Utah trikes steering adjustment

[dbtrike]

My Tour is the most fun I've ever had on wheels. I'm glad I got it ordered instead of waiting to ride one first. At first, though, I was a little surprised by the wide turning radius. Did some online research and got wound up and ordered the Utah Trikes steering adjustment plate. I was off the trike sick for a few days when the kit arrived. Then last night I did a ride around some tight light poles in a parking lot to see if I really wanted to mess with the adjustment, which does involve grinding away a piece of the frame.
Great time. Such a smooth ride. Nearly effortless joy.
Anyway, I don't do inner-city riding, and I finally just can't justify messing with the steering. The stock Tour is a luxury ride, and I'm leaving it at that. I'm keeping the plate as a reminder not to get wound up.

[jleiwig]

You technically don't have to grind the frame. One direction will be just a little larger radius than the other.

[Captainbob]

It reportedly makes the steering a bit more "twitchy". My motto is, " if it ain't broke, don't fix it".....

[justaccord]

No way I would alteer the frame and certainly blow the lifetime warranty and hurt resale.

I have ridden almost 50 miles with the plate only, and I love the steering mod. Does not feel more twitchy to me at all.

[caryl]

You technically don't have to grind the frame. One direction will be just a little larger radius than the other.

^^^^^ What he said ^^^^^^^

[Vegasrenie]

I went to Utah Trikes in April to test ride trikes, and found out several things. I rode a Catrike Villager, a couple of Paths, a Cruiser, and a couple of Rovers. I didn't ride the Catrike 700 or the KMX (which I regret, but oh well).

I liked riding both the Path and the Cruiser. One Path had the "lift" in it, but I didn't like what it did to the "balance" of the handlebars to the rest of the trike. The Cruiser put the first real trike grin on my face. What fun!

The Catrike people would be horrified, but even though they are both direct steer, I enjoyed riding the Rover so much more than the Villager! There are several reasons for this: one is, of course, the height. For *me* the higher seat works better for my knees, weight, etc. The second was the handlebars, which I hadn't given a second thought to, but was absolutely wonderful! And of course, there was the adjustable seat, which that version of Villager didn't have. Once they *did* include adjustable seats, the price increase took it totally out of my budget (which had been teetering, anyway).

I didn't get to ride a Path/Cruiser with the steering adjustment, but I can see where it would help. I had to make a pretty tight u-turn in the UT area that leads to their test riding area (parking lot ) and it required me to backup
before I get there. IMHO, unless you're doing a lot of tight u-turns, the adjustment may not be necessary. Once I started riding, it didn't make any difference. I went speeding (*my* speeding) up the incline, around the lot, zig-zagging everywhere, and had a great time! Of course, with the Cruiser I didn't change gears. My derailleur-phobia didn't want me to throw a chain. Otherwise, I didn't notice any problem with steering with the Cruiser and frankly, most u-turns I do aren't so tight that I feel that I'd need an adjustment. A fun trike to ride! Because it's lower than what my knees could handle on a daily basis, and because it'd cost me too much to change over to an IGH, I decided against the Cruiser. That being said, it's a cool, cool trike!

[caryl]

My Tour is the most fun I've ever had on wheels. I'm glad I got it ordered instead of waiting to ride one first. At first, though, I was a little surprised by the wide turning radius. Did some online research and got wound up and ordered the Utah Trikes steering adjustment plate. I was off the trike sick for a few days when the kit arrived. Then last night I did a ride around some tight light poles in a parking lot to see if I really wanted to mess with the adjustment, which does involve grinding away a piece of the frame.
Great time. Such a smooth ride. Nearly effortless joy.
Anyway, I don't do inner-city riding, and I finally just can't justify messing with the steering. The stock Tour is a luxury ride, and I'm leaving it at that. I'm keeping the plate as a reminder not to get wound up.

dbtrike -

To install the plate simply involves undoing two bolts and then reinstalling them with the plate and then adding two more bolts (plate to tie rods) five minutes! It is easy, nothing to it especially if you do not grind.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GRIND! Any grinding involved was ONLY to the right side of the trike. Installing the plate without grinding will give you a much greater turning radius to the LEFT and a much improved turning radius to the right.

YES - I have installed this MOD on my Cruiser. YES - it makes a great difference. NOT grinding hardly diminishes the benefit at all.

It would just be silly not to install the plate - IMHO

Caryl

[Captainbob]

My Tour is the most fun I've ever had on wheels. I'm glad I got it ordered instead of waiting to ride one first. At first, though, I was a little surprised by the wide turning radius. Did some online research and got wound up and ordered the Utah Trikes steering adjustment plate. I was off the trike sick for a few days when the kit arrived. Then last night I did a ride around some tight light poles in a parking lot to see if I really wanted to mess with the adjustment, which does involve grinding away a piece of the frame.
Great time. Such a smooth ride. Nearly effortless joy.
Anyway, I don't do inner-city riding, and I finally just can't justify messing with the steering. The stock Tour is a luxury ride, and I'm leaving it at that. I'm keeping the plate as a reminder not to get wound up.

dbtrike -

To install the plate simply involves undoing two bolts and then reinstalling them with the plate and then adding two more bolts (plate to tie rods) five minutes! It is easy, nothing to it especially if you do not grind.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GRIND! Any grinding involved was ONLY to the right side of the trike. Installing the plate without grinding will give you a much greater turning radius to the LEFT and a much improved turning radius to the right.

YES - I have installed this MOD on my Cruiser. YES - it makes a great difference. NOT grinding hardly diminishes the benefit at all.

It would just be silly not to install the plate - IMHO

Caryl

Now that you mention it, I find that when I make a sharp U-turn, 99% of the time, I turn to the left anyway.

[justaccord]

As usual, Caryl is right on the money. I bet the only people who don't like the steering mod are people who have never tried it. I've been riding with it now a while and I love the improved turning radius.

I didn;t think long and hard about grinding -- I just didn't do it. The mod is still well worth the modest cost. If it doesn't hurt steering performance, why wouldn't you do it?


Dave

[ewdove]

While this is an old thread, I would add my comment that the Utah steering adjustment is well worthwhile, even given the frame grinding. I did so, and haven't turned back. Some may call the result "twitchy" but I call it "responsive."