Can an eBike Rickshaw Handle Grass? Our Real-World Test With Three Kids On Board

Why I Took the eBike Rickshaw Onto the Grass With All Three Kids

I've spent about 20 years in the bike and e-bike industry, and one thing I've learned is that people trust what they see more than what they read on a spec sheet. So instead of telling you how our EVRYjourney eBike Rickshaw handles a soft field, I loaded it up and rode it across one. The extra seat was attached to the back, and the passenger list was my three boys: Dylan, who's nine, Trey, who's seven, and Hudson, who's four.

That's not a staged test with a professional rider and a sandbag for ballast. That's a dad weighing about 230 pounds, three kids who did not always agree on who got to sit where, a park, a school track, and the sidewalks around our neighborhood. If you're shopping the electric rickshaw lineup because you want to haul your family around, this is pretty much what a normal afternoon is going to look like for you.

Why grass is the test I wanted to run

Pavement is easy. Almost any electric trike will look good rolling down a smooth street. Grass is a different animal. It's soft, it's uneven, the ground underneath can be firm in one spot and spongy a few feet later, and your tires want to dig in instead of rolling over the top. Add three kids and an adult on board and you're asking a lot of the motor, the battery, and the rider.

A lot of the families who call us aren't planning on riding only bike paths. They want to cut across the park to get to the playground. They want to roll out onto the field at a soccer game. They want to get from the parking lot to the picnic table without unloading everybody and walking. So the question I hear over and over is simple: can this thing actually handle grass with people in it? I wanted to answer that on camera instead of guessing.

The setup: a rickshaw with an extra seat on the back

The EVRYjourney eBike Rickshaw already gives you a passenger bench behind the rider, which is the whole reason people buy it. On this ride I had our extra seat attached at the hitch on the back, which is how I fit all three boys. If you're browsing models built around carrying people, our e-trikes for passengers collection is the best place to compare your options side by side.

I'll be honest with you about one thing up front. When you're riding with that many passengers, the ride is only as enjoyable as the people in the back. I said it during the video and I'll say it again here: you want kids that get along. Within the first minute, Trey was pulling on my helmet, and later on there was some crying from the back while I was trying to call out speeds. That's real life. I left it in the video because I'd rather you see the honest version than a polished one. The trike doesn't care who's arguing; it just keeps rolling. But you'll enjoy the trip a lot more if you lay down a few seating rules before you leave the driveway.

Three power options for different riders

We have a couple of different versions of the eBike Rickshaw. The one I rode for this video has a 750-watt front hub motor. We also have a dual-motor version coming, and a 1000-watt mid-drive as well. The reason that matters is simple: not every family, every rider, and every neighborhood is the same. If you're a lighter rider on flat ground, the 750-watt front hub is going to feel plenty strong. If you're heavier, you're carrying a full load of passengers every day, or your area has real hills, more power is going to make your life easier.

I'm not going to throw a bunch of numbers at you about the other versions here, because the best place for current specs is the product page itself. What I will tell you is that the 750-watt front hub you're watching in this test is the baseline, and it handled everything I threw at it on this ride. If you want to see how the different motors and models line up, start with our full electric tricycle collection and filter from there.

Who this ride is really for

If you're a parent trying to replace some of those short car trips with something your kids actually look forward to, this ride is for you. If you're a grandparent who wants to take the grandkids to the park without loading car seats, it's for you too. And if you're just curious whether a big three-wheeler with passengers can leave the pavement without getting stuck, keep reading. I'm going to walk you through the grass, the sidewalks, a few inclines, a hard-packed dirt track where we checked our top speed, and some tight turns at the end.

Along the way I'll tell you exactly how I used the throttle and the pedal assist, where the trike felt easy, where it had to work, and what I'd do differently if the grass had been wet. That last part matters, because how you ride on soft ground makes a bigger difference than most people think.

Let's get into the part you came for. Riding on grass is going to be more difficult than riding on pavement, and there's no way around that. Your wheels sink in more. The ground pushes back. Every rotation of the tires takes more energy than it would on a street. That's physics, and it applies to every bike and trike out there, not just ours. The good news is that the eBike Rickshaw handled it with no problem, even with me and three kids on board.

Why soft ground makes everything harder

When you ride on asphalt, your tires barely deform the surface, so almost all the energy from the motor goes into moving you forward. On grass, the tires press down into the turf and the soil underneath. You're essentially climbing out of a tiny dip with every turn of the wheel. Add weight, and the tires press in deeper. With a rider my size plus three passengers, there's a lot of weight pushing those wheels into the ground.

That's why the extra traction of three wheels and a stable platform helps. You're not balancing. You're not worried about the front end washing out the way you might on a two-wheeler in soft dirt. You can focus on keeping a steady pace, picking a smooth line, and letting the motor do its job. If soft ground is going to be a regular part of your riding, it's worth also looking at our fat tire electric trikes, since wider tires spread the load out over more surface.

Making a loop: how I rode it

I didn't just ride in a straight line. I made a loop across the field, cut around, and came back so you could see the trike turning on soft ground, not just rolling forward. Turning on grass is where a lot of riders get nervous, because the tires can scrub and the steering can feel heavier. My approach is simple: don't rush it. Start the turn a little early, keep your speed steady, and let the trike come around in a smooth arc instead of cranking the bars.

The ground we were on was dry, which made a difference. If this grass had been wet, it would definitely have been a lot more challenging. Wet turf is slicker, the soil underneath is softer, and the tires sink deeper. If you're heading out after a rain or early in the morning when there's heavy dew, expect the trike to work harder and give yourself more room for turns and stops.

Throttle or pedal assist on grass?

This rickshaw gives you two ways to use the motor. You have a throttle, and you have five levels of pedal assistance. You can use whichever one you prefer, and most riders end up mixing them depending on the situation. On flat pavement, a lot of people love just cruising on the throttle. On terrain like grass, though, here's my honest advice: plan on using the pedal assist.

The reason is that, depending on weight, the throttle alone may not give you enough power on soft ground. When you pedal with assist on, you're adding your own legs to the motor's output, and that combination is what gets a heavy load moving through resistance. The heavier the total load, the more that matters. Remember, I'm 230 pounds, and I had three kids behind me.

Now here's the part I love, and it's exactly why I don't like making absolute statements. Right after I said the throttle might not be enough, I tried it, and it went. Throttle only, no pedaling, rolling across the grass. So it can be done. What I'd tell you is this: the throttle-only experience on grass is going to depend heavily on your weight, your passengers' weight, how soft the ground is, and which motor you choose. If you want to know you'll get across that field every time, pedal along with the assist. If you're lighter, the ground is firm, and you just want to cruise, the throttle may do the job by itself. If throttle riding is a big part of how you want to use a trike, our electric trikes with throttle control is a good page to bookmark.

The battery behind it

Pushing through grass with a full load uses more energy than cruising on a street, so battery capacity matters. The rickshaw I rode has a 21 amp-hour battery. I'm not going to give you a range number from this ride, because range on grass with four people on board is going to look very different from range on a flat bike path with one rider. What I will say is that a bigger battery gives you more breathing room when you're asking the motor to work hard, and this ride didn't leave me worried about getting home.

Weight is the biggest variable

Every time I talk about performance, I come back to weight. Two families can buy the exact same rickshaw and have very different experiences because one family has two small kids and a lighter rider, and the other has three bigger kids and a heavier rider. Before you buy, add up your realistic total load: you, your passengers, and anything you'll be carrying. Then compare that against the capacity listed on the product page. Our high weight capacity electric trikes are a good place to start if your number is on the higher side.

Once we'd proven the point on the grass, we headed back onto the pavement, where, as you'd expect, everything got a lot easier.

The moment the tires rolled back onto pavement, the trike just woke up. It's quite a bit easier, obviously. There's no sinking, no extra drag, and the motor's power goes straight into moving you forward. For most families, this is going to be 90 percent of their riding, and it's where the eBike Rickshaw really feels at home.

We were on our way back toward the house, but I also wanted to take the boys to the dirt track behind the school so you could see how the trike does on a third type of surface. That gave me a chance to show you a typical neighborhood loop on the way: sidewalks, curb ramps, a few turns, and a couple of inclines.

Fitting through sidewalks and ramps

One of the questions I get a lot about rickshaws is whether they're too big to use anywhere except the street. On this ride, I went up onto the sidewalk and down a ramp, and the trike fit through without trouble. You can turn and fit through sidewalks. You do need to be aware of your width, especially at corners and around things like signposts and trash cans, but it's very manageable.

Here's a practical tip from that part of the ride. If you're riding with another person, whether that's a spouse on their own bike or an older kid, have them get behind you when you're approaching a narrow spot like a ramp. A big trike needs a little more room to line up, and it's a lot easier when you're not trying to go side by side through a gap that's only built for one.

Always remember that sidewalk riding rules vary from place to place, and pedestrians come first. When I'm on a sidewalk with passengers, I keep my speed low and I'm ready to stop. A loaded rickshaw is heavier than a regular bike, so give yourself extra stopping distance. Brakes matter on a trike like this, and if strong stopping power is high on your list, our electric trikes with disc brakes page is worth a look.

Riding through the neighborhood

A lot of this stretch was just the kind of riding you'd do on a normal afternoon. We rolled past the YMCA, talked about heading over to Hudson's soccer fields, slowed down to see if we could say hi to a neighbor, and passed a sign for volleyball intramural signups. I'm sharing that because it's exactly the point of a trike like this. It turns a quick trip into something the kids are excited about. They're outside, they're talking, they're pointing at things. They're part of the ride instead of staring out a car window.

At one point I told the boys to hold on tight in the back. That's a habit I'd encourage every parent to build. Before you start, before turns, before any change in surface, give your passengers a heads-up. Kids don't anticipate movement the way adults do, and a simple 'hold on' makes the ride smoother and safer for everyone. And of course, make sure everyone has a helmet that fits. If you need to outfit the family, we carry sixthreezero helmets too.

Inclines and when extra power helps

We hit a little bit of an incline on the way to the track. Honestly, not too bad at all. With the 750-watt front hub, the trike went up it without drama, even fully loaded. For the kind of gentle slopes most neighborhoods have, you'll be fine.

If you live somewhere with real hills, though, this is where the different power options come in. If you want that extra power for hill climbing, it'll make it a lot easier. That's exactly why we offer more than one version of the rickshaw. A heavier rider with a full load of kids on a long, steep street is going to appreciate more motor. A lighter rider on mostly flat roads probably won't need it. I'd rather you buy the right setup for your actual routes than overspend or underspend.

Using pedal assist and throttle on pavement

On pavement, the throttle-versus-assist question gets a lot more relaxed. With all that rolling resistance gone, the throttle alone is usually plenty for cruising, and many riders like that it lets them take a break from pedaling. When I'm climbing, though, I still like to pedal with assist on. It keeps the motor from working as hard, it gives you a smoother feel, and it's a little bit of exercise, which is never a bad thing.

With five levels of assistance, you can dial in how much help you want. Lower levels feel more like a regular trike with a gentle tailwind. Higher levels make the trike feel like it's pulling you along. Most people find a favorite level for cruising and bump it up for hills or for getting started with a heavy load.

Why pavement is home base

Grass and dirt make for great tests, but pavement is where you'll do the bulk of your riding: trips to school, to practice, to the store, or just around the block after dinner. If your plan is mostly pavement with the occasional park detour, the eBike Rickshaw is going to feel easy. If you also need to haul gear rather than people, our cargo electric trikes are built with that job in mind.

Next stop was the dirt track behind the school, and that's where we found out how fast this thing will actually go with a full load.

The dirt track behind the school was a completely different surface from the grass. Instead of soft turf, we had hard-packed dirt. That's a big distinction. Loose, sandy dirt behaves a lot like grass, where the tires sink and the trike has to work. Hard-packed dirt is firm, almost like a rough road, and the trike can really move on it.

A little noise from the front brake

Right as we got going on the track, I noticed some noise from the front. Some dirt had gotten onto the disc up front and it was making a little noise. I mention it because it's a normal thing that happens when you ride off pavement, and it's easy to take care of. It doesn't mean anything is broken.

If you hear something similar after riding on dirt, the fix is usually just cleaning the disc and the area around the brake so grit isn't rubbing as the wheel turns. If you're not comfortable doing that yourself, reach out to our team and we'll walk you through it. I'd much rather you ask than ignore a sound and wonder about it.

I left that moment in the video on purpose. Every e-bike and e-trike will pick up dirt, make a noise now and then, and need a little care. Pretending otherwise doesn't help anybody. What matters is knowing what's normal and what to do about it.

On hard-packed dirt, you can fly

Once we got rolling, you could see the difference right away. On the hard-packed surface, we could fly. The trike felt planted and quick, and the boys were laughing in the back. This is the kind of surface where a lot of families have a blast: school tracks, packed park paths, and firm trails.

I'll repeat the same caution I gave on grass, though. 'Dirt' covers a lot of ground, literally. If the trail is loose, rutted, or sandy, expect it to behave more like the grass did, and plan to use your pedal assist. If it's dry and packed, you'll have a lot of fun with it.

Speed check with a full load

I wanted to see what kind of top speed we'd get with all of us on board, so I told the kids to hold on tight and opened it up. We got up to 15, then 16 miles per hour on the display. That's with me at around 230 pounds and three kids behind me, on dirt.

For a family rickshaw, I think that's a great place to be. It's fast enough to feel exciting for the kids and to keep a good pace on a ride, but this isn't a trike you buy to race. The whole point is a stable, comfortable family ride. Your top speed will vary depending on the version you choose, how much weight you're carrying, the surface you're on, and the assist level or throttle setting you're using. Please don't take my number as a guarantee; take it as a real-world example from this one ride.

A word on passengers and speed: kids in the back can't see what's coming the way you can. Before you speed up, tell them. Before you slow down, tell them. The rickshaw can pick up speed with authority, and you want your passengers braced and ready, not surprised.

Sidewalks and sharper turns

After the track, we took a sidewalk back down, and I wanted to show you how to handle the sharper turns, because that's where new trike riders tend to get uncomfortable. On this ride I made it look easy because it really is easy once you know the technique.

Here's the technique: take it wide, and go slow. A three-wheeler doesn't lean into turns the way a bicycle does. It stays flat, and the weight shifts to the outside. When you add passengers, there's even more weight up high that wants to keep going straight. So you slow down before the turn, not in the middle of it, and you swing wide so you can make a gentle arc instead of a tight, sudden one. Then you come on down smoothly and let the trike settle back into a straight line.

If you're coming down a slope into a turn, which is what we did on the sidewalk, scrub your speed first. Gravity is adding speed the whole time you're going downhill, and you want to be in control before you start steering. Once you've done this a few times, it becomes second nature.

Putting the three surfaces together

So here's how I'd sum up the terrain test. On grass, the eBike Rickshaw can do it with no problem, but it's going to work harder, and you'll probably want pedal assist, especially if you're heavier or the ground is wet. On pavement, it's easy and comfortable, with the option of more power if you have real hills. On hard-packed dirt, it's quick and fun, and you'll want to keep an ear out for a little grit on the brakes. In every case, slow down and take sharp turns wide.

That's a pretty complete picture of what owning this trike looks like day to day. Now let's talk about what to do before you buy one.

If this ride has you thinking about an eBike Rickshaw for your own family, I want to make the decision as easy and low-risk as possible. Buying a family trike is a real investment, and you should feel confident about it before and after it shows up at your door.

Try it for 30 days

We offer a 30-day test ride. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked, no money out of your pocket. That's a big deal with a trike like this, because the real test isn't one ride in a parking lot. It's a few weeks of school runs, park trips, and evening loops with your actual kids in the back. You can read the details on our 30-day test ride page.

One-year warranty, parts and labor

We also warranty everything for one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of it, parts and labor. That covers you while you're putting real miles on it and learning how it fits into your routine. The full terms are on our warranty page.

Come ride one in person

If you want to do exactly what I did in this video, come out and test-ride one. Our location is in San Clemente, California, and you're welcome to test-ride any of our trikes before you purchase so you can make sure you're making the right choice. Getting on the trike yourself, feeling the throttle, trying the assist levels, and making a few turns tells you more than any video can. Directions and details are on our visit our store page.

Not sure which version or size is right for you? Our fitting quiz is a good starting point, and you can always reach out to me and the team directly.

Join the community before you buy

Here's something I recommend to everyone: before you purchase, join our community. We have a Facebook group called sixthreezero Pedalers. Join it before you buy and talk to existing riders. Ask them how they use their rickshaws, what their kids think, how it handles their hills, and what they wish they'd known. You'll get honest answers from people who aren't trying to sell you anything.

Then, once you have your trike, post in the group and make friends. Some of the best ride ideas and tips come from other owners, and it's a great way to feel part of something bigger than just your own driveway.

Track your rides with the app

Finally, download our app to track your rides and compete on the leaderboard. It's a fun way to see how many miles your family is putting in together, and kids especially love watching the numbers go up. You can find out more on our sixthreezero pedaling app page.

Choosing the right rickshaw for your family

Let me pull everything together into a simple way to think about this decision. First, figure out your real total load: you, your passengers, and anything you'll carry. Second, think honestly about where you'll ride. Mostly flat pavement with an occasional grassy park is a very different job from steep streets every day. Third, decide how you want to ride: throttle cruising, pedaling with assist, or a mix.

If you're on the lighter side, you're riding mostly flat ground, and you'll occasionally cross a firm field, the 750-watt front hub I rode in this video handled grass, pavement, a little incline, and hard-packed dirt with me at 230 pounds and three kids on board. If you're heavier, you'll carry a full load regularly, or you've got real hills, look at the higher-power versions. That extra power for climbing will make your rides a lot easier.

And whatever you choose, ride it smart. Use pedal assist on soft ground. Give yourself extra room when it's wet. Slow down before turns and take them wide. Tell your passengers to hold on before you speed up or change surfaces. And if you hear a little grit on your brakes after an off-pavement ride, clean it up and keep going.

Questions? Reach out

If you have any questions at all, leave a comment on the video or reach out to us. You can email the team at theteam@sixthreezero.mom or call us at (310) 982-2877. I'm always happy to talk through which setup makes sense for your family, your hills, and your riding style.

Thanks for riding along with me and the boys. Disagreements in the back seat and all, it was a great afternoon, and that's really what this trike is for. It's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.