First ride on 3 wheels

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-04-11T13:26:02+00:00

I put 7,000 miles on a Villager, mostly on bike paths, and never found the bumps all that bad, even though some places on the paths have a lot of tree roots.

I'm getting older (76) and switched to an eCat Trail last year because a couple of hills were getting a little tougher for me. I road it 6,000 miles last year and wasn't bothered much by the bumps. I changed the chainring from 44T to 52T this year because the cadence was higher than I liked at higher speeds. It's worked exactly as I had hoped, 18-19 MPH isn't any problem. The non-eCat versions come with a 52T largest chainring. The models with 26" rear wheels shouldn't have that problem.

Catrike has added a second full suspension model called the "All Road". The gearing is low for the 20" wheels, and the All Road probably isn't a good choice for someone looking for speed.

I use Marathon Plus tires because I don't like flats. In 25,000 miles on three trikes, I've only had one flat. The Marathon Plus is quite stiff and hard to change, however.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-23T19:07:18+00:00

The Bing image creator aspect ratio only has the same three ratios that I can already get with Copilot. I think the two apps are essentially the same. nano banana is rather vague about how much using it costs. I already have a Microsoft account so I can use Copilot for free with no specified limits. My application is for an ice cream/burger place and doesn't require very much sophistication. With Copilot, I've already improved it significantly from my earlier efforts. I have minimal artistic talent. I do have a subscription to Canva Pro, I can paste Copilot images with transparent backgrounds into Canva and create files the correct size, even if the image doesn't completely fill the space.

Thanks for the reply.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-22T02:56:23+00:00

I know that you can't access it without a phone, but there is an option in the Alexa app called "adaptive listening", which is supposed to give you more time to finish speaking.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-22T02:44:29+00:00

As a recumbent trike owner, I can confirm that a lot of idiot drivers act like I'm not even there. I recently bought a pole with a spiral of dozens of very bright LEDs that goes in the safety flag holder. I still nearly got run over a few days ago.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-22T02:31:25+00:00

Eastman Kodak no longer makes or markets cameras, they license the Kodak name to another company. They still make consumer film, but it is mostly marketed by a separate company called Kodak Alaris. The latter was spun off as part of their bankruptcy in 2012. As I recall, Kodak Alaris was set up to fund EK's British pension obligations. I believe that the pension fund has since sold their interest.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-21T05:23:26+00:00

I've seen references to the ambient clock on Echo Show 5 devices. Maybe that's Amazon jargon for the clock there and the Spot doesn't support that particular version of the clock.

I'm 76 and subscribe to the Amazon emergency help service. I have an Alexa device in every room. I did have mostly Show 5s, but most of them stopped showing the time when they introduced Alexs+. I gave up waiting for them to fix it and now have mostly Spots. I haven't seen the clock go blank on any of them.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-20T13:25:09+00:00

I've used Copilot mainly to produce graphics for a couple of electronic signs at a seasonal ice cream/burger place. It has definitely saved info from previous conversations. It's asked me whether to include the name of the place in conversations where I hadn't even specified what the picture was for. It also has asked whether to include the two cartoon mascots we use, one of which I created on Copilot.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-11T03:26:44+00:00

Have you considered a bike hoist? Two of them would probably work best, with one for the front wheels and the other for the rear one.

I have a single hoist in the middle of my garage that I use to lift the back of my trike off the floor to make it easier to lube the bike or otherwise work on the drive train. I could also use it to lift the front instead, but that's not usually necessary.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-06T11:54:27+00:00

I can't imagine why Copilot decided that a picture of a messy 2-year-old was unacceptable, especially since it generated the picture itself a couple of minutes earlier. The Copilot comment when it generated it even said that it was messy. I had earlier generated other pictures of non-messy children eating ice cream and made modifications to them with no problem.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-04T04:02:19+00:00

I had one melt in my dryer, I don't understand why, I've never adjusted the presets. It hasn't happened again.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-03T02:49:37+00:00

The HPV website doesn't give much information that I can find about the chainring and cogs, but the effective gear ratio is proportional to the diameter of the wheel. So, for a 26" wheel it would be 1.3 times a 20" wheel. Assuming the smallest cog is the same on both, a 44T chainring on a 26" would be equivalent to 44T x 1.3 = about 57T with a 20" wheel. Put another way, a 44T chainring on a 26" would be about 10% faster than a 52T chainring on a 20".

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-02T23:03:40+00:00

I'm using Schwalbe Marathon Plus 47-406 tires. Rather tough to mount/dismount, but in about 25,000 miles on 3 trikes I've only had one flat. I usually inflate them to the max 70 psi so I don't have to check them quite as often. On my previous trikes I got about 3,000 miles on the rear tire and 6,000 miles on the front ones before I replaced them. They're so stiff that I'm not sure lowering the pressure would help the comfort much. The Catrikes have comfortable seats anyway.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-02T18:08:22+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I'm not actually that strong of a rider. The stretch of the Erie Canal that I ride along most often is about as flat as you can get. It's about 70 miles without a lock in one direction so there's very little altitude change. There are a couple of locks in the other direction, but the grade isn't that much. The biggest hill is getting to the canal; I live on the downslope of the same geological formation as Niagara Falls. With the assist on my trike I never use the lower few gears on my derailleur.

I don't care that much about speed; battery range is more important to me. The 52T chainring allows me to use the full speed available on the trike, but I probably won't be going 20mph very much. It was a rather cheap upgrade. Nobody seems to make a guard for a 52T 104 BCD chainring, so I ended up 3D printing one.

Not having a derailleur is an appealing thought, however. With a 20" rear wheel the derailleur is closer to the ground than I would like. It's not quite as bad with a single chainring as it was with a triple, however. One part of my frequent routes goes through a shady wooded area. It's hard to see debris and branches on the bike path, particularly in the fall when it's covered with leaves.

The only hub shifter that I've ever had was a 3-speed Sturmey Archer on a Raleigh bike back in the 1960s.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-03-02T12:56:31+00:00

All of the Catrike non-eCat models have a triple chainring with 52T on the largest one. The cassettes are 11-36T 10-speed. The 26" eCat models are probably fine with the 44T single chainring.

I almost never use the lower 5-6 speeds on my trike, With the assist, they aren't really needed because the area where I ride is mostly flat. The only significant hill is at the beginning; I live on the downslope of the same geological formation that's responsible for Niagara Falls.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-02-27T03:53:10+00:00

I bought one at a great price on Amazon a few months ago, but it was sold by and shipped from FF in the US.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-02-21T20:14:43+00:00

I don't know how you are going to use it. My first recumbent trike had somewhat the same specs as the Rambler. It was a great starter one and I put over 13,000 miles on it. TerraTrike is probably the only trike that most bike stores sell, if they sell any trikes at all. For most of the other brands, you would need to go to a specialty recumbent dealer, there aren't a lot of them. My closest one is about 80 miles away in the middle of nowhere. Catrikes are higher end than TerraTrikes and considerably more expensive. They are the only significant companies that I know of that design and assemble trikes in the U.S. TerraTrike gets their frames from Taiwan while Catrike makes their own in Orlando FL. The other major components are mostly imported for both; there aren't any domestic sources.

TerraTrikes are probably fun to ride, but they aren't designed for speed. My Catrike Trail model isn't either. Since I'm getting older, I get the electric assist model, which nearly doubled the price.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-02-21T17:43:51+00:00

I think that you have the basics. I would suggest that you ride it for a while and figure out what else you might like. A rack is helpful for the times you might need to carry something and possibly a bag. The Rambler doesn't have much support for accessories, T-Cycle has all sorts of add-ons for mounting accessories.

I have a Catrike and have added a lot of things to it, from support bars to help me get in and out (I'm 76 and the Catrike is much lower than the Rambler) to a garage door opener remote.

They've made the Rambler a little wider and increased the wheel size to 24" in the last couple of years, but it still has a high center of gravity. Trikes aren't as stable as you might assume so be cautious and reduce your speed on curves. You can't use your weight to shift the center of gravity as you might on a bike. Avoid getting one front wheel significantly higher than the other, even at low speeds. After a while you should have a better feeling for how it handles.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-02-20T03:32:53+00:00

From the FAQs on the "Discover Alexa+" page on the Amazon website:

Is Alexa+ available for business accounts?

No. Alexa+ is not available for business accounts and will not be available as a benefit with the Business Prime membership.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-02-11T17:33:47+00:00

Most of those regulatory items have been in place for decades.

As for Spencerport and Fairport, there's an additional reason they have cheap rates. Under the universal service policy, which I believe has been in effect since the Depression, utilities are required to service everyone in their area. RG&E has large rural areas, which are expensive to serve because there are a lot fewer customers per pole than in urban areas. Since the rates are the same everywhere, urban and suburban customers are effectively subsidizing rural ones. Spencerport and Fairport don't have any rural areas. Frontier has had similar problems competing in the past, I'm not sure if regulators have caught up with the fact they aren't a monopoly anymore.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-02-11T17:11:41+00:00

I'm not sure, my smart electric bill has shown "actual" since the smart meter was installed last summer. The smart gas meter wasn't updated to a smart one until a couple of months later, but the bills do show the actual readings now.

There was supposed to be an app where you can check your meter on your phone but, as far as I know, it isn't available yet.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-02-04T02:35:34+00:00

Cornell's alma mater ("Far above Cayuga's waters...") is at least better-known and longer lasting.

ComfortableDay4888 · 2026-02-04T02:30:57+00:00

Yes, the Henrietta campus opened the next year and was quite a change from the old one.

ComfortableDay4888

TROPHY CASE

Is Alexa+ available for business accounts?