I used up my only good Musashi joke on the first post. But the new Catrike—er, CatBIKE—is here

and it has been for a little while. I just hadn't had a chance to ride it until a couple of days ago.

In a nutshell: it's definitely light, stiff, and streamlined. Those characteristics add up to "fast," just as advertised. What surprised me was how easygoing its road manners were for a lowslung 'bent with a racy setup—a low center of gravity and confidence-inspiring steering geometry meant that I didn't have any qualms about no-handing it. One can't say that about every recumbent.

We've come to expect good design, high quality and continuous improvement from the people at Catrike. It looks like their first two-wheeler will be no exception to that. It's made in the USA, retails for $2350, and is available now at TTR Bikes.