Sun EZ Tadpole Trike Question
 

As part of my midlife crisis, I've been looking into recumbent trikes. A LBS had a couple of the Sun EZ Tadpole trikes. One thing I noticed is they have front wheel disc brakes only. Nothing on the rear wheel.
The brake lever on the left side operates the left front brake and a similiar set up for the right. Being a newbie to trikes, this set up has me curious and leery. Seems like if you were going fast and only grabed
one brake, it could throw you into a fast maybe violent unplanned turn. Anybody have any experince with this type brake set up? it this something to stay away from or is it a non-issue?

Thanks,
Garry

That is the standard brake layout for tadpoles, some of them suffer brake steer ie. grab one brake and it swings that way, but on most of them its very minor.
Rear brakes on tadpoles are lethal for anything except a park or drag brake, the EZ tadpole had one in the initial design but they removed it for production (I suspect it had to do with roll overs).
The Catrike Pocket is a similar price and is lower and lighter but the handling is faster (read twitchy) according to reviews.
You will find reviews of both over at the trike forum here http://www.bentrideronline.com/messa...aysprune=&f=13
Good luck

Garry, I have had several tadpoles and found that the front disc brakes are more than enough to stop the unit even on the steepest hills. You will learn to apply even pressure on both handles to prevent brake steer. I have had a rear brake on one of the tadpoles and did not experiance a rollover or anything close to it. The only draw back to the EZ-Tadpole is weight. Take a look at the IceQ, Greenspeed GT3 or GT5-disc brakes, and the Catrike Road, Speed, and Pocket as well as the EZ-Tadpole. A must for stability and turning would be "center point ackerman" steering. If someone doesn't know what that is...Run!

Does anyone know of a dealer in the Chicago area with a Catrike pocket on display?

The EZ Tadpole was originally offered with a rear disk also. If you look you will see a disk tab for it. However, It was concluded that it was unnecessary and could be problematic under certain conditions. The front disk or drum brakes are standard fare on Tadpoles. They will stop you just fine and as a previous poster indicated you develop braking technique. The EZ Tadpole comes with entry level mechanical disks that despite their crude look, set up quite easily and require little maintenance. Keep in mind that in the world of trikes this is a entry level product. The SX weighs in at a hefty 49# and the CX 47#. Properly set up they perform well, the components work and it is very adjustable in that both the seat and boom are moveable and the steering is three axis adjustable. Attention by the assembeler is required to get the chain tubes in the correct position to decrease tube noise. Also make sure the kingpin/disk mount assy. is black. There has been a recall and the replacements are black in both models. The tires on the SX are Kenda Kwests 60psi. I replace them with the 100psi ones that come on the CX. It makes a worls of difference in the performance. I currently have a SX set up wit 100psi Primo Comets and it is even more of an improvement over the 100psi Kwests. Overall if it were not for the weight this is a nice trike. If your toying with a trike for yourself it might be worth a try. If your going to do a lot of hills you might look at somthing else like a CatTrike keeping in mind the price will be consideably higher.

Jude

If you can find a Catrike Pocket I would buy it. I was told this am that they are sold out till April. Check with "The Bike Rack in St. Charles, IL or Valley Bikes in Indiana.

There were a few Pockets available from the factory as of Wednesday. This is a very small footprint trike.

Jude

Y'all, thanks for the input. Since I used the right (rear) brake on my Burley most of the time, I was afraid out of instinct if I grabbed the right brake hard I'd be doing an instant 180! Sounds like once I get past the learning curve things should be OK. The weight issue isn't a big thing with me. My Burley tips the scales at 53 pounds.

Garry

SOLD OUT already?! Looks like it's going to be impossible even to try one out anywhere...am I right?

How close to Lansing Mich are you? I think they're sold out because so many of my fellow club members bought one - there's 5 new Speeds in the club this spring.

Rapid Transit Cycle Shop has a yellow Pocket in the shop. I believe they also have a blue Road. Great folks at RTC.

Power On Cycling in Plant City FL has 1 pocket. A red one that I ordered but did not take. It also has fenders with it. I bought a Road instead. I need one for the Bacchetta Rally in St. Petersberg yesterday. I was the only trike there. I did give a few demo rides. I rode 20 miles on my first day out.