A tale to tell...

[Ozarkryder]

I've a tale to tell. A tale of despair, anguish and woe. A tale that can now be told in it's entirety. Sit back and get comfortable.

Every year we hitch up the Bunkhouse to Her Purpleness and ride to Minnesota in early September to visit family, friends and attend the Davis Rally. Weather was great this year, the rally was down on participants and vendors but still a great time, and spending time with family and friends was a treat. Turned cool the day we hit I-35 to travel back south, but we were still cozy with the heated jacket liners. About 30 miles north of Ames IA we felt a bump, and noises came from under the trike. Not just noises, expensive sounding metallic banging noises heard even over Billy Idol's version of "Mony Mony" cranked up through the helmet speakers.

Forward propulsion ceased, though the engine still ran like, well, like a Goldwing. On the shoulder I looked everything over and found we were well and truly broke down. Called the road service, the first tow didn't show, the second tow was very professional. While waiting for a tow an officer of the Iowa Highway Patrol let us sit in the car to stay warm and safe for the hour and a half it took the towing to be sorted out. Got a tow the 65 miles into Des Moines courtesy of the insurance roadside assistance. The Honda dealer wasn't familiar with trikes it seemed on the phone, and, as this was a Friday evening and we wouldn't get to the shop until after closing, said they couldn't do anything with it until Tuesday.

The towing company driver, who happened to own the company, let us keep the rig on the flatbed overnight in his yard and we found a motel for the night. He even picked us up the next day! The next morning we dropped the Bunkhouse, he backed the flatbed up to a U-Haul truck, tipped the bed and we slid the trike right in to the box. Hooked the trailer on the back of the truck and homeward we went. Dropped the trike off at our favorite Honda dealer in Neosho MO close to home.-----

Later in the week we got a call to see the damage. Must have hit something just right, the destruction was extensive. A bracket welded on to the rear axle was stressed to the point the weld broke, allowing rear-end fluid to leak out. One of the ladder bar struts bent, that pulled out a heim joint, the drive shaft shifted and pulled away from the engine. The front yoke gave way, disintegrated itself (only found half of the yoke, and that only because it was wedged between a frame member and the belly pan). The driveshaft flailed around breaking a brake solenoid, and some other sundry bits. The trike body dropped when the bracket broke, and the gas tank acquired a dent in the bottom from hitting a ladder bar. Oh, the frame of the bike itself was bent also.

You've most likey guessed by now the insurance company declared the trike a total loss. We had enough accessory coverage (thankfully) to cover the cost of the trike kit, the rake kit and other bits and pieces like pinstriping, air wings, the Corbin seat that came with the rig when we got it and such. Didn't pay all that much for the bike itself, as it was 17 years old and bereft of rear tire, suspension and driveline. (Unsolicitated advice: Get more accessory coverage than you think you'll ever need, or get agreed on value for the trike and accessory coverage for trailers, stuff in the bike, etc.) Turned in the title and picked up the checks, one for the bike and the other for accessories. Her Purpleness is no more, being broken up for salvage somewhere.

Well, that is the tale of despair, anguish and woe. We have been aggressively hitting the bike dealers, trike shops, talked to trike reps at Bikes Blues and BBQ and hit the internet. Here is where the story takes a turn from "woe" to "Whoa!"

Ladies and Gentlemen, in the thumbnail below, may I introduce Her Purpleness ll (or maybe Her Purpleness the Sequel. "Sequel" for short.) or whatever name comes up, Gloria thinks a new name is needed. It is a 2004 GW1800 Champion conversion, in Magenta. Honda only made magenta 'Wings in 2 years, and we now have had them both. We pick it up next weekend (Oct. 28 or 29)

[Nana]

Oh my goodness, is #2 a beauty, or what!!!! Congratulations on

• finding the best tow company driver/owner in the world!
• getting trike and trailer home in record time
• having an insurance adjuster who is on the ball
• most of all, your new baby

[Blondie Gal]

Gorgeous!! A friend of ours has a magenta two-wheeler GW and I love the color!! So glad you found Sequel - - may you have many miles and many hours of fun on her!!

[flyer91]

Oh Wow!! That's waaay beyond pretty!!!

Although my trike is yellow (to appease my wife's concern for being seen) I am very partial to purple.

Now I'm just green ..........

Glad to read that you are "experienced" but still not dissuaded, all set, and darn near ready to go again!!

We'll have to get you listening to Metallica's 'Reload' ........

[jim peacock]

Glad you are all right,that could have been dangerous.

[Big_Steve]

Well, you sure made Lemonade out of those Lemons!. Sorry it happened, but glad for your new bike.

1 question...... How did you and the dealer at home get HP1 out of the Uhaul? The lift gate couldn't have been large enough to roll it out and let it down. (Could it?)

[Gorilla]

Wow what you went through just to get a new bike. Only kidding. Glad it worked out for you. You still went through a lot of stress. Very nice trike. I like "SEQUEL" for a name. CONGRATS

[Ozarkryder]

Well, you sure made Lemonade out of those Lemons!. Sorry it happened, but glad for your new bike.

1 question...... How did you and the dealer at home get HP1 out of the Uhaul? The lift gate couldn't have been large enough to roll it out and let it down. (Could it?)

Neosho Powersports, just 15 miles up the road from us, has a ramp at the end of thier parking lot that was just the right height to match the floor of the truck. No liftgate, used a portable ramp horizontally to bridge the small gap between the truck and the loading ramp.

BTW- I like that HP1. Gloria doesn't want to call the new ride Her Purpleness or Sequel, but I do like "HP2".

[whitefatboy]

Sorry to hear of the woe, glad that all is safe, congats on #II, and thanks....just upgraded the insur, seams I had way to little !

[Ozarkryder]

This Past Saturday (October 28, 2011 for those reading in the future) we traveled from Anderson, MO to C & C Custom Cycle in Chariton Iowa to pick up the new trike, the replacement to Her Purpleness. About a 6 hour trip to Iowa including a stop to eat before seeing the trike in person. C & C is housed in a very large building, half is a HD dealership (more than 2 dozen bikes on the showfloor!) and the other half dealership for Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki, with some things like a Wizzer and such thrown in for fun.

Again, lots of bikes on the floor along with all the other clothes and accessories to wish for. Very friendly and nice staff. They had at least a dozen trikes on display in front of the shop and in the showroom, and Tammy, our sales person took us to the garage where there were at least 10 more trikes , including a Stallion they just got in. Lots more bikes there, too. Told her about TrikeTalk, she looked it up right then in her office. Should be a good resource in that store.

So a check changed hands and all the paperwork done, Gloria and our friend Fred got in the car (Gloria will not drive through Kansas City, or any other large city) and I hopped on the trike. 355 miles and 7 hours later with 1 stop of 45 to 60 minutes for supper and gas in Liberty, MO I pulled into our driveway. Was good to be home - temp was 42°. It had gotten dark while we ate, the temp readout was 55° when I got gas just north of Kansas City. I was thankful for the heated gloves and jacket liner.

Now I'm off to change the avatar picture and add some pics of the new trike in to my gallery. Here are the pics in the thumbnails below.

[hdrider146]

? for you. Why did the insurance company cover the damage?

[Ozarkryder]

? for you. Why did the insurance company cover the damage?

Um...that's what we've been paying them for all these years. ;-)

It wasn't a mechanical incident, it was considered a collision with something on the road. The bump we felt was quite a jolt - we hit something on the road going between 75 and 80 mph. Don't know what it was, couldn't avoid it, traffic on I-35 was pretty heavy and I wasn't about to walk the interstate to find it. They might have fixed the old trike if it weren't for the bent frame - the estimate on that was almost a week of shop time. There is a lot of wireing, ducting and piping under all that plastic. It isn't a simple thing to pull and install an engine like on my Harley.

[hdrider146]

ok good. I missed the part where you hit something on the road. I was thinking it was a mechanical breakdown. Good that you got a fair settlement from the Insurance Co.

[DanDolfn]

Forward propulsion ceased...

I like that line!

:-)

[curley03]

Good out come glad that you and wife were not hurt. By the way what insurance company do you use? It seems like they did you good. curley

[drumdoctor]

Thank God that no one was hurt and congrats on the new ride!!!

It is a beauty!!!

May you have thousands and thousands of trouble free miles.