Tricycle riding?

[Aurora]

Hi all, so it’s been a while and this week I’m now the proud new owner of a tricycle.. had a couple of goes on it and admittedly while I’m getting better, it’s still terrifying. Lol
Anyone have any tricycle riding tips for dummies?

Suggestions that might make me feel safer?

Bear in mind that I can’t drive a car so being on wheels (and in control) is both a new and unusual experience/feeling for me.

Bit jealous as my brother just hopped on and away he went....

The turning thing is literally making me break out in a sweat lol how far can I turn the wheel before I end up as road kill.?
The bumps make the back box rattle and I’m feeling every little bump is going to tip me over, and I can immediately feel when the road camber changes as it pulls towards the slope. I’m leaning my weight away from that but without leaning my body much if that makes sense. But it makes my heart stop lol

Downhills are also scary as the bike runs away, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be very hard on break pads

Flat and no undulating surface and I’m fine just learning how to turn better/ smaller circles. Still afraid to go on an actual road but then I’ve only had 2 goes.

Hopefully I can do this and build my confidence up without any nasty situations.

All help and suggestions gratefully received. Thank you!

 

[Sharky]

Upright or one of those lying down ones?

 

[classic33]

@raleighnut, your on. For an upright trike.

 

[Aurora]

Upright or one of those lying down ones?

It’s an upright one not a recumbent where you sit really low.

 

[Aurora]

@classic33 your avatar isn’t filling me with a lot of hope there!

 

[Sharky]

To go round corners on a two wheeler, you would lean the bike, but on a trike you cant. So you have to transfer your own weight over to the side you are turning to. For gentle bends, you can just stay in the saddle and just lean. But for severe corners, you need to get out of the saddle, pedal at 6o'clock on the corner side and the hook your other leg round the crossbar and have the whole of your upper body well over towards the corner.

How much you lean over is a balance depending on the severity of the corner, but it comes naturally, although you need to take a leap of faith the first time you try it.

I'll try googling some images to show what I'm trying to describe.

 

[Sharky]

It also helps to have you shoes firmly clipped in

 

[Sharky]

Google images for "tricycle cornering" you'll see what I mean.

Cheers keith

 

[Aurora]

Thanks Keith, I had a look at those... that’s quite extreme in my eyes, I didn’t think I’d need to do that. I’m disabled so it may be a bit beyond my body to manage... perhaps I will just need to slow down a lot or get off to go round tight corners... I’m not really leaning over drastically when I turn I just sort of shift my weight on the seat and bend a bit at the waist without actually going very far. Maybe that’s why I’m struggling with tighter turns. Hmm practice time tomorrow again. Will see what happens.

 

[Sharky]

Good luck.

The more you can get your weight over, the safer it will feel.

 

[Tigerbiten]

A trike doesn't self steer as you expect it to.
If you lean right then the trike will try and turn left and vice versa.
So if you lean into a camber, then the trike will try to turn downhill into the ditch.
Also you need to keep your arms relaxed so that when you do shift your shoulders over, your hands don't follow and exacerbate any turn downhill.
So riding on a camber may feel like you need to constantly turn uphill slightly to stay on a straight line.
The more you try and fight this turn, the stiffer your arms get and you end up fighting the trike more.

As for high speed corners and downhill runs, it comes with practice.
The more confident you are, the faster you are.

 

[raleighnut]

Trikes are great but there are a few things different you need to do, cornering is a matter of practice as it's the opposite of a bike. You need the inside pedal down with most of your weight on that leg, stopping too is different in that taking your feet off the pedals is a bad idea so unless you are getting off there is no need to (you stand a good chance of running your foot/leg over)
Road camber can be a problem but the trick is to let the trike move around and not try to fight it.

What Trike have you got?

Mine is a Kentex that started off like this,



It then got modified (by me) to look like this,

It now has a 250w electric front wheel kit.

 

[Aurora]

@Tigerbiten thank you, the camber thing is what is freaking me out the most, it’s as if the bike is fighting me. I did end up with my front wheel close to the kerb but stopped before I hit it. Thankfully(?) I’ve not ridden a bike for over 30 years so I don’t have the expectations most people have. I do remember always feeling more confident on a tricycle as a child, even though I had a couple of crashes

@raleighnut sound advice I didn’t know about the pedal thing. I will try to remember that today. At what point does the bike fall over when I turn the front wheel too far? Lol

I bought a sunrunner tricycle, it is an electric one but I’m using it without the electric bit. Not an expert here but I like her, she runs nice and freely and is in immaculate condition. I will see if I can get a photo or video of me riding her for you guys to see where I’m going wrong. Or a photo or something I’m not sure how to upload these things.

 

[Ian H]

Getting a barrow round a corner quickly is an art. I've even known of someone coming off inside the bend by being a bit too enthusiastic.
https://tricycleassociation.org.uk/

 

[raleighnut]

@Tigerbiten thank you, the camber thing is what is freaking me out the most, it’s as if the bike is fighting me. I did end up with my front wheel close to the kerb but stopped before I hit it. Thankfully(?) I’ve not ridden a bike for over 30 years so I don’t have the expectations most people have. I do remember always feeling more confident on a tricycle as a child, even though I had a couple of crashes

@raleighnut sound advice I didn’t know about the pedal thing. I will try to remember that today. At what point does the bike fall over when I turn the front wheel too far? Lol

I bought a sunrunner tricycle, it is an electric one but I’m using it without the electric bit. Not an expert here but I like her, she runs nice and freely and is in immaculate condition. I will see if I can get a photo or video of me riding her for you guys to see where I’m going wrong. Or a photo or something I’m not sure how to upload these things.

The main thing is to take your time until you're more confident and take corners slowly, as for the trike 'falling over' it won't when you're stopped so just always keep your feet firmly on the pedals.