In Search Of...

...the perfect trike

Here’s what I want:

A collapsible recumbent trike with at least three speeds. Not so much to ask, huh?

I very much want to be able to scale the currently insurmountable (on my Mobo anyway) big hill that sits between me and Nut Island. I need a trike with gears in order to do that. My legs might be iron strong BUT the knees have limits and the Mobo’s a fixed gear babe or fixie as all the hipster kids call ‘em.

My dream trike’s easily collapsible too so I can tote my gorgeous babe on the T so’s I can ride around Boston and Cambridge. Or on a plane for my visits to Della in Berlin or Jenny in Phoenix. OR I could load my folded speed machine in the back of Bix and then go tooling around Hoosick Falls in style!

Sunday's test ride was on one like this

On Sunday TAB, Jen and Oni and I went to our local bike shop Anderson Bicycle. It’s a wonderfully friendly, reasonably well stocked shop, owned and run by Paul and Karen Anderson. They don’t normally carry adult trikes but they had one on display. Not a recumbent, not collapsible BUT it had gears and wasn’t outrageously expensive. I figured I’d give it a test drive.

Now, the last upright adult trike I tested was stratospherically tall, possibly rivaling the Tokyo Skytree in elevation. OK, OK, that’s how it felt to my tippy self!

first upright effort was on one of these — a racing trike

This one was def shorter but still felt a bit Everest-y (Mount Everest is the Earth's highest mountain. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. Its peak is 8,848 metres above sea level and is the 5th furthest point from the center of the Earth. You’re welcome), still, I just had to give it a go. So I did.

Apart from the cloud skimming issue, the trike’s one heavy muthafuckah. I think Bix the Wondercar may very well weigh less. So those gears? They’re bennies were canceled out by the big chubbo factor.

I did not achieve new trike-y joy. Oh well.

While Google fu-ing, I found the Evolve beast.
From a 2011 gizmag.com piece :

The Evolve trike can reportedly be folded into the back of a smart car (the litmus test for whether or not things are small) in under 13 seconds, or into an oversize suitcase in about 18 seconds - in that case, with the back wheel removed. If you just want to fold it part way, enough to get it through a doorway, that can be done in six seconds.

Its frame is said to be as rigid as a non-hinged frame, and stable even at speeds of over 50 mph

Unfortunately, as with so many other enticing-sounding things, you can't buy one yet. The Evolve folks are still experimenting with different parts configurations and wheel sizes, to determine what should ultimately go to market.

The evolve e² — the holy grail of trikes

Well, boyhowdy, it’s 2014 — where the fuck’s this amazing beast?

Here, at Edge Recumbents in Knoxville Tennessee. The e² goes for a princely $2,995.00. That, of course, doesn’t include shipping costs.

*choke*

Then there’s the Catike line (yeah, with a name like Catrike, two of my things, how could I resist?).
There’s the Villager, the Expedition, the Trail. They all look pretty awesome — not collapsible though. I could always put a bike rack on Bix BUT I wouldn’t be able to tote one of these gorgeous babes on my long distance travels.

Sadly, there’s not a big price differential — you know, they don’t fold but just LOOK at how much less expensive they are! Nope. Not. They start at $2,350.

Rose City Cycle in Bozrah, Connecticut is the closest dealer who carries Catrikes. That’s about two-ish hours from here so I could actually go down and test drive one.

A plus but the price is still too high for my thin wallet.

Back at Anderson Bicycle, the young dude (Paul and Karen’s son mebbe?) assisting me and I talked recumbents — they could order me one. He recommended the Sun EZ Tri Classic SX (not collapsible and I’m not keen on the handle bars) and the Sun T3 CX Tadpole  (I like but not collapsible).

The EZ Tri Classic SX runs $1300 or thereabouts. The T3 CX Tadpole comes in at two Gs.

Ouch! What’s a trike freak to do? Eh, I’ll get a bike rack so that me and Mobo can at least ride in Hoosick Falls and maybe down on the Cape. And I’ll start squirreling away spondulix and skrilla. Maybe next year.