Do you think Trikes are Safer than Bikes?

[RTwing]

After almost 6 years and 120,000 miles of testing I can scientifically say - YES much safer.
In my case dual car tires up front 11" vented brake rotors and 59" width it's fast stopping and almost impossible to tip. Plus the ride is so much softer.
Also the non-leaning is a real advantage as you never run short of ground clearance and the down pressure on the tires is always consistent.
Leaning vehicles including leaning trikes all have the same flaw, as you lean the down-force diminishes and lateral force increases. Consequently at some point the lateral over powers the vertical force and the front wheel lets loose with disastrous consequences.
I know for a fact a non-leaning reverse trike will out corner the original motorcycle, in most cases quite substantially.

[Cruiser1800]

Bikes stop faster than Trikes... ''If''.. the guy ON the bike knows what he is doing,
That said, If you have to do a full on emergency stop I would ratter be on a Trike, Much less drama when you lock wheels on a Trike, Not to mention no road rash..

I always thought the rear brakes on my T/G were not very good, Then one day last Summer I was travelling at around 45MPH when this pickup blast through a stop at probably 30 MPH like the stop wasn't even there. I stood hard on the brakes and the rear locked and the Trike stopped strait and true,.

I was as just in a wreck the 29th of May, only had the trike two weeks to the day. A deputy sheriff pulled out from a side road and hit us broad side. The trike spun around in the road, 180 degrees and never turned over. The wife and were thrown from the trike. We we both in ICU for serious injuries and we had helmets and full leather gear. If we would have been on our VTX1800, we would not had made it or would have been in a condition wishing we hadn't survived. That trike was a lot more safer then a two wheeler, glad I had it. Now I need to find me another, but I don't know if the wife will ever ride again. She is still trying to recover from a serious head injury.

Ride safe

Rodney

[clint44]

Very sorry to hear of your accident,Rodney,but glad to hear you both survived. All of us here on Trike Talk will say a prayer for your wife's full recovery.

[goldwingagain]

Some time they feel safer, then again. Triks have a new set of rules you have to learn. They also let you ride longer, never a balance issue. Like I said once you learn all the new rules, they are merely a new way of transportation that leaves out the balance issue. Bob

[Phu Cat]

I didn't vote in the poll because none of the responses actually cover the way I feel. A trike in my opinion is a little bit safer than a single track vehicle as you might be able to maintain control under some circumstances that you may not be able to on a two wheeler, assuming certain things go your way. The big advantages of course are taking balance out of the equation and being able to scrub off speed faster. Two huge advantages most of the time.

PC

[Ed Hobgood]

I would like to put my 2 cents in on this. I think trikes are safer because of the added protection they would give on a small accident {fender bender} and they help when you need to stop fast. With all that being said, if you are in a head on or side collision at full speed I think only the man upstairs has any control over that. Trikes are great and with common sense and the more time you ride and see all the crazy things people do the better rider you will be.

Rodney, sorry to hear about your accident and hope and pray your wife is doing better.

[alienwulf]

I would like to put my 2 cents in on this. I think trikes are safer because of the added protection they would give on a small accident {fender bender} and they help when you need to stop fast. With all that being said, if you are in a head on or side collision at full speed I think only the man upstairs has any control over that. Trikes are great and with common sense and the more time you ride and see all the crazy things people do the better rider you will be.

Rodney, sorry to hear about your accident and hope and pray your wife is doing better.

I agree would just add that they seem to be more visible being larger than a two wheeler. Anyway you look at it it's up to us to see them since we are not top on theirs.

[Firstmate]

A lot of women will ride a trike who would never get on a motorcycle, because they feel a lot safer on a trike. My husband bought a Honda motorcycle and I have never been on it. I told him I would ride a trike with him, however, because they seem to be a lot safer. He bought me a Cheetah trike and I love it. It has a Corvette engine with a cam and 300 hsp, so we can get the heck out of the way when necessary. It also has wheelie bars we have never needed. He loved it, too, and parked his Honda so we could ride together.

A lot of accidents are caused by not being able to control a bike when riders stop and need to put a foot down to balance it. I have seen a couple guys have a brain fart and forget to put their foot down in time. On one of them, the passenger had terrible multiple breaks to her foot and ankle. She obviously realized that anybody can make a mistake and forgave him. They got married a few years later.

Firstmate

[67wizard]

It all depends on the rider. Nothing is safer than the other with a bad rider.

[iccco]

I know that if I had been on my 2 wheel wing this summer I would not be here now. Had a car pull right out in front of me and my wife and how I missed him I still do not know but we did by less than a inch. I went back the next day and there were skid marks from my trike about 35 ft. long bearing to the right. Two wheels we would have hit the car broadside and been badly messed up or dead. I will never go back to two wheels.

Mike
2004 wing , 2008 motor trike

[Skipper13]

I know for certain that trikes in general are safer from one experience last week. I had just picked up my 2016 Freewheeler from my dealer and was one mile away when I got t-boned on the left side. I was barely moving and the car was doing about 30 mph. I landed in front of the trike with my left toes in pain. Trike was still upright but not running. Not to run on,but I had two broken toes and a torn knee tendon,along with expected bruising. The front end and left rear had substantial damage, to the amount of $19,955. I'm very glad I wasn't on 2 wheels !

[brianl]

Yes and No.
With Trikes you have a stable platform, don't have to put your feet down and you probably go a little slower than 2 wheels. Also you can't go around road debris very well.
With Bikes you definitely have a lot more maneuverability. You can lean around objects in the road, lane change is much easier AND you can avoid an accident better, such as laying the bike down for a low side.
Which is Safer?
It Depends......................

I took a motorcycle safety course about 5 years ago before I triked my wing. I asked the question "when do you know when is the right time to lay down your bike." The instructor surprised me and said "never lay it down." He said stay on the bike as long as you possibly can while braking and you will be going at a much lower speed if you hit something. Once you lay it down you just become a projectile spinning around in the road liable to be run over by anyone. I'm no expert but it sort of made sense.

[Shimpy]

I took a motorcycle safety course about 5 years ago before I triked my wing. I asked the question "when do you know when is the right time to lay down your bike." The instructor surprised me and said "never lay it down." He said stay on the bike as long as you possibly can while braking and you will be going at a much lower speed if you hit something. Once you lay it down you just become a projectile spinning around in the road liable to be run over by anyone. I'm no expert but it sort of made sense.

You're better off upright with the rubber tires scrubbing off speed than sliding on steel which has zero grip. Laying it down is called a "crash".

[cavie]

lay a moving metal object down on asphalt or concrete? I wanna meet the idiot that thought that up. I have 3 wheel disc brakes, 16" of rubber on the ground in the rear and can out stop most 2 wheels I tried it with. (Bagger cruisers). Also able to turn any way I wish to go, all the way to point of impact. Where is the laid down bike gonna go?????

[470004]

I ride both the two and three wheeler. I agree with all the above, that trike are safe.

[rhino 2]

Laying a bike down is just an excuse/denial by some so called bikers when they crashed by saying ; I didn't crash i had to lay it down... Laying down should be stricken from bikers vocabulary, Like Case protectors being called , Crash Bars...

[uppercaseJC]

Laying a bike down is just an excuse/denial by some so called bikers when they crashed by saying ; I didn't crash i had to lay it down... Laying down should be stricken from bikers vocabulary, Like Case protectors being called , Crash Bars...

Yep laying down a bike is just another word for crashed

[=Stangas=]

Well I am absolutely shocked with the overall response to this thread.

I polled that the 2 wheels are safer and am not even 2% of the result.

I have been riding 2 wheels all my life and after only a short time on the trike I came to the conclusion that the 2 wheels are safer.
Granted all the stupid stuff like laying it down when you don't put your feet on the ground, but I honestly feel safer on 2 wheels on the open road.
I have NEVER had the front wheel of my 2 wheelers skip out on me.

The way these big girls turn is very different and when on cruise speed some corners are quite hairy.
I would never take a trike around a corner at the same speed you would a bike. Even sticking to the speed limit on some corners concern me.
If you got unstuck on a trike I find it hard to believe you could pull yourself out of a situation like a bike could.

These are a green horn's view, and over time I may even change my mind.

Trikes would be safer I suppose with a pillion, at very slow speeds, more visual etc but at normal highway speeds my vote stays with the bikes.

[=Stangas=]

safety and the illusion of safety are two completely different things.

visibility?
response: ok, i'll give you that one. i feel that trikes are more easily noticed than bikes and for that reason only would i consider them a safer machine.

forgetting to put your feet down while coming to a stop?
response: really?

hazardous roads and/or road conditions?
response: we all have to maker a judgement call as to what is safe to ride on and what isn't. just because a trike can ride on sand/gravel/big rocks without tipping over doesn't make it safer. like i said, it's a judgement call and if a bike comes across a road like that, he/she needs to decide whether he should go down that road or find an alternate route. example: a big ass 4x4 can overtake rocks, boulders, streams, etc while a toyota yaris cannot. does it make it safer? not at all. the yaris will simply find an alternate route and get there to see the 4x4 tipped on it's side due to taking on an obstacle that it couldn't handle. the ability to do something does not make it safer. on the contrary, it may cause a bit of overconfidence in thinking that just because you can do it, that it is safe to do so. just because you can doesn't necessarily mean that you should.

a bike enables you to use the laws of physics to negotiate the roads. Newton's three laws of motion explain why. when a bike maneuvers a turn, the bike is leaned into it allowing the angle and weight of the bike to exert counter pressure on the road and get through easily. a trike is not capable of doing so. we have to steer through turns and without the ability to lean, the inside tire wants to rise up. basically, a bike uses physics to it's advantage where as a trike works against physics. i'm not a professor or anything so if i'm wrong please help me understand why.

i mean no disrespect to anyone's opinions and am only stating my own. please do not be offended.

grimm

After my last post I went back to read everyone's posts due to my out and out amazement of the results.

This quoted post by Grimm I believe would have to be the most sensible answer out of the whole lot of them. Please don't burn me.. but physics wins here. Maybe I looked at the question in a different mind than many. Which is safer to ride or which is safer to have a crash with?? I go with ride.

I fully agree with most of the comments regarding more visual, more stable (well to noobs) and definitely for allowing older and injured riders to stay on bikes. But from an able bodied person I have to disagree that they are safer to ride.

One point that I have discovered very quickly is where to put the front wheel.. on a bike I run the front wheel in the car tyre grooves, but this will put the rears of a trike either on the verge white line or on the oncoming traffics white line. Neither of these I feel good about, but then I don't feel good about putting the front wheel on the gap between the cars lines as this is where oil and debris builds.

Again, please don't burn me, and after a while of riding a trike I may change my mind.

[Cruiser1800]

It takes a while to get use to a trike, I've been riding since the early 60's, all on two wheels. I do enjoy riding a two wheeler, but due to health problems, it came down to either going to a trike or stop riding. But when we had our wreck in May, we wouldn't have survived if we were on a two wheeler, the trike in our situation saved us. We still aren't healed and I don't think we will ever will be, but I can still ride. My wife will never be the same and I will never be able to do some of the stuff I use to do, but at least we aren't stuck in a bed for the rest of our life and can think on our own.

What really surprised me, she did not have to think twice about getting back on a trike, she knew it wasn't my fault and she really likes riding this Goldwing trike, if it would have been a two wheeler and we were able to keep riding, she would never get back on a two wheeler.

Rodney