My Catrike Expedition

The purpose of this bike, compared to my others, is comfortable touring in the area, as it’s inconvenient to go on planes, trains, and automobiles, and more comfortable commuting where it’s safe despite its reduced visibility.

Purchase

I bought a used Catrike Expedition from one Nurgul Webb, lightly used by her recently deceased husband, one Richard Webb, via Facebook Marketplace after Brian Martin spotted the listing.

Came with:

• One standard trailer hitch cup, comparable to the Thule EzHitch
• One cable lock
• A set of Allan keys on a keyring
• A portable but hard to use pump
• One Accessory mounting bracket on the front
• Two Blackburn rear lights
• One rear-view camera on a ball joint mount, and a portable screen to view it from the front
• Sticky tape residue for the cable routing of the above
• One flag receptacle, but interfering with the rack or fender eyelets
• Two flags, one for visibility in traffic, and the other for jousting like it’s the medieval ages
• Made in the USA stickers on it
• Flat pedals with Power Grips® straps
• No fenders
• No fairing

Impressions

• It rides quite well!
• The Avid BB7 disc brake power is insane. I can brake with my pinkies, and they aren’t even hydraulic!
• Only having a hard time turning at speed. I can definitely feel the trike unloading on the outer side on a turn, and on off-camber turns, especially downhill, it’s concerning, not that a bike is better in the latter case.
• The boom needs to be jammed a tad further in and the chain slack fixed, since the previous owner was between 6’4“ and 6’5“. I can feel the chain slipping.
• Can now ride with Richard!
• Need to increase my cadence a tad, which was already high compared to his, but not high enough to prevent noticeable frame oscillation.
• The rear view camera and monitor aren’t particularly useful since I can’t see well enough during sunlight with it, and the monitor is so nearly at my feet and not high enough in my field of view to be usable in traffic. The fisheye effect also significantly diminishes its usability.
• The camera mounting bar also hits my spine.
• The monitor keeps hitting the ground or walls when I try to bring it up to my apartment.
• I may move the existing mirrors to proper mounts since I have to move my eyes off the road too much to look at them, and their field of view is limited by their extremely low placement.
• The headrest also unfortunately interferes with the lower back of my bike helmet, and is more useful when parked than on the road; further lowering it hits my spine, which is obviously unacceptable.
• The flat pedals and Power Grips® are useless, since they are too big, my feet slide in both dimensions or just come off the pedal, and therefore unsafe at speed. The previous owner had suffered a foot injury and I wonder if these had anything to do with it.
• Not tested with my cargo rack. Previous owner used it to haul kids in a child bike trailer.

Storage

The Catrike brand new is fairly expensive, at least 4500 CAD with the accoutrements that I like. It is locked at all times, even in the apartment, and the locks are a significant fraction of the used purchase price.

Not comfortable yet leaving this in the garage. The Hiplok DX1000 is not really a take-it-with-you kind of lock, given how heavy it is, but meant for extra peace of mind at home. The chain can obviously be defeated by an angle grinder, but it’s really there just to not be a weak little cable lock. It’s not a big deal to bring it up and down to the apartment via the rear door, and fits near trivially in the stairwell, and only minor finagling at my apartment door; it’s not that heavy, though the exposed chain nearly always leaves black crud on my clothes.

Stats

• Nominal weight: 15 kg
• Actual weight:
• Gear inches: 24.4“ - 118.2“
  • My Wolverine is ~17“ on the low end.
• Nominal KPH @ 80 RPM: 9.3 - 47.1

Components

• Shifters: Shimano Dura-Ace bar end
• Rear derailleur: Shimano Deore LX SGS 9 speed
• Front brakes: Avid BB7 disk
• Front discs: Unknown 160 mm rotor
• Cranks: 165mm Truvativ Elita GXP (supposedly Truvativ Trip)
• Crankset: Truvativ Elita GXP 52/39/30T 10 speed
• Cassette: Unknown 11-32T (11-12-14-16-18-21-?-28-32T) 9 speed
• Pedals: Shimano M520 (mine)
• Front rims: unknown, ??? spokes and lacing
• Rear rim: unknown, ??? spokes and lacing
• Front tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Racer 40-406 (20“)
• Rear tyre: Schwalbe Marathon Racer 40-559 (26“)
• Front fenders: none
• Rear fenders: none
• Seat: Unnamed official Catrike nylon mesh seat, no padding, two rear pockets
• Headrest: Catrike adjustable head rest (CAT1101)
• Mirrors: Mirrcycle Bar-end mirror
• Chain: KMC X9

In line with the 2009 Catrike manual

Plans

Initial modifications (done):

• Replace pedals with Shimano M520 SPD.
• Remove rear view camera, monitor, and carbon fibre mount and clamps.
• Remove all tape and sticky residue.
• Remove carbon fibre front handlebar accessory bar and clamps until there is a light.
• Get an Ontario flag, Franco-Ontarian flag, and Canadian flag to add to the flagpole. Of discrete size, not the foot long one for Canada Day. First flagpole broke, and flags aren’t even reflective. Order TerraCycle / Renu Cycles Canada flag from Hamilton Trike.
• Get some spare 20“ and 26“ tubes and put in toolkit pouch behind seat.
  • Not enough space for two 20“, and that’s important.
• Consider mirror mounts. Got a used pair from Ross Wilson.
  • Richard recommended attaching mirrors to headset instead of to handlebars, to reduce road vibration.
• Consider a chain tensioner instead of popping links off the chain. Tension chain by popping links off.
  • Chain can still drop from big bumps, especially since trike is unsuspended.
  • Originally from TerraCycle

Future modifications:

• Take, cut, and shape chloroplast sign from work and slot into seat webbing as temporary solution until fenders arrive. Not breathable enough already.
• Remove “Made in the USA” stickers?
• Buy more PTFE chain tubing. Get more generic garden hose tubing from Richard.
• Buy front and rear fenders.
• Consider whether to get lower capacity (2 × 15 lb) but lower to ground and forward rear racks, or a higher but more capable (1 × 70 lb) axle-mounted Old Man Mountain Divide XL rear wheel rack.
• Buy front fairing and light mount.
  • Ross Wilson might have one.
  • The Mini fairing is neat, more portable, and better suits my apartment life, by I’d rather not go half measures, not split the difference. If I’m going for a full recumbent trike, I’ll not leave value on the table.
• Add a return idler completer kit to match the current chain upper side idler to straighten out and move forward the front return chain tube, and hopefully reduce any rub on the inside.
  • See if the return chain can be tightened and reduce bouncing around.
• Get a Ventisit seat pad not for comfort but breathability, as the current seat leaves my back drench at the end of any ride.
• See if the through-axle conversion kit can still be made to work with my pre-2019 model. The Expedition is not folding, and quick rear wheel removal is of little value to me.

No thanks:

• Consider custom Arkel bags, which are certainly more aero than my Ortliebs on the rack, but likely not significantly enough. Also annoying to secure. Too annoying to detach all the time. Too small capacity.
  • No longer sold directly. Bummer. Tariffs.
• Radar (Garmin, Wahoo)
  • This should be a multi-day bike trip bike. I don’t want to fuss with batteries.
  • The new close to eye level mirrors are quite good already.
  • A bike computer would be too far forward anyway unless mounted on the side, which I am not a fan of.
• Power meters, no.
  • Again, multi-day tripe bike, even if the power meter batteries last probably the entire trip.
  • Power meters belong on a performance bike, one that is used for that purpose, to train, which I am not on the Catrike, certainly not without a seat pad upgrade.

Buying your own

• Catrike, Florida
• Utah Trikes, Utah
• Bicycles McW, Montréal
• EbikeBC, Burnaby
• Bacchetta, Hollywood