Hase Kettwiesel Tour
Summary
This page is about my Hase Kettwiesel Tour recumbent trike
and what modifications etc. I have made to it.
(See Hase Kettwiesel 1 for an
introduction to the trike, along with pros/cons and further links.)
to do: seat/numbness experience, Garmin on main tube, 2 friction gear
levers, mirror, cassette non-removal
October 2011
Still riding a Kettwiesel every day to work (since March 2003), and
still loving it :-)
January 2011: New dynamo and tyres
Notice that the rear tyres worn through in places, so buy and fit
Schwalbe Marathon Plus 47 mm tyres (lightly loaded front tyre still
fine).
FER-2002 dynamo finally died, so buy a cheap Shimano Dynohub (3N30)
406 wheel on eBay. Works great !!
September 2010: Fit short cranks
Following successful experiment on my Pashley
PDQ fit Thorn 140mm short
cranks. The PDQ just needed new cranks, but the Kett also needed a
new bottom bracket (110mm) to fit standard square tapered cranks (my
Kett had Shimano Hollowtech 2 originally fitted).
August 2010: Broken seat frame
Seat frame breaks whilst riding home from work: holds out till I get
home (I only continued riding because I knew that even with a total
seat collapse I would just drop a few cm onto the main frame tube, and
no risk of falling off !!)
Contact Die
Radgeber where I bought the trike from: they organise a
replacement from Hase and offer to fit it, all free of charge (no
questions asked). As they are some way away (Mainz), and the Kett is
difficult to transport, and fitting a new seat frame looks easy I ask
them to send the replacement to my home address.
Replaced seat frame without problem in 1/2 hour (the wire to rear
light is zip-tied to the frame, so these need to be snipped, and then
the wire re-fitted to the new seat frame.)
February 2010: Fit BB-7 disk brakes
I bought and fitted BB-7 calipers as drop-in replacements. They work
much better than the original BB-5s (see below).
February 2010: Reflections on Snow and Ice
The Kett has been very nice during the last 5/6 weeks of snow, ice and
slush here in Darmstadt. It is great not worrying about falling off on
the ice (a neighbouring cyclist fell on ice and broke a bone) but you
still need to get the tyres through the snow, and with a trike that
means 3 tracks instead of 1 with a 2 wheeled bike. Luckily the main
cycle paths here are usually cleared quite well, and what was left
never quite stopped me !! However I did slightly modify my commuting
route to keep on some main cycle paths instead of quieter or shorter
routes.
January 2010: Those disk brakes ...
Hase fit the Avid BB5 disc brakes which worked fine when I got them,
but the pads wore out quickly and they are hard to adjust. This
forum thread contains a discussion on the topic, the consensus seems to
be to upgrade to the BB7s (currently Euro 50 retail).
If you are buying a Kett, I suggest paying the shop for an upgrade:
the mounts points and levers are compatible so the shop should upgrade
for only the price difference of the calipers (currently Eur
20-30) and it is only a 5 minute job for them !
(I just noticed on the Hase website that all the current Ketts use
either BB7 or Magura brakes.)
October 2008: Fitting Garmin Edge 305 GPS
Note unit mounted on cut-off handlerbar extension and cadence sensor
mounted on the steering rod: both fitted using the standard Garmin
mounts.
Although when you steer the sensor moves away from the magnet it
works fine except going round hairpin bends. I guess you could use any
magnet, and you could find a stonger one to work better, but the original is
good enough for me.
(The cadence sensor also includes a megnetic wheel sensor which of
course does not work: but I noticed it can easily be unscrewed from
the cadence sensor mount exposing the wire that I guess could then be
extended and the wheel sensor DIY-mounted on the front fork.)
Fitting computer: moved over from old Kett
(Cateye Mity: to come: photos of sensor mount and computer mount)
Or see computer mount
and sensor mount
(both in German, but photos are enough to get the idea !!)
May 2008: Buying it
Still riding the old Kett every day to work since March 2003, but now I
fancy a new one (disc brakes would be a big plus: the hacked V-brakes
on the old one are OK but...).
Spot an ex-test trike discounted and available 'locally' at Die Radgeber
in Mainz: disc brakes, 27 gear, sober grey.
The old one will be passed down the family line and/or I will get a
hitch to allow pickup/drop off of kids.
...
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