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Learning by Leaning: The Dreisch Tricycle Rides Like a Bike

By Ray Hu - October 29, 2014

in Cars

I can't for the life of me recall where or when, but I once heard that you turn a bicycle ("cornering," as we call it) not by steering with the handlebars but by 'pointing your belly button in the direction you want to go.' It comes naturally to anyone who has surmounted the learning curve, but it's easy to forget that we aren't born with the ability to ride a bike. Jersey City, NJ-based brothers Steve and Rich Thrush sum up the problem:

As you probably know, the experience of riding a traditional tricycle or a bicycle with training wheels is quite different than riding a bicycle. In fact, because you cannot lean into turns on a traditional tricycle nor a bicycle with training wheels, kids riding these toys often develop bad habits which they then have to unlearn when learning to ride a bicycle.

The recently Kickstarted Dreisch leaning tricycle addresses the counterintuitive physics of muscle memory by shifting the steering to the rear axle via a hinge and a pivoting swing-arm that runs the length of the frame. The result is a 'natural' turning mechanism.

As big-time bike nerds, we're glad to see a genuine innovation in bicycle design, albeit for a specific subset of riders. By sheer coincidence, a commenter suggested a use case for a certain much-discussed concept bike just this morning: "Age 2–5 kids glider bike I think. Gonna make one." We'd be curious to see the results if he or she does, as this would be a bicyclic evolution of a baby walker—for which trade names include Exersaucer and Jumperoo—though I'm not exactly sure if a harness has any advantages over a traditional balance bike or, say, Andreas Bhend's convertible take on a child's first bicycle.

Via Bike Rumor

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Robert Hampton

4 years ago

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I'm not sure if such a re-inventing of a tricycle is worth it. Like, for real, there are tons of articles/posts, etc. about the topic of how to teach your kid to ride a bike. I think those arguing about balance bike vs training wheels gonna be eternal. And this "new" bike isn't different that much.

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Zach

10 years ago

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Just discovered a new pet hate; videos that only shows you the product at the very end.

The whole point is that it's a tricycle that allows for proper cornering, yet it doesn't show it being used by a kid to turn until 1:41.

Show me a ten second clip of an adult and his kid both going around a corner together by leaning in to it, and surely that'd get the message across.
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Anders Hansen

10 years ago

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Much better to give the kids a proper balance bike where they can truly experience how a bike handles.
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