motorcycle trikes

I love the looks and review of the new Harlet Tri-Glide trike as reviewed in American Iron Magazine a few months ago. The web site for American Iron Magazine is at http://www.aimag.com  

As much as I like the idea of a trike, I'm leary of the stability when they are made from a motorcycle, rather than a car.

All that engine weight forward on a motorcycle based trike, means you need to be able to lean the front of the vehicle into the turns, or else slow down a lot more in the turns than I am used to. I expect 3/4 of a million miles or so of habit would push me into making the kind of mistakes that flip such trikes over in turns.

Trikes based on rear engined cars or front wheel drive cars, have all that weight at the rear of the trike, where it is stabilised by the rear wheels. Those trikes corner much better. Unfortunately, they are also gas hogs.

I've been playing around with thoughts of building a swivel jointed trike frame, that would bolt onto the rear of a motorcycel frame and allow the drive shaft to pass through the center of the swivel joint. That would let the front end lean as needed for cornering, but might give the rear end stability needed for towing my boat :-)

regards,
joe
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So many people rush through life, like it's a race from the womb to the grave. Personally, I'm in no hurry to reach the finish line, so I'll just take my time and let the rest of you go ahead of me.  

I love the look of the trikes...I think they would look even better going cross country too  

Some people don't get it. I have a bike. My hub has a bike and when our cars are paid off in three years we might just get a trike too! What a great and comfortable way to go cross country, have plenty of storage, NOT have to put a foot down at every stop, cruise in smooth style, visit easily and if for some reason one of us got sick or developed a balance issue-we can still ride!
They ARE much more visible-thus less likely to be hit.  

A trike doesn't turn like a "standard" motorcycle, but, I've seen races from the '30s on 3 wheeled motorcycles. They were called sidecars.
Eventually, someone figured out you could have the stability of the sidecar without the asymmetric handling (the modern trike).

For the purists, I'd point out that I've seen "training wheels" that come down on both sides of the bike when you get slow enough, which they should also hate.

I think anything that makes you a safer rider is good enough for me.  

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