Adult Tricycles, Bike Lanes, and Bike Racks

GraysonPeddie

GraysonPeddie

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Do adult tricycle like the Schwinn Meridian Adult Tricycle fit in with bike lanes? I'm hoping that the back wheels were not spread too far apart, so this is why I came here to ask. I don't think tricycles would fit in with bike racks (for example, when it comes to stopping for small amount of groceries as I'm single and independent), would it? *sigh* I saw the thread about tricycles for bike racks but the thread I linked is for fitting with the bike transits (buses), which I'm afraid it does not, but that's no big deal for me. For example, a grocery store is not that far off (about one mile south of an apartment that I've been scheduled to move into). However, if I want to go visit AMC Movie Theater to go see movies, I can just take a bus and leave a bike inside an apartment (locked, as to not let anyone stealing a high-valued item).

My mom and dad did not properly teach me how to ride a bicycle when I was like 5 or 7 years old and training wheels have not been used for teaching me how to balance. A couple of weeks ago, my dad let me borrow his bike for trying to learn how to balance, but the bicycles were quite rusty, as I don't think my dad can take out the pedals. Other than that, it is just not worth the time for me to learn how to ride a bike.

Update for moderators/administrators: Can you please move where this thread belongs to? I'll retract if this thread belongs here. Thanks!
 
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Absolutely, yes, you can ride your tricycle on the bicycle lanes because my mother has a tricycle herself, we ride our bicycles (I am riding a Mountain bicycle myself) on the bike lanes and we don't have any problems with the lanes. It is plenty room!
If you are looking for a rack or two on your tricycle, I suggest you to ask the bicycle dealer at the bicycle store, I am sure that they will be more than glad to help you to find the right one for your tricycle.
Good luck, GraysonPeddie!
 
yes absolutely - you can ride bicycle/tricycle/unicycle/etc-cycle on bike lane. Rollerbladers are allowed too.
 
Ah, thanks! Good to know!!! :)

It's nice to have freedom from having to balance and concentrate on where I need to go for quick errands. :)

While reading the reviews in WalMart.com, I came across this:

 
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While I am reading traffic laws for bicyclists in the state of Florida, I need someone to help me with this "illogically wordy terms" like "human power" and "electric helper" into something that's logical for me to comprehend. It's a bit of a literature to me, which I'm not very good at reading...

Every vehicle propelled solely by human power, and every motorized bicycle propelled by a combination of human power and an electric helper motor capable of propelling the vehicle at a speed of not more than 20 miles per hour on level ground upon which any person may ride, having two tandem wheels, and including any device generally recognized as a bicycle though equipped with two front or two rear wheels.
Click to expand...

Okay, according to the definition of the bicycle, a tricycle is considered a bicycle, right? As to the terms that I didn't know, it seems Google is my friend (for example, typing "definition of human power" (without quotes) reveals this), so I got that out of the way. Typing "electric helper" (which I have to put quotes around it) didn't help, but I think it implies anything like "scooters." But as for scooters, I think you have to have a license for that but I'm not going to get into a topic about "electric helpers."

Now, this gets quite interesting, because if you go to map.google.com and type in "N Chickasaw Trail, Orlando, FL 32825" (without quotes), scroll down until you don't see any more of a sidewalk. Keep scrolling down until you reach an "underpass." That's a toll road you have to pay as a drive to get right into an East/West Expressway. In both sides of the N. Chickasaw Trail, there's a fence; however, one has a sidewalk while the other does not.

Okay, what I'm trying to get my point across is this:

Since a cyclist riding on a sidewalk does not have the duties (or rights) of a driver, he may ride in either direction. (However, it is safer to ride in the direction of traffic, since drivers do not expect cyclists to come from the other direction at driveways and crosswalks. Crash risk is 3 to 4 times as great for sidewalk riders who ride facing roadway traffic as for sidewalk riders who ride in the direction of traffic.)
Click to expand...

So, when operating a tricycle in the right side of the road (no matter southbound or northbound), a cyclist can only operate up to 20 miles per hour, as stated above in the link I've provided in the beginning of my post, right? But the problem with this is that if I drive a tricycle south to a Wal-Mart grocery store (not a regular store but a grocery store), I could be slowing down the traffic! So, what if I use the sidewalk? What if I don't have room to maneuver around someone who also are using tricycle to head north while I head southbound to the grocery store? Even if there's a fence and even if I and another cyclist are not afraid of heights, the sidewalk is not that wide for pedestrian traffic. How do I get around the sticky situation like this if the street is not bike-friendly?

About the text I quoted, I think this really depends on where you are at, though.

Well, I'm not very sure of the speed limit when traveling over the overpass in N. Chickasaw Trail.

(By the way, if you can excuse the off-topic paragraph, Google Street View allows you to view the street from almost all directions. You just have to drag the human-shaped cursor from the top-left corner of the map to the street where it's above the East/West Express Way to get a ~360-degree view of a street. It's technology is quite powerful, though.)

Gee, I have too many questions to ask, but I am able to comprehend the rest of the text given for the bi/tri/unicycle rules and regulations.
 
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GraysonPeddie said:
While I am reading traffic laws for bicyclists in the state of Florida, I need someone to help me with this "illogically wordy terms" like "human power" and "electric helper" into something that's logical for me to comprehend. It's a bit of a literature to me, which I'm not very good at reading...

Every vehicle propelled solely by human power, and every motorized bicycle propelled by a combination of human power and an electric helper motor capable of propelling the vehicle at a speed of not more than 20 miles per hour on level ground upon which any person may ride, having two tandem wheels, and including any device generally recognized as a bicycle though equipped with two front or two rear wheels.[/url]

Okay, according to the definition of the bicycle, a tricycle is considered a bicycle, right? As to the terms that I didn't know, it seems Google is my friend (for example, typing "definition of human power" (without quotes) reveals this), so I got that out of the way. Typing "electric helper" (which I have to put quotes around it) didn't help, but I think it implies anything like "scooters." But as for scooters, I think you have to have a license for that but I'm not going to get into a topic about "electric helpers."

Now, this gets quite interesting, because if you go to map.google.com and type in "N Chickasaw Trail, Orlando, FL 32825" (without quotes), scroll down until you don't see any more of a sidewalk. Keep scrolling down until you reach an "underpass." That's a toll road you have to pay as a drive to get right into an East/West Expressway. In both sides of the N. Chickasaw Trail, there's a fence; however, one has a sidewalk while the other does not.

Okay, what I'm trying to get my point across is this:



So, when operating a tricycle in the right side of the road (no matter southbound or northbound), a cyclist can only operate up to 20 miles per hour, as stated above in the link I've provided in the beginning of my post, right? But the problem with this is that if I drive a tricycle south to a Wal-Mart grocery store (not a regular store but a grocery store), I could be slowing down the traffic! So, what if I use the sidewalk? What if I don't have room to maneuver around someone who also are using tricycle to head north while I head southbound to the grocery store? Even if there's a fence and even if I and another cyclist are not afraid of heights, the sidewalk is not that wide for pedestrian traffic. How do I get around the sticky situation like this if the street is not bike-friendly?

About the text I quoted, I think this really depends on where you are at, though.

Well, I'm not very sure of the speed limit when traveling over the overpass in N. Chickasaw Trail.

(By the way, if you can excuse the off-topic paragraph, Google Street View allows you to view the street from almost all directions. You just have to drag the human-shaped cursor from the top-left corner of the map to the street where it's above the East/West Express Way to get a ~360-degree view of a street. It's technology is quite powerful, though.)

Gee, I have too many questions to ask, but I am able to comprehend the rest of the text given for the bi/tri/unicycle rules and regulations.
Click to expand...
"human powered" is anything that's powered by humans.

Skateboards are human powered. Skates are human powered. Bicycles are human powered. You use your own body to make it move.

Motor powered or electric powered is something that's run by something other than yourself. Electric scooters are electric powered. Gas motor scooters are gas powered.

If you have to use your own body to make your bicycle move, then it's human powered.

Here's a good example...

Remember the old cartoon on television called The Flintstones? Everyone had to use their own feet to make their car move. In that case, those cars were human powered. ;)
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lololol Vampy - I remember the police pulled over this human-powered car. It was illegal on road.
 
Jiro said:
lololol Vampy - I remember the police pulled over this human-powered car. It was illegal on road.
Click to expand...
How about this one... it goes pretty fast.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xp-923G8i4]YouTube - A Street Legal Human Powered Car- HumanCar®[/ame]
 
VamPyroX said:
"human powered" is anything that's powered by humans.

Skateboards are human powered. Skates are human powered. Bicycles are human powered. You use your own body to make it move.

Motor powered or electric powered is something that's run by something other than yourself. Electric scooters are electric powered. Gas motor scooters are gas powered.

If you have to use your own body to make your bicycle move, then it's human powered.

Here's a good example...

Remember the old cartoon on television called The Flintstones? Everyone had to use their own feet to make their car move. In that case, those cars were human powered. ;)
Click to expand...
Well, like I said, Vampy,
typing "definition of human power" (without quotes) reveals this), so I got that out of the way.
Click to expand...
...but thanks for your help.
 
Forget about my post containing questions about two lanes that are too narrow for cyclists and motor-operated vehicles (cars, trucks, etc.), as riding a bi/tricycle too far to the right encourages a motorist to squeeze in to pass through -- too close to cyclists unless there are no incoming cars in front of a cyclist.

I'm trying to find a difference between tricycle and moped (Google thinks I meant "motorcycles" instead of "tricycles as motorcycles are not power by humans and tricycles are powered by humans. Because I am interested in seeing cyclists commuting with tricycles, what I saw in videos are believed to be mopeds. Thus, I really don't see why they mistook the word "tricycle" for a "moped." Doing a search using keywords "tricycle commute" explains why a trike with no handlebars is not a tricycle but a moped.

In page 24, heading "Mopeds," in the PDF handbook entitled Florida Bicycle Law Enforcement Guide, have I just answered my question that a moped has no handlebars that I saw in the video? Because a commuter using a moped has to have a drivers license. But if I were to ride a tricycle with a handlebar (see example), I don't have to have a drivers license, am I wrong?:confused:*

*I used the :confused: emoticon because I didn't know why they confuse "moped" with "tricycle."

I wish the Florida Bicycle Association could be a little bit more clearer when it comes to mopeds and tricycles -- those with handlebars and those without it...
 
Go to Redmond, Washington...the Bicycle Capital of the Northwest. ;) (just kidding!)
 
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