You read it right. It is coming soon. See, you really can have your cake and eat it too. Can you imagine riding a trike that does not have a chain … no sprockets … no derailleurs … no cassettes … no shifters … no idlers …none of that to deal with. Here is a Laidback Bike Report video which will be available to view in less than two days … August 17 at 2 pm.
It is coming on ICE so it won”t be cheap. I hope it is a dependable system as there is no way to propel it like a chain driven system.
Years ago I wrote an article about a tadpole trike with a generator powered by pedaling feeding power to an electric motor. Of course, none of my material is no longer available thanks to the man I entrusted to take over my TadpoleRider website.
The way I see it this system offers the worst of both a crankdrive system and rear hub system in that the boom has the weight of the generator and the rear wheel has the weight of the electric motor plus the extra inconvenience dealing with it when changing tires/ fixing flats. Of course, they don’t mention this. And you still have the weight of a battery added in. I know the weight of the components which have been eliminated are subtracted, but I don’t know what the total weight of the trike will be. I know my trike feels like it is getting heavier and heavier as I get older. I tried 3 times the other day to lift it up into my pickup truck that my wife parked uphill and I could not do it. It is all I can do to lift it when parked on level ground. It is something to keep in mind if you have to lift your trike.