Older bikers opt for third wheel

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MOUNT AIRY, N.C., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Three-wheeled motorcycle riders at the National East Coast Trike-In in North Carolina said the extra wheel can be beneficial to aging bikers.

Grady Howard, 74, who said he began riding motorcycles about 50 years ago with his wife, Barbara, said during the Labor Day weekend event in Mount Airy he was forced to switch to the three-wheeled design due to leg aches and other health issues, The New York Times reported Friday.

"I told my wife it was either trike it or park it," Howard said. "And she said, 'Trike it.'"

Industry experts told the Times sales of three-wheeled bikes have bolstered the slowing motorcycle industry and opened the roads back up to tens of thousands of riders who thought their motorcycling days were behind them.

"I get ribbed once in a while, people saying I'm an old man," said David Jenkins, 56, who switched to a trike last month. "I always tell them, when they grow up they should get a real motorcycle, a three-wheeler."