Tricycles

[Laurentius]

Hi everybody, I am making a return to cycling after many years absence. I happened to be walking in the park recently and I saw a gentleman on a tricycle which piqued my curiosity so I got into a conversation about it. It was a Di-Blasi folding tricycle and he showed me how it folded, and I was immediatly impressed. The next day I got on ebay looking for one, and I found one, which I recently collected from London.

That was a baptism of fire, as I had just assumed that everything would be the same as riding a bike, and you never forget once you have learned. How wrong I was, and I had to ride this in rush hour traffic, in central London after dark, then get it onto the train and home. Luckily I made it, and now I am gently familiarising myself with it in somewhat safer territory.

I expect at some point I will want to tweak it as I don't really like the rear brake, but I know nothing of what parts will fit and all that stuff so I am here to learn.

I am also learning to be a weight lifter as it is not the lightest of machines and I live up three flights of steps, not too bad getting it down with the rear wheels folded, but it is a challenge going up again. I find a webbing strap over my shoulder helps.

 

[raleighnut]

to the world of trikes.
2 tips

• Never take your feet off the pedals unless you're dismounting.
• When cornering it is opposite to a bike you need all your weight on the inside pedal to shift the CofG or the inside wheel will lift.

 

[Sharky]

to the world of trikes.
2 tips

• Never take your feet off the pedals unless you're dismounting.
• When cornering it is opposite to a bike you need all your weight on the inside pedal to shift the CofG or the inside wheel will lift.

like this chappie, who wasn't a bad rider ....

 

[TheDoctor]

Yes, trikes are tricky. I find the best tactic is to keep the inside pedal down (the opposite to a bike) and steer rather than lean, obviously!
When I started, I realised that when turning a bike you actually countersteer a little to get the bike leaning.
On a trike, countersteering goes very wrong very quickly.

 

[Salar]

On a trike, countersteering goes very wrong very quickly.

Very true. Being clever I tried my wifes electric trike for the first time a few months ago.

We were in a field, the reason follows later,the soil was hard and dry with short grass, so I opened up the trike to the highest level.

A ditch and a hedge started appearing fast and I instinctively tried to turn as if on a two wheel bike, not clever.

The brakes just managed to stop me from tipping into the nettle infested ditch.

Ironically the reason we were in the field was that we were helping a young lad out of the ditch who had just ridden straight into it!