I'm actually really curious as to how that kid is managing to drift that thing... these old three wheelers were notorious for flipping over if you tried to do that. That's why they ended up getting banned.
Like even on 4-wheeled machines, it takes skill. Body positioning, weigh shifting, throttle management....
Shits easy once you're on the thing for a while. Less pussy more steering.
Watch how he shifts his weight to put more pressure on the inside wheel. If you know how to steer and counterweight properly these things can drift like mad. This kid's really good!
That thing had a low center of gravity. He's only heavy enough to be a good ballast.
It's possible, but it'd be harder as an adult on an adult trike.
probably because kid weighs like 20kg
Slick tires I bet. If it had the same type tires that came on a Big Red he wouldn't be able to do this.
Motorcyclist here, it's not slick tires, he's countersteering. Anything that uses one wheel to steer in the front has to countersteer to shift the mass of the vehicle in the right direction. The reason is that the single wheel acts a like a gyroscope for the whole vehicle (when moving faster than walking speed), aka when you start moving the wheel WANTS to stay up and move in a straight line and resists any attempts to do anything else.
Thus if I want to turn right, I need to turn the handlebars left, so that the gyroscopic effect tries to counter the left-facing tire by pulling to the right (thereby turning in the direction I wanted it to go). The same effect can be achieved by leaning on a motorcycle, shifting your body weight to the right will naturally cause the bars to swing to the left (due to the gyroscopic action of trying to STAY UP) and the bike will turn right.
Three wheelers are more like motorcycles and less like four wheelers.
Perfect examples examples of the differences in steering between one wheel (motorcycles, three wheelers) vs two wheels (cars, four wheelers) in the front can be seen in the following:
Trikes have one wheel up front and two wheels in the back. The downside to this configuration is that they're much more prone to flipping over, which makes them more unsafe, but they do have a much tighter turning radius (much like regular motorcycles).
Polaris Slingshot and Can-Am Spyders have two wheels up front and one in the back, which makes them drive more like cars. The upside is that they're more stable/safe vehicles (and less prone to flipping over) and they do not need to countersteer, but downside is that they have a much larger turn radius.
Motorcycles (including wee Groms) get hailed with 2 fingers down. Trikes get hailed with 3 fingers down. Polarises and CanAms get none. Mopeds/Scooters, look away and may God and the Little Tykes Corporation have mercy on their DUI'd souls.
I get the concept, used to ride a motorcycle every day till went under water during a hurricane. Still say the tires are nearly slick. Maybe not golf cart slick, but doesn't have any real lugs / cleats / knobbies on them either. Bet if it was muddy he would not have the same control. With a Big Red and lug tires you could do the same thing in mud. Traction, or lack of, is still a factor.
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