New Stuff From TW-Bents

March 08, 2010 By: thenhbushman Category: News, Taiwan, Technology

Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I went to the TW-Bents warehouse last Friday, and we met with Walter and Kevin. They had some new stuff to show us.

The main star of the day is this new trike. It’s a giant of a trike, built for larger, heavier riders. The main feature of this trike (besides it’s size) is the material it’s constructed of. This is an all-aluminum trike, and it is very light weight for it’s size.

Look how massive the boom is! Take a look at the BB to get an idea of just how big the tubes are. The wall thickness of the tubes is 2.5mm.

This shot shows one of the rear dropouts. Look how massive the rear triangle members are. This is one monster trike!

Shot from the front of the trike.

This cockpit shot shows how massive the tubes are. Don’t be fooled by the perspective though, as this trike is also considerably wider than any other trike they make. The seat is the same as the Artifice, so that should put it all into perspective for you.

You may want to view these photos in the large size. Clicking on any one of the photos will take you to the Flickr page where you many view the alternate sizes.

This is the junction of the boom and the main cross member. Look at the beautiful welding!

This bracket is massive! I know I keep using that word, but nothing else adequately describes this trike and it’s components!

Closeup of the rear triangle joint. Notice that this is not a folding trike. This trike was built for stability and it does not flex!

This is Walter on the trike. Please note that Walter is over 6 feet in height. I saw Walter take this trike on a test ride. He purposefully took very hard turns, where the front tires were drifting. Due to the wide track and excellent geometry of this trike, the front wheels did not come off the ground.

This trike will not be shown at the Taipei Cycle Show coming up soon. However, the following item will be shown:

This is a beautiful recumbent tandem. A full sized seat with a back will be used on the rear position (captain). The bike features dual drive, and a set of frame couplings that can be opened to shorten the frame for transportation. This beauty will be shown at the Taipei Cycle Show!

Thanks for reading! We welcome your comments, questions, recommendations and retweets!

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33 Responses to “ New Stuff From TW-Bents ”

# 1 MJ Klein Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 7:48 am
New Stuff From TW-Bents http://is.gd/9WjoO
# 2 MJ Klein Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 8:34 am
New Stuff From TW-Bents:

Photos by MJ Klein Hui-chen and I went to the TW-Bents warehouse last.. http://bit.ly/aXoJi3
# 3 Taiwanderful Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 10:02 am
(Best of TW) New Stuff From TW-Bents http://cli.gs/JMdbL
# 4 Michael Cannon Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Michael, Congratulations on the new ride. Where’s TW-Bents to visit?
.-= Michael Cannon´s last blog ..Blrrp, bump, blrrp, bump =-.

thenhbushman reply on March 8th, 2010 4:08 pm:

hi Michael. TW-Bents warehouse is in Dajia, Taichung. it’s an interesting place to visit, with all sorts of recumbents of different configurations about the place. i’d be happy to take you there sometime and introduce you to Walter and Kevin. are you going to the Taipei Cycle Show?

btw, I haven’t gotten one of those larger trikes yet, but i am thinking about it!
# 5 Joel Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
If you are ever back in Monmouth Junction, we can ride together as I am in the same town. I post under joelw135 on Bentrideronline. I also have a TW-Bents trike.

thenhbushman reply on March 8th, 2010 11:48 pm:

hi Joel. you must have me confused with someone else, as i’ve never been to Monmouth Junction before. i live in Taiwan and don’t get back to the US very often. it would be nice to ride together of course but i don’t see that happening because of logistics. thanks for reading!
# 6 Stefan Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I like the tandem looks very nice, are the pedals decoupled i.e. can you pedal faster in the back than in the front?

I wonder if it could be enhanced to become a “family bike” – with an additional child seat in front. So mom and baby can chat and enjoy the view and dad pedals.

thenhbushman reply on March 8th, 2010 11:44 pm:

Stefan, the drive trains fore and aft are completely separate. each operates its own wheel. there is a child seat option to replace the front seat (but not in addition to the front seat). that’s all i can tell you about it now. i’m sure that other options will become available soon. thanks.
# 7 mike01905 Says:
March 13th, 2010 at 2:22 am
Nice to see a trike of that size made out of aluminum. My Trek 3700 is aluminum and it is very light compared to my older Trek 800 Sport.

Too bad I can’ go to that Taipei Cycle show. I’m about to leave to go to a show featuring things with other wheels… the World of Wheels car show
.-= mike01905´s last blog ..2010 New England Boat Show =-.

thenhbushman reply on March 13th, 2010 4:54 pm:

Mike, i presume we’ll be able to see the photos on your Flickr account? thanks.

mike01905 reply on March 14th, 2010 8:55 am:
Yup… just got done uploading about 70 pictures from the 2010 World of Wheel show in Boston (shameless plug).

There were quite a few 1930′s Fords there. Knowing how you like saturdated colors… I think you’ll really like how some of the pictures look.
.-= mike01905´s last blog ..2010 World of Wheel in Boston =-.

thenhbushman reply on March 14th, 2010 12:21 pm:

Mike, there did seem to be an abundance of 30′s Fords! the colors looked good – the bright reds especially. thanks for sharing the link with us.
# 8 Patrick Cowsill Says:
March 13th, 2010 at 6:44 am
New Stuff From TW-Bents http://is.gd/9WjoO
# 9 Patrick Cowsill Says:
March 13th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I guess I am going to have to take one of these things out for a ride. BTW, your Web site hasn’t been loading very efficiently. Actually, it takes forever. What’s up with that?

thenhbushman reply on March 13th, 2010 4:55 pm:

hi Patrick. i would be more than happy to take you out there for a test ride.

the Seesmic plug-in was slowing things down as our site was waiting for their site to load, and their site wasn’t loading. i’ve deleted the Seesmic plugin (no one was using it anyway) and our site loads a lot faster now. thanks.
# 10 Peter Stewart Says:
March 26th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I didn’t get to see the TW Bent crowd at the Taipei Bicycle Show even though I was keeping an eye out for them.

I took a whole day there on the Friday and still didn’t manage to properly see even a third of the displays.

I’m still really keen to get some testing on their bikes. I got to ride some by another company at the show, but when I heard what the prices were, I almost choked.

I’m still looking to find a trike/recumbent for a longer term test on my own blog. Your great reviews of your Artifice have been my main reason I’ve become interested in these “alternative” vehicles. Thanks for that.
.-= Peter Stewart´s last blog ..Taipei Bike Show 2010 =-.

thenhbushman reply on March 26th, 2010 5:53 pm:

Peter, i’m glad that you found my reviews of the Artifice useful! if you like, i would be more than happy to personally take you down to their warehouse so you may try out whatever you like. i think you would enjoy testing out a trike. mine is setup for me, so the boom is usually too far out for most people (i’m 190cm) and i can’t bring the boom in very far without the chain dragging, or i would suggest that you try mine. but the warehouse has a number of bikes setup that i’m sure will be a good match for you. the prices on recumbents are higher mostly because they aren’t built in the volumes that DF bikes are. plus, they tend to be a little bit more complicated with a longer chain line. all of TW-Bents bikes are built in Taiwan, and to a high quality standard.

btw, TW-Bents was on the forth floor, and to the right of the entrance, up against the far wall. we were there on Friday too, but we didn’t see you, unfortunately.

thanks Peter, always nice to see your comments in our blog.
# 11 Chris Spenceley Says:
July 1st, 2010 at 5:12 am
Hi,
Great Blog, very interesting.

I am interested in that big trike! Do they have any plans to put it into production? And do you have any specs on it ?

I am in the UK where Recumbent s of any type are rare and very expensive.

I am about your size (and shape) hehe!! so a lot of the Trikes tend to get smothered by me.

Have you tried the moulded seat types? I am thinking they will be more comfortable as there are no side bars to pinch the wider parts.

thenhbushman reply on July 1st, 2010 7:24 am:

hi Chris, thanks. no i don’t have any specs on that new trike. it’s in the prototype stages and i know that some have been shipped to Germany for testing with larger riders. it will eventually be offered as a production model. i don’t like the molded seats as they aren’t very wide and they don’t breathe like the mesh seats do. in suggested that TW-Bents make the wider trike seats wider and they are taking that under advisement – which means they are likely to do it. i’ll continue to post information as i find out about it. thanks Chris.
# 12 Chris Spenceley Says:
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:30 am
Thanks for the reply,

Are you still touring Thailand? I recently returned to the UK from Thailand, I spent 20 years between there and mainland China.

Re the prototype large Trike:

I have the seed of an idea of contacting the company and seeing if they would ship one to me direct, do they do that sort of thing?

As far as I can tell the UK doesn’t have any proper dealers, just an Ebayer (if that’s what they are called) He is out of stock of all Tw models which is a bit suspicious.

I see your point with the solid seat being hot, not such a problem in our British climate over here. It looks very nice compared to the mesh but not so practical I guess. The mesh seat reminds me of the Bell Huey army Chopper seats.

One other question, what do you think about that Mag wheel compared to the standard spoked type? is it high quality? I notice the Big trike has one fitted.

thenhbushman reply on July 3rd, 2010 12:01 pm:

hi Chris. we got back from Thailand in Feb. the company ships to whomever buys a trike. but they do support their dealers first. an “ebayer” may or may not be one of their dealers. i wouldn’t know. people run out of stock sometimes, what can i say.

i’ve never had a spoked rear wheel on my trike so i can’t comment on it. but i have had bearing issues with the cast wheel. the wheel itself is strong however. Kevin has talked with the wheel company about supplying heavier duty bearings in the cast wheel so it shouldn’t be an issue in the future.

thanks Chris.
# 13 Chris Spenceley Says:
July 3rd, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Hi Mike

I mailed Kevin at Tw’ had a nice response and very fast too!

Looks like that Ebay seller is the only British supplier. Still no reply to my mail to them.

Kevin said the F1 large trike is designed for 130kg riders so sounds perfect.

Also hinted at plans to introduce Suspension in the future due to market demand.

Now all that remains is to persuade Kevin to ship me an F1, it’s hard to ship due to it being non folding and its inherent oversize. Maybe they could add a hinge.
No hurry though, I don’t plan any long trips till next spring. Then its Iceland or Norway to test the hill climbing abilities.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, I hope Tw’ give you a retainer for being such a good ambassador!

Chris

thenhbushman reply on July 4th, 2010 11:02 am:

hi Chris. please keep us posted on your progress on obtaining a new TW Bent! thanks.
# 14 How To Lose Fat In A Proper Way | Quick Ways To Lose Weight Says:
July 9th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
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# 15 Chris Spenceley Says:
July 24th, 2010 at 4:21 am
Hi,

Update on my Trike plan. The Twbents Ebay dealer here in the Uk has received the 3 current models, They are at a really good price compared to other brands. Under half !

I haven’t had any luck getting a response from the dealer or Twbents themselves concerning the “F1″ large frame prototype.

Kevin told me the “Fx” alloy frame model should be available from September but as I said no response on the F1 launch date.

Don’t suppose you could give Tw a nudge next time you are in contact
I don’t want to rush them, just get an idea when it may be available and if there will be any way to get one.

How’s your trike adventures? I am missing your Blog reports, hope you are fit and well.

Ps we got a spam post above mine.

thenhbushman reply on July 27th, 2010 12:36 am:

hi Chris. i haven’t been around much lately – been traveling but i can check and see what’s up with the new design. i’ll get back to blogging on riding soon. thanks.
# 16 Chris Spenceley Says:
July 27th, 2010 at 4:44 am
Great to see you alive and kicking (pedalling)

I couldn’t wait to get mobile so bought a Cannondale Commuter upright. Smooth as butter and great for the short ride to work. Has no front derailer [sp] just a Shimano Nexus 8 speed hub with 700c rims and Hub roller brakes.

That will give me time to source my TW Bents F1!! I have looked at all the manufacturers Trikes and I am just drawn back to the Pictures you posted!

I almost weakened this week when I saw that the TW Bents dealer over here has a few Tridents, Mantis and an Artifice in stock. I managed to curb my impulsiveness to grab one of them and went back to look at your F1 pics again

See if you can twist Kevins arm and get him to sell me a prototype for testing

Chris

Ps sorry for hi jacking your blog

thenhbushman reply on July 27th, 2010 9:24 pm:

hi Chris. glad you got something to ride in the meantime. i’ll be talking with Kevin in the next couple of days and i’ll try to find out where he is regarding the F1. i’m curious about that one myself. i’ve been thinking of upgrading to that one once it’s in production. thanks for reading (and you’re not hijacking anything at all!).
# 17 Chris Spenceley Says:
July 28th, 2010 at 2:36 am
Will look forward to news of your visit with Kevin with anticipation.

Great to hear you are contemplating switching to an F1, Much better chance of getting the F1 into production if you plan to nab #1 as I believe you did with the Artifice . I am quite content to settle for #2 (or any # for that matter)

I have been scouring the web for Trike sites and have been amazed at how the Tw Bents range is sold under various aliases worldwide, they must be one of the biggest producers Of Trikes.
# 18 Chris Spenceley Says:
July 28th, 2010 at 4:37 am
I just found this link to a couple of videos about Electric Powered Trikes in Germany

http://vimeo.com/12277680

One of the featured Trikes is a carbon copy Of the F1, I guess #1 is already in the wild being tested.

http://vimeo.com/11778541

This one shows the F1 electrified and going around a circuit.

http://vimeo.com/12689310

This is the best one, shows what it can do, looks very fast.

thenhbushman reply on July 28th, 2010 11:45 am:

Chris, the F1 was designed originally for the German market and obviously is good for other markets as well. all of the new prototypes went to Germany.
# 19 Chris Spenceley Says:
July 30th, 2010 at 1:31 am
I had a nice reply from Daniel Backwinkel of “Outdoor Experts” who are testing the F1 in Germany.

He is the huge Arnold Schwarzenegger lookalike in the videos.

No Info on The testing but he suggested I buy a current model, Called a “Rondane”,
I have replied declining the offer and asking for some feedback on the “F1″ if he is in a position to release any yet.

Outdoor experts appear to be a really switched on outfit judging from their website and videos, so I intend to keep a “foot in the door” for when the F1 is released.

I am hoping Kevin decides I could join his prototype testing program. 115 kg should test it just fine. Tell him the cheque can be in the post as soon as he likes!