It’s been almost a year since I’ve owned a Catrike 700. I always liked the 700 for its comfort and speed (although I’ve never been a big fan of Catrike direct steering). I haven’t  ridden the new version of the 700 with the 20″ front wheels, longer wheel base and more laid back seat position. I thought that it might be time to do so. Needing a new project, I decided to take advantage of the Catrike winter sale. For some reason, Big Cat is offering a bigger discount ($200 vs $100) if you order the more expensive paint job. To be honest, I’m not too wild about any of the colors offered, but the Candy Blue seems OK so I went with that.

I also like to pick my own components and build my own wheels. You can buy a “roller” from Catrike which includes the frame, seat, steering, wheels but no drive train or brakes. The price is only about $300 lower than a full trike so usually it doesn’t make sense to buy the roller. I spoke with Dana at Bent Up about this and it turns out that he needed a set of stock wheels to complete another trike that he had in stock so we struck a deal that did make sense. I got the frame, steering, seat but no wheels or bolt on bike parts for a reasonable price. With the $200 discount applied to that, it was a very good price. (Thanks, Dana)

I already have some pieces to put on the trike. I have a new FSA SL-K triple carbon fiber crank set, front derailleur and Ultremo tires. I really like the components that I chose for my Vortex so I’m going with the same on the 700. I’ve ordered some Avid X0 hydraulic brakes, SRAM X0 rear derailleur, TT500 shifters, KMC hollow pin chain and Velocity A23 rims with Bitex hubs. It turns out that Velocity has stopped making the A23 rims in the 406 size, but fortunately Mark at PowerOn Cycling agreed to sell me his last 2 – maybe the last 2 on the planet.

So now I have to wait for that call from Dana letting me know that the 700 frame is in the shop. I have a couple of weeks off around Xmas so I’m hoping that all of the pieces converge in Santa Barbara around that time so I can get busy building my new trike.