By Travis Prebble
RecumbentJournal.com
Posted on April 11, 2010
After two teaser videos and a healthy dose of hyperbole, TerraTrike has launched its new Rover recumbent tadpole trike.
“The Rover is bringing triking to the masses!” states the product page at TerraTrike.
According to that page, the primary feature of the new Rover is its increased seat height, which is listed as “a full 4 inches taller than most other tadpole trikes on the market”. The benefits mentioned are ease of ingress/egress and traffic visibility. The official spec sheet lists the seat height at 18.5 inches.
The new Rover also sports a quick seat adjustment clamp that expedites the sizing process within a certain range of x-seams while also allowing adjustment in the boom to reach the extremes. Or, as TerraTrike puts it, “go from your young child to Shaq sized in just minutes.”
Transportation concerns have been met by a new segmented design that allows the Rover to be broken down into five pieces. According to TerraTrike, the assembly process should require no more than five minutes.
Other improvements include a smaller turning radius and a clean chain run (no idlers). Like the Path 3, the Rover sports internal hub gearing.
While full specifications were not available on the site at press time, the product page did mention the Rover is fitted with disc brakes, the 3 speed internal hub, uses a high tensile steel frame, and supports riders up to 400 pounds.
By all measures, it appears that TerraTrike has created a trike squarely designed to fulfill the needs of the casual, possibly new to recumbents rider. The wide range of rider sizes (both height and weight) supported means that a market previously served by trikes such as the Sidewinder and Sun EZ-3 USX HD will now have a much lower priced alternative. It remains to be seen how the new seat height compares to the likes of the Cycle Genius Phoenix or the HP Velotechnik HS seat, but it is safe to say that the price difference will have many people looking favorably at the Rover.