newby

[Ashford girl]

Hello I have just got my first electric trike, and I took it out today for the first time, and to my surprise I felt really unsteady. It was quite hard for me to control the handlebars. I use to ride a two wheeler about 20 years ago and never had any trouble. I thought a three wheeler would be so easy. Please help and give me some advice as I’m really nervous about going on the main road. H E L P

 

[roadrash]

practice somewhere quite , it would be daft to go on the main road until you are confident, maybe @raleighnut can offer advice as he also has an electric trike

 

[screenman]

They both ride very differently, do as roadrash says, first time I had a go on one I ended up deep in a hedge at the first too fast corner.

 

[Mrs M]

 

[Sharky]

On a two wheeler, you just lean into the corner and as a rider you hardly know that you are turning the handle bars.
On a trike, the bike itself cannot lean, so you have to turn the handlebars and steer like you would in a car.
To compensate for the trike not leaning, bend the whole of you body above the waist and lean into the corner. On really tight bends, get off the saddle and put all your weight on the pedal on the side where the corner is.

It does become easier.
Good luck

 

[raleighnut]

practice somewhere quite , it would be daft to go on the main road until you are confident, maybe @raleighnut can offer advice as he also has an electric trike

Yep Trikes take a bit of getting used to, the more you 'fight' them the worse they feel. The first thing to do is forget everything you ever learnt about cycling except for the pedalling bit, here's some tips.

• Never put your feet down unless you're getting off, one of the 1st things to learn is that you just sit on the seat when you stop.
• Keep your inside pedal down when cornering and put your weight onto that pedal, completely opposite to how you corner a bike.
• Don't attempt to take sharp corners at any speed, the inside rear wheel will come up and trying to brake will make things worse so slow down before the bend. If the wheel does come up your only option is to straighten up and brake as hard as you can once the wheel is back down.
• On uneven rutted roads allow the Trike to move about under you whilst keeping yourself vertical, it'll feel 'wrong' at first but that's just because you don't ride em like a bike.

Trikes are great fun once you get used to them, I'd suggest quiet roads or deserted car-parks until you are thoroughly confident in how they ride.

BTW mine looked much like yours until I decided to customise it,

 

[Salar]

Not much more to add to @raleighnut comments.

My better half has an electric trike (she has lots of titanium in one leg due to a nasty break and lost confidence on two wheels)

Anyway once she got the hang of it she loves it. Depending on the type of drive you have some trikes have a tendency to pull to one side. But you soon learn how to compensate for it.

Me? I'm hopeless on it, first attempt I was almost in a ditch.

 

[TheDoctor]

The first few times I rode a trike, I realised that on two wheels I counter-steer to initiate a turn.
Doing this on a trike has surprising and unhelpful results. I ended up in a hedge. A few times.

 

[raleighnut]

Not much more to add to @raleighnut comments.

My better half has an electric trike (she has lots of titanium in one leg due to a nasty break and lost confidence on two wheels)

Anyway once she got the hang of it she loves it. Depending on the type of drive you have some trikes have a tendency to pull to one side. But you soon learn how to compensate for it.

Me? I'm hopeless on it, first attempt I was almost in a ditch.

Going by the picture in @Ashford girl 's avatar it's got a front wheel electric drive and rear chain drive to probably one wheel so not too bad, the real problems are only on 'mid drive' Trikes that don't have a rear differential and only drive one wheel.

BTW @mickle will know far more than me as he's been involved with loads of em whereas I've only had 2 (the 1st one was when I was a kid and I learnt to ride a bike by riding that on 2 wheels most of the time)

 

[Ashford girl]

Thank you everyone for your answers. I guess the only wat to get use to it is to practice.

 

[Ashford girl]

Hi is there such a thing as a trike club in Surrey ????