3 Wheel or 4 Wheel Bike? Which is more Stable? The CRAZY Truth About ETrikes & 4 Wheel EBikes

What's more stable, a three-wheel e-bike or a four-wheel e-bike? Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. Today, we will answer the question, What's more stable, a three-wheel e-bike or a four-wheel e-bike? Right here, I've got the Simple Glide 750-watt recumbent fat tire e-trike and the AnyTerrain stabilized four-wheel e-bike. All right, now, three-wheel e-bike or four-wheel e-bike, which is more stable? I've ridden a lot of electric tricycles, and I've only ridden one four-wheel e-bike, which is the sixthreezero AnyTerrain here. But I will say in comparing the two, It depends on the type of electric tricycle in terms of stability when you compare them.

Now, I would say in a general comparison, this four-wheel e-bike is more stable than 80% of the electric trikes that I've ridden. But there are caveats to that because of the way we've designed this, which makes it stable. So I do believe that depending on how you design the four-wheel e-bike, it's possible it's not going to be as stable. And I think electric trikes could be more stable. Now, let me talk to you about what goes into making this four-wheel e-bike so stable and making this three-wheel electric bike so stable. So, in terms of the Simple Glide, what also adds to the stability of any three-wheel e-bike is having a more elongated frame, and of course, a wider wheelbase. Now, for a lot of electric trikes, the way they're being designed is either to make them more mobile, make them more compact, or more nimble. So, stability is always at the forefront of designing a trike, but when you try to incorporate other elements, you may have to decrease the stability in exchange for another feature. As an example, if you're trying to make it small and compact and folding, You can do everything you wanna do to make it as stable as possible, but it's never gonna be as stable as something as big as the Simple Glide with these big four inch wide tires and the longer frame. It's just, in my opinion, not going to be possible.

So when you're comparing these two electric trikes, I would put the stability equal. The Simple Glide here is incredibly stable. 

Tipping it would be nearly impossible with these four-inch-wide tires, the wheelbase, and the length of the frame. When you turn, you will never feel the wheels come off the ground. It steers, it's nimble. It's much different than more compact, more upright-type trikes. So in terms of stability, again, in my opinion, this is a 10 out of 10. I think a lot of people would look at this four-wheel, any train, and think, you know, it looks like it's going to tip over, right? Or there's more, um, let me just unlock my break here. There's a greater likelihood of it tipping over. Now you can see when I move this, right? It's not, it's not falling over. I think a lot of people would think, even when I get on, right, I can just sit here and let me raise the seat a little bit. We go. Okay. All right. So you would think the higher I am, you know, the more likely I am to tip. Now, a couple of key design choices we've made on this quad. Number one, you can see it's a pretty long wheelbase. Number two, it is not light. This weighs 130 pounds. So that weight adds to the stability, and A vast majority of that weight is in the rear here, which is keeping it planted on the ground. And you can see as the rider, I am in the back, the middle rear of the bike, again, keeping stability in the middle, in the back. The battery is here as well. So all of this stays very nicely planted on the ground when you're riding. You can also see that the length of the frame is very long.

We've also put smaller wheels in the front. So these are 16 inches versus 20 inches. So it angles forward just a little bit to place more of the weight forward, not to place more of the weight in the rear, but to place more downward momentum on these two front wheels. And the reason why that is so beneficial is because we have the reverse here, let me show you here. Just gonna back up. Okay. All right. Now, if you know our products, you'll know that this front end is what we've also used on our reverse trike. And we've put it on the four wheels so it can lean and turn. So when you're taking turns, the fork is leaning and keeping it balanced. So by putting the angle down on this, it's not like it's a rigid steering system. It's got the ability to move up and down. So when one wheel goes up, the other one goes down. So it's finding the ground and staying stable, allowing it to stay perfectly balanced. If you don't believe me, you can see a lot of other videos of me out riding this. It's incredibly stable.

You can see I can rock around, and we're not tipping over, and I can sit here, and it balances perfectly with me on it. Incredibly, incredibly stable. Now you can also see we've got these four-inch wide tires on here. Again, more rubber on the road means more balance. I would say if you opted for a thinner tire, even half that, like a two-inch tire, then you're not gonna have nearly the stability that we have right now. 

Again, it depends on design choices when it comes to overall stability, whether it's a three-wheel e-bike or a four-wheel e-bike that plays into it. You can't necessarily make a blanket statement that a four-wheel or a three-wheel is more stable. It comes down to the geometry, the spec choices, and everything else. But I firmly believe this four-wheel e-bike, as I said, is more stable than either, I think I said 80 or 85% of all trikes. And I believe that this is also the same. Now I would say honestly higher, but I haven't ridden every trike out there. So I can't tell you with a hundred percent certainty. Let me go ahead and just park this. And if you've never ridden a four-wheel e-bike, I hope that this can be your first because it is incredibly fun, incredibly easy to steer, and just an overall awesome experience.

Now, if you have any other questions at all, please reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at 310-982-2877. Don't forget the Simple Glide 750 and the four-wheel AnyTerrain 750 are linked in the description if you want to check those out. In addition to that, we offer a 30-day test ride on your e-bike. If you don't love your e-bike in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked, no money out of your pocket. In addition to that, we're going to warranty everything for up to one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we take care of its parts and labor. And lastly, join our community. We have thousands of members in our Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. Join the group, and connect with existing riders before you purchase to ensure you're making the right choice. Then, when you have yours, post in the group, make friends, and finally download our app to compete on the leaderboard. It's a lot of fun. So, thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.