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Utah Trikes Blog 
My lame excuse for missing the TOT
07/02/2008 - I had every intention on going to the Trike Only Tour up in Idaho but sadly I was unable to make it. On Saturday we got a visit from Carl Mueller of Windrap Fairings with a pleasant surprise.
Back in August Carl and I started talking about the idea of making a fully enclosed velocar kit from Polycarb. I'm consistently impressed with Carl's fairings and knew the lightweight material would be perfect. We talked over some ideas and I sent him a trike to use as a template. He had been sending me some pictures of his progress, but I hadn't heard from him in a couple months.
Well, apparently he wanted to surprise me with the finished product. Carl spent the weekend here and on Monday we took the VeCOB (VeloCar On a Budget) for a test run on the trail. I'm please to say that the velo kit is everything I hoped it would be.
We will be doing some more testing with Carl and should have the kinks worked out within the next month or two. Installation is easy and the whole kit collapses down to fit in a suitcase. Let me know if you have any questions, otherwise keep checking for more details.
Fiesta Days Parade on July 24th
07/01/2008 - The Spanish Fork City Council has asked us to be in the parade on Thursday the 24th. They are limiting us to only 25 riders this year, so please contact us to get your name on the list if you want to ride. This was one of the most fun events last year. Every participant will get a Utah Trikes shirt.
Gary Jacobs Wheel Extensions
06/07/2008 - One of our most popular articles has been the Cruiser Big Wheel conversion known as Gary's Custom Cruiser. Well, ever since we posted those pictures Gary sent us of his cool ride we've been getting emails asking for details.
The magic is in Gary's Wheel Extensions which are now available. These are a bolt on add-on that allows you to run a bigger wheen on the rear of your trike without changing the center of gravity. A bigger wheel means higher top speed!
SRAM i-Motion 9-Speed Hub
05/15/2008 - We've finally decided to carry the SRAM i-Motion 9-Speed Transmission as a standard option. We've built several trikes with this hub per special requests and have ridden it enough now to make it a regular option for our custom trikes.
The i-Motion 9 has a 340% gear range that is enough to handle most hills with ease. For even more extreme gearing you can combine it with the Schlumpf High Speed Drive.
All of our Trike Customizers list this option in the rear wheel and gearing drop down field. If you'd like to take one for a ride stop by the shop. We plan on keeping one on the floor for demos.
Yes, We Have Trikes In Stock!
05/08/2008 - We have received several calls the past two days asking if we have trikes in stock. The answer is a resounding YES! This is the beginning of trike season, so we allocated our inventory early. We currently have every model in stock in most sizes and variations.
The TerraTrike Path has definitely become our best seller and we have a very good supply of all sizes. The Path is a great entry-level trike and can be ordered completely upgraded, or with upgrades in mind. We've done a lot of crazy modifications, so if you are thinking of something 'different' let us know.
We currently do have linkage-steering aluminum frames in stock, but some colors are limited. Orange Sparkle has been the most popular color, so if you are thinking about it, now is the time to act.
ATC-2K Video Cameras Back in Stock!
05/07/2008 - Ever since we put up our article on how to modify the Oregon Scientific ATC-2K Action Cam we get a continual stream of e-mails asking if we know when more will come in. Well, we're happy to say that we finally go some in after a nearly 3-month backorder. Out of the 150 that came in we are left with about half of them, so we should have them for the next month at least.
The ATC-2K camera has been one of our favorite for doing quick videos. It can mount to your trike or helmet easily and includes mounts that can be used for other sports. a 2GB SD card will hold about an hour of video.
So, let's see what you come up with! To buy your ATC-2K Camera go here!
The Edge 705 is in stock!
04/03/2008 - We finally got the Edge 705 GPS Computers in stock. This much anticipated upgrade to the Garmin Edge 305 has some exciting new features.
My first impression of the Edge 705 was that it is bigger than I thought it would be. It looks like a slightly larger scaled version of the Edge 305. The large screen will be easier to see for sure. The color screen is very nice, and the lighted mode is a white light instead of the monochrome-green on the Edge 305. I'll have to report back on the battery life.
One of the coolest features of the Edge 705 is that it now works with the Garmin Mapping software and can give you street level maps and turn-by-turn directions. Don't expect a voice though, it just beeps to let you know when a turn is coming up.
It's a Recumbent Tricycle!
03/25/2008 - When you use the word "Tricycle" what comes to mind? Maybe the little red cycle with the pedals connected to the front wheels?
Well, "recumbents" are hard enough to figure out, but when you use the term "Recumbent Tricycle" together people are bound to look at you a little funny. That's why we prefer the term "Trike".
If you are new to trikes, or are wondering what a recumbent tricycle is, we suggest taking a look at our "What is a Trike" page. If you are a visual type person then check out the What is a Trike Video.
There is a lot of detailed trike information on our website about our "recumbent cycles" but if you have any questions please call or email us.
Adding a rear brake to your TerraTrike
03/22/2008 - I get asked the question a lot if a rear brake can be added to the TerraTrike. Well the answer is a qualified yes. Some methods of adding a brake will require modifications to the frame, and are a "Do it at your own risk" type of thing. Luckily there is an easier way to do it.
The Shimano Nexus, in particular, has the Nexave roller brake option that can be easily added and requires no frame modifications. As for how to control the brake, you can run a third brake lever, or consolidate the front on one side and the rear on the other.
I have the Nexave on my own TerraTrike Commuter (click for pix) and I love it. Be aware that if you lock up the rear wheel it can throw the trike into a spin. Otherwise, the brake functions well as a drag brake to increase high-speed stability on fast downhill runs.
The Nexave roller brake can be added later, or as a custom option when we build your trike.
How to Measure your X-Seam
03/19/2008 - We've got a new episode of The Trike Show called Measuring Your X-Seam. It explains the best way to measure your own XSeam and find out which Trike boom size would work best for you. Knowing your X-Seam size will do more than just ensure that you get the right trike. It will also help us know how to dial in each component of your Trike for maximum comfort and ergonomic performance. So if you'd like to know How to Measure your X-Seam check out our Trike Show video.
The Trike Show - Ultimate "How To" for Trikes
03/17/2008 - Introducing The Trike Show! If a picture speaks a thousand words, then video speaks 30,000 words every second! Add that to our voice over, and you could be looking at over 1,800,000 words every minute! As in depth as our articles are, there's just no way to compete with that volume of word count. That's why we've started our new video article series called "The Trike Show". It's the ultimate "How-to" series for all your Triking needs. We show you things like how to change a tire, adjust a rear derailleur, measure your Xseam or even install some of our favorite accessories. All episodes of the Trike show can be easily accessed from our Videos page. Be sure to check it out often to see what new episodes we've come up.
The Trike Show - Ultimate "How To" for Trikes
03/17/2008 - Introducing The Trike Show! If a picture speaks a thousand words, then video speaks 30,000 word every second! Add that to our voice over, and you could be looking at over 1,800,000 words every minute! As in depth as our articles are, there's just no way to compete with that volume of word count. That's why we've started our new video article series called "The Trike Show". It's the ultimate "How-to" series for all your Triking needs. We show you things like ow to change a tire, adjust a rear derailer, measure your Xseam or even install some of our favorite accesories. All episodes of the Trike show can be easily accessed from our Videos page. Be sure to check it out often to see what new episodes we've come up.
Fastback Hydration and Cargo Bags
03/12/2008 - In case you missed it, our friends over at TerraCycle just bought FastBack. This adds a whole line of bags and hydration solutions to our catalog. The entire Fastback collection can be found on our Fastback brand page.
In the coming weeks we'll be testing every one of these bags on all our trike models. While some of these bags were designed with a specific recumbent bike in mind, we think we'll find clever uses for most of them on our trikes.
Specifically, our Edge and Zoomer trikes have been very difficult to attach water to. With the FastBack Frame Mount Bottle Holder this is no longer a problem. And, they look sharp too!
The New Deluxe Delrin Idler
02/11/2008 - As I've mentioned in a few of my articles, idlers can make a huge difference on chainline efficiency. The power side of the chain is the most important, and I've long preached the importance of sprocket idlers on the power side. Well, I'm proud to announce the release of a new idler being made by WizWheelz for the more performance minded. The new idler is made from the same Delrin material as the stock idlers, but is now sprocketed. This new idler is quieter and smoother than the stock idlers, and will last longer too.
While not quite up to par with our higher-end TerraCycle Idlers, these new Deluxe Idlers come in at a much cheaper price. At only $24.95 each, they're a great deal. We currently have the Deluxe Idlers in stock available as an aftermarket part, or can include them on your new trike. See our Deluxe Idler page for details.
The Deluxe Idlers are the same dimensions as the stock idlers and will replace the stock idlers without other modifications. To use the Deluxe Idlers at least an 8-speed chain in needed, which means the stock Path chain won't work.
I took the idlers for a test ride this weekend and was pleasantly surprised. I typically run with the TerraCycle Idlers, so I swapped back to the stock idlers to get a point of reference. I forgot how noisy those are:) After several miles I installed the Deluxe idlers and the difference while riding was instantly noticeable. The Deluxe Idlers are significantly quieter and much smoother.
The Path is a hit!
02/09/2008 - We knew that having a trike under $1000 would attract a lot of recumbent riders, and boy were we right! Since we got our first shipment of TerraTrike Path Trikes we've been building new ones everyday. The Path is the perfect base for beginning trikers, or anyone looking to build up from a chromoly base. People are definitely taking advantage of our Path Customizer and choosing all sorts of great options. We have tons of pictures available of these custom jobs, so if you want to see them just ask.
The most popular customization has been the addition of the Shimano Nexus 8 Hub. It's been my favorite for a long time. It adds five more gears than the stock Path and is a much smoother shifting transmission. We've also been combining it with the Schlumpf High Speed Drive, which is one of my favorite gearing combinations.
We've had several Path customers add the TerraCycle idlers to their new trikes. If you choose this option (recommended), you will need to upgrade the chain as well. The TerraTrike Path's single-speed chain just isn't suitable for the larger, precision TerraCycle idlers. We recommend the X.9 chain, which will run you $60 more.
After building a bunch of Path's I'm working on a new review. There are a few difference from the prototype model that we based our original TerraTrike Path review on. My new review will also go over the more technical specs of the trike. I hope to have it up in a week or so.
The Path has arrived!
02/04/2008 - We just got our first batch of TerraTrike Paths in this morning. We'll be busy building these and delivering them over the next week or two. I'm anxious to see what minor changes have been implemented in the final production version. I'm very happy to say that these are much more "finished" than the prototype Path we currently have.
If you want to get your Path before spring hits, then now is the time to order. Give us a call and we can go over all the specs and any upgrades or modifications you might want.
The TerraTrike Path is an extremely affordable trike and we are currently offering 3 months no payment no interest financing. For details visit our Path Specification Page and our Path Customizer.
The PATH is almost here!
01/25/2008 - We just got the word from WizWheelz an the first TerraTrike Paths have finally come in. We are expecting our shipment on 2/4/08. We'll be working hard to get all our preorders shipped out as soon as possible. If you want a Path get yours ordered today. Use or financing and pay no payments or interest for 90 days.
The TerraTrike Path is our newest trike with the incredibly-low entry-level price of $999. We offer three variations of the Path as well as fully custom options. For details visit our Path Specification Page and our Path Customizer.
We were fortunate enough to have WizWheelz send us their prototype a few months ago and have been able to write a review on the Path.
Headrest is now in stock!
01/22/2008 - While the TerraTrike seat is very comfortable, many people have been asking for a headrest. Well, WizWheelz listened and the new headrest is finally here!
The headrest will fit all the standard mesh seats and just bolts onto the rear of the seat frame. There are four points of adjustments, so you will definitely be able to get the headrest where you want it.
The padded portion is curved to cradle the back of your neck or head and will work with or without a helmet. For more details and pictures visit our headrest page.
Cruiser gets a gearing change
01/05/2008 - The latest Cruisers that we've received from WizWheelz have had a minor change in the rear gearing. The rear MegaRange 11-34 cassette has been replaced by the HyperGlide HG40-an 11-30T cassette. This newer cassette is lighter and has more consistent jumps between the different gear ratios.
While the 34T does provide lower gearing than the 30T sprocket we don't think most people will care too much. With the new stock gearing you'll get a total gear range of about 19-88 Gear inches. With the old setup we had about 17-88 Gear Inches.
I think most people will prefer the closer, smoother shifting to an extra two inches on the bottom. What do you think?
TerraTrike Zoomer Nominated Trike of the Year!
01/02/2008 - Our new TerraTrike Zoomer has just been nominated for Bentrider Online’s Trike of the Year Award for 2007. We are excited about this opportunity and believe the Zoomer is worthy of winning this award. If you’d like to participate in the voting it is very easy to do. Go to Brol for details. That’s all there is to it!
We want to hear from you!
12/21/2007 - In an effort to start more dialog with other trikers, we've just added a new feature to our website. On our Article pages and Video pages you will now find a form at the bottom that will allow you to post comments. After refreshing the page your comments will appear.
We will be moderating these comments, so let's keep them clean. Hopefully, this will be a great way to have more discussion about our projects.
Happy Holidays from all of us at Utah Trikes!
Utah Trikes Gets Easy Financing
12/19/2007 - Utah Trikes has teamed up with GE Financing to offer interest-free financing for qualified buyers. We have various promotions available to make financing a new trike easy. For full details and to apply online visit our new Financing Page.
We are very excited to be able to offer this service to our customers. Customers have been asking for financing options for a long time, and we feel that teaming up with GE will give our customers a great solution.
Upon being approved you will receive a Utah Trikes/GE Money card that can be used to purchase anything from our website, catalog, or store.
Scary Ghost Stories?
12/18/2007 - I can’t help when turning on the radio to find at least a few Christmas songs playing on every radio station across the dial. And, of course, there are those few stations that have been playing non-stop Christmas music since the last firecracker popped on the 4th of July. Since, as every marketing firm knows, there are no holidays between the 4th of July and Christmas. At least that’s what I see at Wal-mart.
A very popular song I can find on every station is It’s the most Wonderful Time of the Year. That song always reminds me of the crazed shoppers fighting to get a “Turbo Man” action figure in the movie Jingle All The Way. The part the always baffled me was the mention of gathering around and telling “Scary Ghost Stories”. My family has many holiday traditions. Caroling to the neighbors; Trying to figure out what to do with the myriads of dried fruit and almonds; Stacking Popcorn tins; That sort of thing. But we’ve never sat around a fire or Christmas dinner and told Scary Ghost Stories. That always seemed more appropriate for a Halloween party or cub scout campfire. I can only guess that the composer either has his holidays confused or had a really messed up childhood.
Still, to give support to the lyricist, I can think of one Christmas “ghost story” that one might tell at Christmas time. That would be Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It is full of ghosts, is scary and is about the Christmas holiday. So that’s one story. Any others? The song mentions “stories” in the plural form. There must be more than one. I then thought that in some bizarre mental stretch that we could also count The Nightmare Before Christmas as a scary ghost holiday story. But Jack Skellington is not a ghost. Zero, his dog, has ghostly attributes. And during one song, ghosts fly around the screen. But really, I don’t think the movie would quite qualify as a “ghost story”. And certainly, The Nightmare Before Christmas was not around when this song was written.
Well, however you spend your Christmas, we at Utah Trikes wish you well and hope you’ll enjoy the holiday.
Modifying your trike!
12/17/2007 - Some people like to keep things stock, while others like to make various upgrades. There are a lot of upgrades that just bolt on, while some modifications require serious modifications. I have two cases to present today.
Recently, Gary called me and asked about a used cruiser that we had just listed. He thought it would make a good "project" trike and he had some plans for it. He shared some pictures with us, and I think you'll agree that Gary's Modified Cruiser turned out pretty cool. Even though it looks extremely modified, he didn't need to alter the frame and could always revert back to stock.
Locally, we were able to make a special trike for a very special kid. While our trikes are "full size", we were able to modify a Zoomer frame to fit a small child. Take a look at Chris's Shorty Zoomer.
Trikke vs Trike - What's in the double K?
12/12/2007 - We've been getting many calls about the Trikke Scooter from people who have seen the TV ads about Triketv.com and TrikkeTV.com. We recently had the opportunity to try these Trikke scooters, and they seemed at first to be a very fun way to exercise. Even at slow speeds, the Trikke seemed very unstable and easy to fall off as you can see in these Trikke Videos on You Tube. After about 10 minutes of riding the Trikke, I was a little bored. It seemed to make me more sore than my Recumbent Trike much faster, which made it a less effective workout tool. Bottom line, the Trikke with two K's is fun toy that will end up in storage in a few months. The recumbent Trike with one K, is an effective workout vehicle with far more longevity. Again, I guess you get what you pay for.
Update May 7, 2008
Due to an increased interest in what I considered to be just a petty blog, I felt it would be good to expand upon what I've already written. The two most common responses I've received are concerning my "soreness" comment in the paragraph above and then asking the details of my first experience with a Trikke scooter. While muscle soreness is a sign of muscles tearing and growing stronger and is very essential towards working out, the soreness I was referring to is joint, lower back, and neck soreness. I'm 29, weigh 175 pounds and am relatively active. I don't have a history of back, joint or neck pain. I lift weights and ride bikes and recumbent trikes actively. I felt as though the ergonomics of the Trikke scooter weren't as efficient as my recumbent trike. On a recumbent Trike, I don't feel any joint soreness, but feel as though it's ergonomically working my muscles. Meaning, that in my first experience with the Trikke Scooter, it seemed to have potential to do more bodily damage than good, as far as building muscles or working out was concerned.
Concerning my first experience with the Trikke scooter, I really only rode it for about 25 minutes max. Just around my house, up a few hills and such. Upon saying this, I can see now why fans of the Trikke scooter may feel that I should give it another chance. And I'm more than willing to do this. I enjoy riding my skateboard occasionally even though I'm fully aware that's it's one of the least efficient human powered vehicles out there. But for me, it's more about fun. It seems to me that there are people out there who really feel the Trikke scooter is fun, people who might someday invite me to a BBQ, so I'm willing to try it again and see things through their eyes. My first experience with the Trikke was fine, but since I felt like I was riding a gimmicky version of the razor scooter, I just sort of ran out of things to do after about 10 minutes. That may have been my fault for starting my ride with an already formulated conclusion. Perhaps on my next ride I should take it to the skate park for some new tricks or follow suit of some of the You Tube Trikke scooter riders and purposefully crash it into a lake.
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