Turning a Trike Safely: How to Stop Your E-Trike From Tipping When Turning

How do you prevent an electric trike from tipping over when turning?

Hey everyone, I'm Duffs, and I have 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. Today we're going to answer the question, how do you prevent an e-trike from tipping over when turning? All right, I've got two of our e-trikes here, our Rickshaw and our Simple Glide. Awesome e-trikes. If you want to check them out, they're linked in the description below. Okay, so let's say you are thinking about getting an electric trike, but you're nervous about being on three wheels, and you're concerned about tipping over when you ride or take turns. Well, I can tell you right now, you are not alone. I get a lot of test riders here, and they all have that same fear, right? They know that if you turn incorrectly on a trike, you can lift your rear wheel.

Main Factors in Specification and Stability

There's a risk of tipping. Now, one thing I want to say is, first and foremost, the stability and the turns of an e-trike also depend on the setup of the trike, okay? So if you look at our Simple Glide here, this is a recumbent style, longer frame, lower seat, fatter tires, incredibly stable. I would say 99 out of 100 people that test ride this e-trike never, have that sensation of feeling like it's going to tip just because of the geometry and how it's set up, make it incredibly stable. Now, similarly to the rickshaw, it's a longer frame, bigger, heavier. It feels incredibly stable, especially with the wider tires. Now, again, as we get into, as you talk about other e-trikes that are more compact, folding, and the rider sits higher up,

I think that's where more people get that sensation of, oh man, I'm gonna tip. Combined with a lot of first-time riders not being used to the feeling of a trike, which is substantially different from a two-wheel bike. So that initial feeling when you sit down is a combination of it feeling like the product's gonna tip, but also the rider's not necessarily comfortable with the e-trike and how it steers and moves. Now, with that said, how do you prevent an electric trike from tipping into turns? Well, the number one way to prevent any trike from tipping into turns is to go slow. That is really the best advice I can give. Of course, you can lean your body weight and shift, which I'll talk about in a second. But ultimately, if you come into a turn way too fast, that's when you're gonna lift the wheels off the ground. Now, you can counteract that because if you take a turn,

let's say you're turning to the left, right? And if you're leaning too much to the inside, that rear wheel will come up. Now, if you're leaning too much to the outside, the other wheel will come up. So it's really about finding that even balance with your butt on the seat. So when I turn to the inside, I lean a little bit to the right, but I'm actually still keeping my weight on my outside butt cheek. Now it sounds a little bit weird. But that's kind of the reality. So, if you're going to come in flying around a turn on a trike and you're leaning too much to the inside, again, that wheel may pick up. So I think it's also important to just make sure you're shifting, keeping that weight down appropriately. But the thing that can make up for all of that, I go back to it, is the speed of the trike. And that's something that a lot of people have to get used to because on a two-wheel bike.

Guidelines for Safe Operation and Turning

1. Riding Slowly: I think that's where more people get that sensation of, oh man, I'm gonna tip. Combined with a lot of first-time riders not being used to the feeling of a trike, which is substantially different from a two-wheel bike. So that initial feeling when you sit down is a combination of it feeling like the product's gonna tip, but also the rider's not necessarily comfortable with the e-trike and how it steers and moves. Now, with that said, how do you prevent an electric trike from tipping into turns? Well, the number one way to prevent any trike from tipping into turns is to go slow. That is really the best advice I can give. Of course, you can lean your body weight and shift, which I'll talk about in a second. But ultimately, if you come into a turn way too fast, that's when you're gonna lift the wheels off the ground. Now, you can counteract that because if you take a turn,
2. Proper Weight Balancing: let's say you're turning to the left, right? And if you're leaning too much to the inside, that rear wheel will come up. Now, if you're leaning too much to the outside, the other wheel will come up. So it's really about finding that even balance with your butt on the seat. So when I turn to the inside, I lean a little bit to the right, but I'm actually still keeping my weight on my outside butt cheek. Now it sounds a little bit weird. But that's kind of the reality. So, if you're going to come in flying around a turn on a trike and you're leaning too much to the inside, again, that wheel may pick up. So I think it's also important to just make sure you're shifting, keeping that weight down appropriately. But the thing that can make up for all of that, I go back to it, is the speed of the trike. And that's something that a lot of people have to get used to because on a two-wheel bike,
3. Slowing Down Before Turning and Accelerating After: You can go into a turn going faster. You actually want to maintain your speed to turn on a bike, right? Slowing down is when you could potentially tip over on a bike, in theory, right? Although you'd have to be going really slow. On a trike, I always tell people to slow down into the turn, accelerate out of the turn, right? Again, on a two-wheel bike, in principle, it's different. You almost want to accelerate into the turn to make sure your wheels stay upright, and you don't tip over. Now, you obviously can slow down a little bit, but imagine a motorcycle, right? You don't want to slow down that much if you're trying to take a turn on an angle with your bike on an angle to the street. You need to keep that momentum going. Now, again, because you're already balanced on a trike, you don't need to create the motion of the wheels to keep you upright. Slow down into the turn, accelerate out of the turn.

Preparation and Adaptation to Riding

That is truly the best advice I can give to you. And as you start to get a feel for how the trike moves, you can get a feel for how to shift your body weight into the turns. It's going to take time if you haven't been on a three-wheel bike at all during your adult life, but you will get used to it just like we all got used to riding two-wheel bikes when we were kids. Give yourself some grace, be patient, and just know that there could be a little bit of a learning curve for you. Now, not always, but don't... Be discouraged if on that first ride it doesn't feel completely natural to you. Again, it's different than a two-wheel bike, and we all went through a learning period on our two-wheel bikes as well. So, if you have any other questions, ideas, or suggestions on how not to tip over an electric trike when riding, please put them below or reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.mom.

Information and Community

Or call us at 310-982-2877. Don't forget, both of these e-trikes are linked in the description if you wanna check them out. Also, we offer a 30-day test ride for your e-trike policy. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket. We're also gonna warranty everything for the first year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of it parts and labor. And if you want to come out for a test ride, we're here in San Clemente, California, at 1046 Calle Rocoto Unit K. Come test ride any of our e-trikes before you purchase to ensure you're making the right choice. And join our community. We have a Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. There are thousands of members in the group. Join before you purchase to talk to existing riders, again, to ensure you're making the right choice. Then, when you have yours, post to the group, make friends, and finally download the app to track your rides and compete online.

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