Trike short list and why...

[Gfmucci]

I just came back from 2 weeks overseas. I purchased another battery for the M-360 (I have two batteries for all my electric trikes). I haven't had a chance to ride since I came back Sunday but I'll check everything before hitting the beach with the M-360. How is going for you Jerry? dave

I have around 90 miles on her. All the difference in the world with front fork tightness since I figured out what fits over the stem screw to hold everything together. Now THAT was a brain fart!

Front basket is nice and tight - next I need a liner for it. I haven't yet taken my Chihuahua for a ride in it but soon. Got a cell phone holder for my Samsung S9 plus. The USB port on the bottom of the console may not be "quick charge", but it stays ahead of the phone's power consumption when using the GPS with Google Maps.

I lifted the limiter on the console. It can definitely do 25+mph.

None of my trips so far have been over 2 or 3 miles. I've never gone far enough for the charge meter to lose a bar. I call it "my trash and mail" bike. Our trash disposal and mail box sites are a few blocks from our house in our community.

I love it so far.

I do get plenty of "cool bike"'s from those I pass.

Jerry

 

[Dave P]

I have around 90 miles on her. All the difference in the world with front fork tightness since I figured out what fits over the stem screw to hold everything together. Now THAT was a brain fart!

Front basket is nice and tight - next I need a liner for it. I haven't yet taken my Chihuahua for a ride in it but soon. Got a cell phone holder for my Samsung S9 plus. The USB port on the bottom of the console may not be "quick charge", but it stays ahead of the phone's power consumption when using the GPS with Google Maps.

I lifted the limiter on the console. It can definitely do 25+mph.

None of my trips so far have been over 2 or 3 miles. I've never gone far enough for the charge meter to lose a bar. I call it "my trash and mail" bike. Our trash disposal and mail box sites are a few blocks from our house in our community.

I love it so far.

I do get plenty of "cool bike"'s from those I pass.

Jerry

Interesting but Addmotor is not selling the M-330 anymore. Maybe they are selling a good number of M-360s that they decided not to offer the M-330. I do love the M-360 and ride it on the beach whenever I get a chance...low tide and reasonable weather etc.

 

[Gfmucci]

Interesting but Addmotor is not selling the M-330 anymore. Maybe they are selling a good number of M-360s that they decided not to offer the M-330. I do love the M-360 and ride it on the beach whenever I get a chance...low tide and reasonable weather etc.

How is the wear on your front tire doing? At 120 miles, mine is 50% worn. 98% of my riding is on asphalt.

I wonder what brand/style tire I should get when I'm ready for a new one? Certainly one that is better than 200 - 300 miles!

 

[Dave P]

How is the wear on your front tire doing? At 120 miles, mine is 50% worn. 98% of my riding is on asphalt.

I wonder what brand/style tire I should get when I'm ready for a new one? Certainly one that is better than 200 - 300 miles!

I have 1500+ miles on my m-330 and 200+ on my m-360 and I don't have a lot of tire wear on either one but I have done a lot of beach riding. Make sure you have checked your psi and for asphalt it should be 30 psi and for dirt or sand 15 psi. There are 4 X 20 tires which are primarily used for road riding.

 

[Gfmucci]

I have 1500+ miles on my m-330 and 200+ on my m-360 and I don't have a lot of tire wear on either one but I have done a lot of beach riding. Make sure you have checked your psi and for asphalt it should be 30 psi and for dirt or sand 15 psi. There are 4 X 20 tires which are primarily used for road riding.

I notice at 30 psi, less of the tire makes contact with the pavement resulting in more slippage when taking off. It is nearly impossible to go from a dead stop without some tire spin on asphalt. That, I believe, is where most of my wear is coming from. Maybe my driving is more aggressive than yours, and I'm OLD.

Do you have any brands, style numbers, or sources for 20" fat (4") road tires?

 

[Dave P]

I notice at 30 psi, less of the tire makes contact with the pavement resulting in more slippage when taking off. It is nearly impossible to go from a dead stop without some tire spin on asphalt. That, I believe, is where most of my wear is coming from. Maybe my driving is more aggressive than yours, and I'm OLD.

Do you have any brands, style numbers, or sources for 20" fat (4") road tires?

Sunlite XL 20" X 4 1/4" Wire Bead or Clincher Tire is one road tire ... look on ebay or ModernBike.com... I would imagine keeping the psi at 30 would cause more spin on asphalt. You might try nudging the twist throttle to minimize spin.

 

[Gfmucci]

Sunlite XL 20" X 4 1/4" Wire Bead or Clincher Tire is one road tire ... look on ebay or ModernBike.com... I would imagine keeping the psi at 30 would cause more spin on asphalt. You might try nudging the twist throttle to minimize spin.

Yes, the hand throttle does provide a more gradual torque to the wheel. Still get a bit of spin, but not as much as engaging via peddle. I could use a .5 speed step.

 

[lmerk567]

Yes, so far electrictrike.com appears to be #1 in the running. And thanks also for the tip about the potential sale.

Next I want to find out if a higher a/h battery is or will be available, how "universal" are replacements and for what price.

Hi Gfmucci, curious if you ever pulled the trigger on the Fat Trike. I'm thinking about it, but worried that I've never seen one in real life (much less had a test drive), and if I had to make a quick 'remorse return', I would be out $750 in shipping costs ($250 to get the trike, $500 to return the trike). Thinking about it, probably if I didn't like it, I would just try to resell it locally, to avoid that ship-back cost. What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Gordon71]

This has nothing to do with brand but just a thought regarding how safe are trikes. I know when I ride I stay as close to the right side of the road to give cars as much room as possible to get around me. I have to be careful though as there is often a drop of around 3" between the pavement and shoulder which could be a problem if I left the pavement. On a trike I'd be worried about the rear wheel possibly leaving the pavement while the front wheel is still on it.

 

[alphacarina]

I just bought a Eunorau 'New Trike' for my wife. The single most important feature for us was . . . . it needs to fold small enough that we can transport it in the back of our mini-van and to my knowledge, this is the only one. The handlebars fold down similar to those on my Lectric XP and then the frame folds so the front wheel goes back and touches the rear basket. It doesn't make it a lot smaller, but it's small enough to fit in our little Transit Connect van. It's a well designed trike with many other great features. 500 watt motor, 750 watts peak, 12.8 AH 48 volt battery, three inch fat tires and all three are the same, parking brakes on both brake levers, three disc brakes, so brakes on both rear wheels. headlight and tail light and the tail light is also a brake light operated by either brake lever, both brake levers cut motor power, 7 speed Shimano, all aluminum frame construction with 300 pound weight capacity, welded aluminum basket front and rear, color LCD display, very comfy seat . . . and did I mention, it folds up and fits in our mini-van

Don

 

[DanG]

I'm not going to beg to buy something. Imagine what it would be like trying to get any customer service. It is on to the next trike store.

In fact, I'm taking another look at Mobility4Less. I'm learning they're not any worse communicators than any others I've recently contacted. And their trikes have all I'm looking for for less money.

Did you buy from Mobility? And, how's it going?

 

[Franco51]

Any opinions on Liberty Trike?

My wife wants stability, and the Liberty will come apart into two 25-lb pieces that will fit in our RV storage underneath. That’s the main reason we’re interested in the Liberty. It’s also narrow and will fit through doorways.

She isn’t invalid, but walks little, snd often with discomfort

We want it so we can take it in RV to get around state snd national parks. I have an ebike for RV use.

It has limitations, but is the most RV-transportable I have found.

Is it durable and reliable?

 

[MikeDD]

Any opinions on Liberty Trike?

My wife wants stability, and the Liberty will come apart into two 25-lb pieces that will fit in our RV storage underneath. That’s the main reason we’re interested in the Liberty. It’s also narrow and will fit through doorways.

She isn’t invalid, but walks little, snd often with discomfort

We want it so we can take it in RV to get around state snd national parks. I have an ebike for RV use.

It has limitations, but is the most RV-transportable I have found.

Is it durable and reliable?

My wife rides one. We have had it for 4 years with no problems. It has a reverse which is very nice and an emergency brake. It also has a disc brake in front and pedal brakes just like the one speed bikes we learned to ride on. Trikes take practice to ride as they are tippy. She keeps the speed under 10 mph because of the tippy feeling. She has ridden up to 15 miles in one session. We did add a suspension seat post.

There is a facebook page for owners.

 

[Randroid]

After a couple of months of research, deciding the features that are "must haves" and those that aren't, here is a list of what I discounted and what remains an option in the fat e-trike category:

Emojo trike (Caddy): Single speed. I prefer at least 5. Many outlets claim 7 speeds. Manufacturer claims all available are single speed. Motor cut off and parking brake.
Go Plus: Single speed. It has fenders on all 3 wheels, brakes both rear wheels, only 10 amp hour battery. Price is great.
RMB EV Libert-e: Single speed, rear diff (both wheels driven) fenders all around
Volt trike "Trio": The rear brake lever only brakes one rear wheel. And it is out of stock for the foreseeable future.
Electrictrike.com: 750-watt motor, 7 speed, but brakes on only one rear wheel, one small front fender
Addmotor 350: One small front fender, only brakes one rear wheel, and it costs more than I want to spend.
Addmotor 330: No fenders, it DOES brake both rear wheels, only 500-watt motor, only 10.4 a/h battery, slightly more than I want to spend.
FT1900 and X: 750-watt motor, 16 amp/hr battery, one small front fender, rear braking wheels not stated. Suspect (deceitful??) difficult communication. Suspect sales tactics. They insist on bank routing number and account number despite offering to take charge cards which they ultimately refuse to accept. Mobility 4 Less, aka Epicsontech. Terrible experience attempting to order.

BPM Imports T-950A: 750-watt motor, 13 amp/hr battery, fenders on all three wheels, front shocks, 6-speed shifter, but no motor shut off on brake levers and no parking brake. Hit or miss communications with the seller, but most online retailers seem to be similar. This is sold either direct or through Amazon for $100 more.

The Raleigh, Pedego, E-wheels, and Liberty trikes either lack power/speed or don't have the "look" I'm after. Recumbents and tadpoles lack cargo capacity.

Would you pay $100 for a bike purchased through Amazon vs. direct from the importer?

All opinions welcome.

Well, being this post is 3 years old, I can update you on the Emojo Caddy ( mine is the Caddy Pro. Mine was delivered on Feb 28 2022. First, it has 7 speeds, not 1. It doesn't have a suspension seatpost, I bought a Suntour for $112, pricey but superior to the low budget ones. It is of the parallelogram design and it works. The instruction manual only shows assembly of the front wheel along with the usual warnings and how to use the handlebar controls and explanation of the readout. YouTube has one assembly video, and it ain't the greatest. I recently tried to remove the left rear wheel and couldn't break the nut loose. I took the trike to an Emojo dealer here in Kingman Az and he told me , after trying himself , ( I am 76 and he looks to be in his forties) that the nut had been tightened with an impact wrench, in China no doubt, and the axle was stripped. I bought the trike through Amazon and 3rd party called Zoom Sports. Sent Zoom a message describing the situation and they said they would mail me a new axle. That was on 6/13 and haven't heard from anymore. I have had a lot of compliments on the trike. The battery is 48v , 15.6 ah