A new e-bike – eCat electric recumbent tricycle

After I say I get pleasure from a laid again e-bike life-style, this isn’t precisely what I had in thoughts. However I can see the enchantment in Catrike’s newest eCAT electrical bike line that includes the corporate’s favourite easy-going recumbent tricycles.

For the uninitiated, recumbent bikes are what you’d get in the event you mashed up a seaside lounge chair and a pedal bicycle.

As a substitute of using in a seated place on a bicycle saddle, recumbents provide extra of a lawnchair-style seat that’s tilted again, leaving the rider practically horizontal.

And as you might need guessed, an electric recumbent is solely a recumbent bicycle with added energy help from an electrical motor and battery. And sure, technically Catrike’s are e-trikes as an alternative of e-bikes, since they’ve a pair of entrance wheels and single rear wheel in a basic tadpole trike setup.

Within the case of Catrike’s eCAT e-bikes, the electrical recumbents have been gifted a Bosch e-bike drive unit consisting of a Bosch Active Line Plus electrical motor and a 400 Wh Bosch PowerPack battery. There’s additionally a Bosch Purion LCD show mounted on the left handlebar.

The Bosch Lively Line Plus drive unit sports activities 50 Nm of torque and might energy the eCAT electrical recumbent bike as much as a max pace of 20 mph (32 km/h). Riders can pedal previous that pace, however they’ll be on their very own because the motor received’t present any extra help past its high pace.

Beneath 20 mph (32 km/h) although, the motor can provide a most of 270% help. In different phrases, for each watt of energy you set in, the motor can add round one other 2.7 watts.

The motor is technically generally known as a mid-drive, although the geometry of a recumbent implies that it’s removed from the center of the bike. As a substitute, it sticks approach out in entrance on the growth.

The battery required a novel mounting resolution as effectively, with Catrike creating a singular battery mount below the seat to help the lockable and detachable Bosch battery.

Catrike says that the 400 Wh battery must be good for 62 miles (100 km) of vary. Between the dearth of a throttle (Bosch e-bike techniques are pedal help solely) and the decrease wind resistance of a recumbent e-bike, that vary is probably going pretty reasonable.

Relating to pricing, I hope you’re laying down for this (heh, get it?!).

The eCAT line starts at $4,750 and goes as high as $6,750, relying on which mannequin you fancy. Although contemplating recumbent tricycles are already pretty costly and the Bosch drive is likely one of the pricier mid-drive models on the market, the pricing isn’t precisely a shocker on this area of interest market.

What do you assume? Are you prepared to put again, kick your toes up and hit the highway? Tell us within the feedback beneath in the event you may see your self on a Catrike eCAT electrical recumbent.