There is one thing that you failed to mention......when you roll to a stop, you don't have to worry about pulling your feet off of the pegs and putting them on the ground. That is a major (imho) adjustment after so many years on two wheels.
As mentioned, just relax when riding it.
Lines and techniques through corners are a little different.
Main thing to remember when turning is to keep outside elbow straight.
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.
I felt the same way. I learned by taking the bike to the blue ridge parkway. Rode it from one end to the other and back. Some things I learned was it will corner at any posted speed limit on the blue ridge but you need to get over the fear of it tossing you body in the wrong direction and lean into the turn. You will develop strong forearms and you will learn to lock one arm. I only kept the bike two seasons as I missed leaning the bike. I had purchased the trike as I was finding my Ultra too heavy and hard to manage. Now I ride a new Heritage and it was the right choice. Having said all this the trike can become a very stress free way of keeping your face in the wind. I did a lot of parking lot practice and that will help you.
I've had mine a little over six months now and this is all great advice. I chuckled a bit when I read your post because that's exactly the way I felt on my first ride. There is very little that feels like the ride you get on a two wheeler but, in time and with practice, you will definitely feel better about riding on three. My wife loves it and we ride every chance we get; I'm sure you will too. My biggest complaint now is why couldn't HD make some of the mods standard? I know it all boils down to money, but for petes sake lighted controls, the lift kit, an oil cooler all seems pretty important when you realize how much it affects your investment. I would have been happy to pay for a lot of these things even as optional equipment just to save the wear and tear on these old knees (which was why I went to a trike). I know I could pay the dealership to do them, but I decided to do as much myself as possible after I seen how little they cared about my bike at the 1000 mile service. I got it back with more oil on the bike than in it! Plus I learn something every time I do a mod. I also recommend getting the manuals. Hang in there, it gets a lot better!
I found all of this very interesting. I have read threads before about guys or gals having a tuff time getting use to riding a trike.
For me the first time I road a trike it was like second nature. I never had an issue at all (it all just plain came easy to me). I do see clearly and understand why it comes hard to so many learning to ride a trike after riding a two wheeler for years.
Steering a trike means throw out the window all your two wheel exsperiance other than how to use the throttle and how to use the breaks. Forget counter steering and leaning to steer, don't even try it. Work with the steering don't fight it..
With that said,
Ride centered and steer with your arms and your chest pretty much push pull, kinda like riding a off road quad. Steer right - pull back with right arm and push forward with left arm use chest and body weight as necessary at the same time leaning to the right with your body as needed.
Left turn is the same process push forward with right arm pull back with left arm use chest and body weight as needed now leaning your body to the left.
The trike when turning by nature like on a off road quad will try to pitch your body away from the derection your turning. The very reason for leaning in not letting the Trike pitch you outward. You will get the feel of this as you do it.
Go to a big open parking lot and practice and soon you will get the feel for it. Again forget trying to ride a trike like a two wheeler.
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.
Great advice!
It can take a while to get used to it. But once you do, they are a blast to ride.
Getting in a big empty parking lot to learn what it can do is useful.
Not fighting it is good advice. I regularly have the cruise on 75 mph and all that is needed to keep it going straight is 1 or 2 fingers input on one side of the bars.
Dropping the rear tire PSI to 22, having the front tire at 36 psi and making sure your shocks are at a good psi will take some of the bumpiness out...adding a Comfort Lift™ will also help handling.
Take your time, and before you know it, it will be 2nd nature.
Once you get the hang of it, their stability is confidence inspiring.
It can take a while to get used to it. But once you do, they are a blast to ride.
Getting in a big empty parking lot to learn what it can do is useful.
Not fighting it is good advice. I regularly have the cruise on 75 mph and all that is needed to keep it going straight is 1 or 2 fingers input on one side of the bars.
Dropping the rear tire PSI to 22, having the front tire at 36 psi and making sure your shocks are at a good psi will take some of the bumpiness out...adding a Comfort Lift™ will also help handling.
Take your time, and before you know it, it will be 2nd nature.
Once you get the hang of it, their stability is confidence inspiring.
Maybe this crude drawing will help someone that is a visual learner.
The seat and tires form a triangle. When a rear tire hits a raised bump, it rotates the whole trike/triangle (red) about the other tire as a pivot (green arrows.) So the seat moves up some, but less than half that amount, because the rear suspension absorbs some of the bump. Also it moves a bit to the other side, as shown by the blue triangle. When past the bump it goes back. It's not unstable, just a wonky feeling.
The handlebars do the same thing, but because they're closer to the front end, they aren't affected quite as much, but they just confirm what your butt is telling you.
On a bike, that same feeling tells you that you aren't leaning at exactly the right angle for your turn radius, and need to countersteer the handlebars to correct for it, which is what you don't want to do on a trike; in fact, the effect of trying to adjust for it is just the opposite!
Cornering is a similar thing; when you go around a curve, between the tire compressing a bit and the suspension reacting to the increased weight on the outer rear wheel, it not only doesn't lean in like a bike, it leans OUT! And jerking the bars to compensate for that just makes it worse, so a noob overreacts and swings it back too far, throws it the other direction, and so on. And it feels like you can't control it.
No wonder so many folks have a bit of trouble at first.
Last edited by Oogie Wa Wa; 04-09-2017 at 08:23 AM.
I transitioned from my Road King to my TriGlide with ease. I really never had any issues. Just one time, I put my feet down when stopping, but not any more. Keep at it and you will grow into it. I am loving my trike and would not want to go back to 2 wheels.
rode 300+ miles in the last two days....now I don't even remember what I was worried about, still need more practice but I am starting to feel right at home on three wheels. Thanks again to everyone for the tips and advice.
04-06-2017, 09:52 AM
