Mr Bean has got quite a few laughs out of the little blue car that tips over so easily.
Every once in awhile the subject of tipping over on a tadpole trike comes up and there are always those who want to argue that a tadpole trike is quite stable and hard to tip over. I say hogwash! Tadpole trikes are very easy to tip over. I don’t understand why they think otherwise. If three wheeled vehicles are so safe why are not more of them built? Why don’t we see race cars and other 3 wheeled competition vehicles? So I ask ya … when is the last time you saw a 3 wheeled vehicle in NASCAR racing? You might find one in some sort of clown event being used to get a laugh or two. Have you ever watched motorcycle sidecar racing? The passenger has to keep repositioning himself hanging way over the outside to keep the motorcycle from tipping over. The sidecar is specially designed and built for the passenger to hang on.
Why did Honda drop the 3 wheeled ATV and replace it with a 4 wheeled ATV? And why were there so many lawsuits against Honda over deaths and injuries involving 3 wheeled ATVs? The reason is simple and obvious … THEY TIP OVER! They are not stable. They are not safe.
Yes, most of these 3 wheeled vehicles have the single wheel in the front like a Delta trike which we know tips over easier than a tadpole design with the single wheel in the rear. The same is true of cars. A tadpole design in cars is more stable than a Delta design. Never the less, they will tip over. Here is a tadpole style car showing the inside front wheel lifting off of the ground going around a corner and it was not going very fast nor did it suddenly turn causing this. The driver did not suddenly shift his weight causing it. It simply lifted the wheel.
I speak from experience … lots of experience. I have tipped over on my trike numerous times. It has mainly been while riding on uneven surfaces both on road and off road riding. I have tipped over sitting still. So when someone tells me that they have never tipped over on their trike I just accept it believing they lived a charmed life or don’t do much of anything on their trikes which so readily brings on these tip overs.
I am not trying to say that riding a tadpole trike is unsafe. If I believed that I would not be riding one. It is most important that you know and understand that tadpole trikes can tip over and learn to know their limits so you don’t end up a victim and receive injuries.
I will say this … I would love to have these outriggers on my trike to prevent it from tipping over easily.
Hey, …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
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