When I was first married in 1963 I bought a 52 Harley Trike for 50 bucks (BOY I WISH I STILL HAD IT). It had belonged to an auto parts place and I rode it to and from work. What a blast, but getting it started was a major issue. In the mornings I would push it into the street and wait for someone to come along to push it to get it started.
About 1966 I got a 59 Thiumph Bonniville, Later I bought a 67 Harley Sportster in the 70's. Due to an accident in 1971, where a young gentleman drove into the left side of the bike, breaking my right ankle, when the bike flipped on it's right side trapping my leg under it"OUCH".
The bike was retired, I rebuilt it, and sold it to a guy that was walking down the street one day, he walked up and said to me is that your bike, It was setting in my open garage, I told him it was. He then asked how much, and I told him, he walked off down the street. I figured I would never see him again. He didn't look like he had two dimes to rub together. He came back a few weeks later, asking if I still had the bike, I had been keeping my garage closed since he first showed up. He asked if the price was still the same, I said yes, and he commenced to pull cash from all his pockets, one's, five's, ten's, and twenty's, and even a few coins. That was the last I saw of that bike, as he road off down the street, with me holding a large wad of cash in my hand's. It was then that I vowing to NEVER TO RIDE AGAIN.
Well you know how that goes, 10 years later a friend wanted me to store his bike for him while he went on vacation. Told me to ride it, I said "NO WAY", and then the next thing I knew, there I was riding it, and then I was buying my own Suzuki GS1000. Later on a 1983 GL1100, Gold Wing Interstate. Well I had to sell the Gold Wing to buy a home in 1994 so no more riding. BAD DEAL, not the house, but selling the bike. Love the HOUSE.
In 2001 I wanted to ride again so I found and bought another Gold Wing Interstate, a 1984 GL1200. Went to Washington and drove it back, that was when I found that I had trouble with holding the bike up, especially when riding two up, so I sold it. It was then that I decided to build a trike. This was with the encouragement of my wife Jeannette, because she loves to ride also.
When I retired from Law Enforcement in 1998. I worked building a Street Rod for a guy, a 36 Ford 3 window coupe, this took two years. I worked out of a body shop in a small community called Live Oak, California. When the job was done, I started a small fabricating business in my shop at home. So when I decided to build my trike I had a place to work. Plus I had the tools, a welder, horizontal band saw, drill press, cutting torches and plenty of hand tools. Since then I have added to my tools and equipment. I now have a lathe, sand blast cabinet, frame jig among other things. I need a bigger garage.
Getting Started...
I saw a guy riding down the street on a blue fiberglass trike and followed him in to a local K-Mart, I asked him if he knew of any one who had a rebuildable trike and he told me that he had a few at his shop. He owned a Volkswagon repair shop in Yuba City, California called WAYNE'S BUGGY REPAIR , and was rebuilding a few trikes on the side. Wayne and I got together a few days later and I had the start of my trike. It was buried under a bunch of junk in the back of his shop. We made a deal for the trike frame, front end and transaxle. Boy it looked like Junk, BUT IT WAS A START.
I took it home, but before I was able to start, Wayne the guy I bought my starter kit from asked me to build him a frame, and in trade he would build me a complete engine with all the good stuff. He built a 1776, with counter weighted crank, straight cut cam gears on a W100 cam. All chromed out with altinatior, degree pully and a bunch of other tricked out stuff. The only thing that was not new was the case.
Collecting Parts..
Once I got the frame done for Wayne, other people started asking me to do work on their trikes. So mine got pushed back in the corner of the shop. I rebuilt four trikes before I was able to start mine. Then I just told everyone who wanted me to do work for them, that I was going to finish my trike before I did any other work. It was almost a year before I was able to start on my trike. While I was building or rebuilding other people's trike I started looking around on e-bay and swap meets for parts to complete my trike. Found a lot of good stuff.
Finished Trike..
This is the FINISHED PRODUCT. I finished the trike in September of 2004. Got it registered and insured. The first trip was to Street Vibrations in Reno, Nevada on September 24th. No problems except for some small leaks from the engine which were quickly fixed when we got home.
I have entered it into two shows since I have gotten it on the road. Winning first place at the Chico Harley Owners Group (HOG) Bike show in April. Went to the West Coast BTW Trike In, at Reedley on the last part of April. I am having a ball KEEPING MY FACE IN THE WIND. I have since completed another trike for a friend of mine, I have put a picture up on the last page of the site. Now I have one complete build to do, and two rebuilds lined up. If this is what retirement is like I think I will go back to work.
Entered a car and bike show and took second place at the Gold Rush Car Show in Oroville, California on May 7th. Attended the Bikers for Christ car and bike show on June 4th and took a first place trophy.
Took my first long, I mean long trip, a total of about 1800 miles. Went to Moses Lake Washington the middle of June to the BTW Northwest Trike In, had a great time took home the Best Trike award. Made me feel good for all the hard work getting it build. I am glad people appreciate it. I met a great bunch of people while I was there.
Jeannette and I took a vacation in 2007, we left Loma Rica on August 26 and headed north along the California Coast up into Oregon, Spent the nite in Coos Bay, Then headed out early the next morning on our way to Custer, Wa to visit some friends there, we spent 3 days and went to Victoria, BC for a day or site seeing and shopping. Headed back south from Custer to Woodinville, WA where we stayed with friend again for a couple of days, visiting the Seattle area, we went to Pike Street Market to see the fish throwing. Headed back down to the Oregon, Washington border and went west back down the coast. Took a tour of the Tillimoke Ice Cream and Cheese Factory. Very cool place, great Ice Cream. We spent the nite in Yahats, OR, the motel was right on the shore, could hear the waves all nite long. Sure Slept good. The next morning we headed back down the coast to Eureka and back home, all in all a 8 day trip on the trike. We pulled a small trailer with us to carry the basics and store our plunder. The only bad event on the whole trip, was in Seaside OR. An Idiot in a parking lot tried to run over my trailer, damaging the taillights of which I cannot replace. But I got some green out of him. We did about 2200 miles. It was a great 44th Wedding anniversary trip. Hope to do it again soon.
Jeannette and I, joined the BROTHERS OF THE THIRD WHEEL, the first of April of 2005, and we organized a new chapter here in the local area. Anyone in the Butte County, Yuba County, Sutter County and Nevada County, California can contact me if you are interested.
Northeast California Wind Rider Trikers
The chapter was organized in July 2005. We are the Northeast California, Wind Rider Trikers. Our meetings are held on the 1st Saturday of each month at the Carl's Jr Restaurant, at the corner of Bridge Street and Hwy 99, Yuba City,Ca, 9:00 AM. We will schedule rides and events to attend at these meetings, and often taking a ride after the meeting.
Well it is late Summer of 2009, the weather is changing in our area. It has been in the high 90's and low 100's. No jacket is needed and you go without riding gear until later in the day. Which is ok, except for the bugs.
I am still the Director for the Chapter and we plan during the year 2009 to have a BBQ, potlucks, and tire kicked meetings, instead of our meeting at Carl's Jr, we will once in a while have a picnic lunch on our rides somewhere. So far this year we have had a Picnic in Auburn, Ca at a friends home. A great time was had by all, here is a link to the pictures of the trip.
Auburn Picnic Pictures
We also had a July 4th potluck at one of the members home. Great food and fun was had by all. Hope to have another one next year. We have taken rides to Clearlake and had a picnic at a park, all in all 10 trikes and one chase truck came on the run. The chase truck was really just one of the members who could not bring his trike. Our last after meeting run, ended when one of the trikes broke down and we spent time fixing it, then everyone just went their own way. It was still a good time. We have learned to carry spare parts, distributer caps, coil, fuel pumps, spark plus and other stuff to fix a busted VW engine.
Our third Saturday get together at a local restaurant for breakfast, or lunch kind of fizzled out for a while but we are going to revive it. We are planning as a group to start visiting some of the other chapters meetings in the area around us. Try to get some interaction going on with them. We made a trip to the Sacramento Chapter meeting only to find out that they had disbanded. I see now that they are trying to get a new chapter going again.. Good Luck Sacramento...
We met with the Sacramento Chapter in October. They are called the River City Trikers, they meet on the first Saturday of the month at Ernies of Lake Tahoe, 707 East Barrett, Folsum, Ca at 9:00 am. This month we all had a nice breakfast and then took a ride into the El Derado County foothills, crossed over to Auburn, Ca and then to the Grass Valley/Nevada City, CA area where we had lunch. After lunch we took the old road out of Grass Valley down to the small community of Rough and Ready. During the Civil War, Rough and Ready left the Union. There is not much left there but it is a neat place to see. It was a fun ride and good company. Next month the River City Trikers will meet with us at Carls Jr, Hwy 99 and Bridge Street on the first Saturday of November, come join us.
We have been trying to help several members of our chapter with their rides. Some don't have a ride and others need changes made to help with special physical needs. We have gotten a few on the road again. The Chapter is growing, more members are joining all the time. Some of us have been going to the Bike Night in Oroville at the Mike's Grande Burger on the second Thursday of each month. Met 3 more trike riders at the last meet, and some of them are going to start riding with us. The more the merrier.
If you are going to be in our area give me an email and maybe you can join us, we can have a cup, or a cold soft drink. Hope to see you there and keep it on three, or two if that is what you have and enjoy you riding.
Tribute to Ben Hart the Gentle Giant
November 2nd 2009, we lost a good friend and riding companion.
I met Ben a few years ago during my career at the Sheriffs Department. He was a neighbor of Art and Lynn DuFresne. Art worked at the Sheriffs Department with me. Ben was trying to get on the Sheriffs Department as a Reserve Correctional Officer.
Then later on down the road we met again while I was building my Trike. Ben had an old trike that had been in the berry patch in his back yard, Ben had ridden the trike back in the day. He contacted a friend of mine who owned a Volkswagon repair shop that was into trikes. He wanted to see if anyone was doing rebuild work. Wayne McMillan the owner of the shop contacted me because I had build him a frame and I was in the process of building my own Trike. The trike was a real mess, it had berry vines and leaves and junk all over it. It was rusted and had other corrosion all over it.
Below is a picture of what I started with. See I didn't lie it was really a mess.
I stretched the frame out and added a body and paint. Plus all of other normal stuff you would expect to see on a trike. Well after several months and a bunch of changes the next picture is what we ended up with. Ben was a big boy he was 6'4" and needed a large trike, and that is what he got. Ben would come up to the house and watch me build on his trike. Ben had lost a leg due to diabetics, so I made special foot controls so they would work with his prosthesis. What you see below is the finished product.
Ben was a very patriotic person he had me put a bunch of small emblems on the back of the trike. He was very proud of his service in the Navy. Later on we added a US flag and a POW flag to the back of his trike. Ben's vest had tribute patches on the back honoring the POW's and branches of the service.
The rebuild of the trike was the start of a great friendship. Ben and I got the idea to start a local Brothers of the Third Wheel Chapter, what we wanted was to meet and ride with others of like interest. So in the first part of 2005 we formed the local chapter called the Wind Rider Trikers. The chapter started meeting in Oroville because it was kind of centrally located. Ben was the Co Director. We stated having monthly meetings and riding as much as we could. It seemed for a while that it was just Ben and Jeannette and I who showed up for many meetings. Then after a while more great people started riding with us.
On every ride except a few when Ben had health issues he was there with us. Ben would often call Jeannette his second wife, and he would often ask her as we started our rides to braid his hair so it wouldn't fly all over the place. He came to my house many times to just visit and shoot the bull. Often times saying I'm bringing lunch, he would show up with deli sandwiches and other goodies. Our dog Taffy would go nuts when she saw Ben coming down the driveway, because he always brought treats. He would bring dog bones and jerky chews. It became almost a requirement that treats were brought by all the trike riders that came to our home.
We took a trip to Porterville for a Trike In, and Ben came along. Due to his leg he had trouble getting into his cot in his tent and making his bed up. Ben called out from the tent and asked Jeannette if she would make his bed, later she helped him get into bed. Ben said never again would he camp like that, it would be a motel for him from then on. Even with his discomfort in his sleeping arrangements he had a ball and was ready to go again, but not to camp out Ben would say.
The one thing that I regret is the fact that Ben wanted to make a run to Fort Bragg and have some clam chowder soup and spend the night or weekend there, but not in a tent. This next year I plan to set up a memorial ride and take a bunch of us to Fort Bragg for some chowder and good times.
Ben always was cheerful and full of life, he will be sorely missed by all who knew him and loved him. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all his family and friends.
If there weren't a Triker in Heaven there is now, ride in glory Ben.
Roger
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