Category Archives: quadricycles
UTAH TRIKES CUSTOM SUNSEEKER ECO QUAD WITH 1600 WATT MID DRIVE MOTOR
Utah Trikes is known for their customization services. Here is one of their projects. With 1600 watts there is plenty of power. Along with all that power is plenty of noise … something I find quite objectionable. I guess it doesn’t bother some people.
4 WHEEL DRIVE REAR SUSPENSION ELECTRIC MOTOR ASSIST FAT TIRE QUAD
What more could you want in an off road human powered vehicle? This beauty is nearly unstoppable. It is an L Trike or Camel Trike made in China and sold from China thru ZZMERCK (Zhengzhou Merck). I find their media coverage a bit confusing. One place they call it an L Trike and another place they call it a Camel Trike. It is not even a trike so I don’t know why they would call it either one. Googling “L Trike” turns up nothing, but Googling “camel trike” gets results. It doesn’t come cheap … $7500-$8500. It looks nice, but I don’t trust the quality of Chinese products. Hopefully this is well made. I will say though that this trike is definitely complex in its design which translates into … “there is a whole lot of stuff that could go wrong and cause problems”.
I said it is rear suspension and it is, but at first I thought it was full suspension, but after taking a closer look at it I guess it is not.This quad weighs approximately 110 pounds (50kg) so it is not light. The wheels are laced rather uniquely. Although I have seen this before I don’t think it is all that common. They are laced only on the inside of the rim. No spokes attach to the other side. This is covered in one of the videos further below.
The one thing I noticed is that the cables are hanging way down low where they could easily snag of lots of stuff riding off road. They created lots of road clearance only to place the cables way down low. That makes no sense! I see it all the time on people’s trikes. Some people just don’t seem to care about such things even if you point it out to them. I wonder if they would change their tune if a drooping cable ruined their day causing a bad wreck. At the very least it could cause serious damage to the cable and possibly other things.
4×4 Fat Tire Recumbent Quad
Model/Price: Model: MF426E, Price: US $7,500-8,500
Website: http://zzmerck.com/products/recumbenttrike/2017-09-28/398.html
Brief description: four-wheel drive system, aluminum alloy 6061 frame, Vee 26×4.8 tire, DNM air spring suspension, SRAM11 speed, 500w mid drive motor, 48v 20ah lithium battery, climbing angle more than 35 degrees. For All Challenging Terrain!
SPECS:
Transmission system
Front derailleur: Sram NX11
Rear derailleur: Sram NX11
Drive system
Crankset: Flywheel crankset
Flywheel: Sram NX11 11 speed 11-42T
Chain: Miche 11 speed
Chain tube: Nylon
Pedal: Exustar clipless pedals
Novatec bearing secondary drive hub
Customs Aluminum alloy 7075 secondary drive
Fouriers chainring
Customs power divider
Customs shaft, hub, shaft hub, cardan
Brake system
Front brake: Avid E3 hydraulic disc brake
Rear brake: BB7 disc brake
Wheel system
Rim: Alloy
Spokes: 304 stainless steel
Tires: Vee 26-4.8 foldable tires
Front hub: Novatec customs hub
Rear hub: Customs shaft hub
Suspension system
DNM air spring suspension (double chamber)
Electric system
48v 500w mid drive motor
48v 20ah lithium battery
Light system
Led headlight
Frame: Aluminum alloy 6061 T6
Seat: Nylon mesh
No way could I do this on my tadpole trike. I would find myself in a real predicament. This quad goes right up it …
The next video definitely demonstrates that it is all wheel drive …
This next video is suppose to be a demonstration of the quad riding thru snow, but there is very little snow on the ground so it isn’t much of a test. A standard trike with standard tires could go thru most of the snow shown, but probably not all the uneven ground, etc. as there would be traction problems …
The next 4 videos are about the design and bulld of the quad. You may have to pause them to read the English captions in order to follow what is being said.
That is a lot of money to lay down to attempt some off road fun, but hey, if you have it to spend you might as well go for it. You can’t take the money with you when life is over. BTW, you can’t take the trike with you either. We can only enjoy them here in this life … so do your best to …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
CHINESE KNOCKOFFS

http://www.made-in-china.com/…/hot-chi…/Recumbent_Trike.html
http://www.made-in-china.com/…/China-New-Design-Hot-Sale-Re…
I know Catrike is aware of this, if for no other reason than the fact that I emailed them about it several years ago when I first discovered it.


PODRIDE VELOCAR
Another new velocar is attempting to be birthed into the market place. It’s a cute little thing called a Podride. HERE is their website. Both a 3 wheel version and a 4 wheel version are planned. It will be available with or without electric pedal assist.
They have a StartUp Campaign and a YouTube Channel.
Their website states that they hope to have their product available in Canada and the United States by late 2017 … first in a non-motorized quad and soon to follow a motorized trike.
2 wheel drive above, single wheel drive below
FATCAT … SOUNDS GOOD TO ME
That’s a FAT CAT (& I know one when I see one)
(The question is “is it real or photoshopped?”
The head doesn’t look right … too small)
But hey, I am not here to talk about kitty cats. While out riding my tadpole trike recently I got to thinking about the fact that Catrike seems always to be slow to bring out models that other manufacturers have offered for years. One thing I can say is that when Catrike finally does offer such models they seem always to be superior to those offered by their competitors. Call me biased if you want, but I think this is a true statement. As I was riding along thinking about some of the models Catrike has come out with … their most recent being the Dumont … a full suspension model … it came to me that fat tire tadpole trikes have become quite popular and Catrike has not yet come out with a FATCAT model. There … I named it for them. There is only one problem. Utah Trikes already offers their quad and trike fat tire models they sell which they have named FAT CAT 4 and FAT CAT 3, respectively.
They use a Catrike Villager model as the base for these 3 and 4 wheel models. They offer gobs of options some of which can get very expensive, but hey, the end product is sure nice.
So anyway, Catrike may not be able to use that name. If not, it is too bad, as I think it would have made a great name for a fat tadpole trike model which they would produce (and I assume they will eventually come out with). All I can say is HERE KITTY KITTY! Bring it on Catrike. I sure hope you can name it “FATCAT“. I like that name.
FOUR SEATER VELOMOBILE
Most of us are familiar with velomobiles and have seen various ones in photos and videos if not in person. All of them I have seen were built for one person … until now that is. Feast your eyes on this one of a kind prototype built by Trisled of Australia …
It is not in production and may never be. It was custom made for someone who wanted one. It is interesting. Can you picture something like this coming down the street towards you?
Here is a look at the framework underneath the body. As you can see it is basically two tandem bikes side by side. And it is a quadricycle, not a trike. That should make it a bit more stable.
HERE is an article about this vehicle. The article states that this trike was made for a charity ride across Australia, but to date there has been no such charity ride take place and this one of a kind velomobile has disappeared and its whereabouts are unknown.
WALKING RECUMBENT QUAD
It is called a walking bike in this YouTube video, but actually it is a walking recumbent quadricycle. It certainly is not a tadpole trike, but I thought you might enjoy seeing it since it is quite unique.