Essential Safety Tips for Riding an Electric Trike: Helmet, Parking Brake & More: E-Trike Safety 101

Hi, I'm Diane, and I have been test-riding e-trikes at Sixthreezero. And I want to talk a little bit about safety as it relates to riding in general. And a couple of things you want to consider are where you're riding. Are you going to be in an urban environment, or are you going to be in more of a rural environment? The same rules really apply. One is, first and foremost, always wear a helmet. You just never know. The Simple Glide e-trikes are super safe with stability, but you just never know. You don't have control over what you're doing, but you may not have control over what another rider might be doing or the environment.

Secondly, a safety feature on the e-trikes is the fact that they do have a parking brake. So if you have any type of stability concern, you want to make sure that is in place before you start riding. And on a third note, it's daylight out here now, but let's say that I'm in a busier area right now and I want to go and have lunch with my friends. I want to make sure that I'm parking my e-trike someplace that's safe, meaning that it's in a well-lit area. I don't have a lock with me right now because I wasn't going to stop anywhere, but I want to make sure that I'm going to secure my e-trike the same way you would if you were parking your car. You're not going to leave your car necessarily unlocked.

I'm going to take my valuables with me, and that way I'm going to feel safe while I'm having lunch. My trike's going to be locked. If you wanted to, you could literally remove the battery and bring it in with you, but having a good lock is really important. Taking your belongings with you is important. Speaking of belongings, you also want to make sure that you have things with you when you're on your ride. You want to make sure that you have your cell phone with you in case you have to call anyone, and that you have something to drink in case you get stuck longer or the weather's not perfect. Another thing that I do want to mention is the weather. Make sure that you are checking the weather before you embark on your journey, especially if you're in a more rural area, because as you can see right here, there's not a lot of places for me to hide if really inclement weather came in and it was unsafe for me to ride the e-trike.

I'd have to kind of search for a tree or something if the weather rolled in. You also want to make sure that you're checking the energy level on your battery before you're embarking on your journey. Keep in mind the type of terrain you're going to be riding on. Are you going to be doing a longer ride? Are you going to be riding on a hillier ride? If so, you want to make sure that your energy bar is full before you start your ride. And honestly, I like to start with a full energy bar because I never know what my own energy level is going to feel like. So check that before you're taking off. You also want to make sure that you're doing maintenance on your bike, making sure that it's in good condition, checking the air pressure in your tires, and making sure that the treads look good as well.

And when you go and you're test riding, or you actually purchase your e-trike, you can talk to the people there and find out, you know, what the trikes should look like. Very similar to a car, like in that little penny test. You know, what should you be looking for to ensure that the tires are inflated to where they should be, and that you have the appropriate treads. Also, make sure that you're doing maintenance on your e-trikes so that the brakes are intact as well. Just some helpful hints to make sure that you're riding as safely as possible. Always look for traffic, always look for people, pedestrians, other riders, animals, things like that. There's a lot you can add to your e-trike as well that will make you feel a little bit safer. You can always add a rear-view mirror. Many come with turn signals, brake signals, things like that. So there's a lot you can do for safety in general.

And before you go out on your long ride, do some test riding right in your own neighborhood. Get used to the trike, see what it's like to stop quickly, to start quickly. What does the turn radius feel like? Make sure that you're doing all that testing in a smaller area rather than going out on your first journey and then having to discover what it's like to stop quickly or start quickly. So hopefully those are helpful tips for you as you're going out on your first rides. Come out to Sixthreezero in San Clemente. Test ride a couple of trikes. See what feels best for you. Become familiar with it. Test the safety and enjoy. It's a great journey. Thanks so much for joining me. Have a great afternoon.