Wednesday, July 31, 2019

My Catrike 700-Sold

FOR SALE SOLD
2013 Catrike 700 

$700 
Not a typo and trike is in great condition and well maintained. I want a fast sale and a good home for a trike that as served me well.
Pick up only in Thousand Oaks, CA


One of the first 700s with the 20” wheels and still equipped with chrome-moly steel spindles (not the aluminum ones that cracked). 

Mileage  - 5,054

Includes an extra rear wheelset. An American Classic with 23/622 Schwalbe Durano and a 32/11 cassette. Also a couple of extra front wheels equipped with Chris King hubs.


Photo from earlier in the year taken in the Central Coast Wine Country

Sale does not include lights, frame bags, flag and of course helmet. But does include some extras listed at the end of this post.

After 6 years of enjoying my 700 it’s now time to change course. I’ve spent enough time on my new ICE Sprint FS Steps E8000 to know I won’t be using my 700 enough to justify having it take up space in my garage

Her are the details
53/39/30 Crankset with FSA carbon cranks.

DT-Swiss rim and Hub. 35/622 Kojak for a softer ride.

 Extra long boom. Easy to cut if a shorter boom is needed.

28/406 Durano front tires

 Wired CatEye computer

Only one small section of chain tube to route chain under frame


10 speed 36/11 Cassette

 Inner and outer chain guard


10 speed Sram index rear shifter and non-indexed front shifter

 Extra front wheels with Chris King hubs

 Finer Recliner headrest for Catrike mount. Not used.
Tubes for 700 tires.

Extra wheelset. American Classic wheel and hub with a 10 speed 36/11 cassette and a 28/622 Durano tire.








Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Riding Along the Santa Monica Mountains

Warm and humid in So Cal. Boney Mountain just past the hills of Rancho Sierra Vista, Santa Monica Mountains. 






Thursday, July 18, 2019

Back on the Central Coast

Carrie and I took a drive back up to the Central Coast to get a breath of fresh air.

HWY 1 North of Cambria, CA

 The boost on the Shimano Steps E8000 wasn't needed much but when I did need it...oh so nice! There are a couple of short road sections along Hwy 1 North of San Simeon where there is no shoulder and poor visibility. Throw in trucks bringing massive boulders to stabilize parts of Hwy 1 and it's good to have the E8000 to get me through as fast as possible.

Looking North to the Piedras Blancas lighthouse.

Us


Sunday, July 7, 2019

More Rides, More Miles, More Fun...E-8000

I've had plenty of time to settle in with my ICE Sprint FS Steps E8000. My main concern, thinking I would always be tempted to overuse the assist, has waned. I like the feeling of using my own muscle power to ride but I don't like hills for reasons talked about in my last post, Climbing With the E8000. And the west coast has more than enough hills to climb. Also worried that my ego would take a hit. I waited a good year before popping on the E-Assist. Ego is intact and better then ever as the assist has become a game changer for me. More rides, more miles, more fun.


Here is how I've settled in with the E8000 and hopefully it might be of some value in helping others who are on the fence about making a decision to go with an assist.  

Let me start out my mentioning that the Shimano Steps E8000 has three pedal assist modes. 
1. ECO - 70% support 
2. TRAIL - 150% support
3. BOOST - 230% support

I keep the assist OFF on descents and OFF or on ECO riding the flats and slight ascents. I find that ECO compensates for the weight of the trike and it feels more like I'm pedaling my Catrike 700. That leaves TRAIL and BOOST. The TRAIL mode serves most of my climbing needs but I switch over to BOOST as the grade steepens. So far this year my local rides have averaged 71 feet of gain for every
one mile. The BOOST takes me up the hills so comfortably I've been able to extend my rides.  I reach the batteries limit before I reach my physical limits. I feel like I can just keep going all day but I'll need to carry another battery in my pannier for that to happen. 

E8014 Battery
Right now with the E8014 - 418Wh battery I get a range of about 40 miles where I ride. Climbing sucks up a lot of power. I'll be purchasing an extra battery, the E8010 - 504Wh. But it's not available until September so I'll have to be happy staying under 40 miles per ride or load the trike into my car and find less hilly areas to ride. When I have two batteries on board I hope to squeeze out 100 hilly miles. Carrying the weight (2.6kg - 5.7lbs) of a second battery is not a problem. I have little help. (BTW... the E8014 battery is only a couple of ounces (.05kg) lighter.)





There's more, using the BOOST to get through dicey road conditions such as construction zones and busy intersections is awesome.

And yes...I get plenty of exercise. I'm riding more often and more miles without climbing anxiety. The only thing I'm not doing is getting my heart rate up to where the exercise gurus say it should be.   Even without an assist I climb so slow that my heart rate never did reach the "optimal range". But  I must be doing something right. After my last stress test a couple of months ago I had to work pretty damn hard to get my heart rate to where the doctor wanted it for testing. More on that in my next post.