This helps me.Lock the elbow of the arm on the outside of the turn.Stear with the arm and flexed elbow on the inside of the turn.Flex left when turning left.Lock right elbow when turning left.Oooop's now I'm confused.

 

You'll get the hang of it. Just practice and ride at your own speeds until you get it down pat. Don't try to keep up with the other riders until you feel comfortable.

 

When I first started riding my trike. I felt I developed new muscles in places I knew there weren't any. The way I see it is. I kept steering the way I thought I should steer. Like when I steer a car. Where as I dont have one of my arms on an armrest. With nothing to rest either arm on. It becomes a constant push and pull. Steer and counter-steer. This is what hurts your arms and leaves you with that unsafe feeling of not being able to safely negotiate your turns.
I read what old school trikers did to safely accommodate their turns. Im sure this is what they came up with before steering dampeners came into the picture. Though, personally there's no need to jump out and buy that product. 1st off. if it's a serious turn. I do lean. It's what comes naturally, because of the 40 yrs of 2 wheel riding. And I'm sure that it helps. It would suck to find out that all ya had to do was to lean. To avoid going over.

This is what I found out to be successful at negotiating my turning.

lets say I'm tooling down a two lane back road at a good clip. In front of me I see the road turning to the left. In advance of entering the turn. I lock my right elbow. Not where you would stop blood flow. But where one arm is rigid or straight. My left arm does the pulling. This way the steer/ counter steer is determined by one arm. Not both. Its as simple as; Right turns, you lock your left arm and left turns, you lock your right arm. I only apply this technique when moving. In a parking lot or maneuvering around through town. I use both arms, without locking either one.
Now as for possibly tipping over. I'm not trying to do that. But I'm always aware of that may happening. I would presume that happening because of crumby road conditions. Catching the lip of the tire. Too much speed for a surprise turn. If I'm reckless. The results will be from recklessness. This winter, I plan on finding a parking lot that is iced over. Just to practice what a slide is all about on a trike.
Though I havent ever gotten my trike up on 2 wheels from cornering. I'm thinking that the feeling may not be that scarey. Because its two wheels that I started riding on. I'll post after that experience, if I crap my pants.

Just take it slow. Allow yourself to adjust to the new required riding techniques. The ones you ride with,... havent a clue of what you have to relearn to sharpen your handling skills. Dont worry about keeping up. If their true friends. They'll wait up on you. And if not. There's plenty of us in here that are relearning, just what your going through.

zoood/RJ

 

Thanks everyone- I feel better already. I'll go back out this week

 

How fast and how many cars did I blow the doors off trying to catch you Saturday night??? HAHAHA

OH, I'm free later after lunch today if you want to do that computer thingy.



To the OP... I was told a few times that riding a trike was point and shoot, easy as pie. I can concur but as stated above, it takes a few miles under your belt in different situations before it comes naturally. Until then, take it at your own pace and learn how she handles. Push the corners only when you know it is safe to do so and you will build confidence. Start turns from the outside and steer toward the apex then accelerate out. You'll love it.

If anyone here tells you that it came natural first day.. well, their nose is growing.

 

It was hard to notice you back there. If you had the bike shades on at that time. I would be able to see you and not loose sight of you while your lights blended in with all the other cagers back there. Also with so many cars on that interstate. It's tough to keep our formation together. However, with that super trike you have. Ill bet the layback was on your part. Just so you could blow by all those 4 wheelers! Letting the four wheelers know that they were left at a stand still by a TRIKE!

hahahahhaa.

I had a blast this past weekend! It was a dam good meet!
I'll have to push the comp tweek maybe till tomorrow. have a lot of orders to finish up today.

 

I live in the mountains and you learn to ride the tight curvy roads or you don't ride. Some curves here you can see your own taillights on. I am not saying this just because I own a Tri but this is a very stable platform. I think it will slide instead of roll over, I have broke the rear end loose a couple of times with just me on the trike and it does raise the pucker factor to the power of 10 over a two wheeler.
The one of the few things I feel Harley got right when they developed this trike was the overall handling. I rode my metrics hard in turns and liked to feel the hardtop on the footpegs, even my 03 Electra has wear on the bottom of the floorboards.
The Tri is a completely different driving experience because it is more like driving than riding a two wheeler. I still can't get over the fact I can now use my brakes going into turns. I still am pulling with one arm and locking the other elbow, if I don't after a couple of hours in these mountains you will feel it at night in your shoulders. I ride sometimes with a coupe of guys and they say they have a hard time keeping up with me. Yes they are on baggers and not crotch rockets.
I have convinced a few about the handling of Trikes in turns is more of a myth, probably started by people who did not spend enough time getting used to their machine or people on poorly set up Trikes.
I don't cut MOCO any slack on some of their built in problems on the 2010 but will give credit where credit is due. They built a well balanced trike that handles well.

 

I find downshifting just be for the turn a ( tight one or hairpin ) then power up in the turn helps. I general ride my ride if I feel I can't keep up with two wheels. I ride what I feel safe with. At times I have to tell myself woud I take this turn in my Jeep this fast. I would also like to know if anyone had to do a avoidence manuver. Locking up rear wheels or sliding out the rear of the trike. Like my kids use to do on there big wheels.

 

62hdbiker,
You solicited opinions so I will offer mine; however, I sincerely hope that I don’t offend you in the process!

I think that you are going about learning process all wrong; rather than going out with a group during the break-in/learning process; I would suggest finding a empty parking lot were you can set your own pace rather than have others set it for you. Make right & left turns, figure 8’s and 90 degree turns at different speeds. Do some panic stops so you become familiar with the TG’s stopping distance; learn what both the TG’s and your limitations are!

After you are comfortable with that experience, find a deserted stretch of back road and expand your learning curve but do it slowly at a pace that is comfortable to you!

The trike will react differently on uneven surfaces so you need to know what to expect; as far a tipping over, I suppose that anything is possible but I suspect that it would take an extremely aggressive maneuver to do so.

You also mentioned that you were sore and uncomfortable…make sure that the stock seat is right for you and that you are not reaching for the handle bars; also you may want to consider buying a back rest. I have an after market Mustang seat with a back rest and absolutely love both of them!

The first fifty miles that I owned my TG, I hated it and thought that I just made a $30k mistake but after familiarizing my self with the trike precisely the way I suggested you do…I now love it and would not part with it. I have been quite outspoken on these and other boards about some of the TG’s and MOCO’s short comings but handling certainly is NOT one of them!!!!!

Good luck and enjoy, these thinks are a kick!

 

Yes Jim that the Backrest does make a big difference. Thanks Again