3WW History?

[Cow Pie]

So....
Is there any information on this site's history? Who started it? Early movers and shakers? How have things changed? I'm always fascinated by and appreciative of folks who spend their precious time helping others out by starting projects like this. Is the community healthy? Were there bad times? Good times? Let the good times roll...

[El Camexican]

I’m not really qualified to answer this, but I believe a guy that went by Threewheelio out of Ontario Canada started the site. He then passed in work related accident and others carried on.

Hopefully others will chime in with details, but the guys who would know this stuff first hand don’t post up much anymore.

[fabiodriven]

I think Nico is correct about ThreeWheelio. William (Billy Golightly) is the head cheese on here, and he's been around since the beginning. I was going to say "day one", but I don't know that for fact. There have been some dark days, some funnier than others. There were battles with threewheeler.org here and there, but that was silly. Hell Glamy's a 3WO convert I believe. He was a refugee when 3WO finally croaked a few years back, then poor Glamy was forced to come over here to 3WW sniveling on his knees begging to be let into the group.

There was a dark age with "MrATC", or "BlackSheep", AKA Bill Casey, or thief. Any of those works. He started TPC Trikes, who must be out of business by this point I'm guessing. The man perpetually argues online and causes all kinds of drama as well as rips people off in real life. He was one of the earliest members to make modern three-wheeled 450 conversions and then attempted to segue that into a business, but he really couldn't get along with anyone.

Right before I got big into the forum there was a lot of hub bub about a member on here, "TeamRedRider" or something like that. I've been on here for ten years now but it's going to take someone who's been on here longer than myself to fill you in on that.

I was a royal pain in the tits for a number of years on here, still am sometimes. I wouldn't call that a dark time at all though, quite the opposite. I decided I'd enlighten the community. You're welcome.

Every now and again the site will explode with a certain subject or member that has caught everyone's attention, and sometimes arguments ensue. We haven't had any of those epic threads or situations since you've started on here. You've joined during peace time, a lull if you will. We have solved some pretty amazing problems on this site, three wheeler problems and then some. Any subject you dare to post really, we've got some very smart and funny people on here. Also Glamy loves men.

We recently had an old time member pop in here and he began shite-smattering the entire site with his typed diarrhea, indy650. It got absolutely hilarious and made for some very entertaining snowbound nights for me laughing at him and his awful posts, and he had to post in every single thread, whether he knew anything about the subject at hand or not. Towards the end we baited him into some fantastic jokes at his expense which resulted in a thread set up solely to bait indy in, and it worked, lol.

Normally discussing this stuff would bore people to tears, but since you asked, lol.

[El Camexican]

Fabs said it, lots of former characters have been on here over the years.

Sadly I believe a huge chunk of site history was deleted some years ago due to human error of some sort.

I’m a nube in the eyes of many and there are a lot of formerly significant members that I never had the pleasure to converse with.

At the onset of my interaction on the site there was Veil Monkey, Tim Sr., Raffa, Ninja and Yamahonda Man. Mosh was on a fair bit back then and still pops on for a cameo now and then. Billy and Howdy still pop in once in a while.

We’ve had some good cyber blow ups on here over the years, but face to face everyone I’ve meet from here is good people. The arseholes get run off pretty fast. The rest that make it through the hazzing period either get one question answered and leave, or become addicts.

We have a few celebrity members as well including Mickey Dunlop and of a lesser level of fame Jesus.

[ironchop]

Sadly I believe a huge chunk of site history was deleted some years ago due to human error of some sort.

Yeah that sucked

Or users going back and deleting every post they ever made here because they got their feelings hurt.....twice.

I like going to the page button from time to time and going back to the first few pages of Trikesylvania just to see all the members that you don't see anymore. I lurked here from about 2004 on but didn't get a username until 2006 so I could use the search feature to get info on fixing my ATC200S. It was all over after that because I was hooked!

I got a couple Trikefests under my belt during that time as well and I have to say that was a experience I'll never forget or duplicate. I'm trying hard to make my third one in six weeks but my budget and a big health issue is the limiting factor at the moment. I would suggest to anyone who hasn't been to at least go once.

There's been quite a few epic battles on here in the 14 yrs I've been paying attention. Facebook stole away quite a few people because of it's "one-stop-shop" atmosphere where you can be liking Grandma's new cat one second and two clicks later be liking an 87 KXT250. The interaction and build threads are much better here, in my opinion and hopefully some quality people will get tired of triking on FB at some point and come back but I'm not holding my breath.

More than a few absolutely awesome members have passed away too soon and left voids that can't really be filled. Others parked or sold their machines and quit logging in and some were driven away during various periods of nonstop drama and chest-pounding

Lately it's been really peaceful and productive. It's been easy to debate things without it all turning into a huge pile of ego. Good environment for attracting newbs and also great too see some old familiar usernames returning

Jesus is my favorite member. I like to imagine that he rides a trike made of wood because of his humility and simple living. It runs on wine and has a rack on the back for carrying sandals. Of course it's probably a 200S because they float in water and we know how Jesus gets about wet feet

Anyone remember Planet Trike?



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[Howdy]

Fabio posted a good reply above. He is a little more and I will add to it as time allows.

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/oldsite/team.shtml

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/oldsite/oldupdates.shtml

Tim ( ThreeWheelio ) started 3WheelerWorld ( THReeWHeeLeRWoRLD ) back in January or February 1999. I joined the site back in Sep / Oct 1999. I was the 78th person when I signed the quest book. TimSr, Mik6, TriZJim, Gman, and a few others where here before me. I believe it was in December 1999 Tim was looking for a moderator for the message board. I pm'd him but he had picked another person he knew. That person didn't work out too well and in January 2000 Tim messaged me to take control of the message boards. We had grown to about 2-300 members. It was a busy time back then. On a average day we had 20-25 replies total. There was 1 board with everything in it.
If I remember correctly Billy came to the site near the same time. Tim had become friends with Billy on 1 or 2 other message board sites / Chat rooms.


A month or 2 later Tim decided his time was better spent doing other things than trying to update the site ( we had a lot of info coming in at the time ). We all go through times where life gets in the way or your passion changes. He told me the forums was mine to take care of and that he was having Billy take over the Main site. Back in those days the 3wheelerworld web site was hosted on Anglefire. You had to know how to find the site to get here. The site had limited storage so we used over 5 accounts with a basic site.
The message board was hosted on a few different platforms ( Boards2go and probably 4-5 others ). Each time a message board platform closed we had to find another free one. It was becoming a full time job to just keep the message boards going.

Billy Took a hard look at the main site and developed a whole different design ( behind the scenes ). I loved it, how ever there was a bug in the program and it wouldn't work on all computers. He decided to ditch it, but I said lets give it a week of debugging to find the glitch. It took us 5-6 days of every minute possible to find and fix the glitch. I learned a lot about HTML in that week. That design was similar to the one in the link above. We went from 30-50 pages (original site ) to the new site with over 200 pages. Updating the site was a major pain as each page had to be updated when content was added. We did a lot a searching and learned about SSI / SHTML and this made updating a lot simpler. With this new design and upgrades we could update in minutes what used to take days.
I think it was in 2002 or 2003 Billy took the plunge and purchased 3wheelerworld.com and then found a server to take the site to the next level. So we combined the forums and the site into 1 ( drastic improvement ). This was all done in private until we had all the site pages up and running and tested. Then one day Billy changed the front page of the old site. He put on there ( Short story ) That we had no choice but to close the anglefire site down due to limited storage , cost, ect. He had a really good story and then at the bottom it said to click here for more info. That link to you to the new 3wheelerworld.com web site. And a nice welcome message. It was a instant hit.

The site had gone through a few changes since and the lastest is the current design. I knew quite a bit of HTML / SHTML / SSI, but I haven't been able learn this new platform.


Good times and bad times: Some of the best memories was from the chatrooms back in the day. Tim used to do trivia 1 -2 nights a week. This was back when not much info was available on 3wheelers and he had a huge private stash. We kept the trivia going until 2007ish. Good times it was.

I will add more as time allows.


Shout out / Challenge to other Long time members: Tell us some of the good and bad things you remember.


Howdy

[83ATC185]

I'm sure you've seen the link to the old site? Lurked on there for a while. Finally came and joined here in oh 2010 i think it was. Completely different crowd back then.

Since then there's been Tundrawillie and Milner Brown and at least a few other bad apples but they seem to get called out and r-u-n-n-o-f-t pretty fast.

I've never seen a more like-minded group of people in my life, although there doesn't seem to be nearly as much traffic as there used to be, lots of folks are on facebook groups these days but i know how facebook goes, seems like every "interest group" i join, i get bombarded with ignorance and people shelling out top dollar for things sight unseeen so i spend my 3wheeler time here.

[Howdy]

Oh wow!!! I found it: http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/threewheelio/

Howdy

[brandonlowe2]

Here is an interesting place to actually see what this site used to look like... The earliest date they have of the site saved is May 28 back in 2002.... WOW how different the site was back then. Also, there are several other saved versions of the site throughout the years.... I looked through all of them back when I first joined this site and gave me a really fun idea of how the site has changed through the years.

enjoy :-) https://web.archive.org/web/*/3wheelerworld.com

[Cow Pie]

This is great! Just what I was asking for. I have really enjoyed the site and getting to know you guys so I was hoping for the background... looks like I got it! Fabio, you seem like a great person to have on your side... and probably best to not have as an adversary! I get a kick out of your street leagal 650! That would really be a hoot out here. Thanks for the youtube stuff. El Camexican, I'm still trying to get a bead on you. Canadian, Mexican, American? I'll just consider you a North American! You come across as a great guy and I value you perspective. Now then there is Glamy........ what......the ......heck.......???........you even have your own thread and I'm still trying to figure you out.........loves men......old men or just the young tender ones? Ironchop, I could spend a weekend with you talking guns, politics, Appleseed Project and TRP! I think dad must've fathered another son in Kentucky! Thanks for your vents, I love to read and your prose is outstanding. Howdy, you seem to be the wise and grizzled vet. Thanks for sharing the history and thank you for all of your hard work over the years and keeping this site alive. I salute you sir! Thanks for chiming in 83ATC185, gotta love those hardtails huh? Thanks as well to you Brandonlowe2. Fun looking at the old times.

[Mosh]

This place was at the peak in about 2005-2010. There was so much happening that trikesylavania and the open forum would go 3 pages deep within 12 hours with new threads and posts. The worst situations that may have caused a peeling away of activity can be linked back to 3 primary issues IMO in the 13 years I have been here.

1) a difference in opinion from a main founding member about the way the site was moderated for strictness and a clean family oriented site, and Trikefest event that went afoul. Some wanted strict rules, many wanted a kind of free for all atmosphere or "self/community moderation". While I feel some rules can be too crazy, I feel any organization needs good leadership and management to survive and be successful within reason.
Things got wild at the TF event one year, and a loosening of rules which ensued after that event on the site, created a relatively large divide when the dust settled...The thread still exists..(What could have been better about TF 07)..

2) a error in judgment call about a misplaced moderator that eventually caused wars over (racing ). It was a mistake, pure and simple..

3) The largest problem I feel and actually agree with Glamy on...The RACING....Man the BS and strife from the resurgence of 3ww racing..
That resulted in arguments from everything about matching riding gear, to 3 wheeler groups having great racing notoriety creating jealousy and egos, guys wanting to " steal " credit for race events, to some "old pros" coming on and demanding toe licking for what they did 30 years ago.
IMO racing created the biggest fights and divides in this community. For all the good that came from it, I would dare to say the forum was better before it.

The rest is just a few internet wanna be's and trolls that just did not, nor probably ever will play well with others.

But there has been some HUGE things from many, many, members and businesses, that have really escalated trikes from being unwanted dying (deathtraps) behind sheds, to be resurrected back to a glory that probably overshadows them in the 80's

[ironchop]

This place was at the peak in about 2005-2010.

Totally agree

3) The largest problem I feel and actually agree with Glamy on...The RACING....Man the BS and strife from the resurgence of 3ww racing..
That resulted in arguments from everything about matching riding gear, to 3 wheeler groups having great racing notoriety creating jealousy and egos, guys wanting to " steal " credit for race events, to some "old pros" coming on and demanding toe licking for what they did 30 years ago.
IMO racing created the biggest fights and divides in this community. For all the good that came from it, I would dare to say the forum was better before it.

The rest is just a few internet wanna be's and trolls that just did not, nor probably ever will play well with others.

But there has been some HUGE things from many, many, members and businesses, that have really escalated trikes from being unwanted dying (deathtraps) behind sheds, to be resurrected back to a glory that probably overshadows them in the 80's

You know I never looked at it like that but come to think of it, you're right.

Forum splits and alot of drama over this very subject and the whole .Org vs .Com thing

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[fabiodriven]

One of the more amazing aspects of the site to me as Mosh mentioned, is the amazing resurgence of aftermarket support which has spawned from this forum. I joined in 2008 when I was building my 86 Tecate 500 and I was having problems finding a lot of the parts I needed. I was just introduced to eBay at that time and I didn't even know what an internet forum was.

The members of this forum have produced a plethora of highly sought after parts which were unobtanium before they took the initiative to reproduce certain things. The guys doing the mold work impress me the most and it's been great having things go from scarce and expensive to available and affordable.

Mosh isn't lying either about the traffic this forum used to see. In 2008-09 I remember sitting at the computer upstairs in my home at the time while my better half of the time was entertaining guests downstairs. I'd reply to a thread and immediately there would be five more threads to catch up on, you could literally sit there and go all night. Needless to say the girlfriend at the time was pretty p!ssed off about that and that was one of many reasons which led her to leave me. It was overwhelming to me though, as I'd been a three wheeler rider my whole life. My home town had (and still has) a lot of trikers, more so than other areas, but I'd moved away from there and I felt like the only three wheeler enthusiast on the planet. That is, until I discovered 3WW.

I threw a tizzy just from seeing the site, I didn't even join the forum until a year later. I was astonished there were others out there like me. My girlfriend at the time actually printed out the three wheeler poem for me, I still have that original print I think. It was a huge deal to me and she was rolling her eyes like OK....

Over the years the crowd started going over to the Bookface, this is a skeleton crew. Even William has his head so deep in people's crappy baby pictures, fake happy couples, and fake news that he won't even know I just said this about him. It's a shame, but people are like bass chasing a shiny red devil. 3WW doesn't have that lustre to distract most people nor the barbs to sink in once they take the bait. 3WW is superior to our sport because of it's ability to archive (when it works or if you can find what you're looking for) and it's also superior because all of us have names to uphold on here and we all know who each other are. On the bookface you're arguing with a 19 year old on the other end who's telling you his 89 Big Red 300 needs a new expansion chamber, or you might have the chance to buy Billy Bob's "barn find" 86 250R which only needs a frame, engine, exhaust, seat, rear axle, forks, wheels, swing arm, and shock, for the paltry sum of $6k. The worst part about that is, you get ten other frig-tards lined up to publicly comment and say "what a good deal that is". Nicro, I've been building and riding these since they were uncool, since before you were born. You don't tell me what it's worth. The Bookface is a huge detriment to our sport. It scares me to see mongoloid after mongoloid line up to comment though, you really start to realize we're outnumbered. That makes me sad and then I delete my account, which is fine. We have a great community here.

To bandwagon on, our lord and savior Jesus Christ is my favorite member on here as well. I hope he chimes in. Glamy's no slouch either though.

[keister]

Hard to believe this whole mess started with a teenager from Quebec, another teen in FLA, and an old fart in Ohio.

I go back every couple years and read about the old days of Trikefest.

First Trikefest
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/oldsite/TF02.shtml

First Haspin Trikefest
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/oldsite/TAA02Haspin.shtml

The next several are linked from this page too:
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/oldsite/team.shtml

Billy's narration is really interesting when read 12-15 years later.
I have been to the last 13, but missed the first few.
Also have an '85 Big Red that has been to Trikefest 11 times.
And yes, my current hardtail racer 200S was at TF 2005.

This is the most interesting thread in a while. I'm all about nostalgia, and will be popping back into this thread for sure.

[keister]

James9R9R will always be my favorite member.
Page 1 is a little rough, but it picks up by Page 3 for sure:
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...ight=james9r9r