Pinigis 

I have always liked tadpoles, but they tend to be very large and difficult to transport. I purchased a "folding" recumbent about 9 years ago but. although it folded, it was still too big to take to the trails. I purchased this one, and it fits in the trunk of the car. It takes a couple of minutes to transform its riding state, but it has been a blast. I am just looking for feedback on what people think of the idea.

rollagain

Cute trick with the little dolly wheels, but why ask us? What's important is how well you like it.

Where did you find it? I've never heard of that brand.

Pinigis 

I asked you all to see if there are changes that I should consider before having them produced in a larger volume. We are looking at adding them to our offerings of folding bikes.

newbert

A video on how it folds and unfolds would be quite helpful, if you'd like comments and or suggestions. Also some specs such as weight, dimensions, whether it can be fitted for e-assist, etc.would be useful info.

So far, it looks like an interesting idea!

Pinigis 

There is a nice video of it in action, and the folding process here:
The trike weighs about 38 pounds, and is about 20" x 26" x 35" in its folded position. It has a 20-speed Shimano Tiagra drivetrain, Shwalbe Marathon tires, hydraulic disc brakes, aluminum frame, fiberglass seat. It is easily electrified with the available battery mount that installs into the seat tube and places the battery above the rear wheel.

linberl

I recently bought a trike (Trident - it folds okay) but the best one is the Catrike Trail. Since it was my first ever recumbent trike and I'd never even ridden one, I was hesitant to spend very much. The Trident meets my needs and I can get in the back of my Prius but when it dies, assuming I'm still able to ride, I will get the Trail. Being able to quickly fold and roll to public transit trains would be nice-to-have. It's really the only think I miss about 2 wheelers. The market for trikes skews older I think, so whatever you make needs to have seat adjustment options so the seat isn't slung low if the user needs to sit higher for easy in-out or visibility. Riding in a city like I do would not be nearly as safe if I could not easily bend forward to look around and over parked cars at intersections. The Trident has 3 seat heights and a more upright angle - as a newbie in particular that made sense. I started out with the highest seat height and moved to the middle once I got used to the trike. so make the seat adjustable vertically as well as horizontally is my suggestion to attract older (wealthier) and newer riders. Oh, and it's personal preference, but I don't like the hard seats, I like the mesh. Probably weigh less too.

Pinigis 

Thank you for your insight. The seat angle is adjustable from 35 to 45 degrees, but the height is not. I will see if we can make the height adjustable without interfering with the fold.

I agree that we should make a mesh seat option available too.

BlazingPedals

I'm not really a 'trike' guy, so I could be all wet here, but I think that while the dolly wheels are a nice touch,you should probably make them removable. Dolly wheels won't be overly useful in most cases, and I suspect most users will wan
t to remove them and mount them only for occasional use.

Pinigis 

Yes, they are easily removed in less than a minute. They do actually prove very useful even for just maneuvering the folded bike into a storage spot in the garage.

rollagain

First, both videos are the same; I think you intended to have one of them of it being unfolded. I'd also like to see an illustrated step-by-step instruction manual for the folding and unfolding process. Also, not everything was shown in the video; I saw an orange bungee cord in the final configuration, but didn't see it applied in the video.

I had to stop the video many times to try to figure out what was being done. This is quite a complicated process, and may throw off buyers who just want to ride without facing a steep learning curve regarding deployment.

In real-world conditions, there seem to be a number of places where dirt or grit could get into places they shouldn't be. The most crucial to me is the clamp that holds the front and rear frame sections as well as the cruciform arms, and it's the closest to the ground. The handlebar pivots look like they'd be easily contaminated and very hard to clean.

The whole thing reminds me of that old saying: 'Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.'

Before committing to this I'd want to see a copy of it torture-tested, including by deliberately failing to secure each of the various clamps.

Another question is, how many proprietary parts are there among all those clamps and pivots?

This is an extraordinarily clever piece of engineering, but I think its very intricacy opens it to problems: the more moving parts there are, the more wear and potential breakage.

Pinigis 

I will make a new video after Christmas. It isn't really that complicated,
The clamps for the front pivots are proprietary, but most of the others are off-the-shelf quick releases.

Pinigis 

This video shows the step-by-step folding process. They show it very slowly.

linberl

Oh man, no way I would do all that. Go look at how the Catrike Trail folds, with the seat intact! Even my Trident spike folds easier than this does, well enough to get in my prius. But if I wanted a good folding trike it would be one that folds like the Trail. Otherwise, I'd never bother with it and wouldn't pay for that feature. There's. a reason Brompton is the world's best selling folding bike - because it is stupid easy and fast. This isn't :-(. I don't think you'd find a big market. Just my 2 cents.

easyupbug 

I have two folders, an older Trident and a Catrike, neither is perfect but I would not go through all of that stuff for storage unless it was long tern, certainly not to get to a ride. We are snow birds and have plenty of room for the Catrike which folds larger than the Trident.

linberl

Exactly. There are 3 reasons to fold I can think of. First, to put in a car to get somewhere, which might be a frequent use. Second, to take on public transit (at least where I live). And third, for storage as you suggested. To put my Trident in my prius, I just pop off the seat, undo the main latch, fold over and in the car it goes. I don't do it often but it's not a huge hassle; if it was I'd get a trike rack installed. the Catrike Trail is the only one I've seen that works easily for public transit. If OP is gonna build a new design that folds it needs to be better than what is already out there - in terms of speed and convenience. Coming from 2 wheeled folding bikes, I know that even though my Bike Friday rides better than a Brompton, Brompton is the #1 folding bike because it is fast and simple. And maybe it's just me, but anytime you have to attach bungies to a folding bike, I'm out. That just says it wasn't designed very well. I wonder if recumbent trikes could make so they are separable instead of folding? Some kind of locking pin system that lets you break it down very quickly into 2 or 3 parts that could be stowed in a car and quiclky reassembled? Wouldn't work for transit but that's a niche use. Also the weight of each part would be easier to manage than folding and lifting the whole trike. Just an idea. I guess the problem would be the chain, though.....

tcs

The TrikExplor M320 is a nifty design, but for a collapsing trike I like the Evolve Folding Trike design a lot better.

There are ~8 YouTube videos of this trike in folding action which one can view by searching 'evolve folding trike'.

Oh, you bought a minivan to haul your trike?

tcs

4) Bus, train or fly to rally/tour destination.

linberl

i thought that was covered under "take on public transit", lol. Bus, train, plane, ferry boat, whatever you have.

tcs

Fair enough, in which case I will inform you that that exists all over, not just where you live.

linberl

Not to argue at all, but in the folding bike thread i discovered to my surprise that there ARE places that do not have public transit. Typically more rural, but i definitely had several folding bike riders tell me they did not have access to transit and they used the folding bikes to put in their cars. Like I said, I was surprised, but apparently some places don't have transit (or maybe not reliable transit) and folks drive everywhere and drive to airports. i would not like that at all.

BlazingPedals

There, fixed that for ya.

linberl

It would be interesting, to me anyway, to get a sense of just how prevalent public transit is around the US. my sense of it, possibly incorrect, is that Europe does a better job. Not to completely derail the thread, then the type of fold needed for a trike depends in part on how it is going to be used while folded. Smaller and more mobile for transit, compact enough for cars, or slightly reduced in size for storage. So I guess it depends in part on how big the market is for each type of use and whether it is worth trying to target all 3 or not. As i've come to discover, any time you make something smaller and lighter, the cost increases exponentially.