Trike Rollover

Our friends Jennifer and Russel were riding our trikes on a nearby trail when Jennifer took a spill. We will ask our friends to wear helmets in the future. She came close to hitting her head on a rock.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Vado
• gnarly wipeout
• trike-x
• suspended trike' vado hd
• recumbent trike
• recumbents
• trice
• scorpion
• wipeout
• trike wipeout

[eukaryon]

Who-hoo Jenn! Do it again!

Nah, I'm glad you are all right. Those rocks were extra scary. Good you missed them. I viewed the frames around 0:15 - 0:16 and it looks like the back end started to slide, which would have been OK, then it grabbed. What straps are those on the pedals? I have not seen that style.

[svbackstreets]

@eukaryon She's wearing bike sandals with SPD cleats.

[svbackstreets]

The trike is suspended and I have ridden it mostly on dirt like this trail. The tires are 2.00 Big Apples. I have flipped this trike at least 6-7 times. Always on dirt. Flipped it 10 minutes into my maiden ride.

This was the second time Jennifer rode a trike. The high and heavy pack undoubtedly contributed.

If you ride on pavement and remember to lean into turns I think rolling the trike is unlikely.

[janmurberger]

It seems like there was a bump right before the rollover that caused the rear wheel to jump out of the curve. It would take delicate handling and/ or maybe a fully suspensed trike to handle that kind of situation.

[janmurberger]

Oversteering due to bad weight distribution in combination with cornering technique. This type of cycle has a very short wheelbase making them a bit more tricky to handle. Important keypoints:

1: Try to keep your centre of gravity straight in to a curve. This means that your hips and the entire bike moves out a bit while the centre of gravity goes in a good line through the curve.

2: Practise hanndling.

3: Brake before cornering to keep maximum pressure on the rear wheel.

[garzascreek]

@garzascreek No, it is not a HPV Scorpion. At first glance it looks like a Taiwanese made trike from Performer. Direct steer trikes like this are a bit more touchy for a novice rider and balloon tires like the BAs tend to slide on hard-pack like this (since there is minimal tread), especially since there was additional weight in the back. I have taken my indirect steer trike with BAs on fire roads like this without incident so maybe there is something inherently unstable ... (append to above)

[garzascreek]

I hope the rider understands how close she came to serious injury without a helmet as her head missed the boulder by inches. And thanks to the rider for being a good sport about allowing the posting of the incident which is probably not her most proud moment.

[garzascreek]

something inherently unstable with that model since it has flipped so many times. The rider did made a classic novice rider mistake and turned away from the skid instead of into it (as you would also in a car) making the flip inevitable. Being able to handle a slide like that will come with more experience.

[thechinadesk]

@svbackstreets

I looked at your tags, and saw "scorpion," Presumably the trike is an HP Velotechnik Scorpion. That's reputedly a very good trike.

Could it be the tires?

KMX makes cheapy trikes, but its website shows riders bombing down rough mountain trails without incident

Presumably the tire wheel setup is everything?

[thechinadesk]

@svbackstreets

Glad to hear that it is unlikely to roll over while riding on pavement.

Good thing tadpole trikes are so very low slung. Even when one does take a spill, the injuries are clearly far less serious than a spill from an upright DF bike. Especially if one is taller than average.

For proper leg extension, my DF seat has to be set at a full meter above the ground. As a result I got hurt pretty badly, twice, in less than half a year. For me, that was the last straw.