trike/training wheels?

[Daboo]

The inability to hold a motorcycle upright at rest or low speeds does not equate to a rider being unsafe on the road or unable to otherwise expertly control it.

Hmm...I thought you had to begin at a stop and end stopped in order "to otherwise expertly control it".

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Hmm...I thought you had to begin at a stop and end stopped in order "to otherwise expertly control it".

Which the landing gear would allow for those who need it.

 

[jfheath]

I'm wondering if a sidecar would be better. You don't get the same instability when braking that you can experience with a trike. You have to get used to the steering with a side car - like a trike, it doesn't lean - so you have to learn. Turning towards the chair is the most awkward - the chair will lift. Having a couple of paving slabs in the base helps a lot with that. And it helps to accelerate slightly to drive the bike around the chair - which means that you have to slow down much more before a nearside corner (left hand corner in UK, right hand corner USA), simply so that you can do that. Riding on an off-camber road - where the chair is a bit higher than normal - feels really odd.

You have to slow down to let the chair overtake the bike for an off side corner (right UK, left usa), but where's the fun in that. You can power a combination round those bends but the chair drags backwards so you get a lot of understeer and do it too much and the bike rear wheel loses contact with the ground - so it is self limiting really. But it is great fun.

Hard braking with a sidecar (without a brake fitted) is 'interesting' - you have to be prepared for the chair trying to overtak the bike - but that is just handlebar control. Turn a bit more towards the chair.

You learn the limits very quickly. I did ride a trike once very briefly. And that feeling of instability under braking was frightening. But I've heard people say similar things about sidecars when they first get on them.

 

[ST Gui]

I feel like if I don't have the strength to hold a two-wheeled vehicle upright at a stop, I should probably give it up. Likewise, if I've lost my balance to the point where I can't keep the bike upright as I'm coming to a stop, or pulling away from a stop, I'm an accident waiting to happen.

That is a personal decision that everyone has to make for themselves. But those scenarios don't require someone giving up riding if a balancing mechanism provides a safe alternative. The landing gear deploy as the bike slows and retract as it accelerates. There should be some real world testing to confirm claims but the tech seems promising. Neither of those scenarios would be the same as being unable to see a vehicle in front of you.

Apples and oranges. Re: your graphic above I might liken it to an amputee resigning themselves to a wheelchair even though a prosthetic leg could be an appropriate alternative. Again an individual choice.

Case in point — Bill Boyd of the Sunday Morning Ride. He lost his left leg. A lot of people would have given up riding. Bill got a prosthesis but back then it pretty much just allowed one to stand and walk. So he had the shifter of his RD350 connected to a throttle assembly on the left grip so he could shift. So he kept riding. Because he chose to. Others might have given up. Because they chose to. Or they couldn't adapt for some reason.

I personally know a woman who's been reliant on a wheel chair because of a congenital birth issue. She's never walked on her own. But she's able to drive because of hand controls and an automated ramp in her van. Not everyone in her place would drive. It's a personal decision made on desire and ability.

 

[ST Gui]

I'm wondering if a sidecar would be better.

I'd think a Can-Am would be a better alternate to a trike and a sidehack. And that's only if landing gear wouldn't work for a particular rider or bike. But it's an option.

Still if it were me I'd lean towards landing gear from someone.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I watch all this 'I'm getting old I reckon I'll have to stop riding' thoughts with a bit of sad amazement.
I turned 73 this year and probably have more 'replacement' body parts than most.
I've had anesthesia 27 times, 17 orthopedic surgeries, an aneurysm repair, and various other fixes.
I've been on blood thinners for years and have a heart murmur.
I've ridden when I had to carry along a cane because I needed it to be able to walk.
I just had a major getoff June 1 at 75 mph thanks to a deer which gave me fractures in both knees, my right ankle and my 7th rib.
I was back in the saddle in 2 1/2 months because I love to ride - not easy for sure.
I have no plans of giving up riding and plan on heading to the Texas Hill Country in a couple of weeks.
I'm already lining up my rides for next year for 'He who aims at nothing usually hits it!'
One day a body 'repair', health condition or an accident may stop me but it won't be for lack of trying to ride.
I am committed to staying in the best physical shape (usually 2 hours a day workout) that I can be given what I have to work with.
If I can't keep my head in the wind on 'normal' 2 wheels, then landing gear or 3 wheels will be looked at.
If those options become necessary, I don't figure I will be any 'unsafer' that Mobile Phone Booth Suzy staring at her device.
Each one has to decide what works for them - it is more often than not a mental decision not a physical decision about riding.
But I refuse to 'go silently into the night' - I will go with my riding boots on and if I die riding a motorcycle I died happy!

 

[gunsmoker]

I'm not too old to ride an ST 1300 but apparently I am too uncoordinated to put one up on the center stand without occasionally dropping it! I just had my second drop of my bike earlier today, and just like the first time it happened while I was trying to get it up on the centerstand.

But I'm not too old to lift the darn thing up, at least in a parking lot where I have a good traction with my shoes on the pavement .

 

[ST Gui]

But I refuse to 'go silently into the night' - I will go with my riding boots on and if I die riding a motorcycle I died happy!

DAMN. You da Man, Unc!

For the love of the ride.

 

[RJG1300]

Has anyone actually installed that Landing Gear on an ST?
On their website, it does not mention anything but Harleys or Wings.

 

[Uncle Phil]

Has anyone actually installed that Landing Gear on an ST?
On their website, it does not mention anything but Harleys or Wings.

Seems like years ago there was someone on this board with MS that did a system on his ST1300.
But I cannot remember the details.

 

[RJG1300]

Well, I used their "contact" email link and got a quick reply.
The answer is no, they will not fit and there is no mount mod either. It would effectively void any warantee.

So, it looks like I will be going with the Voyager Kit.