I am frequently asked why I ride a 'three wheeled bike' and it's not an easy question to answer. There are disadvantages - extra weight, rather wide at the back for getting through doors at home, more expensive, an extra wheel to puncture and the incessant, generally inane, comments of other road users. A common reaction is "Can't you ride a proper bike?" Unfortunately the best response to this is to offer the critic a ride, but this can work out expensive, as nine times out of ten they end up in the ditch.
I ride a trike, or barrow because it is such good fun. I've yet to meet a miserable barrow boy, but perhaps I've been lucky! Motorists tend to give you a wide berth, assuming you must be somewhat deranged. There may be some truth in this of course! A trike is brilliant in icy or slippery conditions and can, with proper care, even be ridden off-road.
Cornering is really exciting, as you have to assess the tightness of the bend, the gradient, the camber and the road surface, before leaning over to compensate, and keep both back wheels on the ground. Get it wrong and that inside wheel will lift and give you a fright. Tight downhill bends do need to be taken with care.
It is often assumed that climbing hills on a trike is hard, but despite the extra weight, the added stability when riding out of the saddle seems to make climbing more efficient.
If you are a keen racer you will probably want a single wheel drive for lightness, but two wheel drive is definitely best. There are still quite a few Higgins trikes around with differential rear axles, but they are getting rather long in the tooth now.
George Longstaff in Newcastle-under-Lyme makes an excellent double-freewheel, two wheel drive. Higgins differentials are threaded on both sides and so do permit the trike to be ridden with a fixed wheel. I haven't had the courage to try this yet. Maybe one day.
Here is a side view of the Higgins tricycle and a view of the rear axle.
For braking you can have hub brakes on the rear wheels in addition to a normal front brake, but I find brazing a pair of cantilevers on the back of the front fork, in addition to a caliper brake in front, perfectly satisfactory.
If you are feeling particularly adventurous why not try a tandem trike, or long barrow. As Richard Ballantine says, they do take up 'an inordinate amount of road,' and if ridden fast can require a fairly acrobatic crew. However if ridden with care a tandem trike does make an excellent family machine, providing room for two child seats between the rear wheels.
Before committing yourself to buying a trike you can get rear wheel conversions that bolt on to the back of a conventional bicycle frame. This represents a reasonably inexpensive way of of seeing if a trike is for you.