How to Ride an ADULT TRICYCLE: Retrain Your Brain to Ride a Trike as an Adult or Senior

You need to retrain your brain if you're going to ride a tricycle, stick around to hear what I'm talking about.

Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry, and today I'm going to tell you about why you need to retrain your brain if you're going to start riding a tricycle as an adult. But before I get into it, hit that subscribe button below, stay in touch with us here at sixthreezero. Be the first to know about all the new content we're putting out, giveaways we do, and of course, new product releases.

One other quick thing before I get into it, we at sixthreezero specialize in trikes and e-trikes. I have three of our models right here, our EVRYjourney electric trike, our electric rickshaw trike, and our folding EZ Transit trike. Find these links in the description below if you want to check them out, or there'll be a link up at the top of the video here.

All right, I've done hundreds of test rides with people, adults I should say, that are getting into trike riding that have never ridden a tricycle in their entire life, or maybe rode a tricycle when they were two, three, four years old and have zero memory or recollection of what they did, how they rode it, and the process and what went into actually steering and driving a tricycle.

What I witness firsthand with a lot of these adult riders, a lot of senior adult riders getting into trike riding is when they get on the trike, their first inclination is to tell me something's wrong with the trike, right? It's not moving correctly, it's not steering correctly, it's just not maneuvering the way that they are anticipating it to maneuver. Nine times out of 10, they want me to check the trike, check the handlebars, check the wheels to make sure it's not something with the trike. Like I said, I've done this now hundreds of times to know firsthand it's not the trike.

Now, I do give it a once over just to make sure there's no loose bolts, anything like that, and nine times out of 10 ... well, actually 99 times out of 100 there's nothing wrong with the trike. It's the rider's brain that has been trained to ride a bicycle a certain way, and a tricycle is not a bicycle. Now, I should say a three-wheel bicycle is not a two-wheel bicycle is what it is, and most people I encounter have been riding a two-wheel bicycle sometimes 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 years, and so it becomes unconscious, right? It's like breathing.

We learn to breathe when we come out of the womb and all of a sudden it becomes an unconscious habit. Bike riding becomes very much the same thing, especially for someone who's been doing it for so long. When you get on, it's unconscious, we just do it, and it happens. It's a behind-the-scenes process that our brain is making happen so we can stay up on two wheels and ride.

Now, unfortunately for any reason that you decide to switch to a three-wheel bike, you have to retrain your brain and allow yourself to be open to new information and new learning processes because a three-wheel bike is not a two-wheel bike, it is vastly different. What they say typically with a two-wheel bike, a two-wheel bike is one with your body, you flow, you lean, you go. A trike, you have to steer. So I believe they say maybe with a two-wheel bike, you lean. With a three-wheel bike, you steer.

I see a lot of people that get on as an example, and you can see this is our electric rickshaw, it's a pretty beefy tricycle. Leaning like this is not going to make the bike move. On a two-wheel bike, it will, right? You lean and sort of just guide the handlebars, right? On a tricycle, you have to turn the handlebars just like a car. Imagine if you saw somebody sitting in a car and they were trying to take a left turn. They go on a left green arrow and they start leaning their body to the left, but the car goes straight. It's the same principle on a tricycle, where you need to turn the wheel in the direction you want to go.

I've done test rides in this very parking lot right here, where I've gotten first-time riders on electric trikes as an adult, and they start to go this way and they want to turn. All of a sudden they're yelling to me, "It's not turning," and before I know it, they've crashed into one of these box trucks down here. They came back to me, they said, "I leaned and it didn't move." I said, "Yes, it's a trike. I told you, you have to steer."

The other caveat with that is when you steer, you have to realize you have three wheels, so you can steer the handlebars on a trike at very extreme angles. So if you want to turn, you can turn your handlebars like this, and the trike will stay balanced. On a two-wheel bike, you can't turn your handlebars at 90 degrees and expect the bike to stay upright. There's a certain limitation to the angle you can take on handlebars on a two-wheel bike when you're turning and leaning. On a trike, you need to turn it like this if you want to make a U-turn, if you want to circle, otherwise, you're not going to be able to cut the turns that you want to do.

I see that a lot as well. The first time someone comes into a turn, they start to lean, they end up taking a very wide turn and they're trying to lean to go, and the trike is not moving, right? So as a result, they end up going very, very wide, and at the last minute, they maybe turn the handlebars or don't turn the handlebars.

So when you take a turn, you need to make sure you've turned the wheel. As quickly as you want to take that turn, you'll need to steer the wheel. I see a lot of people, who don't feel that the two wheels are there to balance them. That's one of the parts of retraining your brain is to realize you have the two wheels in the rear, so the bike will balance itself, all you need to do is steer the wheel where you want to go.

Now, on a tricycle also you want to take turns a little slower. Two-wheel bikes, you can lean into it and you're able to move through turns at a much quicker pace. On a trike, especially if you're taking a very aggressive turn, you want to make sure you go slow into the turn, and then you can accelerate out of the turn. But the key to all of this is accepting the fact that a tricycle is different.

I will be honest, if you're switching or getting onto a tricycle as a senior, as an adult for the first time in your life after having ridden a regular bicycle for 30, 40, or 50 years, it may take you some time to adjust to riding a tricycle. If you don't get it on the first try, don't be discouraged, get out, get into a parking lot, take your time, and get familiar with it.

I've done this now several times with people I've followed up with over a few weeks, and I've also witnessed it firsthand on a day with a ride we've done. Some riders, we did a 20-mile ride on trikes one time, and half the riders picked it up with no problem in the first few minutes. One rider even by the end of the 20-mile ride was still a little uneasy about it, but I followed up with them later and they said they finally got it.

Then a lot of times when we do the test rides here, again, every person moves at their own pace. The more ingrained the two-wheel bike process is in your mind, the more difficult it may be for you to adapt to the new steering philosophy of a trike, or there may be no adoption period for you. You may just get onto it, you may understand, you steer and you go.

So it depends, but it's just important to come in with an open mind, focus on retraining your mind, and tell yourself you have to steer a trike. You steer a trike, you lean a bike. You have to steer a trike, steer a trike. That's the most important thing, and leaning on a trike will not move the trike and will not steer the trike.

So, I hope that helps you understand that you need to retrain your mind when jumping into riding a trike as an adult or as a senior. If you have any other questions on the topic at all, please put them below in the comments section, or reach out to us, at theteam@sixthreezero.com, or call us at (310) 982-2877.

Again, all three of these trikes are linked in the description below. Also, they'll be at the end of the screen here, you can click a link to check them out as well. We also offer a 30-day test ride on your e-bike policy. If you don't love it in 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket. That also applies to regular bikes and tricycles. Also, we're going to warranty everything on your bike, trike, or e-trike for a year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of it, no questions asked, and get you the parts and labor covered.

Lastly, join our Facebook pedalers group. We've got thousands of existing sixthreezero members that you can connect with in advance of purchasing, so you can ask them questions, and get comfortable with your purchase. Then once you get your sixthreezero, post in the group, and make friends, and we have an app that you can download to track your rides. It's the sixthreezero pedaler's app. Track your rides, and compete on the leaderboard, it's a lot of fun. So thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey, your experience, enjoy the ride.