You are here
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.
Image gallery
Information
This event has taken place and the notice is simply part of our articles archive
Face-time with ICE. Ask all of your questions. Find out what happens behind the scenes. And, try trikes, trikes, trikes... including the fully automatic ICE Adventure electric trikes.
An inexpensive hitch-mount rack for folded recumbent trikes. For example, the ICE Full Fat big-tired adventure tricycle.
Azub will be at AlphaBENT on Wednesday, October 23 to show the latest Czech recumbent technology. Come to for test-rides, and bent-talk.
Catrike has made wider hubs with through-axles standard equipment on all large-wheel models. This change affects the following recumbent trike models: Expedition, 559, Dumont, and 700. The change promotes laterally stronger wheels and prevents movement within the dropouts under load at the expense of compatibility with equipment such as electric hub moters that are designed to the older 135mm dropout widths.
2019 Norcal FARA (Friedrich's Ataxia Research Alliance) Ride coming up June 1, 2019.
Join Kyle and Team FARA to kick this debilitating disease!