mpoinar

Junior Member

*

Registered: Apr 2005



Hi everyone,

I need your expert advice here. My husband John is still trying to assemble my trike after 3 days now. It is a tadpole Tricruiser recumbent trike.

I noticed during today's test 4th test ride that it felt like something was holding it back, especially when using my bikeE right next to it. It can't coast downhill effortlessly.

So I suggested we look at the wheels and they all seem too tight. If you pick up the trike and try to spin the wheels backwards, they don't spin but for a second.

The front wheels, the tightest, have disc brakes on them and the back wheel has a caliper brake. All wheels seem "too" tight.

Does anyone know how to loosen up wheels so that they work effortlessly? The back caliper brake does not seem to be rubbing against the tire but it's hard to tell since it is a little wobbly when it spins.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
Martha


*

jeff-o

This is what you got?

https://www.americruiser.com/PhotoAlbum.htm

The first thing you should do is check the brakes, they may be rubbing. Chances are, the disc brakes aren't positioned or calibrated properly, and one or both of the brake pads are rubbing against the disc. Disc brakes are a little tricky to get perfect, and adjusting them can get pretty fiddly, especially if you've never done it before!

Now, does the back wheel spin properly or not? You post was a little unclear about that.

mpoinar

Hi Jeff,

That's the website but it's not loading for me tonight so I don't know which photo you meant to see, but yes, that's what I got.

Ok, I'll tell my hubby that and no, he hasn't done it before. I never realized this could be so complicated.


It was the back wheel which I noticed was dragging so when we got back to the garage, I asked my husband to lift it up to spin it. It wobbled a little and had a hard time spinning.

Then later on in the day, he told me he checked one front wheel and it spun even worse than the back wheel so it sounds like all the wheels are dragging. I have no idea what bike terms are, so please excuse my layman language here.

We watched the rear caliper brakes and they didn't seem to touch the tire when we tried spinning it but it was hard to tell because of the wobble. To me it looked like the brake may have touched in a few places.

Please let me know if I have left anything out.

Thank you very much.
Martha

CATZ

Hi Martha,

The wheel wobble is going to be more critical on the rear, as it has a caliper brake engaging with the "wheel". The fronts have disc brakes which are located at the hub, therefore the wobble won't affect the fronts. None of the wheels "should wobble", however, they have probably been all built to the same standards. In this case ... low.

Here again the wheel hubs have been assembled to the same standards. I would tackle one wheel at a time. The rear should be able to drop out. Holding the axle ends, the wheel should spin freely with out trying to turn the axle in your fingers. If it tries to turn the axle, the bearings are adjusted to tight. (The reason I suggest dropping the wheel out, is so the brake isn't a factor, plus you can more easily tell if the axle is trying to turn, rather than if the wheel is dragging.)

The fronts, may or may not be adjustable. If they have a nut on the end of the axle, they are adjustable.

All should be adjusted to realize some friction in the spin and then backed off a little bit. "tight, but not too tight .. or too loose, as to have end play.

mpoinar

Thank you, Catz.

I've copied all this down and we'll take a look at the wheels tomorrow.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Martha

steveknight

I would get it ot a shop before it is too late (G) it sounds liek it needs a good tuneup and if hubby does not know how to true wheels and work on disc brakes it will jsut be a pain in the rear.

jeff-o

Yeah, it may be wise to just give in and let a bike shop handle this...

Rock Hound

Hi martha,

I have a Tricruiser. If you bought it from Sid, email him posto hasteo! The problem sound more of being the overtight bearing, Second, you mention wheel wobble and this may be from a damaged (in shipment) wheel. Or it could be a misallignment of the wheel on the bike.

Email Sid at: TriCruiser2000@aol.com. He has always been very helpfull and he knows the bike inside and out 'cause he builds them.

Don

mpoinar

Hi,

First I want to thank everyone who replied here. I want to give an update but I don't know if it's 100 percent accurate yet - things can change. It's like peeling an onion. You think a problem is solved and a new one pops up.

My husband realigned the disc brakes which were rubbing big time it turns out and then I asked him to back off the rear caliper brakes to see if the wheel would spin better. It did. So it appears that most of the problems are brake related ones except for one thing.

There is still a slight wobble in the rear wheel which makes it difficult to get the rear caliper brake to fit correctly. The wobble, John said, was coming from the slightly crooked tire and not the wheel. I haven't tested the trike out today yet but if he's right, perhaps a new tire would help?

Don, I just PM'd you.

Thanks, Martha

geebee

Try taking the tyre off and refitting it as the wobble may just be an incorrectly seated tyre.
Otherwise it may be a faulty tyre, it's rare but I have had one before.
The plus side of doing it yourself is that it's handy for future reference.

mpoinar

I told him and he did it. The wobble is barely visible now.

I haven't posted because this is a very very slow process for us. He is doing one small step at a time and there are more adjustments to be made.

I'll update this when all is completed.

Thanks to you all!

Martha

deadancer3

Call or email Sid the owner. He is very helpful! some thing that you will find helpful: use a small torque wrench on ALL nuts after you have it asembled and working; 5 #ft for tubing bolts ,10 #ft for non tubing bolts. Call Harbor Freight, Sears or Pep Boys if you dont have one.. This is a low torque value and is for aluminum tubing.

There are numerous people on the net with Tricruisers, mostly very happy. I am an ex bike mechanic and find the Triruiser pretty darn good and excellent value.


Sorry that you had problems; I found the wheel bearing lock nut torqued too loose from the supplier also. And never did like adjusting brakes.

which model did you get? I have the 21 speed, 24" rear wheel with front discs. I have double/triple butted tube joints, added electric power, raised the front chainring about 8 inches, added and taken off a rear disc brake, modified the rear suspension and changed all tires. Also added chain tubes to protect me from the chain and the chain from dirt. It ws wrecked BAD twice, (both times human error, not the trikes fault) Rebuilding was pretty cheap.

This Trike was just shown at the IHPVA Midwest trike show, folks liked and respected it, and it kept up with everything else. ( I hardly used the electric power).

dick

mpoinar

Hi Dick,

Well since we didn't know what we were doing, it has ended up at a bike shop who is working on it now. Sid sent me a 52-42-30 front spocket in exchange for the 42-32-22 that he had put on it. It has a 7 speed cassette on the back 13-28. With the larger sprocket they added a few links to the chain and now have to get a new front deraileur. (sp?) Good thing the bike shop is doing all this work and not us although it's costing me a pretty penny.

My trike has 3 20" wheels, 2 front disc brakes, a rear caliper brake, and some extras including a chain guard that Sid made himself.

I'm really encouraged by your opinion of it since it's been in the bike shop so much I've hardly had any chance to ride it yet - maybe 6 times is all.

That's impressive!!!

Thanks for sharing this with me, Dick. As soon as everything is adjusted and working right on the trike, I'm sure I'll love it. I did not get the electric motor ...... yet!

Martha