So I was out on the XR today. I was going to a car show they have on Fridays about 5 miles up the road from my house. (Too early in the season, nobody was there) There's a particular stretch of road, it's gotta be at least a quarter mile, it's really rough. It's always getting torn up with frost heaves and potholes that have been patched over and over. The entire road is pretty much made of patches and the holes move from day to day as the older ones get patched and new ones constantly form. I was curious how the trike would handle this kind of stuff. As we all know, the particular off road style of trike that we ride is a less than optimum platform for street use, there's no denying that. As long as you have a straight axle and only three wheels in that particular configuration it will handle bumps in a seemingly unpredictable demeanor. There are inevitably going to be times where only one wheel hits a bump, more often than not actually, and that can make it shake a little. Once you get used to the bike, you see it's not that bad.
So I got to the rough patch and was doing about 45-50, just sitting down and cruising. The bumps were bad and there's no point in trying to dodge them because they make up the entire road surface. It was handling them OK but I really had to hang on to the bars. After a short period I naturally just resorted to my riding position that I take when we're riding aggressively in the rough trails in New Hampshire. That's arse hovering an inch or two above the seat, body as far back as my arms will allow, lifting the front end and planting the rear. I grabbed a handful of throttle as soon as I stood up and hung on. My buddy was following me in a truck and he guessed I was doing at least 50-55 at that point. As I increased the speed the suspension started soaking the bumps up much better. It was awesome actually. I was getting the same feeling as I get when we're flying through the mountains, and I had just ridden right out of my garage. I had a huge smile on my face as I was thinking that this is actually legal, sans the slight amount of speeding.
On my way home I got pulled over. As the officer approached, he seemed stern. I don't think he had much faith in this thing being legit. Not long after he walked up to it he lightened up though. I don't think he had seen the plate before that point. I handed him my registration and he could barely see it after moving it towards and away from his face a dozen or so times. He asked me for my license and I opened my wallet to find I didn't have my license on me. I had to make a copy of it yesterday and I left it in my scanner. He was nice though, and he liked the bike. Quite honestly, everyone does. Young and old, any race, whether they know anything mechanical or not. Dames love it. So the guy let me go. As we were shooting the shite and I was putting my reg away he pointed across the street. There was a group of 5 or so young kids filming us. We waved at the camera and then left. I hope to see the video someday, haha.
85 Tri-Zinger 60
85 ATC250SX
86 ATC250SX
87 ATC250SX
02 XR650L conversion
84 ATC 480R