Over the past couple of years, I have written about my Dad and his Catrike Villager. He and the trike have come north for the summer, and I decided that it needed a bit of a once over.
To recap, the trike is two years old and my Dad is 87.
Overall, it's in great shape, but it was pretty dirty. He had also loaded it up with every accessory under the sun when he bought it. Many turned out to be unnecessary. I stripped it down a bit, cleaned everything and gave it a tune up.
I started off by removing the rear bag and tossing it in the trash. The Sun had done a number on it. I also decided to remove the rear rack for now. Since it will now be used mainly indoors on a trainer and on bike trails, I removed both mirrors (one was broken), three lights, two bells and an air horn. Yes... a freakin' air horn. I left the fenders, arm rests, chain guards and assist handles on.
The mesh seat unbuckles easily and it was soaked in Simple Green and scrubbed down. The tires have been replaced, but I'm pretty sure that the chain is original. I loaded up my ancient Park Chain Scrubber with Spin Doctor Cleansafe degreaser and removed two years worth of sand and grease. The chain rings, derailleur and rear cassette cleaned up with just a dry brush. Florida is flat, flat, flat, so the brake pads and cables were still in good shape.
The brake discs, however, are pretty crusty. The braking surface itself is fine, but the spokes of the discs are rusty. Since it's really just an aesthetic thing though, I'll remove them, drop them in Evapo-Rust for a few days (along with any non-stainless hardware) and reuse them. I'm hoping to tackle this within the next day or so.
The frame was cleaned and polished, but the seat is still drying.
It was never all that heavy, but it is noticeably lighter now without all the added junk. I think the bare trike without accessories is about 34 pounds.
The plan is to set this up on a Sportcrafters trike trainer so he can ride indoors while he recovers from some surgery.
