Oh them big flat rear tires

[ea81slush]

Ok. Firstly ALL of your comments are helpful to trikers out there for them to be aware of what can happen. Love how you guys really get into the topic.

My VW based trike is no different in that planing has been such a dangerous problem as soon as there are puddles ahead of me I slow right down.

My thoughts have been along the lines that the tread doesnt allow the quantity of water to be extracted from the tires quick enough and the light weight is a big factor.

Thanks for bringing the subject up. It has always worried me. I run 295/50R15 on the rear and a 600-16 hot rod tire on the front. In the past the front was a Michelin motorcycle tire with much less tread and more prone to planing than the deeper treaded hotty.

For whats it worth.

[tbear]

If we ran 75 series tires in the back, they would be the closes size as the front. Wish I had the money to experiment to see if the ride and problems we have doing this would tell us what to expect. I know back in the hotrod days, we would use the skinny front tires when drag racing and it always made the car alittle squilley. Just a thought....

[alwrmcusn]

On the way to STAR days in Harrisburg while riding north in the heavy rain on the BRP, I found that my trike could get a very noticeable squirm on occasion!!

[saab9k]

The wider the tire, the more hydro planing. Compare to flat bottom alu boat.
Taller tire get a better solid grip.
Military uses tall narrow wheels.

[Tin Man 2]

I see that this is an old thread but I will still put in my 2 cents worth. Wide tires with a low load weight will easily hydro plane, just a fact. That being true there is a BIG difference in manufactures tread and compound. I once put a set of PepBoy fat tires on my short box Chevy pickup, big mistake. The truck was flat out unsafe in rain!! Now I'm a fruggel guy but I did pull off the tires and put on a set of factory take offs, vamoosh, no more problems. The moral of the story is the Brand of the tire makes a BIG difference!!

[3rdwheel]

My wife and I received our trike in May of this year and after 1,200 miles or so of local trips we decided it was time to take a little longer journey to the northern part of our country, so in September off we went.

Soon in our travels it started to rain, we never thought to much of it, we have had to ride in the wet stuff several times before on two wheels. So we donned the rain gear and continued our journey, being cautious of course for obvious reasons. When ascending a slight grade and in forth gear, (we were pulling our trailer) and moving in a straight line doing about I would guess 50 MPH. A little water was moving across the road and all of a sudden the RPM's shot up and I of course knew the rear wheels left the pavement and was HYDROPLANING I immediately turned down the accelerator and picked up traction again, it happen again a few days later under similar circumstances..

The funny part is if we were on two wheels I know I would have been traveling about the same speed maybe even a little more (in a straight line)..So I have learned when traveling on a trike in the wet stuff you really are walking or eggs or is it riding on broken eggs. With the minimal amount of weight in the rear or our trikes and with them fat, flat tires they do make handling a tad squirrely.......Just thought I would share this rectum tightening experience..
"The Paparzzi"

I had the exactly the same experience you had while in Glacier National Park. My trike is a Harley/Hannigan and had the Kumho tires, and while pulling a trailer too. Pretty scary but I think in my case the trailer actually helped keep me from spinning clear around. I wasn't going too fast because it was raining real hard and it was dark. My wife was also on the back and she could feel it - I didn't need to tell her it happened!


Since then I have changed out those worthless tires (they wore out way too fast), to Michelins. I've not had a repeat experience but haven't ridden in that much rain again either.

[rhino 2]

In the right conditions All Vehicles will Hydroplane.... Some faster than others...Standing water is your enemy... Your friend in the hydroplane war is your right hand......Better tires will help, Unless with better tires you'll just drive faster, Into that standing water up ahead..

[CrystalPistol]

Any moving tire will hydroplane when it encounters more water than it can channel away from the tread and the road. Many things affect "when" that happens. Vehicle speed, roadway surface, how much water, tire tread depth and design, weight pressing on that contact patch, & tire inflation all play a part. Fat tires with shallow tread on light vehicles in heavy water on smooth surfaces at high speed are among the first to do it.

I've had it happen in my police car at speed ....but I expected it might happen and when it did, I backed off if I recovered .... which I did as here I am. Police cars do have good tires, but they are not always new tires and sometimes you have to go .... so I always paid attention to my tires and their condition.

Back in the early '70s when I was a teenaged driver, I had a '69 VW Bug and for a time, had wheel adapters on the rear with some 14" GM wheels and worn/ borrowed Sonic Maxima G60-14 tires. One night I was putting along at 45-50 mph coming into Lynchburg on Rt 29 and all of a sudden, I was looking out the far right side of the windshield at the road as the Bug was pointed about 45 degrees to the left and even that Bug's RPMs increased. Scarry! I recovered though, and soon had a different set up, going to some slightly wider Bug wheels with some European radials .....

Seiberling or something?

Car handled better too!

Our '97 GL1500 Lehman GTL was built in 1998 and then Lehman shipped with 7" X 15" ASA wheels shod with Dunlop GT Qualifiers in size 245/60R15 size ..... they were "fat". In 2005 I became concerned about hydroplaning as they were starting to look worn .... and soon I replaced them with some 215/70R15 Lemans SR tires that were 4 pounds lighter each and a full inch narrower in the tread and installed them ..... adding 1/2" spacers with longer studs to get the asthetics back right.

2010 .... early summer ..... group ride .....

and we found a down poor. I was really being careful, taking it easy, watching for high water ....

negotiated several "riverlets" crossing the road .... and then coming out of Staunton on Rt 11 through a slight dip ..... and without warning RPMs went up and rear of trike scooted left. "Wife Unit" did not utter another word until we got home except for one short "WOW"!

I recovered ...... < ...... again.

I'm also looking for some nice looking 215/70-15 rubber again as what's on the Trike are half worn now. They don't make the Lemans SR anymore, and they looked so good on the Trike. Might go with B F Goodrich Radial T/As though.