THE TRIKE ANIMAL

WHY the Trike Animal??

On a ride in July I was going up a rather long hill and I was pedaling like mad. As the hill was long and difficult I eased some throttle on and used the motor to make the climb easier and faster. After I reached the top and was admiring the view another rider (young and muscular) pulled up and said, "You're an animal on that thing! I've been trying to catch you for more than a mile. I know that trike must weight a 100 pounds more than my bike and I still couldn't gain on you."  And so, the myth of the Trike Animal was born at that moment.

What is going on in the world of the Trike Animal

Power Problems

About the 2nd week in August I began to notice a dramatic reduction in the amount and duration of the electric assist I could count on. I did some tests and found that the system (previously capable of more than 20 miles) wouldn't go more than 6 or 7 without running out of battery.

So, figuring that I had used up the life of the batteries I bought new ones and installed them on the Trike. The next test ride did not show any improvement in either available power or distance. Then that leaves only the controller and the motor as the suspects. Both are quite expensive (compared the the $112.00 for batteries). I have sent off emails to the suppliers requesting help but have heard nothing back in a week. Will be following up on Sept. 8th.

Broken Trike

When the frame broke on my trike June 3rd, 2008 we were just entering the ideal ride time for Colorado.

The new trike arrived in 2 weeks and then two more weeks of special modifications by the great folks at Yeti Cycles (including inventing several devices to make the trike work correctly with more gears and a motor - Details in the "About the Trike" link above) and then I was ready for some test rides.

After testing and tuning the first serious ride was July 3rd and everything went great.

Follow the links above and see how I'm doing.

It will be several weeks before I can get back to the same ride times and length as before.

Hilary House