To The "Bikers"

Agreed John.  Had a good friend and coworker that switched to a trike when he and his wife got older.  It ain't like he was cornering at 90mph anymore.  He loved it, wished he'd done it earlier he said.

As an aside note, 3-wheel motor vehicles have been 'around' as long as, if not longer, than 2-wheelers. 

Handling issues... there's two facets to this...

First, if you're driving a 'conversion'... a motorcycle converted to trike, there's some conversions that are substantially better, and some that are substantially worse, in both handling, and ride quality.  GOOD conversions include making changes to the front end's rake and trail, because the motorcycle's 'leaning' dynamics in 'simple' conversions cease to exist, rendering that aspect of handling moot.  Riders who learn the character of non-leaning trikes do fine, and those who don't, cannot.

Second, 'handling' of a three wheeler is NOT going to be the same as a two wheeler OR a four wheeler.  One cannot 'compare' them.  If there's any point of comparison, it would be with either 1) a motorcycle with a sidecar or 2) an automobile missing one wheel.   

For what it's worth, when you're driving a car in a tight corner, you're actively transitioning it into a two, or three-wheel vehicle, as the weight transfers from lateral acceleration.  Adding to that, when I'm riding MY motorcycles, and under extremely heavy braking, it is a ONE WHEEL vehicle- the rear tire has NO weight on it.  When I accelerate, having the front wheel lift off is not inconceivable (but I'm rarely in that big of a hurry... after all, it IS a Goldwing travelling byways... not a GP racer on the Isle of Man TT...

I met a guy three summers ago who built his using an independent rear suspension system around a Subaru differential, TIG welded double-wishbones, and motorcycle coil-over shocks.  The shock towers' tops and control arm brackets were on a pivot which was linked to the frontend such that a turn in either direction yielded a corresponding 'lean'... and conversely, a corresponding lean would counter-steer the front wheel to 'want' to stay centered.  As a result, in normal road driving, it leaned itself, and it's tires, as if it were a motorcycle.  Rather than the popular 'car tire', he ran motorcycle tires on each side, lightweight wheels, and inboard (on the transaxle, not the hubs) disk brakes.  Low unsprung weight, so it rode EXTREMELY well.    He had an electric actuator and a gyroscopic sensor that once stopped, the motorcycle would pull itself to perpendicular position... even if it was parked on a hillside!  He towed a one-wheel camping trailer, and his wife toured the country with him.  He used to do it on two wheels, until an ear-infection left him with vertigo issues.

As for Strykers and Slingshots, they're nothing new... the Morgan (noted previously) was first built in 1911, and has been on-and-off since then.  If the modern three wheelers look too much like movie CGI or a popular basketball shoe for you, look at the classic redux that is finishing up this model's production run this year, and supposedly, preparing the NEXT version (it's apparently also available as an EV?).

Three wheelers are rarely shunned from 'motorcycle' rides... because, as mentioned by others, they're very frequently operated by those who, for some reason, could not operate 2 wheelers anymore.  The few group rides I go on, usually include sidecar rigs, three wheelers, chopped-up, bobbed, butchered, whatever homemade contraptions, dune buggies... and nobody has problems with it.  in the same realm, some 'rides' may be 'brand-centric', the rides I'm on, aren't...

Because... it's not about the type of machine, or the brand, or the vintage... 

It's about the scenery, smelling the flowers, enjoying the day, with people out doing the same.     Usually, there's four or five 'guide-riders' in the group who know the route, and the rest have NEVER been down this way.  The restaurants and stores are happy to see us pull in, we never go away hungry, they never go home without good tips... and there's plenty of great scenery to photo, great stories to be told.

Walker wrote: The third wheel is usually used to replace the leg that was lost on two wheels previously.

That's an ignorant and unsubstantiated statement.

Again, That has absoutely no substantiation for your statement, and you've attempted to bolster it with fallacious support.  Any imbacile can see that the above pictures are NOT representative of a modern three-wheel road tourer.

Your suggestion of limb loss is totally fabricated- A simple observation of ridership populace proves otherwise.  Go to any ride, any rally, or visit with any rider on a three-wheeler, and take a count as to how many of them are missing limbs.  You'll find very few.  You might find they have to walk with canes or walkers.  You'll also find that MOST of them are generally older, and have been riding for well over half-a-century.

Your statement is now notonly ignorant and unsubstantiated... it is disrespectful of what is, by nature, a generally elderly, mostly retired, and basically always a well-educated population.  If they choose three-wheel touring as their form of enjoyment, it is not your, or anyone else's place to spew judgement upon them for doing so.  You can choose your own.  That old man, on his three-wheeler, very well may have been a medivac pilot in Vietnam, or a retired policeman, a surgeon, or a farmer.

Does anyone know the difference between a Harley and a Hoover?