Hey guys -

Jeff and I got a bit off the topic in the TdPS. His last
post there said:

I have no problem piloting a trike in the mid to high
20's but when I go down a hill of any decent size,
I'm very quickly in the 30's and the trike does not
feel stable.

I'm glad we got some numbers into this discussion. As it
turns out, I'm actually in very close agreement with Jeff
on this issue. Although we've been talking about tadpole
trikes, I think the same concerns apply to all 'bents and
other bikes as well.

If you've ever been on one of those parachute drops at a
thrill ride park, you've probably felt that irrational
fear that comes as you suddenly approach weightlessness
and watch the ground begin accelerating up toward you.
I say 'irrational' fear, because you probably assessed
the risk before you got on that thing and decided the
real danger was pretty minimal.

When I first read Jeff's comment that he "had to ride
the brakes" on downhills, I thought he was talking about
keeping his speed below 15 to 20 MPH, and for most folks
with normal reflexes, eyesight, mental stability and
such, feeling any kind of serious terror at 20 MPH on a
contemporary middle-of-the-road tadpole is probably very
close to that same kind of 'irrational' fear as the
parachute drop.

However, as you get into that 30 to 50 MPH range, any
concern for personal safety you feel is more in the
nature of 'rational' fear. The actual number for any one
person will depend on his riding abilities and his own
priorities, the trail, the weather, and the trike. I
think most current model tadpoles are stable and safe
at 20 MPH, but at 40 MPH there are definite differences,
and issues like frame stiffness, tracking, weight bias,
track width, wheelbase, seat height and steering
sensitivity begin to become very important. At speed,
brakes play a major role for a rider's peace of mind -
some folks feel uncomfortable with the higher lever
pressures of drum brakes; some discs are 'grabby' or
hard to modulate; brake steering makes some riders
very uneasy.

As a cyclist who's spent remarkably little time on any
kind of two-wheeled recumbent, I'm often intrigued at
the conversations of 'bent bikers comparing their
impressions of long wheel-base, short wheel-base and
lowracers, and who feels safest at what speed on which
machine. Trikes are probably a bit different in that
they require almost nothing in the way of operator skill
or training at speeds up to 'casual cruising', and some
riders seem to be lulled into forgetting that as they
push the limits, trikes begin to demand some of the same
skills and heightened attention that it takes to ride a
bike fast.

Tadpoles are very stable and simple to ride at low to
medium speeds, and their braking ability may be the best
available on any 'normal' road vehicle, but at some
point, a trikey is exposed to the same real risks as any
other cyclist. For me, that transition from carefree fun
(in lower case) to gunfighter-eyed, yellow-alert, battle
stations, play racer mentality usually comes somewhere
between about 30 and 40 MPH. But hey, sometimes even a
little rational fear is FUN! (upper case with exclamation
point)

Regards,
Wayne