A First Electric Trike Ride at 51: Brian Takes the Relaxed Body E-Trike Out for the Very First Time

A First Ride, Filmed Honestly

I've spent a lot of time fitting people to bikes and trikes, and I can tell you the question I hear more than any other isn't about motors or batteries. It's some version of this: "What is it actually going to feel like the first time I get on?" Specs can't answer that. A rider who already knows what they're doing can't really answer it either, because they've forgotten what it was like not to know.

That's why I love the footage I'm about to walk you through. It belongs to Brian Staer. Brian is 51 years old, and by his own description he was super excited and a little nervous, because this was his very first time on an electric trike. Not his first time on this particular model. His first time on any e-trike, ever. He turned the camera on, introduced himself, and invited anyone who'd never done this before to come along for the ride.

The bike was the Relaxed Body, a 750-watt relaxed-style electric trike in the sixthreezero lineup. What follows isn't a spec sheet or a polished product demo. It's a beginner figuring things out in real time: a few hesitant turns, a moment where he catches himself leaning the wrong way, a child stepping into the sidewalk ahead of him, and a steady climb from 4 miles an hour to about 16. I'm keeping all of it in, the wobbly parts included, because that's the information you actually need if you're about to do this yourself.

Why a first ride is worth studying

When somebody experienced reviews a trike, they skip straight past the learning curve. They know where the power button is. They already steer a three-wheeler without thinking. They don't notice how the bike slows down when you let off the throttle, because they expect it. For a new rider, every one of those moments is a small question mark, and a few question marks stacked together can turn into real anxiety about whether you'll be able to handle the thing at all.

Brian's ride answers those questions in order. You get to see what he notices first, what surprises him, what he has to unlearn from riding regular bicycles, and how quickly his confidence builds. Over roughly eight minutes he goes from "I'm going four miles an hour" to "I highly recommend this bike." That arc is the most useful thing in the whole video, and it's the arc I want you to keep in mind as you read.

Who this ride will make the most sense to

If you're shopping our full lineup of electric tricycles and you've never ridden one, Brian is basically your stand-in. Maybe you haven't been on any kind of bike in years. Maybe you've ridden two-wheelers your whole life and you're switching to three wheels for stability. Maybe you're buying for a parent or partner and want to know what their first day will look like. In all of those cases, watching someone else's first ride takes a lot of the mystery out of it.

Brian's age matters here too, and he's the one who brought it up. At one point he jokes that his "young man days of going faster" are behind him, so he's going to keep things slow. That's not a throwaway line. It's an honest statement about how a lot of riders in their fifties, sixties, and beyond want to approach a new machine: carefully, at their own pace, with no pressure to prove anything. If that's you, you'll find plenty of riders in the same boat browsing our electric trikes for seniors, and you'll see that a careful approach doesn't mean a boring ride.

The basic layout of the bike Brian rode

Before we get into the ride itself, a quick picture of what Brian was sitting on. The Relaxed Body has one wheel up front and two wheels in the back, which is the classic trike arrangement. Brian singled out those two rear wheels early on as one of his favorite things about the bike, because they gave him a feeling of balance he didn't expect as a first-timer. He also called out how comfortable the seat was, more than once, and how the handlebars sweep back toward the rider, which he said made reaching the brakes easy.

The bike has a power switch on the side, a throttle at the hand, a display showing speed, and two hand brakes, one on the left and one on the right. That's really all a beginner needs to understand to get rolling, and Brian figured out all of it within the first minute. If you want to see other trikes that put the rider in a similarly comfortable, sit-up-and-look-around position, our upright-position electric tricycles are a good place to compare.

What I'm adding, and what I'm not

Everything Brian experienced, I'm reporting as he described it. Where I add context, it's the kind of thing I'd tell you in person at a fitting: why a trike steers the way it does, what to practice before heading into traffic, what to look for if you're comparing models. I'm not going to dress his ride up as something it wasn't. His top speed for most of the ride was 10 miles an hour, and he said that felt plenty fast. Later on he pushed it to around 16. Both of those numbers are worth knowing, because they tell you what a beginner actually does on day one, not what a spec sheet says the bike is capable of.

So let's start where Brian started: standing next to the trike, reaching for the power switch.

Brian's first comment once he was seated was about how easy it was to turn on. There's a power switch on the side of the bike; he flipped it, and the trike was ready. No complicated startup sequence, no pairing an app, no menus to scroll through. For a first-timer that matters more than people think. The less fiddling you have to do before you move, the less time you spend second-guessing yourself.

Then came the first little surprise. Brian found that once the power was on, he needed to start pedaling to get the trike going. He pushed the pedals, and as he put it, you can feel it kick into gear. That's the electric assist engaging. It's a subtle moment on video, but it's a big one for a beginner, because it's the first time you feel the bike helping you. Within a few seconds he'd found the throttle as well, and he was rolling at about 4 miles an hour.

Getting comfortable with the throttle

Four miles an hour is roughly a brisk walk, and that's exactly where a first ride should begin. Brian could feel the throttle responding under his hand, and he started experimenting with it right away. When the path tipped slightly downhill, he noticed he didn't need to push the throttle as much, because the slope was doing some of the work. A moment later he said something I hear from almost every new trike rider: "Okay. I see how it is."

That small realization is the start of real control. Once you understand that the throttle adds power, gravity adds power on a downhill, and your legs can add power whenever you want, the bike stops feeling like a mystery and starts feeling like a tool. Brian even pointed out that he technically could pedal, but at that moment he really didn't need to. He could manage his speed just with his hand. If having that option is important to you, it's worth browsing our electric tricycles with throttle control so you know exactly which bikes give you that hand-controlled power.

Steering like a car, not a bicycle

Here's the biggest adjustment Brian had to make, and he noticed it in the first minute. On a regular two-wheel bike, you lean into turns. Your body tips, the bike tips with you, and that lean is a big part of how you change direction. On a trike, that doesn't work. Brian said it plainly: you steer it almost like a car, not like a bike where you lean into it. You turn the handlebars, and the trike goes where the front wheel points.

He followed that up with a second lesson a few seconds later. He'd learned, as he put it, that you can't overturn. The turns are more subtle. Crank the handlebars too hard and the trike doesn't feel right; ease them over and the bike glides around the corner. Then he did exactly that, said "there we go," and looked for a little speed.

I want to spend a moment on this, because it's the single most common thing new riders struggle with. If you've ridden bikes for decades, your body is going to try to lean. It's automatic. On three wheels, leaning into a turn doesn't help you turn, and leaning hard at speed can make the bike feel unsettled. The fix is exactly what Brian did: go slow, make smooth handlebar inputs, and let your brain rewire itself. It took him a couple of minutes to start getting it. It'll probably take you about the same.

The two rear wheels and the feeling of balance

Around the 90-second mark, Brian made a comment that I think is the heart of why so many people choose a trike. He said he liked the wheels on the back, that he felt like he had more balance, and that as someone who had never done this before, it seemed easier to balance himself on this than on a bike.

That's the whole point. On a two-wheeler, balance is your job every second you're moving and especially every second you're stopped. On a trike, the bike holds itself up. You don't need to put a foot down at a stop. You don't need to keep enough speed to stay upright. That frees up your attention for the things that actually matter on a ride, like the path in front of you, the people around you, and the controls under your hands. For a lot of riders, it also takes away the fear of falling that kept them off a bike in the first place. Riders who also want an easier time getting on and off often look at our easy-to-mount e-trikes with a low step-through, since mounting is part of that same confidence picture.

A bike that slows itself down

The last thing Brian figured out in those opening minutes was how the trike behaves when you let go of the throttle. He noticed that when he took his hand off, the bike slowed down on its own. He called that intuitive, and I agree with him. It means the trike isn't going to keep surging forward if you get nervous and release everything. It gently loses speed, which gives a beginner a natural margin for error.

Then he tried his first big turn. He described accelerating gently into it, the way you would in a car, and came out the other side saying this was a lot of fun. On the next straightaway he was up to 6 miles an hour. Not fast by any measure, but fast enough that he'd stopped thinking about every single input and started enjoying the ride.

That's a good place to pause, because it's a milestone. In under two minutes, a 51-year-old who had never ridden an e-trike had turned it on, gotten it moving, learned the throttle, learned the steering, felt the stability, and taken a turn he was happy with. Everything after this point was about building on that foundation.

Once Brian had a straightaway in front of him, he started to let the trike stretch its legs a little. The display ticked from 6 to 7 to 8 miles an hour, and he announced it with mock drama: "We are at a whopping 8 miles an hour." It's a funny moment, but there's something real underneath it. For a first ride, 8 miles an hour is a meaningful step up from walking pace, and he got there without any sense of strain.

His very next comment wasn't about speed at all. It was about comfort. He said the ride was very comfortable and that the seat was very comfortable as well. That theme kept coming back throughout the video. Brian mentioned the seat on the straightaway, again when he got out onto the street, and again near the end. When a beginner keeps bringing up the same thing without being prompted, I pay attention. If comfort is at the top of your list, our collection of the most comfortable electric trikes is built around exactly that priority.

Learning the turns at a little more speed

Coming into his next turn at about 7 miles an hour, Brian made an observation that I think every new trike rider should hear. He said he could see how you could possibly do things a little too fast. Then he took the turn and said he felt like it was a perfect turn.

That combination is exactly the right mindset. He recognized that a trike, like any vehicle, has limits in a corner. He respected those limits. And because he respected them, he executed the turn well. Speed management going into a turn is one of the few things on a trike that truly needs your attention, and it's the reason I always tell new riders to slow down before the turn, not during it. Brian did that instinctively by the time he'd been riding for a couple of minutes.

The brakes, front and back

Right after that turn, Brian walked through the braking system. He described it as really easy: there are brakes up on the left and right of the handlebars, one controlling the front and one controlling the back. He didn't make a big deal of it, and that's a good sign. Brakes on a beginner's bike should be the kind of thing you understand in five seconds and never have to think about again.

Later in the ride, he added a detail that connects back to the handlebar shape. He said he loved how the handlebars lean back toward him, so he didn't have any issues reaching to brake. That's an ergonomic point worth noticing. When the bars come back to you, your arms aren't stretched out, your hands rest naturally over the levers, and stopping becomes a relaxed motion instead of a reach. If you're comparing brake setups across different trikes, our e-trikes with disc brakes are a useful place to see how different models approach stopping power.

"A lot easier than actually riding a bike"

About three minutes in, Brian summed up his experience so far. This was his very first e-bike experience, he said, and it was a lot easier than actually riding a bike. Then, with a laugh, he added that he didn't have to worry about that pesky cardio anymore.

I'll take the joke in the spirit it was meant, but I want to add one honest note from my side, since I know some of you are thinking about a trike for fitness. The assist is there to help, not to take over completely. Brian chose to ride mostly on the throttle for his first outing, which makes total sense when you're learning the controls. But as he pointed out early in the ride, you can pedal whenever you want. Plenty of riders use the motor to make exercise accessible rather than to avoid it, and if that's your goal, our electric trikes for exercise are worth a look.

Feeling the lean, and staying in control

Here's one of the honest moments I promised to keep. Brian noticed that if he accelerated too quickly, he could sometimes feel the trike leaning. He didn't hide that or skip past it. But he followed it immediately with the part that matters: it was very easy to get under control, and he never felt out of control at all.

Then he spoke directly to the beginners watching. If it's your first time on an e-bike, he said, and you're worried about it just taking off on you, he felt very safe on this. That's the fear I hear constantly in fittings, that the motor will grab and the bike will run away from you. Brian experienced the bike's acceleration, felt the weight shift, and came away feeling safe. That's a more convincing answer than anything I could tell you on paper.

A little later he braked a bit before a turn and admitted he was still trying to lean into the turns, calling it a lesson he had to learn. Old habits from two-wheel riding don't disappear in five minutes, and they don't need to. What matters is that he noticed it, corrected it, and kept going.

A top speed that felt fast enough

By this point in the ride, Brian's top speed was 10 miles an hour. He said that honestly felt pretty fast to him. He acknowledged that you can obviously go a lot faster on these, but he was going to keep it slow, because, in his words, he's 51. His "young man days of going faster" were behind him.

I love that he said this out loud, because it gives permission to everyone who feels the same way. You don't have to ride an e-trike at its limit to enjoy it. Ten miles an hour on three stable wheels with a comfortable seat underneath you is a genuinely pleasant way to get around. Brian finished this stretch by saying he was very comfortable on the bike, that he loved the space, and that he felt so confident with the two wheels behind him. And then he decided he was ready to get a little more adventurous.

Every first ride has a moment where you leave the safe, empty practice area and head out where real life is happening. For Brian, that moment came a little over four minutes in. He said he was going to take the bike on the street and try riding on the sidewalk. This section of the video is the one I'd recommend first-time riders watch most closely, because it's where the practical lessons pile up.

Before we get into it, one quick word from me. Whether you can ride an e-trike on the sidewalk depends on where you live, so check your local rules before you plan routes that rely on it. Brian was in an office area with light traffic, and he stayed alert to everyone around him, which is exactly how you should approach any shared space.

Watching the curbs

The first thing Brian flagged once he was moving through the streets was the width of the trike. He said that with the bigger wheels, you have to make sure you don't clip a curb, and he was being mindful of that. This is the most practical piece of advice in the entire ride.

On a two-wheeler, your bike is only as wide as your handlebars. On a trike, the rear axle is noticeably wider, and the back wheels don't follow the exact path of the front wheel through a turn. That means a curb you'd clear easily on a bicycle can catch a rear wheel on a trike if you cut the corner too tight. The habit to build is simple: give curbs, poles, and parked cars more room than your instincts tell you, especially when turning. After a few rides it becomes second nature. On day one, it's worth saying out loud the way Brian did.

Sharing the road

Brian also noted that there were other cars around. He didn't dramatize it, but you can hear in the video that his attention sharpened. Even so, he kept coming back to how comfortable he felt. He mentioned the seat again, and this is where he made his point about the handlebars leaning toward him and making braking easy. That's not a coincidence. When you're in a slightly more demanding environment, a comfortable position and easy-to-reach brakes are what let you stay relaxed instead of tense.

He was honest that he was still easing into higher speeds, but he said he felt more confident even after only a short time on the bike. Then he decided to push a little further down the road and see what it was like with a bit more traffic around. He reminded viewers it was an office area, so he wasn't too worried about crowds, and off he went.

If you're planning to ride anywhere near cars, a well-fitted helmet should come along every time. Our sixthreezero helmets are an easy place to start if you don't already have one.

A child on the sidewalk

As Brian moved up onto the sidewalk on the right, the video captures one of those moments every rider eventually has. He spotted a person, then a child, in his path. His reaction was calm and immediate. He simply changed his route and went down a different way instead.

I want to highlight this because it shows exactly what good beginner riding looks like. He didn't panic. He didn't try to squeeze past. He had his speed low enough that he had time to see the situation, think about it, and choose a different path. That's the benefit of keeping your speed modest in shared spaces, and it's the benefit of a trike that's stable at low speed. A two-wheel rider moving that slowly might wobble or need to put a foot down. Brian just steered away.

Going downhill and the urge to lean

Next, Brian hit a gentle downhill section. He said he was going to ease up on the power a little, which is exactly right. Gravity is helping you on a descent, so you need less from the motor, and you want to keep your speed where you're comfortable.

Coming off that stretch, he made another honest observation. Sometimes, he said, he finds himself leaning when he's getting onto these different terrains. But he followed it with the key insight: the trike is very sturdy on its own. You really don't have to do much to hold your balance on it, and that's something to get used to.

That last phrase is worth sitting with. On a trike, the unfamiliar part isn't learning to balance. It's learning to stop trying to balance. Your body has been doing that job for as long as you've ridden bikes, and now the bike is doing it for you. It takes a little time to trust that, and Brian was clearly in the middle of that process, which is exactly where you'd expect a first-time rider to be.

Choosing a route on the fly

The last part of this section is Brian working out where to go next. He heads down the street, considers going up onto another stretch of sidewalk, then decides he can just stay on the street. It's a small moment, but it shows a rider who's comfortable enough to make route decisions in real time rather than following a pre-planned path with white knuckles.

His summary of the whole stretch was short: very comfortable. If you'd like a structured way to think through where and how you'll ride before you choose a trike, our bike buyer's guide walks through the questions that matter most.

The final stretch of Brian's ride is where everything he'd learned came together. He started it by noting how easy the trike was to turn around, which is something new riders often worry about, since a wider three-wheeler can seem like it would need a lot of space. He then lined up a clear stretch and decided to see if he could get a little more speed.

From 10 to 16 miles an hour

The display climbed steadily. Ten miles an hour. Eleven. Thirteen. And as it climbed, Brian said something that I think captures the appeal of an e-trike better than any marketing line: at these speeds is really where the e-trike gets exciting. He hit 15 miles an hour and said, "Oh, very nice."

What I find most telling is that he wasn't just excited about the number. He noticed how smooth the ride was, including a very smooth transition as he went from the road up onto the next surface. Transitions like that are where a beginner tends to tense up, and he came through it relaxed.

He also noticed something about turning at this stage: he didn't have to lean. Compare that to a few minutes earlier, when he was still catching himself trying to lean into corners. In the span of one short ride, his body had started to understand how the trike wanted to be steered.

He ran the speed up once more, 13, 14, 15 miles an hour, and commented on how quick the acceleration was to get that fast. His fastest speed of the day was about 16 miles an hour. Remember that a few minutes earlier he'd said 10 felt pretty fast and he planned to keep it slow. That's not him being reckless. That's confidence doing what confidence does when a bike behaves predictably.

Powering down safely

As he wrapped up, Brian showed how easy it was to power the trike down. He flipped it off right there. He also made a point that every e-trike owner should take to heart: when you're getting off, make sure the bike is set so you can't accidentally hit the throttle. With the motor still on, an accidental bump of the throttle while you're climbing off could move the bike unexpectedly. Turning the power off before you dismount removes that risk entirely. It takes one second and it's a habit worth building from your very first ride.

Brian's verdict

Brian's closing words were simple and enthusiastic. He called it a great, smooth ride and said he highly recommends the bike. He reminded viewers that this had been his first time ever, joked that he hoped he hadn't made a fool of himself, and finished by saying that if you're looking for an e-trike and haven't tried this one, he guarantees you're going to absolutely love it.

I'd add that he didn't make a fool of himself at all. He did exactly what a smart beginner should do: started slow, paid attention, learned out loud, and only added speed once each step felt comfortable.

What first-time riders can take from Brian's ride

Looking back over the full eight minutes, here's what I'd pull out for anyone getting ready for their own first ride.

• Start in an open, quiet space. Brian spent his first few minutes in a low-traffic area before heading out to streets and sidewalks, and that sequence is exactly right.
• Steer with the handlebars, not your body. Expect your old two-wheel habits to try to make you lean. Smooth, subtle handlebar inputs are what turn a trike.
• Slow down before turns. Brian noticed you could take a turn too fast, respected that, and nailed the turn.
• Give curbs and obstacles extra room. The rear of a trike is wider than you're used to, and the back wheels cut inside the front through a turn.
• Let the bike do the balancing. The hardest adjustment isn't learning balance, it's trusting that you don't need to hold it.
• Power off before you climb off. A quick switch-off keeps an accidental throttle bump from moving the bike.

Making sure your first ride feels like Brian's

A big part of why Brian felt comfortable so quickly was that the bike fit how he wanted to ride: an easy seat, handlebars that came back to him, brakes within easy reach, and a pace he chose for himself. Fit is the piece most people skip when they shop online, and it's the piece I spend most of my days on. If you want help matching a trike to your body and your riding, start with our personal fitting and we'll walk through it together.

It also helps to know you're not locked in after your first ride. Our 30-day test ride gives you time to go through exactly the kind of learning curve Brian did, at home, on your own streets. And if you're near us and would rather feel it for yourself before you buy, you can visit our store and test ride in person.

Brian went from 4 miles an hour and a lot of nervous energy to 16 miles an hour and a wholehearted recommendation in a single short ride. If you've been wondering whether you could do the same, his video is about as clear an answer as you're going to get.