Meeting new friends

[Nana]

Did I ever tell you that TrikeTalk members are the nicest people? Well you are! :yes: Every one of you that I have met in person has only affirmed that belief, and today was no exception.

cjmitch (September TOTM) and his wife, Dee, were at a GWRRA rally in Celina, OH for the weekend and invited Mike and I up for the day. Yes, he invited us in spite of knowing we are both on Harleys !!! We had a great time with them and appreciate their warmth and welcome so much! It will be fun to see if he won anything. We were there for the light show contest (he'll find out tonight how he did) and when we left, he was busy positioning his trike for the general bike show. Maybe he'll win that trophy too!

Dee said everyone was stopping by their campsite to take pictures of my trike and she could have sold it several times! Good thing we came back from the vendor area when we did!!!

In the vendor area, the new Can-Am Spyder touring trike was on display.

This is the only one out on the road, and the gentleman showing it is is riding it from California to Quebec to give it a good test workout, and couldn't say enough positive things about it. At his invitation, I sat on it. I found the handlebars too far forward for my comfort, but the seat was very comfortable and the trike had some nice features. The windshield raises and lowers electronically to meet the individual rider's comfort, for instance.

Here are a couple of pics: With cjmitch and his trike. cjmitch on my trike. The Can-Am Spyder. Me on the Spyder.

 

[katfish16]

Wow, looks like U guys had a good time,,, Hmmmm Harley at Goldwing rallie maybe she should have raffeled off ur trike so u could have gotten a Goldwing . Only kidding (I think) :yes:

Glad U guys got to meet each other. Ride safe......

 

[Trikerjim]

Katfish, I checked Nanas trike really close in Florida, and the engine is a dummy ! It has a Honda motor in the back, out of sight..... Still trying to figure out how she gets it to sound like a Harley though...Nana, I'm sure all the members fell the same about you and Mike..!!! Happy triking.

 

[Nana]

I didn't let you get that close to my trike, Jim . As I recall I blocked you every time you tried to look at it!!!! Here is proof......

 

[cjmitch]

Glad you had a good time!!!

Well nothing for the light show, but 3rd place in the general Bike show..
Trike/custom/category

Here is another Bike picture
Grand Lake Paparazzi

NANA, you didnt take the LAST Bratwurst.. shame on you

 

[Gorilla]

Congrats

 

[Nana]

Once again our members live up to my conviction that we have the nicest people in the world on this forum! Mike and I were invited to stop by Bill Duning's annual "Garage Open House" to get acquainted and share some yummy home made chili and cornbread along with about 100 of his motorcycling friends. What a great time! Bill is one of our newer members since the addition of a Stallion to his wonderful motorcycle collection that includes a wide variety of bikes from Triumphs, to a Rune and an Indian. He's been doing a lot of reading and exploring, but is yet to post although he and I have talked by phone and PM several times. He promises he will soon be jumping in to share some of his fun with the Stallion any day now. What an enjoyable afternoon, and what a great guy!

 

[Nana]

I don't get up at 4 a.m. for just anybody. But to catch a plane to visit cool TrikeTalk friends I'll do it . We are in Charlotte, NC tonight. It is Bella's birthday today (I'm not telling how young she is), and Mike and I are hanging out with Mattel and Bella to celebrate. A great meal together, laughing over a game of Rummy Cube, and having Moose, the Great Dane join me on the couch and try to be my lap dog.... Can it get any better than that???? I'll post some pics when I get home and can upload them.

Tomorrow we head to my brother and sister-in-law's home in Charleston for a few days of family fun.

 

[Nana]

As promised, here are a couple of pictures of our visit with Mattel and Bella (AKA Eddie and Belinda), and their crazy dogs. Moose and I became great friends..... guess she thought I was just her size . And me taking off on Eddie's Ducati was NOT an option, particularly in a skirt, as I couldn't reach the ground even on tiptoe and could barely reach the handlebars if I leaned waaaaaayyyyyyy forward

 

[Nana]

Here I go again, bragging about how wonderful my TrikeTalk family is! Mike and I had a delightful lunch and fun-filled chat with Steve (katfish16) and his Cathy. He long-since became my big brother on this forum, and spending time in person with them only cemented the friendship! Here is a picture of the four of us, and one of me with Steve and Cathy.

 

[katfish16]

Well thank U we too had a great time and enjoyed meeting you and Mike. It made for a great day...

 

[Big Dog]

Gee, while reading the new posts to Miles, he got a sad look on his face. He realized that he didn't make a good impression on you, Nana. I hope that we can fix that at TT3 :yes:

 

[Nana]

Not so, Miles (and Fred)!!!!! My meeting with you two happened, and was posted, long before this thread was started.

http://www.triketalk.com/forum/general-forum/994-big-dog-little-dog.html

Looking forward to the rally and seeing you again!

 

[Big Dog]

Not so, Miles (and Fred)!!!!! My meeting with you two happened, and was posted, long before this thread was started.

http://www.triketalk.com/forum/general-forum/994-big-dog-little-dog.html

Looking forward to the rally and seeing you again!

Boy, I can understand my forgetting that post, but not Miles. I guess its time to start with the ginko supplements in both of our food bowls!

 

[Juju]

I'm sure Miles has a lot on his mind--looking out for you, BD. Give him a break!

 

[Nana]

Another fine day shared with TrikeTalk friends! Bazooka (Randy) and Marge welcomed us to Dothan with big hugs despite their very busy schedule today. They are "old" friends by now, but they certainly deserve a picture posted also. :yes:

Then, as we headed north back toward Ohio, we stopped for a delicious mexican meal with Bdn56 (Bryan) and his lovely wife, Susan. What fun! The only problem is that Mike and Susan both ran when I got the camera out --- the big chickens! So you've got a picture with just Bryan and me .

 

[bdn56]

You sure have some good looking friends

 

[Nana]

You sure have some good looking friends

I absolutely do! It was great fun spending time with you guys, Bryan. I'm honored that you took off early to do that......... You DID take off early just for me, right? It wasn't just to take off early??????

 

[bdn56]

Yes.

 

[Nana]

LOL........good answer

 

[Nana]

A highlight of my recent week in British Columbia with my mom was a couple of hours I spent with our member, trikectr/Ben Boudreau who happens to be the importer and distributor for Rewaco trikes in Canada. Ben, Jennifer (works in the store), and Dan (mechanic) were such a great group! The plan was for me to take one of the Rewaco trikes out for a good test drive in the beautiful BC countryside.

Yeah, right! I could touch the pedals, but not depress them . So much for being in control of the brake and clutch!!! LOL! Ben showed me there is an adaptor that can be applied to move them closer, the seat can be adapted to scoot me forward, and the handle bars rolled down to a more comfortable position for my arms. But there just wasn't time to do all of that on Friday afternoon, so we did the next best thing. I put on a helmet, climbed on the back with my camera in hand, and Ben took me out for an hour on back roads......... up twisties over a hilly area, along the Fraser River, a short jump on the freeway, then back onto country roads near Cultus Lake (I remember visiting there as a child!!!) and back to his shop.

In many ways, it was a better way for me to experience this amazing trike, as I didn't have to worry about driving, clutching and shifting differently than mine, etc. I could just relax and take it all in. I sure did have fun!

The Rewaco is built in Germany, and is a trike from the ground up -- not a kit. There is a lot of storage space, the seating is comfortable, the engine is powerful, the wheelbase is long and wide and the trike hugs the road in the twisties with a very similar feel to a sportscar for the rider, while the driver has the position and feel of riding a motorcycle as most of us do with a more traditional trike. The throttle is in the right handlebar grip, as usual. The right foot pedal controls the integrated front/rear brakes. The left pedal is the clutch, and the 5-speed plus reverse gears are shifted by hand (see the picture showing the gearshift on the tank right in front of the driver).
Ben feels certain the testing and approval of this beautiful machine by the American EPA will be completed soon, and we should expect to start seeing them for sale in the US in the next year or two.

Thank so much for the wonderful time, Ben!!!!

 

[ThirdWheel]

I want one.

 

[Nana]

I gather Ben can ride his down here, but our EPA testing has not been done on them yet, so importing them for sale here is not yet approved into the USA.

Hopefully, Ben will correct me if I am wrong, but I had the sense that I was sitting right over the motor, which means it would be mainly forward of the rear axle and would move the weight and center of gravity more forward than that of some of the traditional VW trikes. I meant to ask Ben about that when the ride was over, but completely forgot! I know that you engineers will have a good feel of how that might affect or improve the handling.

 

[Gorilla]

Very nice looking. Could really be a fast machine. The only thing I do not like from the pictures is the chrome side pans (or whatever they are called).

 

[Gorilla]

Met Randy (Zook) and Marge today. We spent about an hour at their new shop location. Great to visit and we will be looking forward to seeing them and everyone else at TT III

 

[Ozarkryder]

Heh, Heh -

Nana, when you said you could touch the pedals but not depress them I had a vision of a couple of 4X4 blocks and some duct tape.

Interesting machines- would like to see/demo ride one. Hope they do come to the U.S. sometime soon. Thanks for the report!

 

[CanuckHoss]

A highlight of my recent week in British Columbia with my mom was a couple of hours I spent with our member, trikectr/Ben Boudreau who happens to be the importer and distributor for Rewaco trikes in Canada.
The Rewaco is built in Germany, and is a trike from the ground up -- not a kit.

Ben feels certain the testing and approval of this beautiful machine by the American EPA will be completed soon, and we should expect to start seeing them for sale in the US in the next year or two.

Nana,

About 7 weeks ago the EPA in Canada..which is seperate from the DOT side went to Ben's and served notice that he could not sell the units he had on the floor because they had no EPA testing done. They gave him to November to get the testing done otherwise the units needed to be removed from the country.

I have one unit that I have not sold and I have a deposit on it but cannot sell it due to the EPA hold...it cannot even leave the shop and be driven with my demo plate.

When and if Ben gets the EPA testing done by X-Test in California then the Rewaco will be DOT and EPA for Canada and the USA.

We have an arbitration date of August 10th the find out if the unsold units in Canada can be grandfathered in and sold without the testing then any further units cannot be brought in without the testing being done.

Unfortunately the DOT..the EPA...and the Customs don't have there sheet together and Ben should not have been able to bring the first 8 units into Canada in the first place...should have been stopped at Customs.

So there is an update on Rewaco..I sit holding my breath and hope that Aug 10 the arbitrator rules in our favour.

 

[Nana]

Thanks for that update! Ben has shared most of that with me also, and we are all pulling for the news to be good! The Rewaco is such an amazing trike, it would be a huge loss to Canada if they rule the other way!!! And it would mean an indefinite loss to the States in that none would be imported here at all. Keep us here at TrikeTalk in the loop for sure.

 

[John Luciano]

Was that my friend Fred Raue with his little wife riding that CAN AM?