Wiz Wheel Trike - Opinions??

I had one for two years. It was great fun but I wouldn't want to tour with it
or go very fast with or without a load.

Like most trikes it was a slow but very steady hill climber. I never found a
hill I couldn't get up on the trike.Very stable standing and at moderate speed.
Above 25MPH things got interesting. The pedal steer and the individual brakes
(great brakes by the way) made for a very squirrley ride and I never felt
stable at high speed.

Getting in and out was an issue. With a seat height of about 10" and a fairing
it became a real challange.I also found that unlike my other recumbents (Rans
Stratus/US made EZ-1/EZ-3 Aluminium ) it tended to transmit a fair amount of
road shock.

I likened it to my long departed MGA,great fun attracts a lot of attention but
for the long haul I'll take any of my other 'bents over the TT.I'd choose the
Stratus over all of them.

I don't think these issues are unique to the TT. I had similar experiences with
a Greenspeed.

YMMV

Good luck and keep us posted.

Guy in MD

"B17 GUY" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had one for two years. It was great fun but I wouldn't want to tour with
it
or go very fast with or without a load.

Like most trikes it was a slow but very steady hill climber. I never found
a
hill I couldn't get up on the trike.Very stable standing and at moderate
speed.
Above 25MPH things got interesting. The pedal steer and the individual
brakes
(great brakes by the way) made for a very squirrley ride and I never felt
stable at high speed.

Getting in and out was an issue. With a seat height of about 10" and a
fairing
it became a real challange.I also found that unlike my other recumbents
(Rans
Stratus/US made EZ-1/EZ-3 Aluminium ) it tended to transmit a fair amount
of
road shock.

I likened it to my long departed MGA,great fun attracts a lot of attention
but
for the long haul I'll take any of my other 'bents over the TT.I'd choose
the
Stratus over all of them.

I don't think these issues are unique to the TT. I had similar experiences
with
a Greenspeed.

YMMV

Good luck and keep us posted.

Guy in MD

My God! Has lightening struck here at ARBR? At long last an honest poster
and someone with a brain in his head. I agree in spades with EVERYTHING
B17GUY has said.

I think I have now entered the twilight zone as I am accustomed to reading
nothing but the most insane things here on ARBR. Guy in MD, please go to the
head of the class and do not pay any attention to all the idiots here on
this group who will now proceed to disagree with you. The ARBR idiots who
plague this newsgroup with their loathsome presence think everything is
nothing but opinion. They are world class experts at ignoring the obvious.
In short, these fools here think they are related to Lance Armstrong. I am
fed up to death with them.

Well, what can be said about them is that there is no fool like an old fool
(by the way - oldness begins at age 40, not 60).

--
Best Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

"B17 GUY" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had one for two years. It was great fun but I wouldn't want to tour with

it

Quoted message said:

or go very fast with or without a load.

I have a Terratrike and love it. I use it to commute through 5 miles of
fairly heavy traffic. I don't know how well it would be for touring,
though.

Quoted message said:

Like most trikes it was a slow but very steady hill climber. I never found

a

Quoted message said:

hill I couldn't get up on the trike.Very stable standing and at moderate

speed.

Quoted message said:

Above 25MPH things got interesting. The pedal steer and the individual

brakes

Quoted message said:

(great brakes by the way) made for a very squirrley ride and I never felt
stable at high speed.

I have adjusted the toe-in per manufacturer specs and set steering to
"commuter" holes and it is VERY stable at 40 plus MPH(down hill).
WizWheelz has made many improvements over the past two years and the
steering and stability issues have been taken care of IMHO.

Quoted message said:

Getting in and out was an issue. With a seat height of about 10" and a

fairing

Quoted message said:

it became a real challange.I also found that unlike my other recumbents

(Rans

Quoted message said:

Stratus/US made EZ-1/EZ-3 Aluminium ) it tended to transmit a fair amount

of

Quoted message said:

road shock.

You should try the Catrike for road shock (WOW)!!!!

Quoted message said:

I likened it to my long departed MGA,great fun attracts a lot of attention

but

Quoted message said:

for the long haul I'll take any of my other 'bents over the TT.I'd choose

the

Quoted message said:

Stratus over all of them.

I believe the poster is looking for a trike and I believe for the money,
the WizWheelz TerraTrike is a very good choice.

Richard Drown

bmw said:

Hi: Thinking about buying a Wiz Wheel Trike to be used for touring? Any
thing that I should be aware of before I purchase? Thanks for your opinions.
Wallace

Probably the main thing you should be aware of is that there are other
trikes out there, and that if at all possible, you should see about getting a
test ride on them. The WizWheelz trikes have a great following, and they're
priced competitively as well. And, the people that make them up in Michigan are
outstanding.
Yes, there are trikes that are more stable at higher speeds than the
WizWheelz trikes, but that may have changed with their latest version - I
haven't ridden it yet. And you might want to think about just what sort of
touring you're planning on doing - if you're going to load it up with four
panniers, then there are other trikes that might be better suited for that. But
if all your stuff can be held in two panniers and a rack trunk, the WW will
handle that.
I don't know where you're located, but it might be worth your while to make
it to Xenia, Ohio on Friday the 22nd of October. There's going to be a
gathering of trikes there, and you'll get to see all sorts - and I would be
willing to guarantee several WW trikes will show up.

--
Larry Varney
Cold Spring, KY
http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney

What is out there that is more stable at high speeds?

I'm not complaining about WizWheels specifically but my experience with
trikes is that stability at high speeds is a problem. I think it might be a
little worse for tadpoles than for delta but I think it is still an issue
for them as well.

Don't get me wrong I love trikes and I have no complaint about WizWheels but
I think you shouldn't expect the same agility that you have on two wheels
with three.

What are the factors in a three wheeler that influence stabilty at high
speed and which trikes tend to be more stable?

Has anyone ridden any of the four wheel vehicles? I would guess that they
offer greater stability but I'm not sure.

Jeff
"Larry Varney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

bmw said:

Hi: Thinking about buying a Wiz Wheel Trike to be used for touring? Any
thing that I should be aware of before I purchase? Thanks for your
opinions. Wallace

Probably the main thing you should be aware of is that there are other
trikes out there, and that if at all possible, you should see about
getting a test ride on them. The WizWheelz trikes have a great following,
and they're priced competitively as well. And, the people that make them
up in Michigan are outstanding.
Yes, there are trikes that are more stable at higher speeds than the
WizWheelz trikes, but that may have changed with their latest version - I
haven't ridden it yet. And you might want to think about just what sort of
touring you're planning on doing - if you're going to load it up with four
panniers, then there are other trikes that might be better suited for
that. But if all your stuff can be held in two panniers and a rack trunk,
the WW will handle that.
I don't know where you're located, but it might be worth your while to
make it to Xenia, Ohio on Friday the 22nd of October. There's going to be
a gathering of trikes there, and you'll get to see all sorts - and I would
be willing to guarantee several WW trikes will show up.

--
Larry Varney
Cold Spring, KY
http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney

"Richard Drown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<Lgibd.2770$233.1601@okepread05>...

Quoted message said:

"B17 GUY" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had one for two years. It was great fun but I wouldn't want to tour with

it

Quoted message said:

or go very fast with or without a load.

5 years and still going strong. Remaining trike from a collection of
7. Slow? No load/towing? Nah- that is why I put a motor on it, so
not now. I wouldn't cruise afar with it, but a TT went around the
perimeter of the U.S. towing a trailer a while back. However, a lower
cost Sun will be this years trike for me; in order to stay within
financial boundries.

Chris Jordan - dinosaur '99 TerraTrike
Santa Cruz, CA..

"Richard Drown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<Lgibd.2770$233.1601@okepread05>...

Quoted message said:

"B17 GUY" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had one for two years. It was great fun but I wouldn't want to tour with

it

Quoted message said:

or go very fast with or without a load.

5 years and still going strong. Remaining trike from a collection of
7. Slow? No load/towing? Nah- that is why I put a motor on it, so
not now. I wouldn't cruise afar with it, but a TT went around the
perimeter of the U.S. towing a trailer a while back. However, a lower
cost Sun will be this years trike for me; in order to stay within
financial boundries.

Chris Jordan - dinosaur '99 TerraTrike
Santa Cruz, CA..

"Richard Drown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<Lgibd.2770$233.1601@okepread05>...

Quoted message said:

"B17 GUY" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had one for two years. It was great fun but I wouldn't want to tour with

it

Quoted message said:

or go very fast with or without a load.

5 years and still going strong. Remaining trike from a collection of
7. Slow? No load/towing? Nah- that is why I put a motor on it, so
not now. I wouldn't cruise afar with it, but a TT went around the
perimeter of the U.S. towing a trailer a while back. However, a lower
cost Sun will be this years trike for me; in order to stay within
financial boundries.

Chris Jordan - dinosaur '99 TerraTrike
Santa Cruz, CA..

Jeff Grippe said:

What is out there that is more stable at high speeds?

I'm not complaining about WizWheels specifically but my experience with
trikes is that stability at high speeds is a problem. I think it might be a
little worse for tadpoles than for delta but I think it is still an issue
for them as well.

Don't get me wrong I love trikes and I have no complaint about WizWheels but
I think you shouldn't expect the same agility that you have on two wheels
with three.

What are the factors in a three wheeler that influence stabilty at high
speed and which trikes tend to be more stable?

Has anyone ridden any of the four wheel vehicles? I would guess that they
offer greater stability but I'm not sure.

Jeff
"Larry Varney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

bmw said:

Hi: Thinking about buying a Wiz Wheel Trike to be used for touring? Any
thing that I should be aware of before I purchase? Thanks for your
opinions. Wallace

Probably the main thing you should be aware of is that there are other
trikes out there, and that if at all possible, you should see about
getting a test ride on them. The WizWheelz trikes have a great following,
and they're priced competitively as well. And, the people that make them
up in Michigan are outstanding.
Yes, there are trikes that are more stable at higher speeds than the
WizWheelz trikes, but that may have changed with their latest version - I
haven't ridden it yet. And you might want to think about just what sort of
touring you're planning on doing - if you're going to load it up with four
panniers, then there are other trikes that might be better suited for
that. But if all your stuff can be held in two panniers and a rack trunk,
the WW will handle that.
I don't know where you're located, but it might be worth your while to
make it to Xenia, Ohio on Friday the 22nd of October. There's going to be
a gathering of trikes there, and you'll get to see all sorts - and I would
be willing to guarantee several WW trikes will show up.

--
Larry Varney
Cold Spring, KY
http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney

What's out there that is more stable at high speed? Well, there are several
trikes that I'm personally familiar with, such as the Greenspeed GTO and the
Greenspeed GT3. And, the Catrike Speed, the Catrike Road, and the ICE Q. I've
ridden each of these at downhill speeds in excess of 45 mph (the GTO was a 2002
model, but I suspect that the newer ones are simlar in behavior), sometimes
taking both hands off the grips - momentarily; I'm not completely crazy - just
to see if there was any tendency to start wandering about the road.
I don't know what the magic formula is, but I suspect that it's the
relationship of most of the weight of the rider and the trike, and where it is
in the "magic triangle" formed by the three wheels. Probably dead-center would
be best, and outside of the triangle would be worst. Varying degrees of
stability would depend on just how close or far you were from those extremes.
I'm not an engineer and I haven't built and tested different configurations, so
my theory might be completely wrong.
Each of these trikes tracked straight at these speeds. Sure, if you hit a
bump, that can divert your direction as well as your attention, but the
stability was such that I was able to watch what was coming up, rather than
what the trike was doing.
Incidentally, as always, I'm in the market for new trikes, so I'm selling
one of my old ones - the 2004 Catrike Road. Complete with two mirrors, all
three fenders installed, rear rack, bottle cage, computer - price if new, at
least $2200. I'll take $1700 for the lot.
I'll be riding the Hilly Hundred in Indiana this coming weekend, attending
the trike gathering and races in Xenia (Ohio) the following weekend (22-24),
and the Horrible Hundred in Florida November 21st. I'll be riding the Catrike
Road, unless I've sold it by then, so anyone interested can save the both of us
the pain, hassle and expense of shipping the trike.

--
Larry Varney
Cold Spring, KY
http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney

I've been riding my GS GTO for about two years (with sandals, no
less!) There are several American-made tadpole trikes you should also
consider for touring. If I were buying today, I'd buy a Trimuter
which comes fully equipped and is extremely durable. The Organic
Engines Triclops is also interesting and robust. If you're rolling in
dough I'd buy the Hellbent before another GS since it's unusually
light. The Catrikes have "splayed" seat stays which makes using
panniers problematic. My criticism of the TT is that the drive-side of
the chain dives under the front crossbars and makes a very sharp angle
there. To my knowledge, no other brand does that. (Because of
current exchange rates, GS is too expensive right now, IMHO. Wait 'til
JFK gets elected and fixes things if you must have "the best."😉

BentJay

See my tour journal at: http://aroundthelake.crazyguyonabike

BentJay said:

I've been riding my GS GTO for about two years (with sandals, no
less!) There are several American-made tadpole trikes you should also
consider for touring. If I were buying today, I'd buy a Trimuter
which comes fully equipped and is extremely durable. The Organic
Engines Triclops is also interesting and robust. If you're rolling in
dough I'd buy the Hellbent before another GS since it's unusually
light. The Catrikes have "splayed" seat stays which makes using
panniers problematic. My criticism of the TT is that the drive-side of
the chain dives under the front crossbars and makes a very sharp angle
there. To my knowledge, no other brand does that. (Because of
current exchange rates, GS is too expensive right now, IMHO. Wait 'til
JFK gets elected and fixes things if you must have "the best."😉

BentJay

See my tour journal at: http://aroundthelake.crazyguyonabike

FWIW, Greenspeed has a new US distributor - this may reduce prices.

USA Dealer contact & Distributor
Greenspeed USA
3030 Cally Lane, Highland, IL 62249, USA
Toll free phone 866-314-4323
Email [email hidden]
Contact :- Jerome Hediger
<http://www.greenspeed.com.au/indexmain.htm>

The person at Wicks [1] in Highland, Illinois who ran their HPV program
was a Jerome Hediger - presumably the same person now at Greenspeed USA?

[1]
<http://www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog/product_cat.php/subid=3656/index.html>.

--
Tom Sherman - Curmudgeon and Pedant

B17 GUY said:

I had one for two years. It was great fun but I wouldn't want to tour with it
or go very fast with or without a load.

Like most trikes it was a slow but very steady hill climber. I never found a
hill I couldn't get up on the trike.Very stable standing and at moderate speed.
Above 25MPH things got interesting. The pedal steer and the individual brakes
(great brakes by the way) made for a very squirrley ride and I never felt
stable at high speed....

Which version of the TerraTrike was this (there have been many)?

Earlier versions of the TerraTrike received considerable criticism for
the steering geometry and high speed handling, but reportedly recent
versions are much improved in this respect.

--
Tom Sherman - Curmudgeon and Pedant

"BentJay" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've been riding my GS GTO for about two years (with sandals, no
less!) There are several American-made tadpole trikes you should also
consider for touring. If I were buying today, I'd buy a Trimuter
which comes fully equipped and is extremely durable. The Organic
Engines Triclops is also interesting and robust. If you're rolling in
dough I'd buy the Hellbent before another GS since it's unusually
light. The Catrikes have "splayed" seat stays which makes using
panniers problematic. My criticism of the TT is that the drive-side of
the chain dives under the front crossbars and makes a very sharp angle
there. To my knowledge, no other brand does that. (Because of
current exchange rates, GS is too expensive right now, IMHO. Wait 'til
JFK gets elected and fixes things if you must have "the best."😉

BentJay

See my tour journal at: http://aroundthelake.crazyguyonabike

That url doesn't work

"BentJay" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've been riding my GS GTO for about two years (with sandals, no
less!) There are several American-made tadpole trikes you should also
consider for touring. If I were buying today, I'd buy a Trimuter
which comes fully equipped and is extremely durable. The Organic
Engines Triclops is also interesting and robust. If you're rolling in
dough I'd buy the Hellbent before another GS since it's unusually
light. The Catrikes have "splayed" seat stays which makes using
panniers problematic. My criticism of the TT is that the drive-side of
the chain dives under the front crossbars and makes a very sharp angle
there. To my knowledge, no other brand does that. (Because of
current exchange rates, GS is too expensive right now, IMHO. Wait 'til
JFK gets elected and fixes things if you must have "the best."😉

BentJay

See my tour journal at: http://aroundthelake.crazyguyonabike

I think this is the one you refer to

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/?opts=3001&doc_id=658&mtime=20040928111358

"Tom Sherman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

B17 GUY said:

I had one for two years. It was great fun but I wouldn't want to tour
with it
or go very fast with or without a load.

Like most trikes it was a slow but very steady hill climber. I never
found a
hill I couldn't get up on the trike.Very stable standing and at moderate
speed.
Above 25MPH things got interesting. The pedal steer and the individual
brakes
(great brakes by the way) made for a very squirrley ride and I never felt
stable at high speed....

Which version of the TerraTrike was this (there have been many)?

Earlier versions of the TerraTrike received considerable criticism for the
steering geometry and high speed handling, but reportedly recent versions
are much improved in this respect.

Unfortunately, I have an early version of the TerraTrike and I can report to
you that it does not handle well at high speed. But I have also ridden the
Greenspeed and did not notice much difference. The only solution, as I see
it, is not to attempt high speed on a tadpole trike.

I think that deltas are much more forgiving. I have two deltas - a Coos Bay
Flyer (a precursor to the Comfort Cycle, now Penninger) and the Kett Wiesel.
All my trikes are fun to ride and sufficiently different from one another,
but I will go faster on my Kett Wiesel than I will on my TerraTrike because
of the pedal steer factor.

--
Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Tom Sherman <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

FWIW, Greenspeed has a new US distributor - this may reduce prices.

USA Dealer contact & Distributor
Greenspeed USA
3030 Cally Lane, Highland, IL 62249, USA
Toll free phone 866-314-4323
Email [email hidden]
Contact :- Jerome Hediger
<http://www.greenspeed.com.au/indexmain.htm>

The person at Wicks in Highland, Illinois who ran their HPV program
was a Jerome Hediger - presumably the same person now at Greenspeed USA?

Yes.

I have a steep hill in my area where the road is very rough. My first time
down that hill on a trike I decided that the street was too rough for the
speed I was accumulating. I braked to try to slow down but the braking
effected that steering and I ended up flipping the trike.

With a tadpole with disc brakes it is difficult to get precisely even
pressure to both wheels. My delta with rear wheel brakes is better in this
regard but it is not nearly as straight forward as it was on two wheels.

I think that learning to judge downhills on a trike takes time.

I have no plans to go back to two wheels since the trike is generally much
more fun to ride and I find I can drag me and my fat ass up just about
anything. I can recall one ride on a two wheel recumbent where I finally
walked the bike up the hill after falling off four times because I couldn't
keep up enough speed. This is a non-issue with a trike (obviously).

I'm still interested in that answer to the question "What elements make a
trike more or less stable at high speeds?"

Jeff
"Larry Varney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jeff Grippe said:

What is out there that is more stable at high speeds?

I'm not complaining about WizWheels specifically but my experience with
trikes is that stability at high speeds is a problem. I think it might be
a little worse for tadpoles than for delta but I think it is still an
issue for them as well.

Don't get me wrong I love trikes and I have no complaint about WizWheels
but I think you shouldn't expect the same agility that you have on two
wheels with three.

What are the factors in a three wheeler that influence stabilty at high
speed and which trikes tend to be more stable?

Has anyone ridden any of the four wheel vehicles? I would guess that they
offer greater stability but I'm not sure.

Jeff
"Larry Varney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

bmw wrote:

>Hi: Thinking about buying a Wiz Wheel Trike to be used for touring? Any
>thing that I should be aware of before I purchase? Thanks for your
>opinions. Wallace

Probably the main thing you should be aware of is that there are other
trikes out there, and that if at all possible, you should see about
getting a test ride on them. The WizWheelz trikes have a great
following, and they're priced competitively as well. And, the people
that make them up in Michigan are outstanding.
Yes, there are trikes that are more stable at higher speeds than the
WizWheelz trikes, but that may have changed with their latest version -
I haven't ridden it yet. And you might want to think about just what
sort of touring you're planning on doing - if you're going to load it up
with four panniers, then there are other trikes that might be better
suited for that. But if all your stuff can be held in two panniers and a
rack trunk, the WW will handle that.
I don't know where you're located, but it might be worth your while to
make it to Xenia, Ohio on Friday the 22nd of October. There's going to
be a gathering of trikes there, and you'll get to see all sorts - and I
would be willing to guarantee several WW trikes will show up.

--
Larry Varney
Cold Spring, KY
http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney

What's out there that is more stable at high speed? Well, there are
several trikes that I'm personally familiar with, such as the Greenspeed
GTO and the Greenspeed GT3. And, the Catrike Speed, the Catrike Road, and
the ICE Q. I've ridden each of these at downhill speeds in excess of 45
mph (the GTO was a 2002 model, but I suspect that the newer ones are
simlar in behavior), sometimes taking both hands off the grips -
momentarily; I'm not completely crazy - just to see if there was any
tendency to start wandering about the road.
I don't know what the magic formula is, but I suspect that it's the
relationship of most of the weight of the rider and the trike, and where
it is in the "magic triangle" formed by the three wheels. Probably
dead-center would be best, and outside of the triangle would be worst.
Varying degrees of stability would depend on just how close or far you
were from those extremes. I'm not an engineer and I haven't built and
tested different configurations, so my theory might be completely wrong.
Each of these trikes tracked straight at these speeds. Sure, if you hit
a bump, that can divert your direction as well as your attention, but the
stability was such that I was able to watch what was coming up, rather
than what the trike was doing.
Incidentally, as always, I'm in the market for new trikes, so I'm
selling one of my old ones - the 2004 Catrike Road. Complete with two
mirrors, all three fenders installed, rear rack, bottle cage, computer -
price if new, at least $2200. I'll take $1700 for the lot.
I'll be riding the Hilly Hundred in Indiana this coming weekend,
attending the trike gathering and races in Xenia (Ohio) the following
weekend (22-24), and the Horrible Hundred in Florida November 21st. I'll
be riding the Catrike Road, unless I've sold it by then, so anyone
interested can save the both of us the pain, hassle and expense of
shipping the trike.

--
Larry Varney
Cold Spring, KY
http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney

Jeff Grippe said:

...
I'm still interested in that answer to the question "What elements make a
trike more or less stable at high speeds?"...

Weight distribution and wheelbase will have an effect (tadpole tandems
tend to be rather directionally stable), but the most important factor
is steering geometry. Designing this for a tadpole trike is not a
trivial matter (most trike manufacturers make significant improvements
as their models evolve).

--
Tom Sherman - Curmudgeon and Pedant

FWIW, we have the TT Tandem and love it. Perhaps due to the extra
weight, we have yet to notice problems handling at higher speeds.

-Frank in Ames

bmw said:

Hi: Thinking about buying a Wiz Wheel Trike to be used for touring? Any
thing that I should be aware of before I purchase? Thanks for your opinions.
Wallace