TOW THINGY

Why the hinge?

Well the best way I can put in words as to why the hinge is the following:

Let’s just say that you have a child’s trike in front of you for demonstration purposes (since that is the root of triking anyways). Walk up in front of that trike, with it on the ground, level, and straddle the front wheel while it is steered straight ahead. Now lock your legs against the wheel and do not move during the rest of this explanation.

Pick the rear of the trike off the ground just enough to move the rear of the trike to either side, left or right at a 90 degree angle to the front tire (which you are still holding straight and have not moved your legs or the front wheel). See what happened to the rear of the trike! The rear tires are not level with the ground are they? This is due to the rake angle in the steering neck. Now then, if you force the rear wheels to a level position, your legs will hurt due to the stress applied. This stress, if reversed would be applied to your trike steering neck during towing if it were not for the hinge on the tow thingy being applied like it is.

However, if we talk about a 2 wheeled motorcycle being towed; we lock the hinge action on the tow thingy because there is only 1 wheel in rear (otherwise it falls over).

Oh Yea, now you can unlock your legs and return the trike to the kids....

Thanks SonnyS