Being one more than two…

After a thousand miles on the trails, I relate my experience with the Catrike Dumont…

Introduction

I’ve been a lifelong traditional “diamond -framed” cyclist; however, for physical reasons resulting from surgeries in a delicate area of my body, I found myself no longer comfortable on a two wheeled bicycle. This was a shame because my most recent bicycle (Specialized Roubaix) was an almost “light as air” carbon fiber technological wonder that epitomized the elegance and efficiency of human powered motion.

As I recollect just prior to my surgery last year, my doctors suggested that I might want to consider another form of cycling that would be more comfortable. I was not alone in this circumstance. In fact, physical limitations of vary sorts seem to be the rule rather than the exception for riders transitioning from traditional bicycle technology to alternatives like recumbent designs. I dismissed my doctor’s concerns until early this summer when I rode the Roubaix a few times and realized I might undo the good work of my surgeons if I kept at it.

According to Wikipedia, “a recumbent bicycle or tricycle  is a conveyance that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position. Most recumbent riders choose this type of design for ergonomic reasons: the rider’s weight is distributed comfortably over a larger area, supported by back and buttocks. On a traditional upright bicycle, the body weight rests entirely on a small portion of the sitting bones, the feet, and the hands.”

Recumbent cycles come in two basic configurations, which are either two or three wheeled designs. Initially my inclination was to acquire a two wheeled version, but I was dissuaded by my local bike shop for two related reasons. First, they don’t sell them and second the owner does not trust their basic stability. His quote to me was, “you ever seen one of those things going up a hill?” Saying this while he moved his hands back and forth horizontally indicating that they have difficulty keeping a straight line, which is essential safe-cycling behavior. This was further confirmed to me when I stumbled upon a gruesome YouTube video of a rider crashing his Cruzbike recumbent into a curb when he briefly took one of his hands off the handlebar grip! You can see this disaster in the video below which caused me to rule out the two-wheeled version of the recumbent. The wreck happens about the 3:15 mark, and at the 8:40 mark the rider shares the injuries he sustained:

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I Purchase a Recumbent Trike

At first pass I was very reluctant to own a recumbent trike. My understanding was that they were heavy, wide and incurred increased rolling resistance because of three wheels in contact with the road surface. The was anathema to a “roadie” cyclist like me who placed the greatest value on limited mass, precision components and maximum speed! My feelings were also complicated by my disdain for trike riders. They never appeared to be serious cyclists, instead tooling along at a leisurely pace in their lazy boy chairs on wheels! I wondered where they kept their remote controls and beer koozies on those odd conveyances.

I had to set aside my prejudices regarding trikes because I very much wanted to get back to riding on the bike trails. Cycling with my wife is a very important part of our daily routine. So I went out shopping for a trike.

My purchase was initially driven by what was available in my immediate Iowa location. I’ve had a longstanding relationship with my local bike shop and felt very comfortable buying my trike from them. I wanted a place that I could reach easily for the inevitable service that trikes require. My instincts were correct because my trike spent a good deal of time in the service bay during my initial thousand miles of ownership.

At the time of my searching, my local shop listed on their webpage Catrike, ICE, and TerraTrike brands. Probably because of global supply chain issues there were a just small number of TerraTrikes in the shop, no ICE’s and a pretty good inventory of Catrikes. At any rate, the Catrike designs were more appealing to me so I focused on them. I ended up purchasing a Dumont because trikes are fairly large mechanisms and this one folded up to a smaller size. Further, it was designed with both front and rear suspension. Since you cannot lift up out of the seat when encountering a bump on the trail as you can on a traditional diamond framed bike, I thought suspension to soften the impact on my aging body made great sense.

I’ve never owned a Candy Purple bike, so I selected it over a Liquid Black one, which were the two available. The Catrikes are known for their exquisite paint jobs. They apply the paint with powder coating technology using their own unique color mixes. The powder coated paint is supposedly more evenly applied and more durable. Sadly though, because of the powder coat technology, Catrike does not offer touch up paint, which can be an issue if you ding up the frame which I did in very short order. Other than adding some Shimano SPD pedals, a water bottle holder and some fore and aft lighting, I rolled out of the store with a stock Dumont.

I Add an eCat Bosch Motor

The Dumont weighs in at 43 pounds. That is a lot of aluminum, steel and rubber to power along the trail. The trike was equipped with a triple crankset up front and a 10 ring cassette in the rear, giving 30 possible combinations. Riding on the flats and rolling down hills was fun, but climbing any inclines was tedious for me as gravity comes into play in a big way when you’re driving a beefy trike such as the Dumont. After about 150 miles of toiling with the Dumont, I decided I was not having any fun on my summer morning rides with my wife. Compared to the ease of riding my Specialized Roubaix, the Dumont was a boar hog. Cycling had become a chore, and I had to take some kind of action or I’d quit riding.

During my initial trike shopping, I became aware that a Dumont could be retrofit with an electric assist motor, but that would be a big step for me because I actually disdained bikes that used motors. I just thought they were for the unmotivated or lazy.

Nevertheless, being desperate to raise the Dumont to the level of fun to ride, I laid down a sizable chunk of cash and had my shop install a motor on the Dumont. The installation was pretty easy as the front end of the boom is completely swapped out. The three ring crankset, cranks and pedals are removed and replaced with a boom that holds a German made Bosch Active Line Plus motor, subcontracted by the Catrike manufacturer. The old boom went into a box in my garage and I transferred my new Shimano SPD pedals to the powered boom.

Riding with the new motor took a bit of acclimation, but very soon the Dumont was great fun to ride! The motor is torque-activated, meaning that pedaling is required to trigger the assistance that it offers to the rider. In the above graphic you can see that the Active Line Plus motor offers four levels of assistance ranging from 40 to 270% additional power beyond the baseline offered by your own legs.

The level of assistance is selected by Bosch’s Purion computer which is mounted where the shift lever was for the old front derailleur that was replaced by the motor boom. Pressing the Purion plus or minus buttons move the motor through the four stages of assistance. I ride the Dumont mostly at the ECO or 40% assistance level, which to a large extent remediates the piggish weight of the trike. At the ECO setting I’ll tool along at about 12 mph. If I need to go faster, or I’m feeling lazy, I’ll bump the Purion up to TOUR level and there I can run 14 to 15 mph with a moderate amount of leg input from me. I will use the SPORT of TURBO settings for the rare Iowa hills, with the assistance level depending upon how steep they are.

The Bosch motor and Purion computer are all powered by a rechargeable battery that is mounted on the side of the trike between the seat and rear wheel. The battery will dissipate its charge at a rate that is a function of how much assist you require during a ride. For example the Purion estimates that riding at the ECO setting gives a range of about 70 miles, TOUR 40 miles and so on. The battery can be recharged while attached to the trike. Removal of the battery requires a key.

It’s important to note that the battery and the mount add width to the trike when in its folded state. Before I added the battery, the folded Dumont would easily fit into the rear of my Honda Crosstour or my wife’s Subaru Outback. Now it won’t! This is a big problem and has pushed me to seek out a trike rack and trailer hitch for my Honda. This is an ongoing and costly process. It’s also worth noting that the Dumont now weighs in the neighborhood of 53 pounds with the addition of the motor boom and battery. The motor more than makes up for the additional weight!

The Annoying Rear Fender

The stock Dumont is equipped with an aluminum fender mounted over the rear wheel. The fender is useful when riding wet, sloppy trails after a rainstorm. But, I removed it from the trike because it made an unholy racket any time I rode over somewhat uneven trails, which is all too common where I live. I tried tightening the fender mounts, adding rubber washers between the mount and the trike body and even worked with the body’s shock absorber all to no avail. Finally, I contacted Catrike and they basically admitted that they have trouble with “some” of their fenders and offered to send me a replacement. Further, they informed me that they were redesigning their fenders.

I saw no advantage to having Catrike send me a new fender since the one I had was perfectly good, other than being quite noisy. It was hard for me to accept the clashing about of the fender while riding through my bucolic, wooded bike trails, so I removed it. The removal process was stressful and tedious because the screw mounting the fender directly to the frame was very difficult to get to, but I eventually got it free. I miss the fender on those days that the trail is sloppy, but I do not miss the racket! Perhaps I will give the redesigned fender a go when and if it becomes available next Spring.

Those Dang Disc Brakes

I’ve ridden with bicycles all my life that used wheel rim grabbing calipers. Adjusting them was relatively easy to do. On the other hand, the Dumont was equipped with Avid BB7 Disc Brakes on both of the front wheels. In addition, they are also equipped with Catrike locking brake levers. When adjusted properly, the trike’s disc brakes work very effectively however, it took multiple trips to the shop to get the BB7’s to function as they were designed to do.

Since the cables of a new trike stretch over the initial break-in period it was difficult to keep them properly adjusted. Secondly, the BB7’s are more difficult to access and way more complicated to adjust, making them beyond my capabilities. Consequently, any adjustments had to be done in my bike shop.

During the break-in period, I experienced several hundred miles of noisy pad to disc rubbing from the right brake before finally getting it adjusted properly. As a result of cable stretching, the parking brake on the left side quit grabbing and had to be reset. This is important because a trike will roll off if not locked down with a parking brake! Finally the brake levers had to be fine tuned so that they activated the brakes simultaneously when under equivalent hand pressure. For a while they were not set identically, which caused the trike to fishtail during rapid breaking. As of this writing the brakes are finally functioning properly, but it was an ordeal getting there.

Working Through Issues with the Rear Derailleur

The Dumont is equipped with a SRAM GX ten speed derailleur, which is a moderate quality device used often on Mountain Bikes. It is activated by an indexed shifter-lever mounted on the right steering grip. While it’s been working very accurately for the past several hundred miles, I had some difficulties with it until the control cable settled into its stretched out length and the derailleur limit screw settings were fine tuned. The limit screws control the lateral motion of the derailleur and this is important because when set properly, they reduce the probability of throwing the chain either into the wheel or onto the axle.

Twice I experienced the chain dropping off the rear gear cassette and jamming up on the axle. This malfunction prohibits movement of the chain and locks down the motion of the pedals. The first time it happened, I freaked out and went into emergency braking mode, and to this day I’m not sure whether or not the rear wheel locked up also. Nevertheless, the trike spilled over on its right side and I was thrown free from the trike onto the trail. OUCH! Sore hip and elbow road rash for days after.

After my first “chain drop” incident, my bike shop fine tuned the derailleur and I rode along fine for several hundred miles before the derailleur malfunctioned again. This time, I did not panic and let the trike roll to a stop. As with the first chain drop, it was difficult to free the chain from its jammed space on the axle but I eventually got it and the trike rolling again. I think my bike shop did another fine-tuning and the derailleur’s been working great since then.

I’ve read that the use of a motor places more strain on the chain and the derailleur as opposed to the unassisted state. Consequently, some effort by the rider to reduce pedaling load during a gear shift reduces stress on the system and the probability of malfunction. This is not always possible, but I try to do it now as often as I can.

It is also worth noting that the bottom of Dumont’s derailleur is fairly close to the ground with its lowest point being 5 inches above the trail surface. By comparison the bottom of the Roubaix’s derailleur is 6.5 inches above the surface of the road. This may not seem like a big difference, but it must be because unlike the Roubaix, I’ve picked up trail debris several times while on the trike and found it trapped between the Dumont’s derailleur and rear wheel. In fact, during one ride, after a rain storm, I picked up a small windblown branch with leaves still attached and it wove its way around both jockey wheels and several times around the rear cassette. What a mess that was to clean up while out on the trail!

Because of chain drops and derailleur fouling I considered chucking the derailleur and replacing it with a Rohloff internally geared hub. They’re very expensive, but owners of those hubs are super enthusiastic about them. At this point, I’ve decided against allocating those funds because my bike shop guys are very unenthusiastic about doing the work. In addition, the Catrike literature about the Bosch motor indicates it is set up for use with a standard derailleur and finally, mounting a Rohloff on the Dumont requires a drop out adaptor kit which alters the trike’s frame geometry by extending it one inch in length. I am assuming that the Catrike designers were very intentional when they laid out the trike’s geometry and I am reluctant to mess with it.

Those Pesky Flats

The stock Dumont is dressed out with Schwalbe Marathon Racer tires. They’re advertised as the lightest of the Marathon tires, but boast of good durability and flat resistance. Nevertheless, I got a flat on the bike trail shortly after acquiring the Dumont and had yet to equip myself with spare tire tubes and field repairs tools. I had to roll the trike to a location where my wife could pick me up. Rolling a Dumont with a flat tire is an ordeal as the trike wants to curve off in the direction of the flatted tire. I never want to do that again!

After consultation with my bike shop I had them order a set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires which are supposedly bullet proof and in the unlikely event of a flat I now have spare tubes and field repair tools. The Marathon Plus are big beefy tires and actually add some cushion to the ride.

The Marathon Plus tires come in E50 and E25 varieties. The E50’s are for bikes/trikes that are spec’d to run with motors that push the vehicle to speeds in the neighborhood of 30 mph. The E25’s are for trikes like the Dumont that are set to max out at 20 mph. For some inexplicable reason my shop put E50’s on the front and an E25 on the rear. I would have preferred E25’s all around as they are lighter than the E50’s. On rotating elements like wheels, lighter is better. I should have been a more attentive and knowledgeable consumer when I had the shop order the tires. In fact, I would prefer to pull the E50’s off and replace them with E25’s, which I’ll do if I ever wear them out.

I’ve run several hundred miles on the new Marathon Plus tires and so far no flats!

To the left you can see an image of the various items I carry along for tire repair. Included from right to left are tire tubes of two sizes, a patch kit, zip locks, a pump, hex wrenches, tire tools and a plastic snipper.

I’d prefer not to carry all the aforementioned items; however, I don’t want to get caught with my pants down on the bike trails again with a flat that I cannot fix. Catrike builds a variety of pockets under and behind the seat that can be used to stow pumps and tools; however, I found it necessary to mount a rack and smallish bag on the rear to house the tire tubes. The rest of the bag is useful for hauling a bike lock and whatever else you want to bring along within reason.

The rack, bag and tools etc. violate my holdover minimalist “roadie” sensibility, but riding a Dumont with a motor assist is a completely different affect. So I bring it all along!

Being Seen

The Dumont is considerably less visible on the road or trail than my two-wheeled Roubaix. Since trikes are still relatively rare, neither motorists nor other cyclists recognize and respond to them as readily as a two wheeler. For this reason, making a trike more visible when out and about is the prime directive!

In the past, I’ve been critical of two-wheelers running daylight lights. The lights that are now sold are so bright they’re practically blinding or at a minimum really annoying when the rider is using the periodic flash setting. Bright lights can trigger a migraine for some, including me, so I will studiously look away from an oncoming riding running bright lights. Despite my antipathy for running day lights, I put them on my Dumont for safety reasons. A trike must be recognized quickly, but I do feel bad for passersby’s who may feel afflicted by my lights.

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In the image gallery above you can see the front white light, the two rear red lights, and the flag I use on the Dumont to enhance visibility. I run the lights whenever I am on the move. Since the lights are expensive and would be very easy to steal off the trike, I remove them when I park in a public place, like in front of our local coffee shop. The lights are rechargeable, which must be done pretty much every day. You can see my recharging station in my kitchen.

The Dumont was equipped with a rather prosaic, small orange flag. Shortly after purchasing the trike, I rode it under a tree that had partially fallen across the trail and unknowingly had the flag stripped off the pole. Consequently, I purchased a new larger and more interesting looking official Catrike flag which was pricey, but I like it! The flag and a rubber grommet that helps lock the flag pole into place were made and sold aftermarket by TerraCycle.

How Stable is a Catrike Dumont?

Cycling is an inherently hazardous pastime. Over the years, I’ve taken my fair share of spills from two wheeled, diamond shaped bicycle frames. I initially thought a trike would be different, so when I first sat down into the Dumont cockpit, I said to my bike guy, “you’d probably have to be intentional to tip over a three wheeled vehicle,” and he visibly shuddered. This he followed with a warning that several of his customers had mishaps on their trikes, and that I should ride mine with caution especially in the early days of ownership! So how stable is the Dumont? Here are some of my thoughts:

1. From a stability standpoint, not all trikes are created equal. Some are more stable than others. For example, the Dumont is considered fairly stable with a Catrike rating of 10, whereas the 559 model is rated 7.5. Since the Dumont is all I’ve ever ridden, I can only speak about it.
   
2. When you’re riding on a straightaway, the part of your brain that handles balancing on a two-wheeler is free to engage in other realms so as enjoying the scenery. With three wheels, the trike balances itself.
   
3. It’s really nice when you come to a full stop. It is no longer necessary to unclip myself from the pedals and reclip when I start rolling, which was the case with my two-wheeler.
   
4. On the other hand, taking curves requires more care than riding on a two-wheeler. Taking a sharp curve too fast can result in a spill. In time, you learn to lean into the curve which allows you to go faster, but a two-wheeler will always have an advantage.
   
5. Despite its high stability rating, I’ve tipped the Dumont over twice and as a result been thrown from it landing hard on the ground. Fortunately, I was not hurt too badly, but I do not want to make a habit of this. In both cases, I was in an emergency braking mode. The first time, my chain dropped from the cassette onto the rear axle, locked up my pedals and I went into panic mode by over-braking. This spill was probably avoidable.
   
   The second spill was when some oversized clown on an eBike veered off the concrete trail into the grass, and in a panic over-corrected and swerved into me while I was passing him. Had I not hard-braked I would have hit him and that would have been a real mess. On this particular hard-brake, the rear wheel went airborne, the front end dug into the pavement and I was tossed. This was not, on my part, an avoidable accident. In the end, it is best to refrain from getting yourself into an emergency hard-brake scenario, if it is at all possible.

Epilogue

After 1000 miles in the Dumont’s cockpit, I find the trike’s functioning on the mark in all respects and a great deal of fun to ride. Were it not for the Dumont, I would no longer be on the bike trails, which would have been a great loss to me and my wife.

I’d like to thank the folks at Bike Tech in Cedar Falls, Iowa for their service, attentiveness, friendship, patience, and most of all for keeping me rolling.

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