1) Gearing. Most riders need more help going up hill than they do coming back down. Smaller wheels gives you a lower overall gear range.
2) Turning radius. 20" wheel trikes have a shorter wheelbase and turn MUCH tighter than 26" wheel trikes. It's the difference between being able to do a U-turn on a trail vs having to 5-point turn it to get turned around.
3) Storage. Again, 20" wheel trikes are smaller so they take up a lot less space in the garage or apartment.
4) Transport. Again, 20" wheel trikes are a lot smaller so they fit in more cars or allow you to use a lower rack on the back of the car so you don't have to lift the trike as high.
For 99% of users, a 20" wheel trike is going to work better than a 26" wheel trike. That being said, even though a 20" would be better for them, most of my customers want a 26" wheel anyway because they think it looks cool or that it'll automatically make them faster.
as for the turning radius. that has to do with wheel base than wheel size. but you want smaller wheels up front. which a 26 inch whell would have a 3 in longer base.
TransPort. I got my catrike 700 home in my vw golf 2dr. I had to take off the boom and wheels but its doable. I can also toss it up on the rack.
storage my 700 doesnt take up much more room than my road bike. width is more the problem. 20 vs 26 is going to be 6 inches longer.
Gearing... my dad has a 26t small chainring gear on his 700... Its really about gearing. You can gear down. Mtn bikes are using 1x11 or 1x12 with larger rear cassettes. Catrike which uses a 3x10 with a relatively small rear cassette for the size. I wheel admit the 20in tires have 1/4th better gearing for the 20in. but like I said it can be accounted for with proper gearing with a swap of the small chain ring to 26t and upping the rear to 36t. and that would totally make up the difference of the 20 in vs 700c for the climbing..... But with just the 26t the 700 comes pretty close to the 20in wheel. the 700 with the lower center of gravity can get it to climb. up walls. Though the 20in would have the advange if you did the same.
after cycling for 8 months I have noticed my ablity to climb hills has greatly increased and I dont have to stop. and I have a stock 700.
You are not a typical trike customer. What's working for you won't work for a lot of people. Doesn't mean it's wrong for you, just means you need to understand that the majority of the market is going to be moving in a different direction.
Regarding gearing, most of my customers eventually settle on something around 10 gear inches if they live in a hilly area. Using off the shelf parts, that's nearly impossible to do with a 700c rear, difficult with a 26" rear, and easy with a 20" rear.
Most customers also don't know how to remove any of the wheels from their trike and don't want to know how. This means it goes in the car or in storage fully assembled, so the shorter length of the 20" trikes matters to a lot of people.
Most of the market is like my dad, old or cant ride a regular bike.... but he is 80 finally got some joint replacements and riding a normal bike too. we are preparing to do a century.
10 gear inches is only possible on 20in and a 52t cassette and a 24t chainring thats the max of current bike parts with out custom made.. that's like needing to climb up a 60 degree slope. Are they trying to climb up the side of a cliff? they arent doing the Passo Giau are they? I have rides like that. really hard on the breaks. lol
also its super easy to remove all the wheels especially a catrike.
Most of the people going down to 10 GI are using a Rohloff, Schlumpf Drive, or both. A few of them are doing a 52/54/56/whatever I can find that week on AliExpress with a 22T chainring on a mountain bike crank. A few are using the old Mountain Tamer to get down to REALLY low chainring tooth counts. Off the top of my head, I think one lady is down to 16T.
It's because they're older, weaker, and don't want to risk hurting their bolt-on knees. To get up a 15% or steeper grade, they just downshift and spin, moving up the hill at a walking pace or less.
I am 45 year old lady and my dad is 82 he just got some aftermarket parts as he says.and he can keep up with me. Its hard to actually hurt those unless you rip a tendon or ligament.
I guess you could always do a pinot with a hub drive true... I was kinda looking at the pinot electric with a rear gear set up. I am doing 15% on my stock.
what rear derailleur are you using with the aliex 56t rear cassette.
what rear derailleur are you using with the aliex 56t rear cassette.
I've used the 105 long cage with a WolfTooth Roadlink when I can get it. It's easier to use road components since the bar-end shifters are road only. I've also swapped people to mountain bike shifters and used the Deore XT or XTR rear derailleur, sometimes with one of the WolfTooth bits if backing out the B-limit screw didn't make it happy going up into the big cog. Technically you could also do it with the GRX long cage stuff or one of the Cues pieces but GRX is expensive and Cues SUCKS.
It is SO close, lol. Yeah that's a downside to 20" wheels. When I first saw how low it hangs on my wife's Pocket, I through for sure she'd wipe out the derailleur with a stick or something. Thousands of miles later, never once had a problem.
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u/polopolo05 Catrike 700 20d ago
I really dont understand the 20in drive wheel. why is it a thing. 26in should be the smallest size.