re: Experienced Trike Riders - Please post here.
Not to argue with everyone - but........
-Keep that front wheel in the middle of your lane.
Really, right in all that oil, grease and dirt?
If I am the second bike, I ride with my front tire to the right of the center of my lane. That puts my right rear tire just about 4 to six inches from the right side line. And gives the appearance of riding in a staggered format. Most two wheelers still have enough room to get around me if they need to.
If I am the Odd number bike I ride with front tire to the left of the center of the lane.
Also, I know the aqua-shields on my Motor-Trike will catch on speed bumps, medium rocks ect.
My TriKing and Lehman had this problem, but the Roadsmith has not encountered that.
First addition - the one inch convex mirrors so I can see the fenders.
Good idea on any vehicle you drive
My trike doesn't have an emergency brake so I put the trike in reverse.
Read the article in the May 2009 issue of Wing World concerning this. On the Goldwing the reverse is not part of the tranny, it is electrical – not a problem until you go out and you battery is dead.
SLOW DOWN BEFORE the curve and POWER IN the curve.
This all depends on the curve, most 35 mph curve I hit at 37-40, come out running 45-50
This what I am trying to explain - AND... If you follow a line through the apex, (Like we were all taught in MSF classes) you will barely have to move the handlebars
Or slow down
After you become more familiar with the trike and are riding with a group of 2 wheelers in the twisties take care that you do not run over them in the turns.
On Planned Rides, I have started to have my Road Captain put the two wheelers to the rear thru the twistees. At first they were offended until they got tired of seeing us trikeys in their rear view mirrors. Now the Tailgunner likes all the trikes up front so that he can see us. For some unknown reason he thinks we block his view of the two wheelers.
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Has anyone found a slight vibration in the front end at high speeds only if you have a passenger aboard with you. I notice that yesterday doing about 70 to 75mph with the wife on the bike for the first time.
I just thought it was a vibration – it was wifey humming.
Most noticable for me, was the tire wear.You gotta pay attention to your tire pressures,mostly the front.
I have Bridgestone BT 45 rear tire on the front, mounted so that it rolls in reverse rotation, it has approx 17,500 miles on it, and is just starting to cup. I am going to try to squeeze another 5k out of it. I run 41 lbs of air pressure in it all times.
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I joined as a charter member Of TRI back in 2000 I think. Got the patch and everything . Dropped out when the Mag got so small and uninformative.
Me too
Again for new trikers - something I never noticed that my wife brought to my attention. She was getting thrown around on a very uneven road, I didn't notice it near as much.
On a 2 wheeler you may get some pitch - a see-saw action along the direction of travel. If you watch motorcross it is very obvious. On a trike there is also a lateral axis we deal with when one wheel hits a bump different from the one on the other side. This causes the trike to roll side to side. If you ride against a backrest (as Gloria was doing) you also can be tossed side to side, and to a lesser extent, fore and aft. The trick is to let the trike move under you while your body stays upright. The trike piviots under you with the "hinge point" at the seat to sadde interface. She was keeping her back hard against the rest and that was tossing her sideways. She now (and I seem to always have - didn't think about this until she brought it up) sits lightly against the backrest on rough roads and lets the trike move around under her. Hope that makes sense.
Good advice, we did not have to “unlearn” since we never rode a two wheeler.
If you got this far reading my longwinded and copied post, thanks. My wife and I have never ridden a two wheeler together (she owned a Honda PC for about two years, put a little over 2k miles on it). All of my experience (all 145,000 miles of it) has been on a Trike. I really can not believe it can be anymore fun on a two wheeler, but then again, I have no way of comparing.
Garland