Ms. Everett,

I read the below email you sent to one of the members of the Kickbiking Yahoo group who then posted that email on the group's online message/forum. This email is being copied to them also, and any reply from you will be also.

I am eagerly awaiting the Trikke 12. I originally read that August 15th would be the Trikke 12's release date, but now it's September "something." So, I'm wondering if you can give us an exact release date, and also, can you tell us how to sign up on the wait list?

Nothing less than riding a Trikke 12 will suffice, but short of that, I believe you can answer some questions now that will lighten our load of the long torturous wait until September.

My focus is the effect of the tires. With the Trikke 8, of course, when the rider puts momentum into the Trikke's vector, the hard wheels do not "give" in any appreciable sense of the word, and response is "simultaneous" and with high efficiency energy transfers. Here's the issues that most immediately get my attention.
I'm imagining the 12's tires to "give" quite a bit, and I'm wondering if you can tell us something about how much more physically demanding the 12 will be because of the energy loss inherent in tire use. How spongy does it feel to ride the 12?

Tire wear would seem to be a big factor. I'm thinking that too hard a tire and you get the same skittishness of the 8 on sand and gravel, but too soft and the thing wears out too quickly. So I'd love to hear how you've balanced these forces or if the tire industry has had some sort of breakthrough in "rubber" chemistry that mitigates these issues
Also, speed. Just how much faster is the 12? The tires are 50% bigger than the 8's wheels, but does that translate into a big boost in linear velocities? It would seem so; does it?

And does the 12 overcome the thousand tortures a typical city sidewalk presents to a trikker? The debris, the cracks, the section upliftments, the aged pebbly surfaces, the curbs -- are the tires an answer to these typical "traction and control reducers?" Just how much does the larger diameter and rubber reduce the threat of small pebbles on a hard carve? Is the 12 a true touring vehicle? I know about Jimmy's ride across America, but I'd like a Trikke that is comfortable when I trikke across town -- my bumpy, uneven, eroded typical town.
And what about lawns and gravel paths and other "smooth but boggy" surfaces? Is the larger diameter enough for one to trikke across a lawn for instance?

How much of a new learning curve are riders experiencing with the 12? I'm pretty darned good on the 8; how long before I can say that on the 12? I ask because with the Trikke timing is everything, yes?, and the "give" of the tires would seem to have to be part of that, so can an old dog learn a new Trikke? Or, will I have to fight against all the hard won "skills of simultaneity" that I have developed for the 8? For the 12 will I have to learn to turn just a bit after I do a kick so that the kicked tire can "process" that energy and THEN my belated turn will then "jive in" with the weight once its momentum is "returned" to the Trikke after "bouncing off the road surface via the tire?"
Tire blow-out issues? Gotta be a concern...

There's a lot of people at the forum who would love detailed and cogent answers to the above.

I'm an experience marketer. I know the corporate, legal and marketing forces that prevent your giving too much information...or too little for that matter, but I'd like you to trust us at the yahoo group and to use us as a "focus group." We can tell you if we don't mind "learning another machine, because the 12 goes so much faster with better traction," or if "sure, we'll pay for new tires every six months." Etc. I'm a dedicated Trikker. In fact, I'm a true believer, and everyone I know now knows about Trikkes. I want to help spread the word on this "fitastic" machine. And, hey, help us out by giving us a place on your Web site where trikkers can hook up. I've trikked for over a year, on public streets, and I have yet to meet another trikker in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Bottom line: the 8's got my heart and soul riding on each carve, but the 12 sounds like it will bring trikking into the real world of touring, and I'm very excited. If I have to get stronger to muscle around the 12 with the same finesse I have with the 8, NO PROBLEM lemme on it!

Edg Duveyoung