Hi From Massachusetts

[acmeactor]

I wanted to first thank everyone for all the great advice given in the Forum.

I recently got my first trike, a 2000 Runabout in what my wife refers to as high gloss vegas sparkle red (soon to be high gloss black). I live in Central Massachusetts and I am brand new to trikes and motorcycles. I rode minibikes as a kid but that was all. My only interaction with trikes was a long trip in a late 60s vw trike down the Baja coast when as a youth I decided to thumb to the tip of Baja. That LONG ride convinced me someday I needed to own one, and now I do. The Runabout has a buttload of power so I am slowly learning how to drive and control it. My first short trip down our dead end road and into the cemetary next door scared the *&^##@* out of me and convinced me to take my time learning but that it was going to be well worth it.

I welcome ALL advice, learning tips, tidbits for newbies and warnings designed to scare me. I also apologize for the many many stupid questions I'm going to have.

[Nana]

There is no such thing as a stupid question, acmeactor! What a great trike you have for your first one! It will be fun to hear all about your adventures, so be sure to share with us regularly. You can start an album on your personal profile page too, so you can update and add pictures easily that way. Welcome to TrikeTalk!

There is a ton of information on here for new riders, but you might want to start with this thread: http://www.triketalk.com/forum/gener...post-here.html

[Gorilla]

Welcome aboard acmeactor. Ask away

[spiritdream]

Hey, neighbor!! Welcome from south central MA here (Sturbridge area). I'm a firm believer in the only "stupid" question being the one not asked, so ask away!! I know I did!! Nice trike - the red is really nice, and I'll bet the black will be a beauty!!

Just curious....trikes are still fairly uncommon around here (at least in my area, although the numbers are finally increasing!), so what made you choose the Runabout over a more "traditional" conversion?

Anyway, welcome to the site. Looking forward to getting to know you better, and seeing more pics (you'll hear that a lot - we LOVE pics on this site! :yes

[John Luciano]

Not many VW based trikes on here or in the area. Not that we don't welcome them because WE DO and I think they are very COOL. Is it Auto or Stick? I will be looking for U on the road. I am about 75 miles South West of you and travel in that area often .WELCOME aboard and ask questions.

[Ozarkryder]

Welcome from Sw MO!

Really like that trike.

Our first one was a Trike Shop Runabout, 1600 VW dual runner bumped up to 1835, 40mm DRLA Dell'Orto dual throat carb, oil filter kit (much recommended mod if not done already), "elephant foot" rocker arms, full auto tranny, and a foot accelerator pedal in place of the hand throttle. Pics in the garage:
http://www.triketalk.com/forum/vbpic...?do=view&g=115

I love the trike we have now, a GW1500SE MotorTrike, it is a great mile-munching touring machine and we do put on the miles. BUT... I do surely miss the hot rod VW trike. I am a bit envious - those trikes were once the norm in the trike world, now with the mc conversions and factory trikes they are more rare, and they are something special.

If you haven't yet, a great resource and just a fun read to have is what is called "the Idiot Book". Lots of the book won't apply, but it is well worth the $25 for a new one, better yet if you can get one lightly used. Here is a link:

Amazon.com: How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive : A Manual of Step-By-Step Procedures for the Complete Idiot (9781562613433): John Muir, Tosh Gregg, Peter Aschwanden: Books

Darn nice trike!:yes:

[robandlyn]

Hi
We ride over around Wachusett Resivoir alot so if we see you we would
definatly know it is you. Do not see ANY trikes like that around here.
Rob .....

[FBTRIKE]

Welcome,
Great looking trike, I had a friend in the 70s who had a VW powered trike, it was lots of fun. Just keep the front wheel on the ground. He loved to pull wheelies with it (no wheelie bars) and ended up crashing while doing one......:eek: Of course that was way, way back when we were young and foolish, not nearly as wise as we all are now........
Although my wife says she disagrees with part of the previous sentence.

[acmeactor]

Thanks for the welcomes! I chose a VW style for a couple of reasons, first and probably foremost is it was the only style my wife was willing to ride on (we had a close friend hurt badly on a HD and she's very gun shy of standard bikes), plus growing up the VW style was what the cool surfers seemed to always be driving in the movies and being a East Coast kid who wanted to be a cool surfer I wanted one, plus I once saw Elvis driving his Rupp and that was too cool. And in my mid-teens I decided I had to see the tip of Baja so I thumbed from MA to CA and down the coast. In CA I got a ride from a "hippie" who said he had nothing better to do so he drove me down to the tip of Baja on his VW trike, a very long, bumpy, dusty trip. That trip convinced me I had to have a trike someday.

[John Luciano]

So Y paint it BLACK looks great and stands out well in traffic in RED

[acmeactor]

I like red but the minute the sun hits this, it sparkles like Liberace and I'm really not much of a sparkle guy.