30+ years of riding 3 wheelers and...

[riverrat]

I never got seriously injured. So I was riding my 4 wheeler (prarie 360) the other day, and doing a turn around on a fairly steep incline, and the front wheel went in a depression, and the rear wheel rolled over a rock, and to my surprise, I went over. I landed on rocks, and a dead fall hemlock tree with all the dead branches sticking up ready to pierce me. I stiff armed, and legged the fourwheeler, cause I didn't want to get pinned (I was by myself) and I messed up my hand pretty bad(bruised bone), bruised my hip, and gouged my back a bit. I mean, I am fine, and I didn't get pinned, but I just compare that incident to all the years I've been riding three wheelers, and I don't even remember being that scared to be crushed by a 600lb machine. That machine is hard to get away from when it goes over. Also because of its ability, puts you in some extreme circumstances, and makes me queation the whole 4 verse 3 wheeler safety issue. I think I feel safer on my 3 wheelers, even if I cant go places that my 4 wheeler would.

[hang&rattle]

I hafta agree completely with you riverrat. You're reasoning is the same for my kids starting on 3-wheelers (other than the fact that is what they wanted). They had 4-wheelers and I think had a false since of security and tipped them over constantly untill we had to take them away. Put them on dirtbikes and they lost interest. They have such a high degree of concentration on 3 wheels and actually throw these trikes around, and when they have tipped bail easily to the side, You're correct that a 3-wheeler gives someone an idea of what they can & cannot do. AND they are nicer to look at.

[SWIGIN]

If you've rode anything for 30 years and never hurt yourself you are not riding hard enough.....fact!

[Daltons200x]

If you've rode anything for 30 years and never hurt yourself you are not riding hard enough.....fact!
some people dont ride to ride hard tho?

[riverrat]

If you've rode anything for 30 years and never hurt yourself you are not riding hard enough.....fact!

I said I never seriously hurt myself. I've crashed many times, and done lots of stupid things, but for the most part, I consider myself a pretty good rider balancing risk with safety. If you watch my videos I have no problem riding hard. 90+mph on the ice isn't exactly pussy footing it.
I think the worst thing that ever happened to me on 3 wheels was flipping my 110 going up hill backwards and landing my friends handle bars, and we both went down the hill together. But we didn't roll. Somehow my friend managed to roll backwards with me and the trike on top of him down a 50ft hill. What hurt was landing on his handle bars in my lower back. The next day was hard to move around, but it was only bruised bad.

There is a difference between riding hard, and riding stupid. Riding stupid is riding beyond your abilities.

[fabiodriven]

There is a difference between riding hard, and riding stupid. Riding stupid is riding beyond your abilities.

I like that statement. I would have to agree with that.

It is true that some of these new quads are fricken huge! And so heavy! When I was about 18 or 20 I had a Yamaha TT600. It was an awesome bike. I only weighed 130 or 140 lbs or so at the time and the sheer weight of the TT actually helped me because it stayed nice and steady and didn't bounce around everywhere. The only downside was when that machine decided it was time to go down, it was time to go down! There was nothing I could do to save it. It happened to me more than once. Awesome bike though. I'd love to get another one. Hmmm...

[atctim]

I agree with the original post 100% - I feel much safer on a 3 wheeler than a four wheeler. 4 wheelers feel clumsy and too big - even the smaller ones. There is a false sense of security when on one! With a 3 wheeler - you know how they respond to different terrain.

[LonesomeTriZ]

I have never been hurt on a trike. But I have been hurt seceral times on a quad.

[JayBone]

2 months ago 8 of us were at Hatfield & McCoy trails in WV (Rock House) and one of the guys just bought a Kawi 700 Bruitforce for the trip. Same thing happen to him with a roll over. Front tire in a rut down hill and that ass end came right up and over. He had no place to go but with the machine (Broke his wrist). I happen to be close enough to watch the whole thing unfold, but wasn't able to stop it once it was coming over. The weight of a quad is rediculous

[atctim]

Those big quads like that weigh upwards of 700 pounds. The heaviest Trike Honda made was the 250ES Big red - weighing in at just over 400 pounds - so nearly double the weight! YIKES!

[portland250r]

3 wheeler's to me are a lot safer to crash on then a quad.
every time i have rolled a quad i got pinned under it and had to throw the damn thing off me with all the strength i had it really suck's then i was turning on a 250r it went sideway's and threw me off before it rolled on a 3 wheeler you got more time to react and more control of where you hit the ground on a quad the quad is going to decide what happen's.
when you lose control of i big quad the quad is going to keep you onboard everytime i have had an accident on a 3 wheeler i have alway's been thrown away from the bike.
and 3 wheeler's are a lot lighter so there no problem to get off of you when they do pin you.

[Vealmonkey]

I've been tossed over the handle bars and run over a few times. LOL I've even been pinned in a pile up of trikes with what felt like someone elses handlebars up my butt! LOL But luckily I still have my spleen and liver and other internal parts and both my naughty bits. Even though I smacked those poor things into the back of the tank a time or 2! Ouch! I don't ride near as hard now as I once did or as much for that fact. I was never really a big mx or tt or cc rider. I never raced AMA. Only a homemade, local flat track. Nothing sanctioned or fancy. Just fun, a real mom and pop and kids run what you brung kind of atmosphere. Sure it go heated sometimes as people tend to be somewhat competitive, but fun for the most part. People helped each other out if something broke or someone needed a part or a tune up or whatever they needed. But we still tangled tires and handlebars on occasion. I've been pretty lucky. Bruised bones a time or 2. The navy would have crucified me back then for getting broken bones though. LOL

[dcreel]

In 20 + years of riding 3 wheelers I have only had 1 big crash. In '85 my parents had just bought me a new 85 250SX, and we took it to glamis for its maiden voyage. This was back when the little dunes across the highway were open. We were leaving camp and going to the Glamis Beach store. I was going pretty fast showing off a little and hit the whoops . The rear end started swapping and I went down hard. In front of everyone out in front of the Glamis Beach store. Thankfully I was only bruised and battered, the 250SX suffered bent handlebars after a trip to Dirty Bobs he straightened the handlebars, it was good as new. I learned that day not to get in over my head. I've had some serious close calls I managed to pull out of. The funny thing is I have broken bones on my skateboard.

[3wheelmecca]

I agree as well, I have only crashed once on a trike, really. It was on a 125M, I was coming to a "T" intesection in the dirt, and there was a 20 foot cliff at the end of the T, I bailed the trike just as I was coming down. It caved the tank, bent the bars, but landed rubber side down. I feel like I can see more of the terrain I am roosting/riding when on a trike. Especially the R, it seems to give me more view than my friend's TRX250R.

[factoryX]

this thread has a good point. Quads that weigh 600lbs+ are absolutely useless. The sportsman 800 has power steering, and no roll cage? These things are incredibly top heavy and will flip faster than a trike does. Go on youtube and type in atv wrecks and you will mainly see these monsters rolling on top of there riders and most of them are children. I have wrecked once on a trike, and I was hill climbing my tri-z and it came back on me. Whats funny about quads period is there ability to tag every rock on the trail denting rims. :lol:

[The Goat]

was jerking a large palm out of the ground in the back yard with the honda 300.... it was spinning the rear tires and bouncing, and I was refusing to give up. It came up one good time and I landed forward on the throttle. Tires caught the sidewalk and it went straight over backwards. I landed on the tow chain and the bike landed on me. Feet on the pegs, and hands on the bars.

My 100 pound mother runs up freaking out asking how to help... a quick shout to GTFO of the way, and I kicked it back over onto it's wheels, not thinking that I was laying on the tow chain. Snapped taught and I ended up back on my feet with a bruise running from my ass to my shoulder.

Good news is, when I fired it back up I did manage to jerk the palm out of the ground.

[squirrel1182]

I feel really safe of 3 wheels than most four wheels except my old honda. It was so beat there was no plastics or anything so it was light and a low center of gravity.

[UlsterATCFan]

3 wheelers definitely give you more warning time and I've found usually enough time to make some sort of correction or launch yourself away from the bike. With quads, by the time you reach tipping point its almost always too late to do anything about it and I'm speaking from experience. Have to say though, I probably find myself at the tipping point more often on 3 wheelers than quads but that doesn't take away from the fact that :TrikesOwn