If you don’t want a motor on your trike but would like some help that an electric motor can offer there is an option. It is a trailer you pull behind your trike which has a motor and battery inside of it. It is not “pedal assist” but merely a hand throttle which the rider uses to have the motor operating to push the trike. The trailer can also be used to haul stuff in. It has a locking lid. The trailer has a built-in LED taillight.
This trailer known as Ridekick is not new. It has been around for several years but they stopped production awhile back. Now they are going back into production once again and should make their appearance next Spring the company says.
Three different models are available. They are all the same except the battery size. Their lowest cost model is $799 and comes with a lead acid battery good for only 8 to 10 miles. The middle model sells for $1418 and has a 20aH Lithium battery good for 25 to 30 miles. Their top model comes with a 30aH Lithium battery and sells for $1644. Even their most powerful battery, a 30 aH, gets poor performance. 35 to 40 miles is a very small number compared to most smaller batteries used with crankdrive and hub motors. My 20aH battery provides about 55 miles of riding and I weigh a whole lot more than the weight of the rider they show for their test purpose. I don’t baby my motor but use it hard much of the time. I am sure if I were to try I could increase my mileage number on up to 70 or more. I also carry a lot of weight on my trike and I ride dealing with hills which they don’t in their testing.
Here is their top model with the 30aH battery:
Ridekick power trailer LR30
$1,644.00
This Ridekick power trailer gives a boost for 35 – 40 miles on a charge. With about 1000 charge cycles, this battery affords the rider about 40,000 miles of support over the life of the battery.
Every Ridekick power trailer system comes complete with trailer, electric motor, controller, throttle and hitch plate, charger and the battery of your choice. It comes ready to assemble (10 minutes), install on your bike/trike (10 minutes) and hit the roads!
Like BionX this company takes advantage of people by charging very high prices for their batteries. The 30 aH battery costs $945. That is 2 to 3 times as much as it should cost. It always saddens me when these companies take advantage of their customers charging such high prices. It is just my opinion but I think this was the demise of BionX. They had a very good product but they charged way too much for it.
HERE is a review of the Ridekick trailer. It provides lots of detail specifications and information which you can read.
Personally I am not a fan of pulling a trailer with any kind of vehicle. I would much rather have everything ON my trike. However, I am sure that there are those who would like this option and will look into it.
There were at least two other entities which attempted to produce a similar product. Neither of them were successful. One was Wheezy which I wrote an article about on this blog. The other was Brouhaha which I also mention in the same article.
It will be interesting to see how this company fairs in the marketplace.
So if you like the idea of not modifying your trike but instead pulling a trailer and having a “tailwind” behind you this might be an option for you.
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
Tadpole Rider 