Adult tricycles

[stuart little]

No use whatsoever, as I doubt Raleigh etc are waiting on my every word for their next design idea, but what about a tricycle where the single driving wheel is at the back, and 2 steering wheels are at the front.

I spent my adolescence in apprenticeship (i.e. making lots of tea) in the workshop of a genius/lunatic who chopped an Allegro in half, in order to trial it as a 3-wheeler. It saw plenty of action but always remained the right way up. No way a Reliant Robin could claim the same...

http://anarchadia.blogspot.com/2008/02/vintage-thing-no-11-weeny-leaper.html

They#re doing that with motorbikes.

 

[MikeJhn]

I don't know the make, but if you watch the Tour de France most of the camera crew now use motorbikes with two wheels out front and they lean, seen them in France for years, so not a new thing and well proved.

I have two trikes one single seat and one a tandem, if you are used to a normal bike that leans then your in for a surprise when it tries to go straight on, you have to turn the handle bars, I know it sounds obvious, but its not intuitive to a regular cyclist.

 

[dickm]

Personally i've never heard of a tricycle being unstable in general use, but there are certainly plenty of bike type of things to get one disabled person out and about.

Or how about 1940's racing trike.(£450) again you could convert to front hub motor.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374220412291?hash=item5721465583:g:QsUAAOSwJNNi3Xea

I'd seen the "two-front/one back" machine (a tadpole, apparently) and was puzzled that they refer to it as "mid-drive", when the motor is actually in the rear wheel, not between the pedals which is what is usually called mid drive. That one at least does have gears; there is a similar one available which just has a single speed but variable assist, which must be restricting.
Not quite sure why a tadpole with mid-drive doesn't seem to exist; can see why it's difficult for a conventional trike, as it would probably need a proper differential in the rear axle, which ain't cheap. But given the new prices for e-trikes are more than my Yeti is worth, it's unlikely one will arrive here soon!

 

[TRITON]

There is this. But its not a one off, and there are other adaptive bikes out there. Adaptive is the keyword in any online search you do. Plenty of 3 wheels for seriously disabled riders.

Twin fox 38 factory

 

[housemaintenance88]

Hi I use to ride with Dave Pitt, champion trike rider, Google him, Charlotteville cycling club Guildford.
Pretty much everything said already is true, they are a completely different beast to handle.

 

[IZZY]

The original Morgan trike adopted the two up front and one wheel behind layout and had little problems with stability - as did the Issetta bubble car.

Old top gear featured on one occasion a "Del Boy" Reliant van with a traditional trike layout and tendency for falling over with minimal provocation.

If you can remember back to the 80's when Honda introduced the 3 wheel fat tyred ATv . The thing was a nightmare to ride and could only be cornered by leaning in the opposite direction to normal. It was very soon replaced by the 4 wheel quad which we still have today. 3 wheels with 2 on the front is marginally better but is still at the mercy of centrifugal forces. If you watch a Morgan 3 wheeler being driven with spirit you will see the inside wheel in the air.

 

[Ollie78]

Personally i've never heard of a tricycle being unstable in general use, but there are certainly plenty of bike type of things to get one disabled person out and about.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155037111264?hash=item2418ee93e0:g:chAAAOSwCNVip1FuThe one with the wheelchair in front you could convert with a hub motor.

Motorized trike -
View attachment 143108

Or how about 1940's racing trike.(£450) again you could convert to front hub motor.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374220412291?hash=item5721465583:g:QsUAAOSwJNNi3Xea

Surely two hub motors, that could be really good.

Personally I think trikes with one wheel at the front are a death trap, my mum had one and if you turned more than about 5 degrees the thing would flip right over, lethal device.
I would perhaps look at a four wheeler. There have been many made for offroad trails though not sure if these are a mass produced item or more one off custom made things.

Like this I mean.

or this.

 

[TRITON]

Personally I think trikes with one wheel at the front are a death trap, my mum had one and if you turned more than about 5 degrees the thing would flip right over, lethal device.

I'll agree it looks as if theres a tendency for it to tip, but reliant robins were about for years and i dont remember hearing about them tipping over in corners.

Then of course there is the Racing Trike.

 

[clogs]

this is what you need.....

I think Yamaha make one as well...
throw the engine away and go electric for the pavement use....
or


hope it all goes well for her.......

 

[dickm]

I'll agree it looks as if theres a tendency for it to tip, but reliant robins were about for years and i dont remember hearing about them tipping over in corners.

Hmm. Suspect many would disagree! Back in the '60s, I was following a colleague in his Robin along the A6 just south of the Galgate roundabout, on a very gentle curve, and it just rolled in front of me. Fortunately, one of our more beefy technicians happened to be following too, and the three of us just flipped it back onto its wheels and he carried on in to work.
One of my family had the Big Red Honda Trike on the hill farm for a while, and survived it, but there are lots of horror stories about them.
For now, this is all in abeyance until I regain my mobility! Ironically, my Yeti was previously owned by Motability!

 

[Ollie78]

I'll agree it looks as if theres a tendency for it to tip, but reliant robins were about for years and i dont remember hearing about them tipping over in corners.

Then of course there is the Racing Trike.

Funny you should mention the Reliant robin, My Mother (owner of aforementioned dangerous tricycle) borrowed one once just to pop round to the shop, our village had a fairly tight corner with a strange camber, she walked back from the shop !
Dad had to walk over there and tip the reliant back on to its wheels. Often gets mentioned at family gatherings.

Ollie

 

[TRITON]

Funny you should mention the Reliant robin, My Mother (owner of aforementioned dangerous tricycle) borrowed one once just to pop round to the shop, our village had a fairly tight corner with a strange camber, she walked back from the shop !
Dad had to walk over there and tip the reliant back on to its wheels. Often gets mentioned at family gatherings.

Ollie

That says more about your mothers driving

 

[Keith 66]

Mum & Dad had electric bikes, when she got too old to ride the bike he bought an electric trike, she found it terrifying, I rode it & found that it felt as if it was trying to follow the camber or hollows downhill. Dreadful things.

 

[dickm]

Mum & Dad had electric bikes, when she got too old to ride the bike he bought an electric trike, she found it terrifying, I rode it & found that it felt as if it was trying to follow the camber or hollows downhill. Dreadful things.

Thanks, mate. That does sound very much our situation; the more research, the less this seems like a good idea.

 

[stuckinthemud]

Recumbent trikes are amazingly good fun and very very easy to ride. Check out the what we ride threads on various cycling forums, such as cycle chat
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/so-how-many-recumbent-riders-have-we.2368/

 

[GweithdyDU]

The original Morgan trike adopted the two up front and one wheel behind layout and had little problems with stability - as did the Issetta bubble car.

Old top gear featured on one occasion a "Del Boy" Reliant van with a traditional trike layout and tendency for falling over with minimal provocation.

I own a BRA CV3, currently mothballed, which has a two at the front layout and front-wheel drive. Sticks to the road like glue and scares boy racers around the bends. (image not my car

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Very nice - at one stage thought of building a Lomax kit based on a 2 CV.

Most single front wheel trikes pivot the front wheel behind its rotational axis.

This means that on cornering the contact patch for the front wheel moves somewhat to the inside of the curve whilst centrifugal force seeks to force the mass of car and driver to the outside of the curve.

Combine going round a corner with a little braking and more weight transfers to the non-existent outboard front wheel with inevitable consequences.

Still a single front wheel was cheap - no need for lots of tie rods, steering rack, or worries about steering geometry.

 

[dickm]

I own a BRA CV3, currently mothballed, which has a two at the front layout and front-wheel drive. Sticks to the road like glue and scares boy racers around the bends. (image not my car

Well, the Vulcan obviously finds it interesting!

 

[Stevekane]

In the mid 60s a guy who I think was called greenwood cleaned up in motorcycle sidecar racing with a design which I think was a mini engine drivetrain up front and a single rear wheel, mimicking the Morgan design, and for a brief while I worked for Glandfield and Lawrence who were the North London Reliant main dealer, this was pre Robin and the early cars had a wood and aluminium frame and an Austin Seven engine and box, on a Saturday morning the parts dept always seemed to be full of Vicars? Despite all the jokey stuff Reliant produced quite decent little cars and the Regal with the ford anglia style rear window had a lovely all alloy engine that was extremely tuneable and used by the 750 mototor racing club. We had one and never got near tipping it over but it was easy to lift a rear wheel breaking very hard into a corner.
As to trikes, well a chalange Im sure but the small footprint and I would think a high CofG must make them very tippy esp at adult speeds?
Steve.