First Ride on an Electric Tricycle? BE CAREFUL! Tips for How to Ride an ETrike Safely & Easily

Taking your first electric trike ride, be careful, and here's what you need to know. Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. And if you're taking your first electric trike ride, be careful. And I want to tell you what you have to know. All right, if you've just got an electric trike or you're shopping for an electric trike or even just a tricycle, be careful. Now, I say that because a lot of people who are getting onto a tricycle or an electric tricycle after coming off of a two-wheel bike don't realize how different a tricycle is going to feel and perform versus a two-wheel bike. Now, I want to give you a few tips on what to know and how to be careful when riding a tricycle. Now, the number one thing a lot of people are concerned with is tipping over a tricycle. Now, if that is a really big concern of yours, one thing I want to point out is you may want to opt for something like this, which is a recumbent e-trike, a much longer wheelbase, lower to the ground. It's going to be significantly more stable than any other tricycle on the market. Now, other trikes are stable as well, but there is a learning curve in getting used to them. Okay, so let me demonstrate a few things. Right here we have our Simple Step-Thru Fat Tire e-trike. And a couple of things you need to know. I'm going to go ahead and pull it up right here. All right. Now, one of the most important things on an electric tricycle. Now, I know the seat is a little bit low for me. Let me raise this. Okay. All right. Okay. Now, one really important thing is if again you're getting onto an electric trike or tricycle for the first time, please take a test ride in a very open space, like a parking lot, and make sure you do it on flat ground. This is very important, especially if you've just bought a sixthreezero e-trike or you're looking at another trike. I don't care how many years you've been riding bicycles, I've done countless test rides here with all different ages and athletic abilities, and I've seen the most athletic 20-year-old struggle to get adjusted to a tricycle.

Now, with that said, over a 10-minute, 15-minute, and 20-minute period, most riders have figured it out and they've gotten comfortable. Now, the key to that is when you get comfortable, don't get overconfident. You want to make sure you still remember the important principles of riding a trike and that you're mindful of them. And my goal for you is you want to develop those tendencies through practice. So take it slow. Get used to it. Don't get overconfident. Okay. So first thing, whenever you're mounting or dismounting an electric tricycle, leave the motor off. Do not turn it on until you're mounted and you're ready to ride. When you finish a ride, turn the motor off before you dismount. This is going to alleviate any accidental usage of the pedal assist or the throttle if the trike you buy has a throttle. In this case, we have a twist throttle up here. A thumb throttle is another option available that we also have on our other trikes. Now, the key... So as I said, flat ground and open space. Now, tricycles have a risk of tipping if they're improperly ridden, right? Now you can see on this trike, we've got fat four-inch wide tires. So the stability of this is hands down better than most e-trikes out there because of the wheelbase, and the fat tires. Also, we have a 24-inch in the front and 20-inch in the rear, so it's set lower in the rear to create more stability. Now, the important thing to know is taking turns on trikes or e-trikes goes slow. Now, on a two-wheel bike, you generally would want to accelerate into the turn, or at least not decelerate, because on a two-wheel bike, you wanna keep it upright, and to keep it upright, you've gotta keep the wheels moving, and going at a certain pace. Now, on a tricycle, you want to do the opposite. You want to slow down into the turn, make your turn, and then come out of the turn and accelerate. So once your turn is nearly completed, at that point, you can accelerate. If you accelerate into a turn, there's going to be a risk of tipping over.

Now, the way to counteract that, if for whatever reason you do, is you want to properly counter-lean against the turn, right? So if you're taking a big turn and you're leading in like this, you could pop that wheel up, right? So if you're coming around a turn like this, you want to counter-lean your body. Now, leaning on a trike is not to steer. That's important to remember. Counter-leaning is to keep the weight of the trike down on that turn. So, if you're coming into a turn and you don't want to lean into the turn, you'll pop that wheel out. You want to shift your weight to the outside to keep this rear wheel down. Now, very important to remember, that if you're just getting used to riding a trike, don't take sharp turns. Just get comfortable going straight. And as you get used to it, you can start to take slow turns and get used to the accelerating, the decelerating in and out of turns, things like that. I say this because more so than even on a two-wheel bike, the correct usage of the speed and the correct usage of the body weight transfer is more important on a tricycle. Now, the other thing is if you're riding an e-trike or a trike, be careful going over uneven ground. Let's say you're going up a curb or you're on a slant. If you ride into a slant with a trike, if you don't counterbalance to the...

To the, into the slant, there's a chance that you're going to tip over. So, things you have to be mindful of. Now, trust me, you'll get it and you'll figure it out. It's just important to practice if you've never been on a trike or e-trike as an adult, because our brains are wired to ride a two-wheel bike, and now you're switching to a three-wheel bike, which is much, much different. So as long as you stay on flat ground as you're learning, ease into the turns, and get used to how you would handle things on slopes or inclines, you should be fine. Now with that said too, going up hills or inclines, one important thing to remember is don't stop midway through the hill if you can avoid it, because getting going at a midpoint in a hill is going to be challenging. Also, if you get off the bike midpoint of a hill, may be challenging for you to mount and dismount. I recommend if you do have to stop midway on a hill, and you don't feel comfortable, go back down and start again. If you have an electric assist, it shouldn't be a big deal because you can utilize the motor. But starting on a hill on a tricycle can sometimes be a tricky situation. Now, I've done a lot of other videos on how to take turns, and how to ride a trike. Check those out on our YouTube channel. But please, be careful. Take your time. Get used to an electric tricycle before you get overconfident out there zipping around. And if you need to on that first you know a few rides or as you're learning, don't use the electric at all. Get used to pedaling manually. As you get comfortable, then you can introduce the assistance. I think number one is getting used to the balance and the steering without assistance. Then you can start to tackle the assistance. So one step at a time.

Till you get to where you feel safe and comfortable. And I would say, even just follow these steps regardless of how safe or comfortable you feel initially because it will build up your, number one, your confidence, but it'll also build up your skillset when it comes to driving a tricycle. Now, you may laugh at me for saying a skillset when it comes to riding a tricycle, but just like riding a bike, we all had to learn, and riding a trike is no different. Now, if you have any other questions or thoughts on the topic, please reach out to us, theteam@sixthreezero.com, or call us at 310-982-2877. We offer a 30-day test ride on your e-trike policy. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked, no money out of your pocket. In addition to that, we're gonna warranty everything for up to one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of its parts and labor. Lastly, be a part of our community. We have a Facebook group with thousands of members. Join the group before you purchase to talk to existing riders to get their opinion on their e-trike. Then when you have yours, post in the group, and make friends. It's a lot of fun. And then lastly, download the app, track your rides, and compete on the leaderboard. So thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the rides.