100% Triker

[UKRobKLR650]

Im trying to think how to put this without upsetting anyone :rolleyes:
Right, i know Trikes are very important in the world of transport. Bikers who've lost use of their legs, other bad injuries can still get their fill of fresh air and all the other things they got before they were unlucky , so on so forth. As such i dont mind Bike based trikes and i can seriously see the need for them. What i dont understand is people ruining a bike by welding half a car to it. I mean why have all the short falls of a bike and all the short falls of a car and weld them together? Also 100% Biker, well to me a bike has 2 wheels, bike being short for Bicycle, the Bi meaning 2. So why are there so many trikes? Shouldnt it be 100% Biker Or Triker?
Anyway, im asking as im interested, im not having a dig. Im lucky i know, ive had some serious bike accidents in the past, broken bones in my neck, knees, wrists so on so forth but i can still ride 2 wheels. What i want to know, is why trikes? I mean maybe youve got no sense of balance or summat? :D
Like i said, this aint a dig, im just wondering so dont get all defensive :rolleyes:

[jediross]

Well I for one have been away from bikes since riding one on a provisional licence at the age of 17. Now 16 years later wanting to get 'back into' the biking 'scene' but having 5 kids, not much time and even less money, it was an easier and more sensible option for me. I didnt have to pass another test (though some may think that this isnt a good point, i have been driving all that time and only had one accident when someone drove into the back of me whilst i was stationary!). It also means that i can take a couple of the kids out for runs without IMHO selfishly leaving the wife at home with all the sprogs.

Now I appreciate this doesnt answer the 'should it be 100% biker/triker' arguement but if trikes weren't so popular than surely there wouldnt be so many worthy of featuring in the great mag, which i'm sure most people would agree is as much about biker lifestyle than how many wheels.


Anyway, a worthy first post, though i would have preferred it on a lighter note.... :D

Paul.

[Yoda]

I see your point

but the main reasons (other than the disability side)
1, people have families which they cannot take with them on a bike
2, you can take a load more stuff to a rally with you
3, it still gives you the 'Bike' feel, (that a car (convertble or not) will not give you,)
4, some people do not have a bike license, but want to to experience the above item

but i would say that disability is the main reason, and that a trike can be made suitable for almost anyone.

Yoda

[bill?]

a mate of mine who has had bikes for as long as I can remember, became disabled a number of years ago. he tried the sidecar thing cos his balance was a bit iffy, but all the controls were wrong so he built a trike with all the controls suited to his needs. yea its got a car engine but how many 1800 cc bike engines are there thats as cheap to buy.



thinking about a trike meself actually cos the wife is scared witless when she gets on the back of the bike (or is that just my driving)

[Lone-Wolf]

Wotcha.

I built my trike for the simple reason............. I like 'em.

I like my bike too, so I'm lucky in as much as I have the choice.

[Gypsy]

doro says

we have a bike trike, don't like car trikes much, but trike was the 'easy' option ie not having to fork out £600+ for bike licence, also cheaper insurance, and don't have to wear a helmet, and slightly safer to ride

those are our reasons

I think if you ask why people ride bikes you'll get a lot of similar answers, apart from the getting through traffic bit, which I must admit wins hands down when you're stuck in another queue of cars/lorries

[TaxiDave]

I've got a couple of bikes and up until recently had a trike and am in the process of building another. My reason is because I like trikes the same as some people like hardtail chops and others like Harleys. I don't need to ride the trike, I just want to.

[Creature]

I have a chop which is my daily transport as well as my rally bike. But sometimes my wife n 2 of my brats wish to come along. Now I refuse to goto a bike rally in a car, so i have brought a trike so that i can still go to rallies but without the stigma that s attached to those who go in cars with there families.

[Rabid]

I ride bikes all year round but on an icey February morning i can see the joy of having 3 wheels instead of 2, so am thinking about getting a trike for next winter. All of this doesn't answer the question why 100% biker and not triker. I suppose it had to be called something and trikers consider themselves bikers but it wont necessarily work the other way around.

[dracken1]

firstly. a pox upon you klr :p

this all seems to boil down to whats practical.
you want to cover long distances in comfort, then a wing will take some beating.
like to ride fast, then one of the many pocket rockets will do it.

off road riding,again plenty of good perfect for the job bikes about.

there is not a single practical reason for owning a chop or a trike

a hardtail will kill your kidneys or at least give them a softer consistency.

trikes,now trikes have all the disadvantages of a bike and none of the advantages of a bike.
you get stuck in traffic jams and when it rains you get wet.

why do people who already have a disability put up with a trike.
when some of them would qualify for a disability car?

autobox,heaters,warm an dry.
for some it allows them to experience a similar freedom that a bike once gave them,which now they unfortunatly are unable to ride.

but for many of us regardless of our physical abilities we ride trikes/hardtails etc, just so we can be different, so we can say "this is mine" theres not another like it.
even a 13k harley is the same as the next 13k harley.

i've never broke a bone in my body i'm not disabled in any way, unless you you count being welsh as disabled :(

i ride my trike more than my bike
i perfer vw trikes as i find the handling to be better than a front engined job.
at least in the dry anyhow.

and as long as we still have some say in what we ride then ride whatever you want,when you want.
life is very short but death seems to go on forever

[UKRobKLR650]

A pox on me Dracken? Ah, i must admit to never trying that. Could you make sure she's a bloody stunner though, im fussy who i catch STD's off :D
Anyway, many reasons and im still not convinced for myself but good luck to you if you get what i mean. The only way i can see me on a trike is if i cant get on a bike anymore but thats just me, theres nowt wrong with Trikes, they just aint for me. As far as 100 biker and the name, well i kind of worded it wrong. Maybe it should be 100 biker and Triker. Ah well, been back home to Wales over the weekend. Im all chilled and happy. Hope you all enjoy whatever floats yer boat :D

[TaxiDave]

i've never broke a bone in my body i'm not disabled in any way, unless you you count being welsh as disabled :(




I wasn't going to say it but now you come to mention it :D :D :D

[BikerGran]

Well I only became a triker recently when I had my Kwak GT550 converted. I always said I would get a trike when I got too old to ride a bike - well that hasn't happened yet but when you drop a heavy bike on your leg and do it a lot of no good, and it then refuses to heal properly - a trike gets you back on the road again! :D

But now that I'm riding the trike, I understand things I never understood before - and I don't think anyone could have explained it to me in a way that would make me agree, without actually riding the thing.

TRIKES ARE FUN!


It's a different kind of fun, it's more laid back. I find I don't worry about not being able to filter, or overtake like I thought I would. I just sit back and chill, cos I'm cruising and I got the grin anyway.
And trikes are more hairy at slow speeds than when they are going fast!
And the 'look at me' factor is enooooooormous!
And I love it!
And I can still go to bike meets and rallies and still do the Round Britain Rally and I'm still a biker!


...... It's a trike thing.......... ;)

[Alik Windrush]

I love bikes and my entire life has evolved around them... But I do really get pissed off with bike spares. They cost ten times more than they're worth and you have to wait weeks for them to arrive. So many bike shop staff are tossers and think that brake pads are a bargain at £40, two day delivery is quick and making you wait in a queue behind a company rep is really funny.
I get car spares from a wholesaler. They come from stock and if I'm really idle I can get them delivered to my house within two hours.
Do I really want to do the bike thing..? I just bought a Kwack regulator/rectifier from a mate of mines shop. It cost £45 and took three days to arrive because the **** in the warehouse forgot to put it in the box with the rest of the order....?

[Gypsy]

like doro said
but also
i am bad enough in a car... gimme 2 wheels and d'oro would be putting me in the ground within 6 months

[Trikerbiker]

I've been riding bikes since I was 16 (45 now), and wanted a trike since I first saw pics of them in mags way back in the 70's before they were popular (or at least as popular as they are today). I even sent off for a Desperate Dan's kit catalogue once about 25 years ago!! but couldn't afford it.

At the moment I have a BMW K100 Trike, a Kawasaki VN1500 Drifter and a couple of old 250 Superdreams that might one day run again. I also have a car. Hmmm what does that make me?? Biker? Triker? Car-er? I don't think of myself as any of these things and I certainly don't get hung up over it. I ride and drive all of them and enjoy all of them I'm just who I am and people can either take me or leave me.

100% Biker to me is a good magazine with a good catchy name (just as Back Street Heroes is a good name). I buy 100% every month because I enjoy it and find it informative not because it is the holy grail or the icon of some underground cult of the 'Biker'. I didn't consider that by buying and reading this I was somehow subscribing to this cult - I naively thought I was being entertained and informed about things I had an interest in. I also used to buy Back Street Heroes (back in the 80's), but never thought of myself as one of them either. When I got fed up with the content of the mag I stopped buying it.

Don't spend too much time thinking about what you or anyone else is, Biker, Triker, Butcher, Baker or Candlestick Maker just enjoy what you like and take people as you find them.

Regards

Mick

[dracken1]

this is for alik and anyone else concerned about bike part prices.
i'm afraid bikes like quads and jetskis are classed as luxury goods, ok jetskis yes quads maybe but bikes lees so as many are used as means of transport.

i've been a parts supplier for years and over that time parts have reduced in price, but yes many are way overpriced.
it's the smaller common items
spark plugs are a very good example
i have to buy plugs in 4's or 10's depending on type
prices start from £10.30 per 10
and pray you don't need a set of ngk r24 30-10's because the price to me
is £141.00 for 4 and that does not inc vat
thats £41.41 per plug and that is without any mark up

a kwak reg/rec at £45.00 is a very good price

i don't keep any heavy items in stock instead i have them sent straight to the customer next day.
this is due to the fact that it would cost me more to send it, than the supplier charges. as they get huge discounts from the couriers.

but like most things its not a perfect science. sometimes my orders come up short...... it happens.
its just always a twat when it happens to be a part you need urgently

the motorcycle parts trade is a funny business.
i sell more service parts to england than i do to scotland and wales.
but most custom parts i sell go to scotland and wales.

can't figure that one out at all

[Doro]

you're not too far from machynlleth dracken, which is the only place I've been to in wales, went there for work, we were designing the choppers and invertors for the solar cells used at CAT centre for alternative technology...(is it still there? bit hypocritical cos it was being run by lotsa new age hippies advocating renewable energy etc but they all drove gas guzzlers)

my granny used to love devil's bridge which is where she went to on honeymoon, and several times again after that, I think that's near Aberystwyth

:D

used to get my MG spares from a guy in wrexham (the welsh MG centre) who was the cheapest and fastest. I needed new brake calipers and he said he couldn't see if he had any, but if I ordered them he'd have them posted to me in a week. This was at 4pm on a friday afternoon. 9am the next morning (saturday!!) the post man woke me up by banging on the door, and there were my parts, delivered by the royal mail (bless em).

:cool:

[devon-tony]

HMMM well then "why trikes"???

well if I had to explain you wouldnt understand, for me its just something that I happened to love from an early age, I came form the trike capital (essex), my first trike was a bike one built by Tom Touhy, that was when I was aged 18 years and 2 days, and have had a trike in one form or another ever since, Im now fast approaching 29 :( they are all individual like the owners.

the trike reason is just the same reason that any of us change things on bikes etc, I liked them originally as it gave more scope for engineering, paint and also luggage carying ability, but is just a matter of personal taste.

I can ride either a bike or a trike, but my preferred choice is 3 wheels, although if you ask me in acouple of weeks time when my town is bumper to bumper with grockles and emmits, I might just prefer the bike :)

oh and with regards to the name of the mag, yes I see your point, but as highlighted by someone else, I think that the title is more what the mag is about, ie its a biker magazing, and surely a trike rider is a biker???

anyway, does that mean that back street heroes should change its name to cheque book bikes, or big shop heroes??? as recently I have not seen many back street bikes in that mag, althoug I must admit to nnot buying it for some time, just browse it in the corner shop, far too many pretty american twins built on a budget that exceeds my yearly income :( ( and thats not a dig at the mag or the people that own them bikes, if I could afford it I might spend it on a bike, but merely highlighting the fact that a name is just a name)

[Gypsy]

I can ride either a bike or a trike, but my preferred choice is 3 wheels, although if you ask me in acouple of weeks time when my town is bumper to bumper with grockles and emmits, I might just prefer the bike :)


southend ????

[UKRobKLR650]

Ah, before we go to far let me just add i aint got a hang up about it, i dont think the mag should be changed or anything like that its just one of those little things that crosses my mind. I was plain and simply just wondering, much like i wonder why people thought asparagus looked tasty :D

[dracken1]

much like i wonder why people thought asparagus looked tasty

i see firstly you pick on trikers
and now you having a go at asparagus eaters.

us asparagus eaters go through life bothering no one.
for years we have been hounded and ridiculed

and now we are having to start meeting in secret locations in the dead of night.
to eat our asparagus, just so we don't get asparagus hating vigilantes hounding us. :D

[dracken1]

TO DORA
the centre for alternative technology is still going .
machynlleth is 15 miles away from me.
as is devils bridge.

i hope you enjoyed your stay in wales, we really are a nice people.

if you enter wales again take notice of the posters of taxidave at the border crossings.

he was caught for sheep rustling in wales.
at least i think it was rustling, there was definitly sheep involved.

[Gypsy]

much like i wonder why people thought asparagus looked tasty :D

i have always wondered too :D

[devon-tony]

southend ????

Nah I used to live in southend, but now on the west coast over in devon, live and work by woolacombe beach :)

if I have to have the car for the days work, then the 2 miles home has taken 1 hr and 45 minutes on the worst occasion!!!

have also resorted to parkking the car at the side of the road, walking home, then picking the car up on the way to work next morning, or going back to get it later

[UKRobKLR650]

Dracken, im from Newtown Powys. I have a go at Asparagus eaters cause i suffer with inverted snobbery, we could never afford them :D
Oh, i was back home at the weekend, went fishing on sunday up at Clywedog (Old haunt as kids). Get yerself a trailie Dracken and me and brother (Lives in Welshpool now) can all go for a spin round Nant Y moch, Staylittle etc etc. :D

[Doro]

TO DORA



what is it with this dora stuff? gaaarrrddddd man

[Doro]

ps if dracken says it once more am gonna be mean to him at some point one day maybe if he's lucky perhaps

errrmmm

anyone got any good advice about how I can be mean to dracken?

not involving animals tho cos i don't want to hurt any ikkle furry creatures in the making of this film

errr

ok

hometime methinks

:D

[dracken1]

heh whats in a name :)
sorry did'nt realise i'd typed dora instead of dori er doro, was an accident .

nant yr moch dinas etc are nice places.
so its you i hear screaming around when i'm getting away for the day to enjoy a spot of fishing.

becarefull up there , theres a lot of old mines about
nothing worse than riding through a pothole that ends up 100 foot deep

[TaxiDave]

Dracken, im from Newtown Powys. I have a go at Asparagus eaters cause i suffer with inverted snobbery, we could never afford them :D
Oh, i was back home at the weekend, went fishing on sunday up at Clywedog (Old haunt as kids). Get yerself a trailie Dracken and me and brother (Lives in Welshpool now) can all go for a spin round Nant Y moch, Staylittle etc etc. :D

I can remember that road from Knighton to Newtown, I think its about 10 miles long. It took me two and a half hours to drive it in the snow a few years back.

Rob, I've got an XR400 and my brothers got an XR280, we come out to Kington or Rhayader, or the Black Mountains every few weekends and frighten the ramblers, (not intentionally of course). Perhaps we'll bump into you one Sunday.

[TaxiDave]

if you enter wales again take notice of the posters of taxidave at the border crossings.

he was caught for sheep rustling in wales.
at least i think it was rustling, there was definitly sheep involved.


I didn't harm any sheep in the making of that movie. Its back feet got stuck in me wellies. :D :D

[Gypsy]

doro says.......


lol

only kidding drak

[UKRobKLR650]

heh whats in a name :)
sorry did'nt realise i'd typed dora instead of dori er doro, was an accident .

nant yr moch dinas etc are nice places.
so its you i hear screaming around when i'm getting away for the day to enjoy a spot of fishing.

becarefull up there , theres a lot of old mines about
nothing worse than riding through a pothole that ends up 100 foot deep
Yeah mate, grew up in those areas or should i say spent most of me life blastin round those areas on bikes. Luckily me family, brother etc still all live back that way so ive always got a place to stay. Oh, me and Brother were fishing up Clywedog on Sunday, got a four nice Rainbow Trout :D
TaxiDave, i think you'd piss rings around an XT600 and a KLR650 but if ya see us stop fer a natter mate. Oh, me and me brother are both bloody tall (6 foot 6 and 6 foot 4), the XT is blue the KLR is green and silver blah blah blah. Seeya up there :D Oh, TaxiDave, dont suppose yer doin the Cambrian this year?

[TaxiDave]

If you mean the Cambrian Enduro in October a mate of ours is doing it on his all singing all dancing new KTM and we're going to watch and hopefully marshall.

[Friar Tuck]

Can someone repeat the question, please? By the time I finished reading all the posts I'd forgottoen what it was all about!

It's a b**ger this Altzheim......? Eh? Wassat?

Who are you?

[UKRobKLR650]

If you mean the Cambrian Enduro in October a mate of ours is doing it on his all singing all dancing new KTM and we're going to watch and hopefully marshall.
Yes mate, thats the one. Big bloody 120 mile laps this year, should be a laugh :D

[TaxiDave]

Can someone repeat the question, please? By the time I finished reading all the posts I'd forgottoen what it was all about!

It's a b**ger this Altzheim......? Eh? Wassat?

Who are you?


The question was FT, "What have odd coloured woolly jumpers got to do with riding a trike or bike and should the mag be re-named Woolly Jumper Weekly" :D :D