# Tricycle riding?



## Aurora (6 Oct 2018)

Hi all, so it’s been a while and this week I’m now the proud new owner of a tricycle.. had a couple of goes on it and admittedly while I’m getting better, it’s still terrifying. Lol 
Anyone have any tricycle riding tips for dummies? 

Suggestions that might make me feel safer? 

Bear in mind that I can’t drive a car so being on wheels (and in control) is both a new and unusual experience/feeling for me. 

Bit jealous as my brother just hopped on and away he went.... 

The turning thing is literally making me break out in a sweat lol how far can I turn the wheel before I end up as road kill.?
The bumps make the back box rattle and I’m feeling every little bump is going to tip me over, and I can immediately feel when the road camber changes as it pulls towards the slope. I’m leaning my weight away from that but without leaning my body much if that makes sense. But it makes my heart stop lol 

Downhills are also scary as the bike runs away, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be very hard on break pads 

Flat and no undulating surface and I’m fine just learning how to turn better/ smaller circles. Still afraid to go on an actual road but then I’ve only had 2 goes. 

Hopefully I can do this and build my confidence up without any nasty situations. 

All help and suggestions gratefully received. Thank you!


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## Sharky (6 Oct 2018)

Upright or one of those lying down ones?


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## classic33 (6 Oct 2018)

@raleighnut, your on. For an upright trike.


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## Aurora (6 Oct 2018)

Sharky said:


> Upright or one of those lying down ones?



It’s an upright one not a recumbent where you sit really low.


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## Aurora (6 Oct 2018)

@classic33 your avatar isn’t filling me with a lot of hope there!


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## Sharky (6 Oct 2018)

To go round corners on a two wheeler, you would lean the bike, but on a trike you cant. So you have to transfer your own weight over to the side you are turning to. For gentle bends, you can just stay in the saddle and just lean. But for severe corners, you need to get out of the saddle, pedal at 6o'clock on the corner side and the hook your other leg round the crossbar and have the whole of your upper body well over towards the corner.

How much you lean over is a balance depending on the severity of the corner, but it comes naturally, although you need to take a leap of faith the first time you try it.

I'll try googling some images to show what I'm trying to describe.


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## Sharky (6 Oct 2018)

It also helps to have you shoes firmly clipped in


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## Sharky (6 Oct 2018)

Google images for "tricycle cornering" you'll see what I mean.

Cheers keith


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## Aurora (6 Oct 2018)

Thanks Keith, I had a look at those...  that’s quite extreme in my eyes, I didn’t think I’d need to do that. I’m disabled so it may be a bit beyond my body to manage... perhaps I will just need to slow down a lot or get off to go round tight corners... I’m not really leaning over drastically when I turn I just sort of shift my weight on the seat and bend a bit at the waist without actually going very far. Maybe that’s why I’m struggling with tighter turns. Hmm practice time tomorrow again. Will see what happens.


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## Sharky (6 Oct 2018)

Good luck.

The more you can get your weight over, the safer it will feel.


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## Tigerbiten (7 Oct 2018)

A trike doesn't self steer as you expect it to.
If you lean right then the trike will try and turn left and vice versa.
So if you lean into a camber, then the trike will try to turn downhill into the ditch.
Also you need to keep your arms relaxed so that when you do shift your shoulders over, your hands don't follow and exacerbate any turn downhill. 
So riding on a camber may feel like you need to constantly turn uphill slightly to stay on a straight line.
The more you try and fight this turn, the stiffer your arms get and you end up fighting the trike more.

As for high speed corners and downhill runs, it comes with practice.
The more confident you are, the faster you are.


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## raleighnut (7 Oct 2018)

Trikes are great but there are a few things different you need to do, cornering is a matter of practice  as it's the opposite of a bike. You need the inside pedal down with most of your weight on that leg, stopping too is different in that taking your feet off the pedals is a bad idea so unless you are getting off there is no need to (you stand a good chance of running your foot/leg over)
Road camber can be a problem but the trick is to let the trike move around and not try to fight it.

What Trike have you got?

Mine is a Kentex that started off like this,



 

It then got modified (by me) to look like this,







It now has a 250w electric front wheel kit.


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## Aurora (7 Oct 2018)

@Tigerbiten thank you, the camber thing is what is freaking me out the most, it’s as if the bike is fighting me. I did end up with my front wheel close to the kerb but stopped before I hit it. Thankfully(?) I’ve not ridden a bike for over 30 years so I don’t have the expectations most people have. I do remember always feeling more confident on a tricycle as a child, even though I had a couple of crashes 

@raleighnut sound advice I didn’t know about the pedal thing. I will try to remember that today. At what point does the bike fall over when I turn the front wheel too far? Lol 

I bought a sunrunner tricycle, it is an electric one but I’m using it without the electric bit. Not an expert here but I like her, she runs nice and freely and is in immaculate condition. I will see if I can get a photo or video of me riding her for you guys to see where I’m going wrong. Or a photo or something I’m not sure how to upload these things.


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## Ian H (7 Oct 2018)

Getting a barrow round a corner quickly is an art. I've even known of someone coming off _inside _the bend by being a bit too enthusiastic.
https://tricycleassociation.org.uk/


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## raleighnut (7 Oct 2018)

Aurora said:


> @Tigerbiten thank you, the camber thing is what is freaking me out the most, it’s as if the bike is fighting me. I did end up with my front wheel close to the kerb but stopped before I hit it. Thankfully(?) I’ve not ridden a bike for over 30 years so I don’t have the expectations most people have. I do remember always feeling more confident on a tricycle as a child, even though I had a couple of crashes
> 
> @raleighnut sound advice I didn’t know about the pedal thing. I will try to remember that today. At what point does the bike fall over when I turn the front wheel too far? Lol
> 
> I bought a sunrunner tricycle, it is an electric one but I’m using it without the electric bit. Not an expert here but I like her, she runs nice and freely and is in immaculate condition. I will see if I can get a photo or video of me riding her for you guys to see where I’m going wrong. Or a photo or something I’m not sure how to upload these things.


The main thing is to take your time until you're more confident and take corners slowly, as for the trike 'falling over' it won't when you're stopped so just always keep your feet firmly on the pedals.


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## PMarkey (7 Oct 2018)

Get all your braking over with before turning into a corner and don't brake whilst cornering as the trike will try and tip over the front wheel(don't ask how I know that) as for cambers just steer towards the crest of the road it comes naturally after awhile but the best advice I can give is find a large empty car park or a play area and just do figure of eights at increasing speeds to get a feel for tipping points etc .


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## classic33 (7 Oct 2018)

PMarkey said:


> Get all your braking over with before turning into a corner and don't brake whilst cornering as the trike will try and tip over the front wheel(don't ask how I know that) as for cambers just steer towards the crest of the road it comes naturally after awhile but the best advice I can give is find a large empty car park or a play area and just do figure of eights at increasing speeds to get a feel for tipping points etc .


It's downhill in nearly every direction where you are though.


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## classic33 (11 Oct 2018)

Aurora said:


> @classic33 your avatar isn’t filling me with a lot of hope there!


You stuck going round in circles, unable to turn?


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## Aurora (16 Oct 2018)

Thanks for all the responses folks, I got her out again yesterday (wasn’t well over the end of last week and the weekend.) and will be practicing lots this week. I did get a video but no idea how to get it on here. 

It looks like I’m not doing too badly, my brothers friend was there on Sunday (wish I’d been there for that ) he rides bicycles everywhere and made a right pigs ear of it haha.


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## raleighnut (16 Oct 2018)

Aurora said:


> Thanks for all the responses folks, I got her out again yesterday (wasn’t well over the end of last week and the weekend.) and will be practicing lots this week. I did get a video but no idea how to get it on here.
> 
> It looks like I’m not doing too badly, my brothers friend was there on Sunday (wish I’d been there for that ) he rides bicycles everywhere and made a right pigs ear of it haha.


Yep you have to 'unlearn' just about everything from riding a bike.


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## Tigerbiten (17 Oct 2018)

Aurora said:


> It looks like I’m not doing too badly, my brothers friend was there on Sunday (wish I’d been there for that ) he rides bicycles everywhere and made a right pigs ear of it haha.


I've seen that as well.

One trick to make it easier ....
Only hold the handlebars with one hand, just rest the other one on top of them.
Because the resting arm is more relaxed, you'll get/feel more feedback though it as you move your shoulders on a camber/corner.
It's a similar trick as only holding a recumbents handlebars with your finger tips to increase your feel by being more relaxed.
A lot of the time, if I'm not going silly fast, I just ride along with my hand just resting on top of the handlebars on my recumbent trike as it's the most relaxed position for me to be in.
But then again a low recumbent trike is less affected by a camber trying to steer you into a ditch, so it's easier ......


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## byegad (20 Oct 2018)

Recumbent trikes are way easier. I fell off twice on my only attempt at adult upright trike riding, and that in a car park!
You can just get on and ride a recumbent trike. IF you really, really try you can lift the i side wheel but even then it's controllable.


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## DaddyPaddey (22 Oct 2018)

If it makes you feel better all but one of the club members made a pigs ear of riding round the local garden centre car park. Got quite an audience who thought it funny. I was the same initially [ended up in a hedge] but you quickly get to grips with it, mind yo I do prefer the recumbent trike now.


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## Aurora (28 Oct 2018)

Thank you all for your tricks and tips. Today I was very brave and went out on the real roads.  Ok so it was only 2-3 miles but I did it! Feeling very accomplished! Still very tense but got onto a straight smooth road and popped the battery on and away I went round the block (or two). 
The roads I’ve been practicing on are extremely bad like jigsaws with so many potholes, dips and speed ramps it’s ridiculous. Also one road I tried had a sheer side - hard to explain. So getting onto a better road Was totally different and I didn’t even get bothered with any camber! Yay! Confident enough now that I will be able to bring it home as I had to wheel it up to my mums house from the original delivery point when I first got it.


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## raleighnut (29 Oct 2018)

Aurora said:


> Thank you all for your tricks and tips. Today I was very brave and went out on the real roads.  Ok so it was only 2-3 miles but I did it! Feeling very accomplished! Still very tense but got onto a straight smooth road and popped the battery on and away I went round the block (or two).
> The roads I’ve been practicing on are extremely bad like jigsaws with so many potholes, dips and speed ramps it’s ridiculous. Also one road I tried had a sheer side - hard to explain. So getting onto a better road Was totally different and I didn’t even get bothered with any camber! Yay! Confident enough now that I will be able to bring it home as I had to wheel it up to my mums house from the original delivery point when I first got it.




Wait til the roads get icy, bikes struggle to cope but a trike is fantastic.


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## Aurora (29 Oct 2018)

raleighnut said:


> Wait til the roads get icy, bikes struggle to cope but a trike is fantastic.



The tyres on my bike are very thin like racing tyres I suppose I would need snow ones or something?


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## raleighnut (29 Oct 2018)

Aurora said:


> The tyres on my bike are very thin like racing tyres I suppose I would need snow ones or something?


Nah, mines only got thin-ish tyres on and I've spent years trying to get it to slide in Ice/Snow and it barely does. 

As long as the tyres have a bit of tread they'll grip and it's not like a bike where a little skid can cause a tumble.


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## Aurora (29 Oct 2018)

raleighnut said:


> Nah, mines only got thin-ish tyres on and I've spent years trying to get it to slide in Ice/Snow and it barely does.
> 
> As long as the tyres have a bit of tread they'll grip and it's not like a bike where a little skid can cause a tumble.
> 
> View attachment 436142



Ok so think my tyres are extra thin lol here she is.


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## raleighnut (29 Oct 2018)

Aurora said:


> Ok so think my tyres are extra thin lol here she is.


Wider tyres actually have less grip in ice, they should be fine.

Nice Trike BTW, mine was quite similar before I converted it apart from the box on the back, mine should have a basket but that's up in the loft along with the original handlebars, mudguards, front fork/wheel and a saddle about a foot wide.

This is what mine should look like,


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## Aurora (29 Oct 2018)

raleighnut said:


> Wider tyres actually have less grip in ice, they should be fine.
> 
> Nice Trike BTW, mine was quite similar before I converted it apart from the box on the back, mine should have a basket but that's up in the loft along with the original handlebars, mudguards, front fork/wheel and a saddle about a foot wide.
> 
> This is what mine should look like ]



Thank you! I’m really pleased with it.  She’s in such excellent condition. Was only stored inside and used on dry days. Serviced 3 years ago. I think I need new brake pads as she doesn’t stop too quickly, but not rushing as I’m still scared of downhills so very heavy on them right now. 

Was there a reason you removed the mudguards? Lol sounds like you rebuilt the entire thing! I do like it better how it looks now. It’s very nice. 

Incidentally any ideas where I can get a rain cover for putting on while I’m at work? I plan to cycle to work and home. and a big basket for the front to carry a dog in? The one on right now is far too small.


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## raleighnut (29 Oct 2018)

I left the mudguards/basket off when I first built it up for 'lightness' but it was still too heavy to get back up onto the ridge I live on with my damaged leg so I bought a 250w electric conversion kit. I knew the standard fork would need to be changed as it was too thin to take the anti rotation fitting on the front wheel so took the opportunity to change to a 26" front fork/wheel and changing the handlebars/saddle was just for personal preference.

Covers are available,

http://scuffwheels.co.uk/store/p597...le_Rain_And_Weather_Cover_(£33.33___VAT).html

and a bigger basket is easy to get.


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## raleighnut (29 Oct 2018)

Even front baskets specifically for Dogs/Cats,

https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=l&...hUKEwj5q4rl06zeAhWJIMAKHTUrA2EQ9aACCDU&adurl=

BTW these are just examples, there's loads out there.


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## Aurora (30 Oct 2018)

raleighnut said:


> Even front baskets specifically for Dogs/Cats,
> 
> https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=l&...hUKEwj5q4rl06zeAhWJIMAKHTUrA2EQ9aACCDU&adurl=
> 
> BTW these are just examples, there's loads out there.



Thanks!  Really appreciate all the help.


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