75 and Riding Three Wheels: Don’s First Spin on the Simple Glide Fat Tire Electric Trike

Seventy-Five Years Old and Grinning Like a Kid

Don Nunari introduces himself at the start of the video the way a lot of people do when they're about to try something new: name, age, and a quick note about where he is. He's 75. He's in San Clemente. And he's about to ride an electric trike for the first time in his life.

What follows is a little under three minutes of footage, and most of it is Don reacting. There's no spec sheet read aloud, no careful walkthrough of the controls. There's a lot of "Wow" and "Woo" and, at one point, a slightly alarmed "Hold on, I got to slow" as he heads down a driveway. By the end he's parked the trike, caught his breath, and summed it up in three plain observations: it was very stable, it had a lot of acceleration, and it was really fun to ride.

That's a short review, but it's an honest one, and it touches on the three things most first-time trike shoppers actually want to know. Will I feel safe on it? Will it have enough power to be worth the money? And will I enjoy it enough to keep riding? This article takes Don's ride as a starting point and unpacks each of those questions, with some practical notes for anyone thinking about a fat tire electric trike for themselves or for a parent. If you'd rather watch than read, the clip lives alongside our other rider videos in the Video Blog section. But stick around, because there's more going on in those three minutes than the cheering suggests.

The trike Don rode is the Simple Glide Fat Tire, one of the three-wheel models in the sixthreezero lineup. The name gives away most of its personality. "Simple" refers to the approach: an upright seat, a step-through frame, familiar handlebars, and controls that don't take an engineering degree to understand. "Glide" is about the ride feel. "Fat Tire" is the part you notice first when you look at it.

Fat tires are wider than standard bicycle tires and run at lower pressures. On a two-wheeler, that mostly means extra grip on sand or loose dirt. On a trike, the benefit is a little different. Three wide contact patches give the machine a planted, settled feeling, and the extra air volume in each tire acts as a kind of built-in cushion. Cracked pavement, driveway lips, and the seams between sidewalk slabs feel softer than they would on narrower rubber.

If you want to compare this style against its siblings, the fat tire electric trikes collection gathers every three-wheeler with wide tires in one place. The broader electric tricycles page shows the full range, from recumbent models to cargo trikes and tandems.

For Don's purposes, though, none of the category labels mattered much. He wanted to know what it felt like to get on, push off, and go. So let's look at that.

Fat Tires or Standard Tires: Which Makes Sense on a Trike?

Since the fat tire is the defining feature of the trike Don rode, it's worth a quick detour into whether that design is right for you. Both wide and standard tires have their place, and the best choice depends on where and how you ride.

Fat tires shine on mixed surfaces. If your rides include packed sand near the beach, gravel paths in a park, grassy shortcuts, or older streets with patched asphalt, the extra width keeps the trike rolling smoothly and helps it track straight. They're also forgiving. Because they run at lower pressure, they soak up a lot of the jolts that make a ride tiring, which matters if you have sore joints or a sensitive back.

Standard-width tires have advantages too. They roll a little more efficiently on smooth pavement, which can stretch battery range slightly, and the trike as a whole tends to be a bit lighter. If you ride almost entirely on well-kept bike paths and city streets, a standard tire may be all you need.

For a lot of riders, though, the fat tire's comfort and confidence tip the balance. Don's ride took him across a driveway, onto pavement, and back again, and he never once mentioned feeling a bump. That's the fat tire quietly doing its job.

One maintenance note: check tire pressure regularly. Fat tires lose their cushioning and grip if they're overinflated and feel sluggish if they're underinflated. A quick check with a gauge before rides keeps them in the sweet spot. Replacement tires and tubes are easy to find when the time comes.

About twenty-five seconds into the video, Don says "Off we go. Okay," and starts rolling. A few seconds later comes the first "Oh man, here we go. Wow." It's worth slowing down on this moment, because the first ten seconds on any electric trike set the tone for everything after.

People who have never ridden an e-trike often expect it to feel like a bicycle with an extra wheel. It doesn't, quite. A bicycle stays upright because you're constantly making small balance corrections, most of them unconscious. A trike stands on its own. You don't need to balance it at a stop, you don't need to put a foot down at a red light, and you can start moving from a dead stop at whatever pace feels comfortable. For older riders, or anyone whose balance isn't what it used to be, that single difference changes the whole experience.

The other surprise is the electric assist. When the motor kicks in, the trike moves forward with more urgency than your legs alone would produce. Don's "Wow" is the sound almost every first-timer makes at that moment. It isn't fear. It's the realization that you're covering ground without working very hard for it.

If you're trying an e-trike for the first time, a little advice: start in the lowest assist level, or go easy on the throttle if your model has one. Get a feel for how quickly the power arrives before you dial it up. Don clearly found his comfort zone quickly, but the smartest approach is to let your confidence lead and the motor follow.

Stability: The Thing Don Noticed Most

When Don stopped at the end of the ride and gave his verdict, the first word out of his mouth was "stable." That's telling. He had just experienced quick acceleration and a downhill driveway, and what stayed with him was how secure the trike felt underneath him.

Stability on a trike comes from a few things working together. The obvious one is the third wheel, which gives you a wide base. The less obvious ones are the center of gravity and the tire footprint. A low step-through frame keeps the rider's weight closer to the ground, and fat tires spread the trike's weight over more rubber. The result is a machine that doesn't wobble at low speeds and doesn't feel twitchy when you're picking your way through a parking lot or a narrow path.

This is the main reason so many riders over 60 end up on three wheels rather than two. A fall that a 30-year-old shrugs off can mean weeks of recovery at 75. A trike takes that worry largely off the table during the riskiest moments of any ride: starting, stopping, and moving slowly. If that's what you're shopping for, the electric trikes for seniors collection is a sensible place to begin, and the easy-to-mount e-trikes with low step-through frames address the getting-on-and-off part of the equation.

One honest caveat: trikes handle differently in corners. Because you can't lean the way you would on a bicycle, you need to slow down before a turn rather than during it. It takes a ride or two to get used to, and after that it becomes second nature.

Don's second observation was that the trike "had a lot of acceleration." You can hear it in the video well before he says it. At around the 46-second mark he calls out, "This thing is going. Wow." At 1:08, after his driveway descent, it's "Off we go. Whoa," with a couple of cheers on top.

A lot of people assume a three-wheeled electric trike will be sluggish, something closer to a mobility scooter than a bicycle. Riders are often surprised to find that a good e-trike gets up to cruising speed briskly. The motor does most of its work right at the start, which is exactly where pedaling a heavy machine by leg power alone is hardest. Pulling away from a stop sign, getting up a short incline, or merging onto a bike path stops being a chore.

That quick response is also why controls matter. Most sixthreezero e-trikes give you pedal assist levels you can step up or down, and many add a thumb or twist throttle so you can get moving without pedaling at all. If the throttle is important to you, the electric tricycles with throttle control collection narrows the field. Pep is great, but it should come with the ability to scrub off speed just as easily, which brings us to that driveway.

The Driveway Moment and Why Brakes Matter

Just before the one-minute mark, Don says, "Coming down the driveway here. Hold on. I got to slow." It's a small moment, but it's the most useful twenty seconds in the video for anyone thinking about buying a trike.

Downhill sections are where an electric trike's weight works against you. The same mass that makes it feel planted also builds momentum on a slope. Good brakes, and knowing how to use them, are what turn a slightly nervous moment into a non-event. Don does exactly the right thing: he notices the grade, says out loud that he needs to slow down, and does it before the speed gets away from him. A few seconds later he's back on flat ground and accelerating happily again.

If you live somewhere hilly, and much of coastal Southern California qualifies, put brakes high on your checklist. Disc brakes in particular give strong, predictable stopping power and hold up well in wet conditions. You can browse electric trikes with disc brakes if that's a priority.

A practical habit for new riders: before your first real outing, find a gentle slope and practice slowing and stopping on it a few times. Squeeze the levers smoothly rather than grabbing them. Feel how quickly the trike responds. Ten minutes of practice in a quiet spot will make every future hill feel less dramatic.

By the 1:21 mark, the tone of the video shifts. The surprised shouts settle into something calmer: "We're gliding along, man," followed a few seconds later by a simple "Nice." This is the part of any first ride where the novelty wears off and you start noticing how the thing actually feels.

What Don is describing is the combination of an upright riding position and those big, soft tires. On a trike like this you sit with your back straight and your hands at a natural height. Your neck isn't craned, your wrists aren't loaded, and you can look around at the scenery rather than staring at the ground ahead. The fat tires absorb a lot of the small bumps that would otherwise travel straight up through the frame into the seat.

Comfort isn't a luxury feature on a trike. It's what decides whether you'll ride for twenty minutes or two hours, and whether you'll want to go again tomorrow. If comfort is your top concern, take a look at the most comfortable electric trikes in the lineup, and consider upgrades like a wider, more padded saddle from the sixthreezero seats range.

Getting the fit right matters just as much. Seat height, handlebar reach, and frame size all shape how relaxed you feel after the first half hour. The free fitting process at Get Fitted is a straightforward way to match a model to your height and riding style before you buy.

Going Back Out for a Second Lap

Here's a detail that's easy to miss. At 1:38 Don says he's heading back to headquarters, calls the takeoff fun, and signs off. Then, at 2:19, he's back on the trike: "Hey, off we go. Woo."

Nobody made him take a second lap. He just wanted to. That, more than any of his exclamations, is the real verdict on the ride. If a 75-year-old who has never been on an electric trike before finishes a test loop and immediately decides to go around again, the machine has done its job.

This is also worth keeping in mind for adult children who are researching trikes for a parent. It's common to focus on safety features and specs, which are important, but the biggest predictor of whether a trike actually gets used is whether the rider enjoys it. A trike that sits in the garage isn't helping anyone stay active. One that its owner looks forward to riding is a different story.

During that second lap Don says it twice: "What a nice ride. What a nice ride." The repetition says more than any review score could.

Don's ride is a good case study in why three-wheel e-bikes have become so popular with people in their 60s, 70s, and beyond. The appeal goes past stability alone.

There's the freedom to go farther. Plenty of older adults stopped cycling years ago because hills got harder or longer rides left them sore. Electric assist takes the edge off both. You can still pedal and get exercise, but you decide how hard you work. Some days that means a real workout; other days it means letting the motor carry you most of the way.

There's the practical side, too. A trike with a rear basket becomes a grocery-getter, a trip-to-the-pharmacy machine, a way to visit friends across town without starting the car. Electric tricycles with a large basket are especially useful for this kind of everyday errand running, and add-on baskets can expand the carrying capacity further.

And there's the social piece. Being out on a trike means being out in the neighborhood: waving to people, stopping to chat, getting fresh air and sunshine. For many older riders, that's as much a health benefit as the physical exercise. Don's cheerful "See you later, man" in the middle of the video hints at that. Trikes start conversations.

If you'd like a broader look at choosing a first ride, our Ultimate Bike Buyer’s Guide walks through frame styles, sizing, and motor options in more depth.

Practical Tips for Your First E-Trike Ride

Don made it look easy, and for him it clearly was. Still, a few habits will help any first-timer feel as relaxed as he did by the end of his ride.

Start somewhere quiet. An empty parking lot, a wide bike path on a weekday morning, or a quiet residential street gives you room to learn the controls without traffic pressure. Get on and off a few times before you ride anywhere, so mounting feels natural.

Learn the brakes before the throttle. Roll forward slowly and practice stopping several times. Know which lever does what. Then start experimenting with assist levels, beginning at the lowest setting.

Take corners slowly. As mentioned earlier, trikes don't lean. Brake before the turn, steer through it at a gentle pace, and accelerate once you're straightened out.

Wear a helmet. It sounds obvious, but it's easy to skip on a stable, low-speed machine. A comfortable helmet is cheap insurance, and there are options in the sixthreezero helmets collection.

Plan around your battery. Charge fully before longer rides and get a feel for how far a charge takes you on your usual routes. Spare batteries and chargers are available if you want extra range. Give it a week. The first ride is exciting. By the fifth, you'll know your trike's habits and the routes that suit it best.

Don's video was shot at a sixthreezero location in San Clemente, which is exactly the kind of low-pressure test ride that helps people decide. There's no substitute for sitting on a trike, feeling how it steps through, and taking it around the block.

If you're within reach of Southern California, the Visit Us page has the details on coming in for a ride of your own. If you're farther away, the 30-day test ride gives you a month at home to decide whether a trike suits your life, with return shipping covered if it doesn't. Bikes and trikes ship for free nationwide, as outlined on the shipping page, and arrive mostly built, with assembly instructions for the final steps.

It's also worth reading the warranty terms before you commit, so you know what's covered down the road. Whichever route you take, try to ride the trike on the kind of ground you'll actually use: your driveway, your local hill, the path you'd take to the store. That's where you'll learn whether it fits, the same way Don learned on his driveway.

The Takeaway From Don's Ride

Strip away the cheering and Don's video leaves three clear points. The Simple Glide Fat Tire felt stable under a 75-year-old first-timer. It had enough acceleration to surprise him. And it was fun enough that he went back out for a second lap without being asked.

None of that requires technical knowledge to appreciate. It's what riding is supposed to feel like: a little thrilling at first, then relaxing, then something you want to do again. For many people Don's age, an electric trike is the thing that brings that feeling back after years away from cycling.

If his ride has you curious, start with the fat tire electric trike lineup, get matched through the fitting consultation, and browse more rider stories and how-to articles in Bike Advice. Then find a quiet street, push off, and see if you don't let out a "Woo" of your own.