So I just rode my new to me 2012 for the first time....wow this is awful....I know, I know, it will get easier with some miles but right now this thing scares the s**t out of me. Turning is absolutely frightening, cruising at highway speed front end is very touchy, I know it will get better but at 65 yrs old with 50 years on two wheels I didn't expect this much of a learning curve. Still I believe I will learn to love it.

 

Thanks for the post, I'm going to have my wife read this, she's all over me sometimes to go there. Good luck on the transition, there are a lot of them out there, you'll get it. Especially with your experience.

 

I rode mine 400 miles the first day I bought it the first 200 miles I was very upset with myself for buying it the next 200 got better I have almost 10000 miles on it and I'm really loving it

 

Takes a few rides within a week or so you will love it . Good luck

 

I test rode a trike a couple of years ago. Interesting experience. I tried a sidecar and fell in love with the terror of riding one of those.

 

Quit fighting it. Steadily but firmly point the front wheel where you want it to go. Period. It wants to go straight, so let it. Think about it, you're sitting on the seat at the top of a triangle with the wheels on either end. The seat pivots up and slightly to one side whenever one of the rear wheels hits a bump, with the other wheel acting as a pivot. That's the side to side motion you're feeling. The handlebars are doing the same thing to a lesser extent. Very different from a bike. It is not unstable, it's just the normal, natural reaction. Don't try to fight that with steering input, it's not needed, just keep the wheel pointed where you want to go. Plus every time you try to react to that feeling, you induce another side to side bobble, so you end up continuously fighting yourself!

Turning? Just point the front wheel where you want to go. The sharper and faster you try to turn, the harder the front wheel will try to straighten out, and the bars push back, you have to counter that to keep turning. It's a gyroscopic thing. Firm, steady input that is proportional to how sharp you want to turn is all it takes to keep the wheel pointed where you want to go. If it bobbles around a little, well, that's what it does.

 

I would encourage you to install a rear lift kit, for handling purposes. It's the first thing I did after accepting delivery of my TriGlide. The handling difference, especially at low speeds and in cornering at slow speeds, was incredible! Here's a link to the post I made, in case you're interested (let me say DK Custom Products has two versions in the $120-range, which I didn't know about when I spent $180 on mine):

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/tri-g...l#post15945048

I really encourage you to bite the bullet and take the chance I did and add the lift kit. 20-25% improvement in low speed handling, I would say. I absolutely love the difference!

 

As others stated it sounds like you are fighting the steering, trying to make it go straight. I think we all went through that a little bit. Relax your grip and the trike will go straight on its own.

 

Thanks for all the advice and words of encouragement, I have no doubt that things will get better with some more miles. Going to rain thu the weekend but next week looks like good weather so...........ride ride ride and practice practice practice

 

)....I am glad to hear this about the trike....I got mine (trike) in aug of -09....was hating myself for buying it....thought I lost my mind....it took a long time to get used to it.....BUT....now I love it...I have abound 65 thou on the odo.....am really happy with it now.....have taken eight cross country trips on it....real good....been to new York once..to opa-locka, fl....been to Brownsville texas just for some examples....trike is very good.....