What Features E Trikes Have That Regular Tricycles Don't: What Makes Electric Trikes So Secure

The features e-trikes have that regular tricycles don't have make them so much safer.

Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. Today, we will talk about the features e-trikes have that regular trikes don't have, which makes them so much safer. I've got three amazing e-trikes here from Sixthreezero. Our Simple Glide standard fat tire and our Relaxed body. Now, electric tricycles have burst onto the scene in the last few years, and they're gaining popularity, not only with seniors but anyone who has balance issues or anyone who honestly just wants three wheels and more cargo space in the back. E-trikes are practical for running errands, getting exercise, you name it. The big difference between an e-trike and a standard trike is that an e-trike has a motor, but with the onset of e-trikes, you are seeing the introduction of all sorts of features that were never present on regular tricycles. Now, regular tricycles have been around for years and years and years, and they still are practical. A lot of senior riders like them.

A lot of businesses use them for campuses to ride around and to pedal. But the reality is that the feature sets and also the types of frames and geometries that exist for regular tricycles are nowhere near as vast as e-trikes, and even in the short amount of time e-trikes have existed, the amount of innovation that has happened is far greater than the innovation that's happened on a tricycle in the last 50 years. So the reason for that is that by adding a motor to a trike, you're now expanding the possibilities vastly. Regular tricycles, while they've always been good for the short around-the-neighborhood commuting, and don't get me wrong, there are some recumbent trikes with thinner wheels that you see people out. They're designed like road racing trikes. Those are good for a certain type of rider as well. But for an over-60 rider who maybe doesn't have the leg strength and needs a comfortable riding position, tricycles can be very cumbersome, and they can be very difficult to ride as well. They're heavier, you've got three wheels on the ground, which create more friction, which creates more resistance, and just overall makes it more difficult to pedal. So, I think this is why you found that a lot of the features you're finding on e-trikes are not present on tricycles.

One example is fat tires. A lot of riders love the fat tires because the extra width creates more stability. Now, you can put those on a regular tricycle, but it is gonna be very, very difficult to pedal if you do not have a motor. The reality is with a four-inch wide tire, you have a lot of friction. Yes, increased stability, but way more difficult to pedal. Now, putting a motor on it and using a low level of assistance, like level one, becomes a lot easier. And you have that added stability. So what you find in E-trikes is now you've got way more stable models that exist than regular trikes. Because you have fatter tires, you also have varying geometries, like the Relaxed body, like the Simple Glides, which are recumbent style. Again, with these longer, bigger frames, they may have originally been challenging for riders to pedal under their power. Now, again, add the pedal assist. It becomes easy for everyone. Also, you can take them around town. You can take them up hills. Having the assistance of the motor makes everything so much easier and expands the possibilities for all different types of riders. Now, the other element that you find on e-trikes that you really won't find on regular tricycles is disc brakes.

Now they've been added to e-trikes because when you're traveling at higher speeds with a heavier object like a trike or an e-trike, having the disc brakes ensures that you can stop quickly and easily. Now you're also seeing hydraulic disc brakes. The difference between the two is that disc brakes are pulled with a cable inside, and hydraulic brakes have fluid in the line. So the fluid hydraulic brakes just break a little quicker. They're a little more responsive, but both can stop trikes easily and simply on regular trikes. You're going to often just find standard caliper brakes, with the brake pads on the rim of the tires. Now, again, they work perfectly fine for standard trikes. However, disc brakes are better, hydraulic brakes are even better. So now you're increasing the stopping power. You're also getting a nicer pull on the levers. They pull seamlessly and easily. So again, it's one of those added safety features that you won't find on a regular trike. The other thing, too is when you start adding these upgraded features to a regular trike, you start to drive the price up. Now, on an e-trike, it gets built into the price a lot easier, into the price easier because electric trikes are already north of $1,000. So adding a disc brake to it isn't going to raise the price too much as a percentage of the overall price.

When you start putting these features onto a lower-level tricycle, let's say you all of a sudden bring the trike price up to $1,000, does somebody want to pay $1,000 for a regular price trike? When you for 1500 or 2000 could get an electric tricycle. So you get these added safety features as you move into an e-trike because from a build perspective when you're building it as a manufacturer, they make sense for the price point, whereas they don't make as much sense for the lower price point for the entry-level if you're driving the price way up with those features. Now, the other cool thing, obviously, about e-trikes is you have the motor. Now, these aren't necessarily safety features, although I will say they're very practical because if you need that assistance to go somewhere, you can utilize the assistance. One cool feature is when you pull the brakes on e-trikes, the motor cuts out. So again, a lot of the safety features have been added to ensure that e-trikes are safe, but in reality, I feel like they've made them more stable and balanced than your standard tricycle. So I would recommend that if you can get comfortable riding an electric tricycle, it is a huge benefit over a regular tricycle, and what you can do with it is so much more vast than what you can do with a standard tricycle.

Now, if you have any other questions at all, please comment below or reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.com, or call us at 310-982-2877. In addition to that, we offer a 30-day test ride on your e-trike policy. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked, no money out of your pocket. Also, we're going to warranty everything for one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of it, parts and labor. And if you want to come out for a test ride, we're here in San Clemente, California at 1046 Kaya-Rocoto, Unit K. Come test ride any of our e-trikes before you purchase and join our community. We have a Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. Join the group before you purchase to talk to existing riders to ensure you're making the right choice. The,n when you have yours, post in the group, make friends, and finally download the app to track your rides and compete on the leaderboard.So thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.