CATRIKES IN FLORIDA

I ride a Catrike Trail recumbent tadpole trike and take a considerable interest in tadpole trikes. Here is a picture of me sitting on my trike …

I just stumbled across a YouTube video which I thought I would share here. It is of a few Catrike riders out for a ride down in Florida. Tadpole trikes are a lot of fun to ride and extremely comfortable. Since they sit so low to the ground they handle great. Some compare riding one to driving a go cart or sports car. I would not go so far as to say that, but they do handle great. Catrike tadpole trikes are manufactured in Orlando, Florida.

Every year Catrike sponsors a rally for Catrike owners. I would love to go and participate in it. It is open to everyone regardless of what brand of trike or even bicycle they ride. Here are some videos of the 2014 rally. They show many trikes  up close as they are gathering to go for a group ride on one of the local trails near Orlando. They also show the many trikes and bikes riding on the trail.

And here is another video of the 2014 rally. This one is considerably longer but well made and interesting …

In addition to the organized and unorganized rides there is also a factory tour available. Being a retired weldor/fabricator taking such a tour would greatly interest me. I built my own recumbent bicycle and tadpole trike before buying factory made ones. Here are pictures of both:

I never got the bike painted as I ended up cutting it up to use some of the parts to make the tadpole trike.

There is also an annual Catrike rally held in Austin, Texas . And there are a few other rallies held in various locations for other brands or for all brands. One is held in Oregon which is for “recumbents” … both bikes and trikes.

Tadpole trikes are also known as reverse trikes since there are two wheels in the front and one wheel in the back. This makes for a more stable design. Although they are becoming more and more popular and sales are up considerably they are still not all that common in many places so when people see them they often don’t know what they are seeing and show an interest in them. Certainly many people comment about how neat they are and that they really like them. Lots of questions are asked about them as people know and understand very little about them. A few of the most asked questions are:

“How do you steer it?”

“Is that comfortable to ride?”

“How fast will it go?”

“Does it have a motor?”

“How much do they cost?”

and the one that I am always amazed when I am asked …

“How do you balance it?”    …  Yes, I have been asked that a couple of times.

I highly recommend Catrike as I think they are one of the best made and designed tadpole trikes available and they are the only** brand name trike totally made in the U.S. Most come from China/Taiwan. Some come from England, Germany, and a couple of other European countries and from Australia.

Anyone interested in checking out these Catrikes further can view their website … http://www.catrike.com/

** There are a small number of trike manufacturers who also make their trikes here in the U.S., but their sales are quite low so I am not counting them as part of the factory produced trikes. TerraTrike manufactures one of their models here in the U.S. but most of their models come from Taiwan.

 

Advertisement

THE BEST BICYCLE TIRE MONEY CAN BUY

As far as I am concerned the very best bicycle tire money can buy is the Schwalbe Marathon Plus. I have been using them now for a couple of years and since I switched to them I have never had a flat tire. Before I used to deal with a lot of flats. I joke about these tires being nearly bullet proof and I think they come close. They are indeed quite amazing!

I personally ride a Catrike Trail recumbent tadpole trike. Here is a picture of me on it.

It is a blast to ride and extremely comfortable. Many compare riding a tadpole trike to driving a go cart or sports car as they handle so well. I have ridden this trike over 23,000 miles. Before I bought this trike I made one similar to it although it was made out of mild steel. My Catrike is made out of aluminum.

Over the years I have tried various other Schwalbe tires on my trikes. All of the various types of Schwalbe tires are quite good … among the very best made in the world, but the Marathon Plus out does them all … flatless and long wear. I highly recommend these tires. I run the 20 X 1.75 406 size. They also come in 20 X 1.35 406 as well as larger sizes for those who have a larger size rear wheel. By far the best price I have found is ordering them online from a company in Germany. They offer excellent service. https://www.bike-discount.de/ Even with the shipping charges coming from Germany they are far cheaper than any other source I have found. A maximum of 3 tires can be ordered at one time for the flat rate shipping charge they have. And, of course, the best price per tire is had by ordering three at a time. Otherwise it probably would be as cheap or cheaper to order them elsewhere.

I will readily admit that these tires are probably the most difficult tires to mount that I have ever encountered. However, there are some secrets which once known and followed make it much simpler. Here is a video showing how to do it: