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[NoiseBoy]

Great job Trikester.  Can't wait to see the ride report.

Just one thing, do your knees not foul the battery boxes when you sit forward on the bike?

[trikester]

I thought the width with the batteries might be a problem. However, I found that I like the extra width for the following reason. When riding anything that has more than two wheels the rider gets tossed from side to side on rough roads or dirt terrain. I found that I can "lock" myself in better with the wide area for my knees to grip. That, combined with the big ATV foot pegs I had mounted on the original trike, makes me more secure when the trike is being pitched from side to side.

I might eventually mount some kind of cushion (like the old Brit bikes had on their tanks) on the batteries for my knees to press against.

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone.

Trikester

[protomech]

If you ever get a chance, get someone to film you riding on it!

[trikester]

By pure luck, a guy who works for Zero, but lives near my SoCal shop, dropped by just as I was ready to turn on the switch for the first time. He took video with his smart phone, but I haven't seen it yet.

I'm sure there will be other chances to get video as well.

Frank

[JefRo]

Trikester, where and when do you plan to go riding in Utah? I would like to meet up with and ride with fellow dual sport EV riders and could possibly rendezvous if the timing was right.

[trikester]

I happened to be staying in Bluff Utah while the annual Navajo Fair is going. This morning I entered the parade with my e-Trike. The speed of the parade was slower than most people would want to walk. It was great with electric drive not having to mess with gears and slipping a clutch to go that slow. And since a trike doesn't have to balance, the slow pace wasn't a problem with that. People were lined up solid along both sides of the road and many got a kick out of seeing my trike, especially after they realized it was electric.

Every so often someone would think that Yamaha was making these now and I would have to set them straight about that.

I jumped off, when the parade briefly stopped, to snap a photo of the trike in the parade. I was following a couple of small front loaders that are gaining popularity among the Navajo on the reservation.

JefRo, I haven't planned any of my rides yet.

Trikester

[JefRo]

I will going thru Bluff on the way to Mexican Hat later this week with motorcycle, not electric. Bluff is a great little town and the Comb Ridge area is full of obscure ruins and pictographs, most within EV range from your location, if you are so inclined.

[trikester]

Thanks JefRo. Yes there is a lot of very nice hiking to ruins and rock art panels, mountain biking, and dirt bike riding.  This my 33rd year of coming to Bluff at least once per year, boating the river and doing all of those other activities, and I always stay at the Recapture Lodge. Today I put on the San Juan River for a three day solo trip to Mexican Hat. I come off the river on Wednesday afternoon. I won't have computer contact between now and then.

If you come through Bluff, after I'm back from the river, stop in at the Recapture and ask for the guy with the electric bikes.

Trikester

[JefRo]

I have stayed at the Recapture, a great place to stay. Will be coming through Bluff Thursday afternoon and will look for you if you are around. Expecting nice weather for the rest of the week.

[trikester]

It's Thursday morning now. I'll be around all day because it's my cleaning river gear and physical recovery day.

Trikester

[trikester]

Today I'm going to repeat, with the trike, a dirt ride I did on the FX Saturday to see how much less mileage I get on the trike. I lost a day of activity yesterday due to frequent lightning, and occasional brief downpours, during most of the day starting at sunup.

I'll be reporting all Utah ride results after I get home from the trip. The trike results will be posted here and the FX will be in this 2013 forum. Spoiler alert: the FX seems to be getting better mileage than the 2012 DS (I also saw this when I was riding in the Klamath Forest last June).

Going to be a beautiful sunny day today, light wind, with the high in the upper seventies. 

Trikester

[trikester]

See the other posting "2013 FX & e-Trike dirt ride data - Utah USA" for my trike ride data.

The trike appears to be have a slightly better mileage than my 2012 DS on this same ride in 2012, and uses about 13 1/2% more energy than my 2013 FX on a similar ride (maybe less because conditions were worse for the trike ride). This is better than my expectations.

Trikester

[BSDThw]

Nice Photo greet view.

Seeing your bike there standing a question crossed my mind - Do you have something like a parking break?

Certainly a small rock will always work!

[trikester]

Seeing your bike there standing a question crossed my mind - Do you have something like a parking break?

I used an ATV front brake master cylinder that has a little spring loaded device that can be pushed into a slot when the lever is pulled back. When the lever is released the device holds it from retracting. As soon as the lever is pulled back again the device springs out of the way. As long as there are no fluid leaks in the system it works well.

I needed that larger ATV master cylinder anyway, to drive two wheel cylinders, so I made sure I got one that had the holding device. A lot of ATV's use a separate parking disk brake on the rear axle so I had to do some product searching to find this brake master cylinder with the device.

Trikester

[BSDThw]

Awesome didn't know something like this is on the market.

I would really like to see your trike in real!