My wife and I were doing about 70 on the freeway on the trike last weekend when I thought, what the hell would my reaction be if my right wheel fell off. My first thought would be to brake, but if I brake with my rear brakes I'm thinking would probably be suicide as it would send me off into the median, much like happened to the couple in Florida. If it were to happen I think I would just use the front brake. We would crash and burn anyway but just maybe we might make it out. Theres years and years of valuable experience on this forum, it would be great to here your ideas and kinda set it up in your mind what you would do ahead of time. It sounds like it could be a reality, though remote. And if it helped one of us it would be worth it.

 

That's a good question! My first thought is that I'm not sure the wheel or tire will come out from under the fender right away so who knows what is going to get bound up and how is it going to affect the travel of the trike. Will it make an immediate right turn if it's the right wheel? Will it cause you to roll over to one side or the other? Best case senario is you can roll off the throttle and slow to a speed where you can then apply the front brake lightly and get off the road.

I try to guard against this type of accident by checking the rear wheel lug nut torque on a regular basis ie; once a month or every 3000 miles.

I will be interested in the answer of others as well if someone has had this happen and successfully brought the trike to a safe stop.

 

I'm thinking off the throttle and nothing but front brake along with putting my head between my legs and kissing my a$$ goodbye, did I mention lots of prayer. Best bet is to periodically check the lug bolt torque because the loss of a rear wheel has very good chance of having a bad out come.

 

I totaly agree with the above posts and really think we might have a problem even if a tire blows out and does not come off. IMO we are not as vulnerable as a two wheeler, but close and the damage can be just as catastrophic. All we can do is keep the tire pressures right and keep the lug nuts tight, what else can we do? My neighbor had a 3" nail go through his rear tire over the weekend on his Softy Deluxe. That my friends was a trip!! Good discussion, so let's keep this going and get some more input as we can all learn from this.

BTW, Where is Barbara been ???

 

I try not to think about what can go wrong. As I won't leave my house. I what IF to much as it is.

 

Good point! I think exactly the same.

 

I believe that what is going to be is going to be. No sense in worrying about it.

 

You talking to me? Been out riding *grin*.....new front tire, rear brake pads, 15K service and ready to rock-n-roll this summer...if it ever gets here!

 

Yup,
Just wanted to make sure you were O.K., as you haven't posted for awhile. Kinda like when we were checking on the Wiz when he was down with his surgery. Glad to hear you are good to go.