I recently bought a 1989 GW with a Voyager Trike kit installed. I have put about 600 miles on it so far.
Yesterday, my wife rode on the back, fully loading the GW between us. Got 34.5 mpg traveling backroads with no traffic lights, but varying speeds from 65mph down to 35mph for towns I had to pass through.
The roads were curvy, but not overly so. Still it took alot of hand-shoulder strength to ride the trike as the roads crowned heavily. On two wheels, you'd just be leaning slightly, shifting your weight just ever so slightly. On a trike you're pushing/pulling the handlebars in place of leaning.
Taking sharp turns down a hill was not fun. I had to slow down even more than a car since my trike wanted to continue its forward motion across lanes of traffic and not make a nearly 90 degree left turn.
Straightaways are a blast. Coming to stops is easy. Being in traffic is easy. And riding 2-up wasn't a relearning experience as it might be on 2 wheels.
But i'll tell ya, it's a whole new world riding a trike and not being able to just jiggle a little to avoid a pothole like you would on 2 wheels. And braking... while you don't lose control of the trike under panic braking like you could on 2-wheels, stopping the trike quickly is a no-go. I'm going to have to look into better pads and maybe a red-do of the brake fluid.
I'm still not sold on riding a trike as 2-wheels feels more comfortable one-up, but my wife was an instant fan of the trike since she can get on and off without me holding up the bike and getting in her way as she mounts/dismounts the bike. She also likes the comfort - said she could barely feel the bumps... well, duh, that's because my arms and shoulders were absorbing all the vibration
So if she has anything to say about it, the trike is here to stay. My son liked the trike, but said he would remove the training wheels and see what a GW can really do. I think he'd be impressed - even with the training wheels as to how much get up 'n go that bike has.
Yesterday, my wife rode on the back, fully loading the GW between us. Got 34.5 mpg traveling backroads with no traffic lights, but varying speeds from 65mph down to 35mph for towns I had to pass through.
The roads were curvy, but not overly so. Still it took alot of hand-shoulder strength to ride the trike as the roads crowned heavily. On two wheels, you'd just be leaning slightly, shifting your weight just ever so slightly. On a trike you're pushing/pulling the handlebars in place of leaning.
Taking sharp turns down a hill was not fun. I had to slow down even more than a car since my trike wanted to continue its forward motion across lanes of traffic and not make a nearly 90 degree left turn.
Straightaways are a blast. Coming to stops is easy. Being in traffic is easy. And riding 2-up wasn't a relearning experience as it might be on 2 wheels.
But i'll tell ya, it's a whole new world riding a trike and not being able to just jiggle a little to avoid a pothole like you would on 2 wheels. And braking... while you don't lose control of the trike under panic braking like you could on 2-wheels, stopping the trike quickly is a no-go. I'm going to have to look into better pads and maybe a red-do of the brake fluid.
I'm still not sold on riding a trike as 2-wheels feels more comfortable one-up, but my wife was an instant fan of the trike since she can get on and off without me holding up the bike and getting in her way as she mounts/dismounts the bike. She also likes the comfort - said she could barely feel the bumps... well, duh, that's because my arms and shoulders were absorbing all the vibration
So if she has anything to say about it, the trike is here to stay. My son liked the trike, but said he would remove the training wheels and see what a GW can really do. I think he'd be impressed - even with the training wheels as to how much get up 'n go that bike has.