Q: for the trike aficionados

 

Does anyone here have experience with or knowledge of Thoroughbred Stallion
trikes?  
A colleague would like to get one because of her desire for an automatic
transmission, fear of falling over with a two-wheel bike (and leaning in
turns), and these are less than expensive than trike conversions she looked
at.

www.thoroughbred-motorsports.com

 

| Does anyone here have experience with or knowledge of Thoroughbred
Stallion
| trikes?
| A colleague would like to get one because of her desire for an automatic
| transmission, fear of falling over with a two-wheel bike (and leaning in
| turns), and these are less than expensive than trike conversions she
looked
| at.
|
| www.thoroughbred-motorsports.com

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/configEntryPoint.action?buttonAction=continue&vehicleCode=MX5&modelYear  10&skipZip=0&from=&zip2907

 



I relayed your suggestion to her.  She said if she was going to get a car
she would prefer a Smart (see cuteness comment further down the thread).

 

| > http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/configEntryPoint.action?buttonAction=co
| > ntinue&vehicleCode=MX5&modelYear 10&skipZip=0&from=&zip2907
|
| I relayed your suggestion to her.  She said if she was going to get a car
| she would prefer a Smart (see cuteness comment further down the thread).

Lucky for me I had driven a few tricycle tractors before riding a trike and
had a hint of how evil they can be.  Trikes are inherently dangerous - much
more so than bikes or cars or even hacks (Those with 2 wheels up front *may*
be OK).  If a novice enters a corner too fast a cage might spin out and a
bike might low-side, handing her some road rash if poorly dressed.  Rarely,
a bike may high side and hammer one into the pavement causing more serious
injury.  A trike will always high side and prolly land on top of its victim
to boot.

As far as trike vs car, a trike must be driven (steered) just like a car,
not ridden like a bike or scooter, so I see no advantage of a trike over,
say, a Mazda MX-5.  YMMV

 

Vito wrote:

Not always; it depends on the trike's geometry and weight
distribution. (See my reply to the OP).

On a trike with a VW or Corvair motor the rear wheels are
a good distance apart and the motor position behind the axle
counterbalances the front wheel's weight bearing on
the contact patch.

Turn the front wheel sharply at speed and it's likely
to lose traction and slide. At least that was my experience,
and if the trike turned at all it was a more shallow turn.
(I chose a safe place for the experiment).

The blue trike on this blog...
http://www.volksrods.com/forum/showthread.php?pC0831
...has an extreme rake angle which limits the turning radius,
I suppose to prevent the skidding problem.

SQ