Our First Trikefest

[Jabcon]

As I sit here scanning the latest in trike lore while waiting on the donut dough to rise, as I do every morning, it amazes me that we were all at the same place at the same time and all had so many different experiences. The girlfriend and I had a great time at trikefest 2014 and met some great people.

We arrived Thursday afternoon around 2 oclock and had camp set up in about an hour. That was the last hour that we had anything dry all weekend. Nothing leaks like a borrowed tent. We hung the sleeping bags up and decided we came to ride come rain or drought. Which is seems is the only two settings Haspin has. While we never strayed too far from the main trail all weekend we found enough to keep us entertained. Met a couple of fellers from Pennsylvania and tore it up on our 350's and r's. Sroberts just shook his head and laughed when we came back to camp. He seemed horrified that someone would get their trikes that dirty. I have to admit we did look like dirty hillbillies next to his beautiful trikes lol.

Friday we motocrossed all three trikes. I raced the semi suspended class on the ytm200el and the 2 stroke "c class" on the 85 r. She raced Ladies class on her 350x. We came in fourth in all classes but had a great time. She's ready to go back and practice before next year. We held off on the drag races because I tend to kill it under pressure and it's all I can do to get her to come out of 3rd gear most days. She did watch everyone and decided she wanted to play on the strip afterwards though. Before we could get around to the track she broke her clutch cable so she was pretty bummed.

If you guys ever talk your girls into riding try to start them on an unsuspended first. That way when she breaks her good one she won't be too good to ride the hardtail the rest of the weekend. She did let me try my R on the drag strip a couple of times but that's about the only time I got to ride it saturday and sunday. 3rd wasn't an issue for her on the R. Put her on the X and she will never keep up, put her on the R and all you'll ever see is her back. Next year might see 2 R's on the trailer lol. another addition will be headlights on everything. we missed out on all the night stuff this year.

All in all great weekend, no injuries and only cheap breaks. Only other issue happened 10 miles from home. Truck started shaking so we pulled over and had a buddy load us trailer and all on his gooseneck and took us to his shop. By the time we got it loaded and unloaded and trailer removed and truck jacked up I had 2 lug nuts holding on the right rear wheel. The other 6 studs had sheared off. I'm running one inch spacers/converters on all four corners so it wasn't apparent at first so it's a good thing we didn't try to limp her home like my buddy said he would have done lol.

Thanks everyone for all the hard work that goes into putting this event on and we'll see you all next year!

[JasonB]

Man i kept looking at your truck and telling myself I was going to make my way over and say hi. theres never enough time at Trikefest to meet and say hey to everyone you know! Glad you guys made it out and had a safe time, the drags are a blast I have done them every year since 07 but never MX'd. Its exciting even if you lose every race. I was really hoping to get there early enough to get some of your guy's doughnuts hahahah And Dont mind Shannon, he probably left Trikfest with cleaner bikes than any of us. His machines are so nice

[Trike_crazy]

It was a pleasure camping next to you guys! Hopefully Ill get the chance to see ya"ll next year. As for starting out on an unsuspended trike i have to agree with you. My wife now wants something with suspension and reverse, says she want to be spoiled lol. But she loves her 110 and she says she"ll never get rid of it.

[dlmeyer0325]

It was great meeting and riding with you two! My wife is now hooked and also wants something a little bigger and better even after the tumble she had. Ill make sure the bikes are in better shape next year lol, so we can do some riding. Also thanks for the pies, anyone who was lucky enough to get a piece said they were delicious! Good luck with new shop!

[ironchop]

Sroberts just shook his head and laughed when we came back to camp. He seemed horrified that someone would get their trikes that dirty. I have to admit we did look like dirty hillbillies next to his beautiful trikes lol.

you should have seen ours...you may have. My son and I were the two guys with MX lookin 200Xs that were COMPLETELY covered in mud almost the whole weekend. We even tried to rinse them off three separate times but decided to give up and just ride. One X mostly white, the other one all black. Mine had #81 on the front and back. We were camped between you and Fabio/ DC and the concrete house crew. Just down that hill.

When we showed up we both had basically brand new plastic all around, all new bearings in the chassis`, one brand new motor and one with an hour on a total rebuild. By Friday morning we had two half-clapped out beaters covered in mud from top to bottom.

I kept wanting to come by and say Hi but you were at camp about as much as I was I think which was hardly ever?

and yeah, we taped headlights to our forks but next year the stockers go back on. I wanted in on some serious night trail riding.

[captainweezy]

I had a brand new clutch cable with me. Seems every year someone needs one so I brought 3 different ones. You should have asked around. Somebody would have sent you my way. ;)

[Billy Golightly]

man I heard about the doughnuts and I never made it down there for which I am bummed. Normally I try and do a Paleo diet thing and stay away from gluten and breads but Trikefest was vacation and a free for all so I would have gladly taken part had I gotten down there!

Glad to hear you guys had such a good time, definitely sounds like you rode the wheels off of the bikes. I can sympathize with the aspect of showing up with a good runner and leaving with a clapped out machine. That seems to be a common place attribute if you ride hard there at all :lol:

[Jabcon]

I showed up with 2 good runners and one clapped out bike. The clapped out 250r proved to be better than expected. Didn't have any issues with it all weekend after having milled down the warped head and putting a new head gasket on the day before we left. The Yamaha has always fired up first pull and her 350 was very well taken care of before she got her hands on it.

Next year I think we need to put a board up at camp so people can sign in that they stopped by and didn't see anyone lol. Donuts will be on the tailgate though.

[86T3]

I saw your truck all weekend too but never made it over. Actually, it was one of the more memorable things for me the whole week. My wife and i left WNY after she got home from work wednesday so we got there at 230 thursday morning. The last hour and a half was nasty rain andtrailprolightningtrailproand probably lasted till 4 or 5am. I was catching up with ben in the concrete house looking out in the darkness when lightning lit up the sky and i saw this awesome 54 chevy (I call all trucks that style 54's for some reason) off on the hill next to us. It was an awesome sight and it happened quite a few more times. I wish i could have caught you guys sometime, that is my absolute favorite style truck and you built it the exact way i want with the faded original looking paint. Glad you guys had a great time, we'll have to meet next year

[Eric250R]

Same here, I eyeballed your truck for days but never seemed to make it over there. I'll catch you next year !

[Jabcon]

Thats not faded original looking paint. It is the faded original paint. The exterior is left exactly how great grandpa parked it with just a satin clear coat on top. Alot of people love it and it even won best in show last year at a car show