(What used to be) My AnthroTech recumbent tricycle

Note that I no longer own the tricycle described below. This page is retained purely for historical interest.

The machine is made by AnthroTech who are based in Eckental in Germany.

I bought it from Rob Hague, who runs Westcountry Recumbents in his spare time.

The machine is a recumbent tadpole trike (i.e., two wheels in the front and one at the back). The rear wheel is driven, the front two wheels steer.

It has clearly been designed for use by real people in normal life, in particular for use in carrying either a large quantity of stuff (on the very large rear rack) or a child (in a child seat attached to same). In the normal Continental Europe manner, it comes complete with just about everything you need to set off, with the odd exception of mirrors.

The frame number is 98 429. It's beautifully placed to be obvious when one is sitting on the trike - I felt really silly for not having spotted it at once (I had to ask Rob where it was when I couldn't find it on the bottom of the machine!).

The main frame is square section steel tubing, with rear suspension (and the rack is "above" the suspension)

The trike is between about 1.50m and 1.95m in length (like all the measurements below, this is taken from the AnthroTech web site). The adjustment is made using two quick release fasteners to move the boom holding the bottom bracket in and out. An extra tensioner below the trike allows about 12cm of adjustment without needing to change the length of the chain.

Maximum load (driver and luggage) is 120kg, and the rack is rated for 30kg.

Components - a horrible mishmash of information from the AnthroTech web site and peering at the machine going "what does that mean?":

• WIG welded frame of stainless steel/steel, powder-coated in midnight-blue (RAL 5022)
• Sachs 3x7 Spectro rear hub
  The documentation for it says "3x7 Typ MH C3721F", which is very illuminating, and refers to it as "Sachs 3x7 Easy Biking System".
  (note that these are now actually produced by SRAM, who also make the GripShift gear shifters).
• Sachs Neos derailleur/shifter.
• Shimano Power Glide cassette (12-32 teeth, 1.63-8.00m / 21"-104", according to AnthroTech - I haven't counted)
• PowerGrip Plus shifters
• The actual connector below the right (7-speed) shifter has written on it "Sachs/7-speed for Traxx".
• Sachs 48 teeth crankset with chain guard/ring
• Unidentified pedals, but they have "K67" and "Sp-807" written on them.
• Alesa alloy rims, 219 406x19 (made in Belgium)
• The trike came with Schwalbe SPEZIAL tires, 32-406 (20x1.25) HS 287, with reflective strip and a dynamo ridge, on all three wheels. These are rated for inflation to 115psi. They have "City Marathon" written on the side for some reason.
  Unfortunately, toe-in problems meant I wore the front tires out, so they've been replaced by Nokian City-Runners, 40-406, which are rated for inflation to 72psi.
• Sachs Power Disc disk brakes on the front wheels, with a MAGURA HS11 hydraulic brake lever on the right.
• Caliper parking brake on the rear wheel with a Magura brake lever with parking lock (not hydraulic!) on the left.
• Thun cranks - on them it says "forged" and 3/86 (or possibly 3/96).
• The front hub nut says "Peiner".
• The caps on the front wheel mounts (king pins) are labelled "tecora".
• Lighting:
  • Union Turbo dynamo
  • Union Halogen Ellipsoid headlight
  • Toplight taillight
  • Cateye red LED on back, and cateye white light on flag stem (added by me)
• Rear rack
• Chain protection tube
• SKS mudguards
• Barbieri pump
• Seat fabric black
• Folding seat - with angle adjustment of about +/-8 degrees, Sachs quick release.

Size and weight (from the website):

• Length 174cm
• Width 93cm
• Height 93cm (about 63cm with the seat folded)
• Seat level 43cm
• Bottom bracket height 32cm
• Weight without rack, mudguards, lighting approximately 21.2kg plus about 650g extra for the folding seat.

Extras:

• A Mountain Mirrycle mirror mounted on each handlebar of the new trike. I like them.
• An AnthroTech child seat adapter, designed to take a Römer Jockey seat.
• A Römer Jockey child seat (acquired from my brother-in-law in Germany).
• A Burley adaptor on the left side of the rear hub, which allows me to pull our Burley D'Lite child trailer.
• I've replaced the small black bell it came with with a large (80mm) chrome "ding-dong" bell I acquired from D.Tek - I think it's the sort that goes on a Pashley Princess - mounted on the right handlebar. It's technically Joan's, but she doesn't want it on the bike she rides to the railway station lest it get stolen. Anyway, it's big and it's loud.
• I've fitted a flag pole inserted into the right seat strut, and there's a rather naff-looking attachment on that to allow attachment of another light at shoulder height.

I've also fitted a Datatag widget in the trike frame, which the local police recommend.

BikeCode0.2 http://www.tibsnjoan.co.uk/bikecode.html
  P: [Tibs] Tc B10 K:++ i29:30" h1.65m n1960 H+:~ v~ A+ M+ Rg-
  B: [AnthroTech]   3tRu U1c w37" Wr19:406 Mfr SAf bDh[Sachs]:C
                    G3x7 8s Lrr1B Cb[Michael] VjsX col[MidnightBlue]
  T: [BurleyD'Lite] 2c2[Thomas] f++ VsX

(Hmm - not accurate at the moment, as I'm lucky if I get to cycle twice a month, and also Thomas has been promoted to the child seat and Michael now gets to stoke, behind Joan, on our Bike Friday Family Traveler [sic]. Ah well, I'll update it one day...).