VegasTriker

I suspect that many new riders do have trouble with the 20.7 GI granny gear on the 559 wheel Catrikes but in reality it is not much different than the 19 to 98 gear inches that came on my first trike with a 20” drive wheel (not a Catrike). The stock 26" rear wheel Catrikes have a gear ratio of 20.7 to 117.6 gear inches essentially using road bike components 11/36 and 30/39/52 with a 170mm crank. You switched to what is more commonly used on mountain bikes but left the cassette the same. The new gear range is 16.6 to 95 gear inches so you lowered the lowest gear by 19.8%. Catrike gets a pretty wide gear range as a result of using the 10 speed cassette with a 36 tooth granny gear. I certainly did have trouble climbing hills with the 24 speed, 19-98 GI range on my first trike even though I had ridden my Linear LWB recumbent 3K miles in the year before buying my first trike. There is no doubt that once you get your trike legs, things get easier. These days I ride a Catrike 700 with a 21.9 to 124.2 GI range. I have no trouble climbing steep hills on it and wouldn't change out the gear setup. I very rarely shift into the smallest chainring.