Having never ridden a Trike but being a keen learner I am doing lots of research. I keep hearing "Relax, do not fight the steering". What does this mean, I don't understand what they are trying to say. Can one of you proficient riders explain.

 

Because it's diff from a bike. Go with it, start out slow from the Dealer, each street you get the feel. Get on the highway, same thing, start off easy, every mile feels better. You have to go with it! Learn the lean too!

 

the wife and I lean all the time, good exercise also.. take your time and get some miles under you and it will feel great to be on the trike. I wasn't ready for one but the wife was, took about 4-6 months to say hey I like this.

 

You will feel the bumps and groves in the road much more than you did on a bike. Don't try and keep it from moving let it move some that is what the relax means. Don't try and keep the handlebars from moving on bumps you will wear yourself out quickly, remember you have to steer it around a corner not lean it.
When I first left the dealer my first thought was what the hell did I do feel so uncomfortable on this. For me it took about 100-150 miles to start to feel comfortable by the time it had around 1,000 miles was as comfortable as I was on 2 wheels. Now with 12,000 miles people ask if we would go back to 2 wheels my answer is no way we are having way to much fun. Relax practice,practice, practice it only gets better with each mile.

 

Thanks Moe and Rugerman

 

Realize that you hold on with the handlebars as well as steer with them. If you're stiff, any motion of your body due to bumps or cornering forces tends to get transmitted to the direction you are pointing the bars, which moves your body, which changes your steering which..... It can become a cycle. The more you fight it, the worse it is. You just have to learn to separate that from what you're doing with steering, and you do that by relaxing. It will go exactly where you point it, period, and within reason nothing else changes that; bumps, moving around, your passenger moving around, wind, none of that matters much any more. You actually have to stop accommodating for those things and just steer. A bit of a trick, but not difficult, everyone gets it after a short while.

That and you'll find that the more you turn or the faster you turn, the more force that is needed to keep the bars going that way, it's proportional. That also takes a little learning, but you'll find that it just makes sense quickly.

If you've had any time on a quad, it's basically the same deal.

At first you'll be like "This thing isn't doing what I want it to do!" But after a short while you'll be like "Ha, it was doing exactly what I told it to do!"

(Tech info; the front wheel is a gyroscope. It takes force to make it not go straight like it naturally wants to. On a bike, the whole thing wants to lean when turning when you force it to change it's direction; that's what gyroscopes do when you try to turn them, the lean another direction. But on a trike it can't do that natural response, so it always wants to straighten up; instead it requires continuous steering input to keep the gyro direction at an angle (turning). The further you turn it, or the faster it is going means you have to push harder to maintain the turn.)

You'll have pretty good gross control at first, no worries there, and after a while the finer aspects start working, just like anything else you've ever learned to do.

 

Great info. Thanks for your help

 

I have learned that handlebar pull / push technique works best, and leaning also helps. As others have said relax and get the feel for the trike on the curve. If you tense up and have a death grip on the handlebars, you will wear your self out, and accomplish nothing more in the turn. When I initiate the turn at highway speeds I start pulling into the turn, with less effort pushing. You will find over time it is easy enough where you can just use the pull and not even push. Many times I am relaxing enough where a turn is just a slight couple of finger pull to the direction of the turn.
What is more difficult is jumping back on the two wheel and trying not to over steer. That can be a challenge after so many miles on the trike.

 

if its anything like riding the bicycle version..its highly likely you looked like a doofus the first five minutes you rode it ! when I was a kid I thought I was a bad *** bicycle rider ..got on one those and all I did is go in circles ..lesson be said..keep your body straight ..just move your arms lol

 

I assume I lean the same way as my two wheeler?