What makes the Honda 3 wheeler more dangerous than a quad bike?

Question

So I was talking to a guy about motorbikes, 3 wheelers and quads yesterday. He said that the 3 wheeler didn't have something and that made it dangerous and was the reason quads are more successful. I know they have no suspension etc and obviously have one less wheel but what else is there? Something about the actual engineering of the vehicle? I'm not talking about inexperienced riders. Anyone help?

Answer 1

biggest problem with them was turning. Due to the lack of a differential the only way to get them to turn was to lift the inside wheel ie lean outwards on the corners. Scary but fun until you found yourself going diagonally down a steepish slope into water & found the only way to not end up in the water was to tip the whole thing over on yourself. Nasty bloody things

Answer 2

Honda 3 Wheelers

Answer 3

First, do you and your family a favor and take a motorcycle safety course as you have already mentioned. There is a huge difference between riding quads off-road and riding a motorcycle on road with all the idiots in cages. Second, obviously always wear a helmet..a $100 helmet saved my life a few years ago... Finally, to fully answer your question - I would suggest a 600cc GSXR if you are set on getting a GSXR... anything smaller is just not going to have enough umph for your size (I'm 6'4" and 245). However, I suggest getting a slightly older bike that doesn't have all the expensive plastic - you will save boatloads on insurance. Each piece of plastic on a crotch rocket is very expensive to replace. Your age isn't that young - I started riding offroad on bikes around age 9 and began riding on road the day I turned 16. I would wait until you have at least 6 or 12 months of actual street riding under your belt before considering a modern crotch rocket. I personally still ride my 1979 Yamaha XS11 and it is actually, believe it or not, a good starter bike for us larger folk. Just because the power is there doesn't mean you have to use it.

Answer 4

The short wheel base made a front flip possible with small bumps encountered in just the right place to set up a harmonic bounce. The flipped upside down 3 wheeler striking the operator thrown over the bars face down sliding along struck in the middle of his back with the rear seat.

Answer 5

They had suspension, but they did not have a differential, which means that in a turn the inside wheel is rotating at the same speed as the outside, this in turn means that when turning the trike has compromised grip, which adds to the compression of the inside suspension.



On level ground that makes the trike less stable, but on rough, or worse, sloping ground combined with a high centre of gravity, weight distribution and a short wheelbase (distance between fore and aft wheels), then the result is that it will turn over trapping the rider underneath.

Answer 6

The biggest problem is that cornering while decelerating is likely to cause a "high side" crash. Old-timers remember the venerable steel tricycle for children and the introduction of the Big Wheel cycle in the '60s. The upright steel tricycle fairly quickly disappeared from the market because the low design was so much safer.



I have a friend who rode and raced dirt bikes for more than a decade before he tried out a three-wheeler in the desert. He said it really scared him. His biggest complaint was the solid rear axle, even as he admitted a differential would make it worse. Anyway, he was making a turn and ran over a ridge of rock exposed through the soil. The front wheel bit on the rock and made the nose tuck in sharply, and an instant later the rear wheels bit instead, making the nose run wide. He over corrected and had to use body English, completely hanging himself over the side of the ATV, to prevent it from rolling over. He said he expected to have to let it go before it settled down on all three wheels again.

Answer 7

He said that the 3 wheeler didn't have something and that made it dangerous and was the reason quads are more successful. I think so.

Answer 8

2 wheels in front is much more stable as the weight pushes toward the front when you slow down and turn. They call them 1-2 or 2-1 referring to the front vs rear wheel setups. Notice the new Can am spyder has a 2-1 setup.

Answer 9

Three wheels and center of gravity.



You can tip most of them over on flat ground with the engine off by leaning.



Turning while accelerating or braking was next to impossible (without a fair amount of skill/practoce).

Answer 10

Physics. It's simple. 3 wheelers are bad designs. Just ask your kid who road that tricycle and kept falling.

Answer 11

Three wheelers,... can flip over back-wards very easily, on abrupt acceleration,..or going up a steep incline.....That is the issue with them.

Answer 12

about as safe to ride as a nuclear bomb. Very hard to steer. easy to flip over. Hard to find one still running now.

Answer 13

they have not been made for a long time now, because of tip over problems..the government put a stop to them

Answer 14

The govt' made them illegal to save us from ourselves. Ridden properly, they are as safe as anything...look at all the old ladies riding Harley and goldweiner trikes these days.