What is the big deal about front wheel drive recumbents? Here is one that is really cool, from 1950. It has an internally geared hub, and a very stylish body. This would be a cool bike!
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Thomas Traylor’s 1982 design patent for a front wheel drive two wheeled recumbent, very similar in design to a Cruzbike Silvio. Considering Maria Parker’s new 12 hour record, set on a Cruzbike, maybe Traylor was ahead of his time!
Maria Parker, mother of 2, recently set a new record for miles traveled in 12 hours. She stopped before the 12 hours were up, and covered 241.01 miles. As noted on the Cruzbike site, “She not only set the recumbent 12-hour course record for women, but she went farther than any previous female road biker had ever done in this race. She also went farther than any woman on any recumbent bike at any UMCA non-drafting 12-hour event. At Bike Sebring in Florida, which appears to be the place where 12-hour records are set for recumbent male riders, the 12-hour record for a recumbent woman is 137 miles.”
The men’s record is 241.5 miles in 12 hours. Catrike Maintenance and Repair topics are listed below. If I have a blog post on one of these topics, this contents list will serve as a link to each topic. These posts are authored by participants in the Catrike Message Board. Submissions of posts by any Catrike rider for inclusion here are welcomed. FYI, Catrikes are recumbent tricycles, with more information available at the Catrike Performance Trikes site.
Basic Setup and Maintenance” Catrike Performance Trike Official 2004 Manual Catrike Performance Trike Official 2006 Manual Catrike Performance Trike Official 2007 Manual Troubleshooting section: rear wheel squeek: lube rubber weather seal Upgrades: Facing the bottom bracket edges Discussion of After market items and FAQs: Jerry’s flags Bruce went crazy with his drill press, and removed, if I read his notes correctly, about 13.7 pounds from the normally 30 pound Catrike Speed! This is Catrike #CS754, named Holey Spokes.
Now we need to see that thing assembled, a final weigh in, and a test ride to see if it whistles. Its just remotely possible that Bruce has too much time on his hands. One last picture:
This figure from a U.S. patent from 1869 shows a tadpole recumbent trike. It is powered by the user’s hands and feet. The feet work a treadle, and the hands work the rods. Rod and lever propulsion was common in those days, because reliable chains had not been developed yet, and the crank and chain was not proven as the best way to transfer power. This wheel and frame configuration is about 140 years ahead of ahead of the Catrike and other trikes, which have similar frame and wheel configuration. This was not the first recumbent bike, but it is certainly an early one. I have no information that this was ever built, but it sure was ahead of its time. It is very similar to long wheel base recumbents on the road today.
Here is an early (1949) recumbent bike which is similar to many recumbents seen on the road today. An even earlier recumbent was by Jarvis, and the recumbent that set world speed records was by Charles Mochet.
The first tricycle that I have found with the two wheels in front and the larger wheel in back (the tadpole configuration) was patented in England before 1876, and sold as by the Rudge company. The seat was like a carriage seat, with coil springs to absorb shocks. The large rear wheel was the drive wheel, and the front wheels were for steering. This model is propelled by levers and cranks, but this mode was later replaced by the chain and crank. Between 1880 and 1890, this form of bike was one of the most popular cycles in England, being even more popular than two wheelers.
Bruce on ceramic bearings: I’ve replaced the stock Catrike bearings with ceramics bearings on both of my Speeds. Front and rear. In a year and a half I’ve burned up two of the stock bearings, so I was looking for something that is more durable and that I wouldn’t have to worry about again. It just so happens that they really improve the coasting abilities of a trike, which also means they reduce pedaling effort. But, they ain’t cheap! PRH has just done the ceramic swap in the rear of his trike, and is awaiting the arrival of his new fronts. He felt the improvement from just the rears. If I recall, they are about $50/bearing, and there are four of them in the two front hubs. It takes about ten minutes to replace them in each front hub. Here’s a link to my section on Flickr where I keep my pix of the guts of a front hub, showing the bearings and how they fit. For information on how to remove these bearings, check out this post. It’s easy! Click here to see pix of a front hub disassymbled. ABEC stands for Annular Bearing Engineers’ Committee. This committee works to determine the standards for bearings for the Anti-Friction Bearing Manufacturers Association (AFBMA). The ABEC scale classifies different accuracy and tolerance ranges for bearings. The first column of this table lists the five ratings in the ABEC scale. ABEC Ratings ISO Class ABEC1 Class 0 The ABEC rating of a bearing is determined by the following (for a 608 size bearing): 1. How close the bore is to 8mm in microns
Thanks to PRH for this latest info on these bearings! These are the bearing and part numbers to order them from VXB Bearings. You will note that these are also ABEC-7 bearings, as well as ceramics. Kit8041 6904-2RS Bearing 20×37x9 Si3N4 Ceramic:Stainless:Sealed:ABEC-7 Quantity 2 same bearing from BOCA Bearings Kit7660 6805-2RS Bearing 25×37x7 Si3N4 Ceramic:Stainless:Sealed:ABEC-7 Quantity 2 same bearing from BOCA Bearings For standard Catrike rear hubs you need one of each of these kits from vxb.com: Kit7653 6000-2RS Bearing 10×26x8 Si3N4 Ceramic:Stainless:Sealed:ABEC-7 (about $30) I believe that all current Catrikes use the same hubs and bearings. The older front hubs used two of the 6904 bearings, but all of the current models use one each of the above bearings in each hub. An excellent step up from the stock bearings on a Catrike would be to good stainless steel bearings. The next step would be to stainless ABEC-7 bearings. The next step would be to non-rated ceramics. The top of the line (well, almost!) would be ABEC-7 ceramics. You will note that “Stainless” is listed in the description. That’s because the globes (balls) are the ceramic component, but the races are stainless steel. The best analogy I can give of the difference in ceramic versus steel balls is the difference between a golf ball and a ping-pong ball, as far as smoothness. Unless you just have a bunch of money to spend, I would recommend running the stock bearings until one of them gives you trouble, then replace them all with ceramics, keeping the stock ones for spares. Concerning sealed bearings, they can be lubed. That process is discussed in a separate post located here. My experience (Bob’s) with ceramics has been that they make a 2-3 mph difference in my riding. I found a roll out hill with a straightaway below it, and I coasted my trike on the test track before and after installing ceramic front bearings. Over about a 300 yard run, the trike went 40 paces (120 feet) further with the ceramics. On all the “go fast” sections of my regular route to work, over the next week I set new personal best times on every section, by about 3 mph. On one section, the new speed ability made me try to complete a 6 block section at speeds above 20 mph. I was successful at that. My usual speed over that route is more like 17, and on some areas I usually drop down to 13 or so. Bruce says the bearings will get better after 200 miles of run in, so I’ll retest them later. If you install ceramics looking for speed, you should remove the seals, clean out the grease they come with, add replacement grease, and replace the seals. Excess grease would be displaced by the bearings as they rotate, and would come to rest on the bearing cage. During use, oil from the grease would seep out and lubricate the bearings. But if there is so much grease that the bearings have to continually push it aside you will lose any speed advantage the ceramic bearings might have given you. When you replace the grease, you can also make a batch of “thin” grease to pack the bearings with, made of 70% grease and 30% 3-in-1 oil. The picture below shows how much “thin” grease I added.
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