alpharalpha said:
So, lower and longer seems like the way to go. I suppose I could find a lowrider style bike on CL like this,add the trike attachment, switch out the handlebars (and put a couple schwalbe tires on it.)
I don't think you're going to just find a bicycle frame that will do what you want by itself, without modification, just tossing on a trike kit. Look at DDK's trike thread, too (though he doesn't use them very fast).
There are some long wheelbase (LWB) recumbent or semi-recumbent bikes that might work as a basis for the conversion; you'd ahve to compare them to the frames, steering angles, trail, wheelbase, etc., of the trikes that have been ridden successfully at the speeds you are after.
THere are lots of things that affect steering at speed; it's been discussed in many of the trike threads around ES (and elsewhere), so you might want to read thru them all to see what I mean. Weight distribution, COG, trail, steering angles, steering methods, etc., all make a difference.
I got unlucky when I threw together Delta Tripper, and I got lucky when me and Dogman threw together SB Cruiser. I used some of what I learned from DT to make SBC better, but I didn't research anything in any great depth, though I did try to apply what I had already read about to it. Steering/trail I read and asked about, and ended up screwing that up when actually building it, by quite a lot, IIRC, and it somehow managed to end up working anyway because of other factors like weight distribution and that it's a really heavy trike.
It still took some learning to ride, even with that.
Another concern is how this will work riding on back roads without any shoulder. In a way I've thought a trike or bike trailer might be advantageous as it would force them to give me a wider berth (unless they didn't and just ended up clipping me) as it is vehicles will get right up behind me and then narrowly pass. What have your experiences been riding in these conditions, pro or con?
If driver behavior is to get close enough to clip you, it's not going to change unless you are large enough to cause them significant damage if they do, and maybe not even then.
With drivers like that, as far as they are concerned you are in their way, slowing them down, and don't have any right to be there, so whatever happens to you is your own fault, and they dont' have to do anything other than whatever they feel like.
That's assuming they even notice you are there. :/
If they notice you, then some of them might be afraid of hurting their cars (if they're not in SUVs or trucks, in which case they probably won't care), if you look big enough.
You could add MattyCiii's Folding Lefty Lightstick, to force them to pass you wider, perhaps. Downlighting to light up the whole road around you to make you look "bigger" at night.
That's part of the reason I make sure mine is as visible as I can make it from the rear, day or night, with the lights and the reflective diagonal stripe tape, etc.
And why my lights are right up at windsheild/ eye level for cars, and at least at the bottom of the hood level for smaller to medium trucks and SUVs.
It also helps when I have the kennel in the cargo bed, as it is white and makes the trike look even larger and more solid; less like something they could just hit and knock out of their way.
I also make sure I have the power to accelerate quickly, so that I might be able to get out of the way of someone suddenly taking my lane (braking wouldn't fix that most times), or reduce the velocity difference of a rear impact as much as I can (never had to do that yet).
But the only thing that will really keep you from being hit is you--having good rearview mirrors and being practiced enough at getting out of the way (slowing rapidly and pulling offroad if you have to, for instance), for drivers that don't appear to be going around you.
If every driver only goes around you at the last second, then you can't know which will actually hit you, and you'd have to get out of every single one's way, which means either you should find a different route, if one exists, or just accept the probabilities that one of them is not going to go around you at some point, and have good life insurance to help anyone you leave behind.
Alternatively, get a vehicle that's road-legal to go as fast as the rest of traffic, and use that. :/
For myself, I try to stay off roads where drivers are not likely to go around me properly, and when I can't avoid it I just take my chances on those where they are unlikely to "allow" non-car traffic to mix with them.
But even in a car, I'd still have a chance of being hit because many drivers just don't pay attention and don't care; if they are in a hurry (normal state) then they're going to do whatever they want without regard to anyone else around them, even a huge city bus or the light rail train. (just look around for collision news and pics in the valley here, and realize whatever you see is only a small percentage of those that actually happen
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