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20 April 2017 - 10:18am
Catrike Road-AR quietly introduced -- full-suspension recumbent trike
Catrike recently removed the Road rear-suspension recumbent trike from its model line-up and replaced it with a full-suspension Road-AR.
The change was made with little or no notice to dealers and potential buyers, and has taken Catrike aficionados a bit by surprise.
For Catrike, with the main development work on the new front-suspension spindles behind them, it was probably a very easy change to make.
Catrike's new front suspension spindles have different engineering constraints, so a straight-across front-suspension upgrade path does not exist for end-users. But, with the manufacturing process completely under their own control, Catrike can easily change tubing specifications to meet the needs of the new spindles, and this seems to be what has happened.
The pricing of the new model is interesting. At $3550, the new Road-AR is $400 more than the Road model it replaced, but $600 less than its nearest comparable Catrike option -- the Dumont.
And, $3550 for a full-suspension recumbent tricycle with these specifications is extremely competitive. By comparison, HP Velotechnik's full-suspension trike with 20" rear wheel, the Scorpion FS-20, starts at $900 more with a very different set of components.
Comparing such models is difficult, though. With its integrated sway-bar, and indirect steering, HP's FS-20 is undoubtedly more expensive to build and the suspension handles bumps quite differently.
It is also important to note that the Road is NOT a folding trike like the Catrike Dumont and the HP Scorpion FS-20.
Top-level recumbent dealers like AlphaBENT expect to have Road-AR recumbent trikes in stock by the end of May.
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