How to Ride a Tricycle | Trike Guide

Hi, it's Max and Alanna here with SixThreeZero, and today we are talking about how to ride an adult tricycle or electric tricycle.

All right. Let's start by talking about who makes a good candidate for a trike. So if you are someone who never learned to ride a bike, or maybe you just haven't ridden one in a long time, then a trike is a really good option for you because it's... There's basically nothing to learn here. You just sit and pedal. You don't have to learn how to balance or anything like that. So that being said, if you're someone who has a really bad balance, then a trike is also going to be a great option for you. It's also a good option for seniors, because like I said, you don't have to worry about balancing. It's basically sitting and peddling. It's very stable, it's wide. So it's also very visible.

And also if you live near a park or a beach and you think you're going to be making frequent trips, then it's also a great option because of the basket has a lot of storage space. So it's great for planning picnics or beach days, especially if you live really close to one of those places.

Okay. When it comes to mounting a trike, it is going to be much easier than mounting a bike because it's pretty much stable. You don't have to worry about losing your balance or anything like that. It's going to be almost like sitting in a chair. So the only thing you want to make sure of before mounting is that you are on level ground. So the trikes not going to roll in any direction. And you also want to make sure if you have an electric trike, this one's not electric, but if you have an electric trike, just make sure the motors off.

So what you're going to do is grip the left brake and simply step through. Then from here, you can just plop onto the seat. If you are shorter, and the frame, even though it's a low step-through frame here on The Evryjourney, if it's still a little too high for you, The BodyEase has an even lower step-through frame. And another option is to line yourself up along a curb, or even just have a step stool that you can just kick away and use that as like an extra... To give you a little more height. All right. So you might have noticed that the seat is a little high and this is definitely higher than I would have it on a regular bicycle. But the great thing about a trike is that you don't have to worry about putting your toes on the ground to stop.

So you can have the seat a little higher. So that makes it great for getting full leg extension with the pedals and making sure that you can sit upright with the handlebars at a comfortable angle. So to show you what that looks like, I can barely touch the ground. So this is definitely not the height that I would have for a bike, but I like to have it a little higher with the trike because it gives me more visibility. I can see more of what's ahead of me. Plus it makes me more visible to the cars and any other cyclists around me, which I also like. I can sit upright, it's comfortable and stable.

So now that you know how to mount the trike, it's time to start riding. So I would suggest practicing in your neighborhood, or if it's available to you a wide empty parking lot. Just because there are a few differences and things you might want to get used to with the trike, as opposed to a bicycle. So trikes have a wider turn radius. They're wider. They have the three wheels. So you're going to need more space to turn. And that's something you'll want to practice before going out on a longer ride or going out onto a busy street, just so that you're familiar with how much space you're going to need and how it feels to turn.

Another thing that you'll want to consider as that hills are going to be a little more challenging because of the added weight. It's going to be harder to bike uphill, even though it does have the seven speeds that will help. It's going to be a little harder than riding on a bike, but if you have the electric trike, of course, it's not going to be a problem at all, just hit the throttle and you'll get up easily. As for breaking, you're going to apply the same method that you use with a bicycle.

If you want to practice braking. We have another video that covers braking on a bicycle, and you can use those same practice exercises with the trike. So just make sure you get in that practice time in an area that you're familiar with, with a lot of wide space to practice turning, in both directions. Before heading out for a longer ride.