And now, a question for Scooter Trash
Before I do, though, let me preface this by saying- if you’re a diehard biker, and you have become injured, and one of the new breed of 3 wheeled bikes allows you to enjoy your hobby? God love and keep you.
On the other hand, if you’re an able bodied human, and you can’t keep a 2 wheeler on it’s wheels and not on it’s side, don’t buy a three wheeled bike, buy a goddamed wheelchair.
or am I off base? I’m the least experienced biker on earth, so let me know. THis just seems ridiculous to me.
19 comments Og | Uncategorized
“On the other hand, if you’re an able bodied human, and you can’t keep a 2 wheeler on it’s wheels and not on it’s side, don’t buy a three wheeled bike,….”
Which is exactly WHY, as much as I love ’em, I do NOT have a bike. Of any kind.
Y’all can thank me later. ;-)
With right at half a million miles under my ass, I guess I quallify as diehard. Don’t become either a stastitic, nor a greasy, gooey spoton the hot pavement. Stay safe for us and allow the spares in life to ride.
Hell, I’d never buy one of the damned things, I think they’re ugly. I just wonder, Dick, would YOU? I can’t imagine you on three wheels.
Unless the truck has a flat, maybe.
My cohort in crime just bought one of these:
http://www.ural.com/
If you copy it into the screen at the top it will take you to their website. They are fun to drive and the side car is great too. We usually take off at around 7:00 and get back around midnight. The guys at Harley or the Japanese should make these again too. It brings back a flood of memories. mkes me feel like a kid again.
I can’t imagine why any able-bodied biker would want a trike. They don’t handle like a motorcycle – they don’t lean; they’re much harder to maneuver than a 2 wheeler; they’re harder to back up (heavier, although most come with some sort of reverse gear a la Hondabago).
However…
When I am no longer capable of keeping my bike up on two wheels, you bet your sweet ass I’ll be trikin’ it…
That’s my thought, Jay-a great tool for guys who are no longer able bodied- but shit, it seems (to this hyperunderexperienced rider) that the leaning and stuff is the fun part of riding.
Personally, long as I can ride two wheels without falling over when I stop, no trike. Were I unable to use a bike, and wanted to keep riding? Yeah, I’d look hard at one. You’d lose the leaning, etc., but you’d still be riding.
I’ll note that I’ve seen groups touring with one guy on a trike, using the greater carrying capacity to take some of the load off the other guys.
I would have to be really seriously disabled before I use one… friend of mine is known as Leftless… rides his GS650 with a special fitting on the left handle for his prosthetic arm… that is a die hard biker! Forgot to mention, he is an avid off road biker as well! If he can stay on 2 wheels in the dirt i sure as hell am going to try as well. :-)
I used to know this guy named David. I haven’t seen him in prolly 15 years; but he used to be the owner of “Sin City Cycles” near Boston.
Now David’s been riding motorcycles since he was 5 (as have I by the way). When he was 27, his porch collapsed with him on it. He was partially paralyzed from the waist down, leaving him wheelchair bound.
The next year, he and his brother built a trike from a Tourglide classic. He hated it; but it ended up being a profitable line of custom bikes for them.
Two years later (before HD introduced it as a factory model), they built a low rider fatboy.
Of course the BIG difference was that they built it with full hand controls, a seatbelt and special seat, handrails, a wheelchair rack, and fully suspended, hydraulically actuated “training wheel”; which would keep him up at stop lights.
David is a fucking champion.
Who wants to ride that chrome three wheeler?
Who wants to make that first mistake?
Who wants to wear those gypsy leathers?
All the way to fire lake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3sNriOp2nE
Yep, Chris, like I said: If you can’t ride two and riding three lets you keep on keeping on? God bless you. Otherwise, I don’t get it.
As for old farts and scoots: if riding a Hog gets to be too much, try going to a lighter bike to stay on two wheels. The best of the lightweights is the Honda Rebel.
I’m in the market for an older one now, from back when they had a 200cc model that looked decent (a 3/4 scale chopper), AND it sipped fuel (got over 70mpg) but could keep up with in-town freeway traffic.
Just to make it clear, trikes are for little kids or cripples.
With my leg, I’ll never be quite “able-bodied” again. I still intend to ride a 2-wheeler. Once I’m incapable of that, then a 3-wheeler. Not until.
Hell, I told my physical therapist not to worry about the leg too much, just to get it where I could sling it over a seat, & would bend enough to put on the peg & use the rear brake (what’s that for?).
Having seen one of these on the road in SoCal…my first thought was “COOL!”
http://www.gizmag.com/go/6823/
Three wheels don’t handle like two — with a possible exception for the Tomahawk and it’s more like four wheels.
Still, as an old, gnarly biker said to me very early in my scooter-riding efforts, “Ride whatever you can, just as long as you can get some bugs in your teeth doin’ it.”
Whatever works, Og. A trike’s not a cage and it’s as invisible to car drivers as any other bike.
Okay, I am not a biker. I’ve done a very little off roading. My only experience was a three wheel ATV and I ended up driving over myself because I instinctively put my foot down when turning and it ended up under the rear wheel and up and over she went, pulling me off of it in the process. Lots of laughs all around.
Anyway, it almost as if you’re saying that there is a right of ownership for trikes that cannot be met without first having been a skilled two-wheeler.
If someone is able-bodied, but just can’t quite handle the balancing act or even is just afraid of trying to stay upright on a two legged stool, so to speak, that they don’t deserve to be on a bike of any kind? What’s next? A Coolness Test before you can register your bike at the DMV?
Can’t have the unwashed posing as riders, now can we?
I’m not saying that, as you can see if you read the post again. I’m saying it seems to me that if you’re a 22 year old kid (the ones I see the most) and you don’t have the coordination to keep a 2 wheeled bike up, maybe you have testosterone issues.
I have a two wheeler and a sidecar rig. Both are fun to ride. In my part of the country the weather prevents two wheel riding the entire year. With the sidecar rig and some warm clothing I can extend the riding season. Although I can’t lean with my sidecar rig (there are outfits that lean), it is still fun to whip through the curves. There are also some advanced techniques to improve sidecar cornering (see sidecar book by David Hough. Just be careful on the ice, unless you have studded tires.