Originally Posted by
Kevinch
History: my wife is in her early 60s. She's been riding a motorcycle for close to 20 years, & has been over the road on a few trips within about 600 miles from our home where she has ridden her bike, currently a Yamaha VStar 1100 Silverado. My point is, she has some miles under her belt on 2 wheels & not just to the local ice cream stand.
But, as of late, she's been getting a little unsteady on the bike when crawling in slow moving traffic & in parking lots. She (finally) agreed to go test fit a few trikes last weekend. That resulted in making an appointment at a local Harley dealer to test ride a trike today. When we arrived at the dealership, the salesman asked which one she had decided to ride. She pointed to the Tri-Glide. As we went to watch a video on riding trikes, he readied the TG & got it outside with another bike he would ride. Once we were all outside, the salesman went over the operation of the trike & then instructed her to take a few loops in the parking lot before we ventured out on the road.
We never made it to the road.
I'm not sure I can describe it, but it was hard to watch. She almost hit a customer's car, then came within a hair of hitting both a Street Glide & Road Glide - both customer bikes - parked in the lot.
Both times she had to stop & wait for assistance.
I got on the trike & rode her on the back, explaining what I was doing as we rode in the lot.
We all went to the back of the dealership where there were no cars or bikes & she tried it again with me on the back.
We motored down the lot with the dealership building on the left side of us. Approaching the end of the lot, she managed a hesitant U-turn to the right. We headed to the opposite end of the lot, now with building to our far right & a ditch to our immediate left. As we approached the end of the lot, I instructed her to make another U turn to the right to head us back in the original direction. I guess she tried to counter-steer, as she turned the bike to the left & was heading towards the ditch. I reached up & grabbed her right arm pulling it back to steer to the right & she grabbed throttle as she did so. At this point, the salesman did the across the neck "cut it" motion - understandably worried about her & his $35k trike.
She was practically in tears, upset, embarrassed, & feeling like an uncoordinated numskull.
I feel so badly for her but have no idea what to do. She is not a tall woman; about 5'4" & this was a big vehicle with a fairing which she has never ridden behind.
However, she is used to floorboards, heel-toe shifters, a clutch, etc. I don't think she is ready to give up & I certainly am not.
But what can I suggest we do? She wondered after we arrived home if she would have done better on the smaller Freewheeler.
Before the test ride, I suggested she also look at a Spyder due to the power assisted steering & not having a clutch, but she was absolutely against the idea saying she just doesn't like them. A quick Google search didn't list any trike training here in NE Ohio.
Any suggestions are appreciated. My wife is my closest riding buddy & she wants to continue to ride her own. We are both convinced to maintain that future means 3 wheels for her.
I'm certain this was a product of her learned motorcycle muscle reflex & counter-steering, & so is she - but where do we go from here?