Cheapest Decent Winter Commuter Trike

[softwarekitty]

Hi there,

I'm looking for help choosing the best cheap trike for commuting to school every day in the snow/ice. My school has horrible parking...unless you are parking a motorcycle, and trikes count as motorcycles. I would just ride a motorcycle, but here in Ames, Iowa we have ice covered roads about 5 months out of the year. So I figure that if have to drive up an ice-covered hill twice a day, and I can't do it in a car, a trike is better than a motorcycle. What do you all think?

It never has to go over 35 mph. I want it to be safe in the ice and cheap, that's about it.

 

[rhino 2]

I been riding Trikes for 5 + years, and if you count ATC's over 35 years. And I'll tell you from experience, three wheels don't melt ice. How do the other people get to school??

 

[bongobobny]

How about a snowmobile??

 

[Bikerbozo]

Well, cheap puts the HD TriGlide out of reach (handles snow great). If speed staying down, I think there are some cheap Chinese trikes out there. Wouldn't handle highway,but might be good around town. There's also the Urals with sidecar maybe. Some models actually advertise riding in snow.

 

[John Luciano]

Ural as Bozo said even have drive wheels for some of there side cars rigs. Cheap is about $8,000. U might find a used one for $5,000. Not a power house from what I have heard. Barely capable to do high way driving. ( 55 to 60 )

i just went a checked to as cheap as I thought. Start around $12,000 found this http://t.cycletrader.com/listing/1998-Ural-Barvarian-111644646

next choice is Chineese.. I actually looked at this before I bought the Johnny Pag spyder
http://www.megamotormadness.com/product/tri001-250cc-trike#pr-tab2

If u are only planning on driving a few 1,000 miles a year ok. If you plan on driving it more not that dependable .JMHO.

 

[Veritas44]

:xzqxz:

NOTHING operates "Good" (or anywhere even close to good) on Ice.
Except, a Hovercraft. Hovercraft are AWESOME (and Fun) on Ice.
of course those Ice-Racer Bikes with the 1" + Spikes in each Tire Cleat/Knobbie do "good enough" on the Track (still a Crazy Sport).

I don't believe you can honestly say a Trike does "Good" on Snow either.
Adequate, Passably, So-So,"OK", etc. Yep (depending).
But Not "Good' by any means or definition.

On another note,,, What are you studying in School???

 

[Bikerbozo]

Hopefully he is studying Physics. Need to know that when on ice and snow.

 

[pcombe]

Get a four wheeler and live to graduate?

 

[geol]

DING DING DING! I owned a "cheap Chinese trike". NO WAY / STAY AWAY. Most of the basic components are fair to decent but the assmembly and small things, like fasteners, plastic body, hoses and assembly are MISERABLY POOR QUALITY and you had best be a professional mechanic with a sense of humor and the ability to do in-depth research on where to buy replacement parts if you do buy one. I doubt any trike would be much fun in snow (I would rather never find out) but I would look at some of the low-end trikes... like the Suz C50 Lehman trike or the Kaw 900 trike which I have seen selling for under $12K on eBay. I would consider living with the parking situation and buy four wheel in snow.

Well, cheap puts the HD TriGlide out of reach (handles snow great). If speed staying down, I think there are some cheap Chinese trikes out there. Wouldn't handle highway,but might be good around town. There's also the Urals with sidecar maybe.

Some models actually advertise riding in snow.

 

[rhino 2]

DING DING DING! I owned a "cheap Chinese trike". NO WAY / STAY AWAY. Most of the basic components are fair to decent but the assmembly and small things, like fasteners, plastic body, hoses and assembly are MISERABLY POOR QUALITY and you had best be a professional mechanic with a sense of humor and the ability to do in-depth research on where to buy replacement parts if you do buy one. I doubt any trike would be much fun in snow.

I agree, I bought one for my Grandson[4 wheel atv] And for what it is cheep'' Its a great backyard machine.

But if you need a part and you will'' you better know how to fabricate one yourself. My son had to do that a few times.

Think Rube Goldberg.....

 

[Veritas44]

Hopefully he is studying Physics. Need to know that when on ice and snow.

Hopefully a Class or 2 in Logic....

as Bob Dylan said "Don't need to be a Weather-Man to know which way the Wind blows"
:laugh:

 

[tom w]

told a used car dealer once I was looking for a good cheep truck. he informed me : there are good trucks and there are cheep trucks. THERE ARE NO GOOD CHEEP TRUCKS. same goes for trikes. I pray you don't find one for the snow season. use a sled to get to school and get a ride home from a friend with a 4x4.

 

[softwarekitty]

Wow thanks for all the responses everybody.

To get to school, most people take the bus, which is a fickle diva - sometimes it's 5 minutes early, sometimes 15 minutes late! And it might take 10 minutes to walk there, not knowing if you will wait 5 minutes or 45 minutes. But it should only take about 10-15 minutes to drive to school, motorcycle/trike/car. Problem is that once you get to school in a car, you probably won't find a space, and if you do, it certainly won't be near your classes! Or you can park your car about 10 minutes away from campus and walk in, which I have done countless times. If you drove a motorcycle/trike there (legally the same thing in Iowa) you can park right next to your class and stroll in like a rock star. I might want to go to school and back home 3 times in a day, with group projects, meetings, early and late classes. But instead I camp in the Library, which is lame.

Of course if I die or get maimed on the road, this will all seem rather petty.

I guess the conclusion is that to get a near-car-safety trike, you would have to spend car money on it, like 10k or up. That makes sense, it seems like to be safe it has to be kind of heavy. So I will probably just put up with the bus, or crappy parking like everybody else, since I don't have enough cash for a phat trike. Wish I did. I study Computer Science by the way, and wouldn't do well always fixing a Chinese trike.

 

[rhino 2]

Wow thanks for all the responses everybody.

To get to school, most people take the bus, which is a fickle diva - sometimes it's 5 minutes early, sometimes 15 minutes late! And it might take 10 minutes to walk there, not knowing if you will wait 5 minutes or 45 minutes. But it should only take about 10-15 minutes to drive to school, motorcycle/trike/car. Problem is that once you get to school in a car, you probably won't find a space, and if you do, it certainly won't be near your classes! Or you can park your car about 10 minutes away from campus and walk in, which I have done countless times.
.

Your lucky when I was going to school I had to walk to school' And it was up hill both ways in 3 feet of snow,
Oh and bare foot....

 

[pcombe]

Wow thanks for all the responses everybody.

To get to school, most people take the bus, which is a fickle diva - sometimes it's 5 minutes early, sometimes 15 minutes late! And it might take 10 minutes to walk there, not knowing if you will wait 5 minutes or 45 minutes. But it should only take about 10-15 minutes to drive to school, motorcycle/trike/car. Problem is that once you get to school in a car, you probably won't find a space, and if you do, it certainly won't be near your classes! Or you can park your car about 10 minutes away from campus and walk in, which I have done countless times. If you drove a motorcycle/trike there (legally the same thing in Iowa) you can park right next to your class and stroll in like a rock star. I might want to go to school and back home 3 times in a day, with group projects, meetings, early and late classes. But instead I camp in the Library, which is lame.

Of course if I die or get maimed on the road, this will all seem rather petty.

I guess the conclusion is that to get a near-car-safety trike, you would have to spend car money on it, like 10k or up. That makes sense, it seems like to be safe it has to be kind of heavy. So I will probably just put up with the bus, or crappy parking like everybody else, since I don't have enough cash for a phat trike. Wish I did. I study Computer Science by the way, and wouldn't do well always fixing a Chinese trike.

There are plenty of four wheel atv's on the market and you should be able to pick up a slightly used one fairly cheap?
I see people running all over town on them and they are street legal?

 

[cavie]

4 x 4 sugjestions are good but the PO stated there is a parking issue. I vote vote a Ural. http://www.ural.com/