[EricH]

Originally Posted by couvillion

What does the tri star gain you over a wheel of the same over all size? You ground clearance is unchanged. You moving parts count is lower with just a wheel.

Actually, the ground clearance changes. When the front wheel on the bottom hits something it can't clear, the entire assembly rotates around the center axle, raising the ground clearance for that wheel and swinging the (former) top wheel to the front, onto the top of the obstacle, on one swift move. They're great for getting onto--or over--obstacles.

Oh, and it takes quite a bit to high-center a tri-star setup effectively, because a wheel that doesn't hit something solid will just keep turning until one of its three wheels catches, so you need to get it to the point where it only has 4 wheels on the ground (one per star), which can be pretty tough to do.