About my recumbent trike and bike trailer

Hi everyone this is a post about my recumbent trike and bike trailer set up ...

First up the trike...

It's a 2002 hase kettwiesel recumbent delta trike with 20" wheels that's on long term loan from a friend (he offered me the trike partly as it was not being used and was taking up to much space in the house : )  but also because he is a good friend of mine who offered me the trike to help me out - I kinda wore out my other bikes that I have and because of my disabilitys have issues with trying to ride most bikes so when I was staying at they place for a while as I was getting ready for a big ride around Lake taupe nz (that ride is story on its own (the plan was to do 40 laps of the lake in 40 days - I did do 17 laps before I stoped because of a number of different reasons - might do a post on that ride at some point in time)

any how i have upgraded the trike since I got hold of it Inc lower gearing  - it did come with a odd 2 chain ring set up in front (from what I can find out they came from the factory with just a single chainring up front) I took the front crankset and bb from my bike Friday - it's a  triple front chainrings  30-39-53 (I think) ultegra- can be hard to find good road triple cranksets at times   - so the trike is running a 9-10 speed crankset using a 8 speed chain to a (steel) 7 speed cassette   (can't remember what gears are on the back - 12-30 or something like that so low gears (it offen down to 3-4 km/h when climbing) - it's a odd set up but it works - there's no front derailed so to change gears I just reach forward and move the chain tube sideways to change to a bigger or smaller gear - the rear gears has a derailleur that's controlled by a dur-ace or ultegra (can't remember - have used both in the past) bar end shifter set to fiction shifting  - because of a issue with the cassette and freehub body I can't change cassettes so I need to change chains before they wear the cassette out (the part that holds the cassette /freehub body on has stuck on so its going to be right pain to work out how to change it when it does finally wear out - the joy of out of date  odd recumbent parts )

I also made up some monts to hold on a front pannier rack (I used the rack from my bike Friday (yep I did use a few parts from my bike Friday - as both bikes have 20" wheels there was many parts in common between the two bikes : )  - having wight on the front wheel in the pannier bags helps with climbing and on gravel roads (though the trike don't climb hills on gravel roads as a rule when fully loaded as only the right hand rear wheel is being driven by the drive chain - side effect of the type of trike it is )

the trike has under seat steering what tends to confuse people as I offen get asked how I steer the trike : )   - for some odd reason there is mont for only one bottle cage on the trike so I have used big cable ties to mont 3 more bottle cages to the bike - as well as to mont the pump to the frame - there's a lot of cable ties on the trike as they are so useful : )  - there's 2 big pink flags (pink recumbent so pink flags - that and I'm a girl who loves pink things : ) + a nz flag on one of the 2 flag poles on the trike (there's also 2 flag poles on the bike trailer)  the pink flags was made by a friend of mine when I was in rotorua last (they have much better sewing skills than me : ) 

the brakes are this odd set up of a rim v-brake on the inside of each rear wheel and a pad on a fixed post on the outside of the rear wheels - this is so the fixed arms can be easily removed so that the tire (and wheel) can be removed /replaced - I did change the bots that holds to fixed brake posts in place to quick release seat post ones to make things easier for me  : )  - there's no brake on the front wheel - just on the 2 rear wheels (I use 2 straps on the brake leavers as park brakes to hold the trike from rolling away on hills)

over time I may change a few more things on the trike - the company that made the trike (hase makes they trikes in Germany) did a big redesign of the trike a few months after my one was made including now using using disk brakes and a adjustable seat (my seat frame is part of the frame of the trike - the frame is in 2 parts to allow for different leg lengths and has adjustable handbars) and a few other changes   -

the trike came with 1.35 20 " (406) size tires - what is inpossible to find in nz so I changed the tires when they wore out to a 1.5 20" (406) in front (thought there's a 1.75 on there at the moment (my spare tire) and 2 20"1.75 (406) tires on the back - I did have to move the fenders out to fit the wider tires on and there's not much space between the tires and the frame (not a issue)   I think that's all for now about the trike...

Now about that trailer : )  and no I didn't make it : )

The trailer is a bike friday trailer that is sold by green gear cycling (the makers of bike Friday) its a Samsonite hardshell suitcase that the bike Fridays (20"wheel folding bikes) fit into and a 4 part trailer frame that is attached to the suitcase with 3 thumb screws and the trailer frame easily comes apart to fit inside the case with the bike for travel (like when using a bus or plane - because it's in the case the is offen not bike fee because its just a standard size suitcase and not a big bike box : )  it has 12" wheels on it (the same as what's on off road kid buggys  - the frame is aluminum (well I think mine is a mix of aluminum and steel as parts have been replaced over the 9  years I have had it) and attached to the bike with a rubber hose and air hose  connector  (like on the end of air compression air hoses- on the bike Friday there is a connector (the part the screws into different air tools) in a bit of tubing that brized onto the bike frame - there is a different one that I have attached to the rear frame of the recumbent so I can use the bike Friday trailer with the recumbent trike (having used the trailer for well over 70,000 km with my bike Friday all over nz I'm well used to the trailer : )