A First Ride on the Simple Glide Fat Tire: The Seat That Stole the Show
I've fitted a lot of people to a lot of trikes, and one thing I've learned is that the first few minutes on a new ride tell you more than any spec sheet. You can read about frame geometry and seat design all day, but you don't really know how a trike suits a person until you watch them climb on, roll out, and react. That's why I love it when someone comes by our headquarters to take a trike out for the very first time and lets us film the whole thing, rough edges included.
This time it was Lindsay. She came out to the sixthreezero headquarters to test ride e-trikes, and the one she started with was the Simple Glide fat tire. Riding along with her was Lisa, who played instructor for the day and kept a close eye on her while she got comfortable. What followed was about twelve minutes through the streets around our building: past a brewery, out to a view of the ocean, through a quiet neighborhood, into a park, around a cul-de-sac, and, for the first time in her life, up onto a sidewalk path on three wheels.
I want to walk you through that ride in detail, because Lindsay's reactions line up almost perfectly with the questions I hear on fitting calls every week. Is the seat actually comfortable? Will I feel stable? How hard is it to learn? What happens on hills? Can I carry my groceries? Will it fit where I want to ride? She answered nearly all of those without anyone asking, and she did most of it laughing.
The seat that started the conversation
Before she'd even switched the trike on, Lindsay was pointing at the seat. Her first comparison was to a really good ergonomic office chair, the kind with genuine support built into the backrest. I hear that comparison a lot, and it makes sense. Most bikes, two wheels or three, give you a saddle and nothing behind you. You hold your own posture for the entire ride with your core, your lower back, and your arms on the handlebars. Lindsay pointed out that on almost any kind of bike you simply don't get back support, so seeing it built right in was the first thing that got her excited.
Once she started rolling, that excitement turned into something closer to devotion. In the first minute she said she could already feel the back support as she got going. Seconds later she admitted she was kind of obsessed with it. More than eight minutes into the ride she was still at it, telling the camera that the back support is everything, then saying it again for good measure. I've heard plenty of riders praise a seat, but I can't remember anyone bringing it up that many times in one ride without a single prompt.
What I find useful in her reaction is the reason she gave. She tied it to getting older, saying that as you age, that kind of support becomes so important. That matches what I hear from riders browsing our most comfortable electric trikes. A lot of people aren't shopping for speed or range first. They want a ride that doesn't leave their back sore the next morning, and a seat with a real backrest changes the whole equation.
Feeling secure from the first push
The second thing Lindsay brought up, almost immediately, was how secure she felt. She said she didn't feel like she was going to fall backwards, that anything was going to happen, or that she was going to fall off. That's a big statement from a first-time rider, and it's worth unpacking, because there are really two kinds of security at work.
The first is the obvious one: three wheels. A trike doesn't ask you to balance the way a two-wheeler does. Stop at a light and it stays upright. Roll along slowly and it doesn't wobble. For many of the riders who reach out to me, that alone is the reason they're looking at electric tricycles in the first place.
The second kind is the one Lindsay was actually describing, and it comes from the seat. When there's a backrest behind you, your body knows where it is. You're sitting in the trike rather than perched on top of it. That feeling of being held in place is exactly what took the fear of tipping backward off the table for her. People who've had a scare on a bike, or who simply haven't ridden in decades, often carry a quiet worry about losing their seat. A supportive backrest goes a long way toward settling it.
Why the first reaction matters
Lindsay's very first words on camera were about how good the trike looked, and she kept calling it a beauty. She didn't get into numbers, sizes, or ratings, and I'm not going to either. This piece is about her ride, not a spec sheet, and the product page is the right place to check exact figures. If wide tires are part of what draws you to a trike, our fat tire electric trikes collection is the place to browse.
What I'll say instead is that a rider's first emotional reaction is real information. When someone sits down and their shoulders drop, the seating position is working for them. When the fit is wrong, you see it just as quickly: stiff arms, a white-knuckle grip, eyes locked on the front wheel. Lindsay sat down, leaned back, and started talking about chairs. That told me most of what I needed to know before she'd gone ten feet.
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Her confidence climbed fast. Less than two minutes in, she announced she was getting a little daredevil, and almost in the same breath reminded herself to be careful around the corners. Lisa was right there telling her to take it easy, and Lindsay relayed that to the camera with a laugh, joking that her instructor clearly thought she needed watching. I'm glad that stayed in the video. It's honest, and it's exactly how first rides go. People feel the stability, they feel the motor, they get excited, and then the first corner reminds them they're still learning.
\"I want one\" before the ride really started
Somewhere around the two-minute mark, Lindsay declared she wanted one. Then she said it three more times. She joked that she'd been on it for maybe three seconds and was already done deciding. Nobody would call that a careful buying process, and Lindsay wasn't pretending it was. But the speed of that reaction tells you something. When the seat and the riding position suit a person, they relax right away, and relaxed riders learn faster.
Remember the width of your back end
As she headed out toward the street, Lindsay said one of the most practically useful things in the whole video. She reminded herself to go wide, because it's a trike and the back is wider, and you have to know the width of your back end, as she put it. Then she added that you don't want to be running over any curbs, because there'd be nothing fun about that.
This is the single biggest adjustment for people coming from two wheels. On a bicycle, the rear wheel follows the front wheel almost exactly. On a trike with two wheels in back, the rear is wider than the front, and if you cut a corner tight the way you would on a bike, the inside rear wheel can clip a curb. The fix is simple: take turns a little wider than feels natural, and give curbs, posts, and parked cars some room. Lindsay worked that out on her own within the first few minutes and kept repeating it throughout the ride.
Later, rounding a curb near the crosswalk, she put it more colorfully, reminding everyone that you've got a back, you've got a booty, a wide back booty. Maybe not the phrasing I'd use on a fitting call, but if that's what helps you remember, it works.
Taking it slow, then turning it up
Once she reached the road, Lindsay made a smart call. She said she was going to slow down because she was still learning how to drive it and didn't want to be crazy. Then, because she felt like it, she bumped up to level two. That sequence is close to ideal: start low, get a feel for steering and stopping in a calm setting, then add a little more help.
A bit later she went to three and then four, and you can hear Lisa remarking that the daredevil was back. Lindsay leaned on the throttle with a happy chant of \"throttle, throttle\" as a hill came into view. I'll cover that hill in the next section, but the way she stepped through the assist levels is a good model for any new rider. Nobody needs to start at the top. Work up as your comfort grows. If an on-demand push is high on your list, our electric tricycles with throttle control are worth a look.
Steering that felt easy, even when the turns were choppy
Lindsay was genuinely impressed with how the Simple Glide turned. Around the five-minute mark she said it turns really easily and that she liked the turning a lot, adding that this matters because you do a lot of turns on an e-trike. She's right. Most trike riding is neighborhood riding, and neighborhood riding is a string of lefts, rights, stop signs, and driveways. A trike that fights you in turns gets tiring quickly.
She was also refreshingly honest about her own technique. About nine minutes in, she admitted her turns were still a little choppy and asked viewers for a little kindness, since it was her first time ever. I love that she said that out loud. Choppy turns on a first ride are completely normal. A trike steers differently from a bicycle: you steer more and lean less, and it takes a few outings before your hands stop overcorrecting. If you see yourself in that moment, don't be discouraged. By the third or fourth ride it usually smooths right out.
Stop signs and crosswalks
Lisa guided her through a left at a stop sign, and Lindsay talked herself through it in real time: look for cars, go to the crosswalk, stop, check that no one's coming, then turn. She called it easy peasy, and from the outside it looked that way.
What stands out watching that moment is how unhurried she could be. Because a trike stays upright at a complete stop, she could take her time looking both ways without dabbing a foot down to hold her balance. That's one of the quiet advantages of three wheels that people don't appreciate until they're sitting at their first busy intersection with a car waiting behind them. On two wheels, the moment of starting again from a standstill is often the shakiest part of the ride. On three, it's just a matter of pressing go when the road is clear.
Her verdict on the learning curve
Near the five-minute mark, Lindsay stopped to make a point to the camera. This was her first ride on this e-trike, she said, and look how she was doing. Her conclusion was that it's really, really easy to learn. Coming from someone who was still smoothing out her corners, that carries weight. She wasn't claiming to be an expert; she was saying the trike let her be a beginner without feeling unsafe.
","id":"c824b359-075a-4b7d-8704-57c08c92a5a4"},{"layoutId":"full-width-image-with-out-bleed","variants":{},"image":{"assetId":"3NZmGT1dXVC6IJGQZrk8Nm","options":{"backgroundSize":"cover"},"mobileAssetId":"","mobileOptions":{"backgroundSize":"cover"}},"id":"7fd1991e-08ee-4ec5-974e-79bf30375d92"},{"layoutId":"paragraph-section","variants":{},"heading":"Hills, Errands, and the Case for Arriving Without Breaking a Sweat","body":"Around the four-minute mark the road tipped uphill, and Lindsay's commentary got very real. She said a trike like this would be great somewhere like San Francisco, or anywhere with a lot of hills. Then she pointed out that we all know what going uphill on a normal pedal bike is like: you are going to be sweating, and there is nothing fun about it.
She followed that with a line I think speaks for a huge share of our customers. Unless you're a cyclist, she said, which she isn't, complete with the tights and the whole outfit, that kind of climbing just isn't appealing. For her, this was perfect. She called it a dream, and then said it again.
I talk with people every week who feel exactly the way Lindsay does. They like the idea of riding. They like being outside. They don't want to train, and they really don't want to show up at the grocery store drenched. Hills are usually the thing that quietly kills the habit. On a pedal-only bike, a single steep street on your regular route can be enough to keep the bike in the garage for good. With motor help and a throttle, that same hill becomes something you barely notice. Lindsay rolled up it grinning.
Not tired, not sweaty
Past the seven-minute mark, Lindsay took stock. She pointed out how much territory they'd already covered and said she wasn't tired and she wasn't sweaty. Later, heading back toward the park, she made the comparison directly: if she'd been pedaling the whole way, it would be a great workout for sure, but she'd be pedaling a lot.
That's the honest trade-off, and I appreciate that she framed it fairly. Pedaling without help is great exercise, and nobody's arguing otherwise. But for many people, the goal isn't a workout. It's getting out the door, getting somewhere, and getting home feeling good. If the choice is between an e-trike you'll ride four days a week and a bike that sits untouched because the hills are too much, the e-trike wins every time.
You still get to choose how hard you work
Lindsay didn't treat this as all or nothing, and you shouldn't either. She said that if you want to pedal and get some exercise, great: you just turn down the electric assist and pedal. She said she really liked having the options, and then repeated that it's really, really nice to have options.
This is the part of e-trikes that gets overlooked most often. You aren't choosing between exercise and convenience. You can ride to the store on a higher assist level so you arrive fresh, then take the long way home on a lower level if you feel like working a bit. You can dial it down on the flat stretches and bring it back up when the road climbs. The motor is there to make the ride possible, not to take the riding away from you. Some days you'll want the help. Other days you'll want the burn. Having both on one trike is what keeps people riding through all their different moods and energy levels.
A basket for the groceries, and room in the back
As they cruised, Lindsay started picturing the trike in her everyday life. She imagined heading down to the store to pick up groceries, since there's a basket to put them in. She contrasted that with a regular bike, where, as she put it, you don't have any place to put anything. Then she added that she's got a basket and room in the back, too.
Carrying capacity matters more than most first-time shoppers realize. A bike that can't carry anything is a recreation-only machine. The moment it can carry a bag of groceries, a purse, a jacket, or a stack of library books, it becomes transportation, and transportation gets used far more often than recreation. If cargo is a priority for you, start with our electric tricycles with a large basket, and if you want to add storage down the road, our sixthreezero baskets are a good place to look.
Covering more ground, seeing more of the world
Rolling past a brewery, Lindsay made an observation I hadn't heard put quite this way before. She said that with e-trikes you get to see a lot more of the world, because you're covering more territory. Then, half to herself, she added that she's going places.
It's a lovely way to describe what motor assistance really changes. On foot, your world is a few blocks. On a pedal bike, it's however far you're willing to sweat. On an e-trike, the circle grows. The brewery, the coastline, the park across town, and the shops a few streets over all start to feel close. That bigger radius is a large part of why riders tell me they end up riding more after switching to an e-trike than they ever did on a regular bike.
Give your car a break
A little past six minutes in, the conversation drifted to daily life in California. Lindsay talked about how nice it would be to do close-by errands while being outside instead of stuck in a car. Her tagline for it was simple: give your car a break and get on your 630.
Most people don't replace their car entirely, and I would never pressure anyone to. But a big share of everyday driving is short trips, a mile or two to grab something and come home. Those are exactly the trips an e-trike handles well, and turning them into a ride changes how an ordinary errand feels. Instead of traffic and parking, you get fresh air and a few minutes of sunshine.
","id":"352621bb-d379-440d-a21e-cf2a10b1ceed"},{"layoutId":"full-width-image-with-out-bleed","variants":{},"image":{"assetId":"2drr8fSe467I2T0f7AxHV0","options":{"backgroundSize":"cover"},"mobileAssetId":"","mobileOptions":{"backgroundSize":"cover"}},"id":"a3d3c72e-1eca-4ea3-b354-f61fd0163058"},{"layoutId":"paragraph-section","variants":{},"heading":"Ocean Views, a Park, and a First Sidewalk Path","body":"The second half of Lindsay's ride turned into a small tour of the area around our headquarters, and it showed off a side of e-trike riding that's hard to explain until you do it yourself.
Around five and a half minutes in, she said something I think gets to the heart of why people love these. On an e-trike, she said, you can just relax and take in the scenery. You're not sitting there worrying about pedaling your butt off to get somewhere. That's the shift. Your attention moves from effort to surroundings, and the ride becomes the point instead of just the way to get somewhere.
Out to the ocean
As the road opened up, Lindsay called it the open road and wondered out loud whether this wouldn't be great along the ocean in the summertime. She answered her own question: she thought it would be amazing. A little later she caught sight of the water and announced to everyone that she could see the ocean. She talked about the wind in her face, said she loved it, and then said it again.
It's easy to write moments like that off as just enthusiasm, but they matter. People keep riding things they enjoy. If an e-trike makes you happy to be outside, you'll ride it on a Tuesday afternoon for no particular reason, and those are the rides that add up.
Through the neighborhood and into the park
From there, Lisa led her through a residential neighborhood, which Lindsay invited the camera to check out, and then into a park. At this point Lindsay was clearly having the time of her life. She said she felt like she was going so fast, that she loved it, that it was a blast. She waved hello to someone along the way, then said again that she was having so much fun.
A U-turn in a cul-de-sac
Rolling into a small cul-de-sac, Lindsay decided to do a little U-turn. Then she caught herself, said she was getting a little crazy, and slowed down before heading back toward the park.
That self-correction is worth noticing. Cul-de-sacs are actually one of my favorite places for new trike riders to practice. There's room to make a wide, slow loop, there's usually very little traffic, and you can repeat the turn a few times until it feels natural. Since a trike's wide rear needs more room to swing around, practicing U-turns somewhere quiet before you need one on a real street is time well spent. Lindsay's instinct to slow down before the turn was exactly right.
A first sidewalk path
Then came what Lindsay called maybe her first sidewalk experience. Lisa pointed her toward a sidewalk path, and you can hear the nerves in Lindsay's voice. She reminded herself, once again, to go wide because of her back end, eased on, and then celebrated: look at that, I did it, I'm on the sidewalk.
From there she made a right, reminding herself one more time to watch that wide back end, and then shared her takeaway. She liked that the trike is still small enough to go on sidewalk paths. That's a meaningful point for anyone who worries that a three-wheeler will feel like driving a small car. In Lindsay's experience, it was wide enough to feel stable and narrow enough to fit the paths she wanted to use.
A quick practical note from me: whether you're allowed to ride on a particular sidewalk or path depends on where you live, so check your local rules before you make it part of your regular route. Where it is allowed, go slow, give pedestrians plenty of space, and take your turns wide.
Safety first, always
In the middle of all the fun, Lindsay paused to say something I want every new rider to hear. Watch the road, she said, and always make sure you're looking out for cars and people. Then: safety first always, guys, safety first always.
A stable trike takes a lot of the risk out of riding, but it doesn't replace paying attention. Riding on three wheels means you aren't spending energy on balance, so put that energy into scanning ahead: driveways, parked cars, kids, dogs, other riders. Ride at a pace that lets you stop comfortably. Whatever you ride, a good helmet belongs in the kit; you can find ours in our sixthreezero helmets collection.
What her route can teach you
If you're about to take your own first ride, Lindsay's route is a pretty good template. She started in a quiet spot and got used to the controls on the lowest setting. She moved to calm roads before picking up speed. She practiced stop signs and a crosswalk with a guide nearby. She worked through a neighborhood full of easy turns, tried a U-turn in a cul-de-sac, and saved the trickiest maneuver, getting up onto a sidewalk path, for after she'd built some confidence. Each step was a little harder than the last, and by the end she was riding with a big smile and very little hesitation.
You don't need an instructor like Lisa to follow that progression, though a friend riding or walking alongside is a nice bonus. What you do need is patience with yourself. Lindsay's turns were choppy in places, she caught herself going too fast more than once, and none of it mattered. By the end of twelve minutes she was saying this is super fun and meaning every word.
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Riders who want real back support
This is the headline. Lindsay brought up the back support more than anything else, and she connected it directly to getting older. If your back gets tired or sore on a traditional saddle, or if you simply want a seat that holds you rather than one you balance on, this is the feature to pay attention to. If a supportive, sit-back seat is the single thing you care about most, our recumbent electric trikes collection is a good place to compare that style of seating.
Riders who want to feel secure
Lindsay's comment that she didn't feel like she'd fall backward or fall off is something I'd expect a lot of people to relate to, especially riders returning after years away. Three wheels handle the balance at a stop, and the backrest handles the sense of being held in place. Together, they make it easier to relax, and relaxed riders are safer riders. Many of the riders I work with who feel this way also find what they're looking for in our electric trikes for seniors.
Non-cyclists who live with hills
Lindsay was blunt that she isn't a cyclist and doesn't want the tights or the sweat. If you've given up on riding because of a hill on your route, an e-trike with motor assistance and a throttle changes that picture. You can still pedal, and you can turn the assist down any time you want a workout, but you aren't forced to grind up every climb.
People who want to run errands
The basket and room in the back were enough for Lindsay to picture grocery runs straight away. If your goal is to give your car a break for short trips, carrying capacity should be near the top of your list.
Things to think about honestly
A wider rear means a little more planning. You'll take corners wider, you'll watch curbs, and you'll want to think about where you'll park and store the trike at home. None of that stopped Lindsay, and she had it figured out within minutes, but it's worth considering before you buy. And like any new ride, expect your first few turns to feel a bit choppy. That fades with practice.
Get the fit right, then test it in real life
As a fit specialist, this is where I always land. The right trike is the one that fits your body and the way you'll actually ride. If you'd like help, start with our personal fitting and tell me about your height, your riding goals, and the roads you'll be on. If you're near us, you can visit our store and take a test ride the way Lindsay did. And if you order online, our 30-day test ride gives you time to try your trike on your own streets, your own hills, and your own errands before you decide.
Lindsay went from power level one in a parking lot to cruising toward the ocean, through a park, and up onto a sidewalk path in about twelve minutes. She was a little choppy in the turns, a little too eager on the throttle at times, and completely sold on the seat. If that sounds like the kind of ride you've been missing, it might be time to go find out for yourself.
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