When I worked at Harley Davidson, there was an incident with a new bike owner, she was inside the building, working on the paperwork for her brand new Sportster. Her boyfriend was with her, he was chomping at the bit to ride it around the parking lot. She was the hardest woman I have ever met, she kept telling him no! At the last moment, he asked her if it was alright to load it onto the trailer and she said yes! He had maybe 100 feet to the trailer, he was weaving back and forth, in big loops, when the foot peg caught the ground and his left hand slipped off the grip and he floored the gas! I wasn’t the only one standing there watching this unfold, there were at least 5 mechanics and a few salesman watching as well! It flipped 3 times, before coming to a sliding stop at the ramp on his trailer! He had that same look on his face as you did, only difference, he had to go inside and tell his girlfriend, as she was signing for the bike! Never a dull moment at Harley Davidson!
Had similar experience in Littleton , CO In 1998. Working as a trustee for Arapahoe County sheriff's office. They had taken delivery of a brand new Kawasaki 1000 still needing police equipment installed. Lights/siren , radio Etc. A nefew or son of a Lt. In the department decided to attempt a wheelie on this 550lb machine at the Sheriff's garage one morning. Disaster Soon followed. He lost control of the bike , thrown off the back. The motorcycle then continued on , hitting a 5 " curb , bounced once , hit a small tree, Then veried off the tree through the man door to the garage and dropped! $ 800 Dollars in damage just to bike. We were Laughing for an hour.
It's OK. Live life! So many people in this world trying to control everything They will die in a hospital bed yelling about some ridiculous political debate on television and not even realize how much they missed. Peace!
You T-Boned a picked-up truck with a trike and just walked away.... If it was me, I would have ran out and bought a lottery ticket hoping my mojo was still working...
IKR. The stoic narration that was spliced into the video was leading me to believe that he crushed one or both of his legs during the inaugural run. Lucky man!
About 40 years ago I had a beautiful and wild 2005 cc VW Trike. It had all the go fast stuff, dual 48 IDA Webers etc. I had it set much lower than yours, but it would still do wheelies for as long as I could hold on. When I sold it the guy noticed the back of the engine was slightly grinded away - I explained to the guy that was the limiting factor keeping it from flipping over, best to avoid going that far.
If you had pulled it off, you had a 50/50 chance of snapping the forks coming down! Saw it happen behind Froggy's during one of the many bike weeks I worked! JustSayn!
Sorry to see this happen. However, I can remember fairly stock VWs lifting the front end popping the clutch, and they have WAY more weight up front. Live and learn.
Its a wonder he survived, after all, it was his wife's truck. He never heard the end of it. Bet he no more than pulled that trike off before he was fixing her truck.
My cousin built one in the early 70's. He still has it. I've rode it and it is fun to ride, though it does have a tendency to raise the front wheel off the ground if you open the throttle too quickly. It has wheelie bars, so it can't flip backwards. It takes some getting used to, but does corner pretty well, at rather low speed, 35mph or so. On straight roads you can open it up and it tracks nicely. He did a good job on it.
I nearly did the same driving a heavily modified 2200cc trike almost identical..the Front came down just in time to avoid crashing into a pick up. I had no idea a VW engine could put out that much power???
Bro glad your ok I was 20 had a 64 Corvair 140 turbo automatic trike. I did a wheelie at the signal light an my throttle stuck looked at the stars for what felt like a mile but a block later I realized turn the key off . Nearly shit my self 😂
A similar machine was offered for sale on the local equivalent of ebay a couple of years ago, and featured in an accident report about a month later. If you must have a three-wheeler with one wheel at the front. at least hang the engine well forward to get the weight distribution right (I appreciate the reason for using a VW back end is to avoid this and minimise work required). If you have a beetle engine and want to build a 3-wheel device, look around for an old Ural /Dnieper, the older engines do not last long (new ones are great) and there are plenty of 'rolling chassis' out there waiting for a project. The beetle engine transplants in OK with a bit of workshopery.
