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RAT Review

Old 02-05-20, 11:32 AM
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osco53
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RAT Review

I thought someone would like to read a first ride review of the Terratrike Rambler AT from a rider who has never been on a tadpole, any tadpole, ever!

Doctor said to stop mountain biking (something about detaching a retina).
I had caved in two helmets in the past year and a half plus I live where riding my Easy Racer Tour Easy Is just too dangerous.
The roads are narrow twisty things with little to no visibility, I'd get killed by the Pick up truck drivers around here, they haul azz and crash all the time.

Had to sell my best friend, a Scott Scale 720 Plus mountain bike and my DF Gravel bike, a wonderful Trek Crossrip 3.
Got good money for both and started my Internet data mining.
After my first ride I realized many others out there were giving opinions having never ridden in the conditions I was asking about.
Armchair know it all's I guess. Anyways, I'll keep this simple and short as was my first ride.

Me: 162 pounds raw, Trike: 44 pounds, Gear:15 pounds. I started with 25 psi in all three tires, and got after my first climb.
12 to 13%, say 22 to 26 degrees and on chunky gravel and dirt. I think they call this road bond #57 what ever that means.
When things are real dry fwd vehicles struggle here.

Clipping In was a must do as the stock pedals and that awful heel strap was just too wide making tight turns hard.
I could only make a 16ft wide turn at best and that was a real struggle.
On went my Shimano XT mountain pedals, now I could do a 10 or 11 foot wide U turn. tight enough for me, all was well.

1st gear is 13 Inches,, I was able to climb well in 1st and,, pretty good In 2nd.
No Traction Issues as long as I was pedaling smoothly, clipped in remember !
I unclipped and did some pedal stomping, Up I went bit it was not pretty so I clipped back in .
My down hill sections could kill me If I let things go too far so,,
Strava said I got up to 28 mph, all I can say Is that the wind in my face was cold and the trike felt like a short wheel base jeep.
The BB7 brakes had plenty of power considering they are not even bedded In yet.
This was the very first mile on the trike.

The brakes, a ton of fun, I was having a ball trying to keep her on just the two front wheel braking at the end of my descents.
Ok so I'm a little stupid but I don't plan on leaving behind a beautiful corpse.

I dropped the psi in the rear to 20 and liked that, 18 psi made no further improvement but I left it there. dropped the fronts to 20.
I lowered the seat back one notch, nothing major to report there either. The trike feels really good and sure footed under me.
I'm very glad I got the 24 Inch wheels as they kept my derailleur cage well off the ground when it was vertical.
If my pictures work you will see this along with my gravel .

I climbed back up and called it quits as I am on the recovery side of the flu and am kinda weak But,,, I LOVED the Ride, REALLY !

Things I did so far, front derailleur cable adjustment, Improved shifting a bit.
Had to better secure the upper chain tube as It started to walk forward Into the front derailleur.
Will most likely keep all three tires at about 18 to 20 psi, as that felt really good, like passive suspension.

The seat was fine once I cinched the seat straps up some, very comfy BUT I could see where ~ Wider~ riders would want more padding.


Last edited by osco53; 02-26-20 at 03:35 PM.
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Old 02-07-20, 09:45 AM
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JanMM
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Sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe too much fun downhill on gravel roads!
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Old 02-08-20, 06:21 PM
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Originally Posted by JanMM
Sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe too much fun downhill on gravel roads!
Let me put It this way, I'm gonna go ahead and order an extra set of brake pads just to have on hand.
And I may look at larger 180-200+mm brake disks, If I can find the mount kit for the larger rotors,,,,
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