The beginings of a dream...

Hmmm...
For three or four years now, I have been toying with the idea of building my own trike. Due to one reason or another, my (2 wheel) motorcycling days have come graciously to an end. Not that I will never ride on two wheels again, it's just that I consider the thoughts and feelings of my wife and family more than my own selfish desire to go screaming around the roads of Yorkshire and beyond on some mass production Jap race replica.

Basically, my wife no longer wants me to ride a bike. Not today, in this era of motoring mayhem where your safety can be severely compromised in a split second. Goons driving cars whilst using mobile phones, watching DVDs etc. Being forced off the road by a Ford Orion full of Chavs whilst trying to perform a perfectly legitimate overtaking manouvre on two wheels is no longer an experience that I can garner any pleasure from. Once was enough.

It has taken some time but I now concede to my wifes opinion that it's no longer safe to be on British roads on two wheels!

I'm really stoked at the idea of a more sedate, somewhat more interesting and far more individual mode of transport: My trike! Especially, since I will have complete control over how the thing will emerge, from the inner realms and workings of my creative imagination to a fully road legal, super cool lifestyle statement. My work of art! Better, still, is that my wife is also stoked about the idea. She hasn't dared ride pillion with me for a long, long time for all the reasons (and more) that I have mentioned.

The project started for real earlier this year. I finally dragged my sorry butt around some of the local car breakers yards looking for the twisted, rusty remains of an Alfasud from which I would extract the motor/box and whatever running gear I would require to visualize, design and finally build the chassis around. Needless to say, I never found one. Why choose the Alfasud as the basis of my creation?

Next blog...