I named it for them. There is only one problem. Utah Trikes already offers their quad and trike fat tire models they sell which they have named FAT CAT 4 and FAT CAT 3, respectively.

ut-fat-cat-4

They use a Catrike Villager model as the base for these 3 and 4 wheel models. They offer gobs of options some of which can get very expensive, but hey, the end product is sure nice.

ut-fat-cat-3

So anyway, Catrike may not be able to use that name. If not, it is too bad, as I think it would have made a great name for a fat tadpole trike model which they would produce (and I assume they will eventually come out with). All I can say is HERE KITTY KITTY! Bring it on Catrike. I sure hope you can name it “FATCAT“. I like that name.

A FREE GIFT awaits you!

ALL ABOUT BIKES (AND TRIKES)

I recently came across a webpage I found interesting and decided to share it here on my blog. It is part of a website of GOPBC.org (Georgia Organization of Parents of Blind Children). The title of it is “All About Bikes – for Parents of Visually Impaired Children“.

They write: “A much more detailed article about a great many cycling options for visually impaired and other special needs children and also a lot of information of general interest about unusual bikes, trikes, etc. There are lots of photos … “

Here are the contents:

Introduction
Safety First
Conventional Bikes vs. Recumbents
Common Bike Designs: Touring, Mountain, Hybrid
Suspension: Solid, Hardtail, Full
Child Carriers & Child Trailers
Tandems: Conventional & Specialized
“Active Trailers”; Trail-a-Bikes, Tag-Alongs and Similar Solutions
Passive Trailers for Kids & Utility Trailers
More Unique Tandem Bikes: Child Sized, Side-by-Side, Back-to-Back, etc.
Trikes for Kids
Trikes for Adults
Tandem Trikes and Convertible Trikes
Special Needs Setups including Wheelchair / Bike Tandem Combinations
Quad Bikes: 4 wheels for 1, 2, 3, and passengers
Truly Long Bikes: Inline options for 3, 4, 5, and even 6 passengers
Kiddie Cranks, S & S Couplers, and various unique bikes
The Biggest of the Big– 7 & 8 passenger solutions
Hauling Solutions– how do you get the bike where you want to ride it?
Answers to common questions
Links
The final word

As you can see there is lots covered so it is a good general read about bikes and trikes.