Rootman

I'm interested in a tadpole trike, we live in the hilly Ozarks and am concerned about tipping forward while descending a steep hill and braking, does this happen? Or is the weight distribution low enough to prevent it?

What about losing traction on the rear wheel while going downhill and making steering skitterish? A friend of mine has a trike with 2 wheels in the back and complains about this going UPHILL.

BlazingPedals

I haven't ridden one extensively, but I think you'll find that it's pretty hard to tip most tadpoles. Assuming you lean, you'd probably be thrown from your seat before the trike lifted a wheel. Deltas are another proposition. Braking shifts weight forward; and with a delta, that's onto only one wheel. Between that and the generally higher seating, it wouldn't take much turning radius to move the effective COG outside the 'triangle of stability.'

Waiting to hear from the many trike riders on the forum...

CraigB

I've wondered the same thing, but since no one talks about it, I had assumed it doesn't happen. Until, that is, I saw a YouTube video of some trike riders on a day tour at Cades Cove, TN. Some interested bystanders who had never ridden a tadpole (or any other recumbent vehicle) asked if they could take a spin around the parking area, and they lifted the rear wheel off the ground while braking. The didn't even come close to hitting the ground with the crank, but it looks like it is possible to temporarily lock up the front wheels, at least at slow speed. If I can find the video, I'll post a link to it.

OTOH, the only time I've ever ridden one was around the parking lot at RBR, and never found the braking to be an issue at all. Granted, I never needed to make an emergency stop, but for general tooling about, the brakes were easily modulated.

Edit: Here's the video. It happens about 11:25 or so. It might happen again to a different rider a minute or two later, I don't recall, and the video seems to be a little glitchy at that spot on my computer.

BlazingPedals

Oh... tipping forward. I don't know if it's a problem, but it can be done if you try. At least one model by KMX Karts used to come with a skateboard wheel on the front so you could hit the brakes hard and ride on it (for a short distance while you coasted.) Kind of a lame trick, though.

Daddy

Trike design, rider weight distribution, braking pattern, tire-roadbed 'grip', rider experience and speed can influence a nose-dive on a tadpole trike.

Some tadpoles have a high seating center of gravity, some feature a really laid back rider position; even the fore & aft weight distribution can lead to a stability issue. Here, the high rider position might be more inclined to 'dive' if a rider is rather tall and top heavy in the seated position. If the rider locks the break up v. letting the trike safely slow down the sudden stopping might tend to throw a rider forward and further induce a nose dive. If the roadbed is somewhat tacky and grips the tire, this might also lead to a nose dive. I have found that at slow speeds which allows the tire to better grip the road that a nose dive is more likely than at higher speeds when the front tires might be more inclined to slide.

Generally speaking, a tadpole trike is more stable than a DF on downhill stopping if all other conditions are comparable. Slowly applying the brakes to both wheels equally and keeping your body position fixed in the seat should negate an unintentionally skateboard type 'nollie' (a nose dive and ring-gear to ground impact that might result in an all wheels off the ground 'pop-up'.

Cades Cove has two clearly marked 'bicycle hills' where riders are encouraged to walk their bikes. These are relatively short but windy descents that are likely 20% downgrades and about once a month there is an accident where someone has been thrown over the front of the handlebars of a DF bike, I have yet to hear of a trike 'nose dive' but I have flat-spotted tires from slides on downhills. FYI:The referenced Cades Cove video is one I did; the trike with a canopy is mine.

aenlaasu

6 years on a tadpole trike and I've never had a problem tipping forward even braking when coming to an intersection at 30+ mph from an 18% grade. I had no idea it could even be a concern! Gravel or ice is the only time I've had moments, up or down hill, where the trike felt twitchy or risked fish-tailing bad enough to potentially flip.

Guess I need to be a bit more wary if it can happen.

digitalmouse

From my experience, it's a combo of weight distribution, center of gravity, and wheelbase that helps determine how quickly a trike will tip forward.

My old Anthrotech, for example, because of it's high seating position *could* tip forward on level ground if I hit the front brakes hard and fast enough. The Leitra (either as trike or velomobile) can do the same under hard breaking, largely due to it's short wheelbase and rider seat height.

My Steintrike Nomad Sport, on the other hand, due to it's lower seating position *behind* the front wheels and longer wheelbase requires a very steep downhill and hard braking to raise the rear wheel off the ground.

I've never had a problem with downhill braking on the Nomad, unless I'm deliberately pushing the envelope of the trike to see where the limits are.

I tend to ride trikes that have brakes on all three wheels, so I apply them evenly back-to-front on downhill rides (when necessary).

My understanding is that low center of gravity, long wheelbase, and seating position as close to the middle of the wheelbase gives you a stable ride in any reasonable direction of travel.

Alternatively, if you purchase a trike with *none* of these attributes, put a bag or pannier over the back wheel and load it up with water, tools, or whatever supplies for your ride/trip/tour.

Trsnrtr

You can tip some tadpoles forward with a little effort but it's not a problem. I suppose that in a panic stop, there's a chance but the chainwheel will hit the pavement before the trike tips far enough forward to be dangerous.

CraigB

Cool! Looked like a very nice ride and the video is doing a lot to fuel my wife's and my interest in getting a tadpole or two, and looking for interesting places to ride them.

rydabent

I have heard of this, but it has never happened to me. I ride a TerraTrike Cruiser equipt with a 26" rear wheel. The 26" wheel upgrade lowers the bottom bracket a full inch, which places it about as close to the ground as is practial. Therefor the chain rings would hit the ground in an extreme stop under some circumstances. In the one extreme stop on my TT that didnt happen. And I mean the trike just about stopped instantly.

10 Wheels

Lock Both Brakes.

Trsnrtr

Rode Cades Cove at The Smokey Mountain Recumbent Rally last May. Nice place to ride.

JanMM

Assignment: Compare and contrast tadpole tipping and cow tipping in 500 words or less.

chandltp

Yup.. I've done it. Ice Sprint RS.. sits pretty low. It was 2 weeks old.

chandltp

FYI, I did it again this morning. Kept the front chain ring off the ground this time though. Air horn wasn't enough to deter the possum from crossing in front of me.

Trsnrtr

I buried the chain wheel on a Catrike Road a couple years ago in a parking lot. The rotors and pads were wet and I was doing some hard braking to dry them out.

Notso_fastLane

I think even with the low cg on a tadpole, it wouldn't be difficult. It can be done a bicycle, and stunt riders and racers do it on motorcycles all the time (I've braked hard enough on my motorcycle to lift the rear off the ground when a car blasted through a 4 way stop that I had just started moving through, so I know mine will...).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEYXcFigJPw

Fast forward to 40 seconds (or just watch the whole thing, it's pretty entertaining.)

Sayre Kulp 

I've owned both a tadpole and a delta.

The delta has issues with the way the weight is balanced and the fact that you have one drive wheel and it is the right rear wheel. Going up too steep a grade made me spin like a compass because the drive would push me counter-clockwise and there was no ballast for the front wheel.

The delta has good brakes. Catrike doesn't sell junk, after all. I decided to test out my emergency stopping ability one day while coming down an incline at around 24 mph. Yeah... I launched myself like a catapult! Bottom line - if you're smooth with your braking, you have nothing to worry about. But if you lock those front brakes up... well....

gcottay

Over thousands of miles I've not had a problem with downhill panic stops. Depending on the trike design and your body position lifting the rear wheel varies from easy to difficult. When you get your trike it would be worth learning how to stop most efficiently.

I've never had a problem with downhill traction loss. Steep, slightly slippery, upgrades have, at times, made me a temporary pedestrian. <G>
In my experience the most dangerous characteristic of a good trike is that it is so stable in cornering until, suddenly, it's not. Taking a corner at 20 MPH can be a breeze while doing it at 22 MPH results in rolling over and sliding on the pavement.

VegasTriker

Lifting the rear wheel off the ground in a quick stop is called a "stoppie" and how easy it is to do depends upon several factors. The picture of the lady in the earlier post shows a pretty laid back seating position on the trike. It's a lot easier to do it on a trike with a more upright seat. The higher and more forward the center of gravity on the rider, the easier it is to lift the rear wheel off the ground. How well the brakes stop is also a factor. I have two tadpole trikes, one with Shimano Deore mechanical disk brakes and the other with Hope C2 hydraulic disk brakes. A hard pull on the Hope brake levers will ALWAYS lift the rear wheel off the ground at moderate speeds, even if I was going uphill. Not so using the Shimano brakes. The stopping power of the hydraulic brakes is truly amazing. The only time I have ever had a problem with the Hope brakes was on a wet surface when I braked with only one side and immediately did a 360 degree spinout on a very slick wet street. I've used the Hope brakes on a steep twisty road in Death Valley several times and had no problem with steering control at 30+ mph as long as I pulled equally on both brakes.

chandltp

Once you have all the weight off the back wheel, you're going to be stopping as fast as possible. I don't see how the type of brake is going to make a difference there.. other than maybe they're easier to modulate.

rydabent

janMM

We just milked our cows and prefered them upright at the time.

rydabent

If the front wheels on a tadpole trike are basically locked up, the type of brake disc, drum, hydraulic or mechanical is not really relevant.

VegasTriker

It was my experience with the mechanical disk brake made by Shimano that I would have to pull extremely hard and fast to get the trike to do a stoppie. The Hope brakes transmit a lot more stopping power to the brake pads with not that much effort.

I watched a brand new 13 year old trike rider lift the rear wheel on a Trident Spike yesterday. It was his first ride on the trike and when he came to a modest hill he got very concerned about going too fast. He pulled hard on the brakes and was surprised to have the rear wheel lift. The seating on the Spike is higher than on either of my tadpole trikes so it is easier to accomplish since the CoG is higher as well.

mobilemail

Re: the braking, I've seen a guy do a stoppie, and I've had some concern going down some of the bluff hills along the Mississippi. I plan to consider options for a back brake over the winter. The other advantage this brings is that it allows you some speed control that doesn't induce "brake steer", the trike's tendency to veer off if the brakes aren't applied with equal force. Gets a little interesting on a narrow-road quick downhill with a car coming.
Re: the traction. My Terratrike back wheel will break traction on a loose gravel uphill, I have learned to apply slow, steady force to reduce the issue. Appropriate width tires and tire pressure adjustment will be your friends in this case. Personally, I think it's kinda fun to slide a little around a gravel corner, gives me that "Big Wheel" feeling.
Re: triking in the Ozarks. You da man!!!!!