Trikke Tips

Kenny Metcalf
to me

Andy.. here are the pics from my 2 day conversion. Friday morning I tore apart my T8, put the parts in a bucket, and proceeded to sand down the T8. I primered the parts with white acrylic primer. Next coat was Dupli-Color Metalic specks (silver), and by Friday evening I even had the Dupli-Color Red Candy applied to the leg arms of the T8.

Saturday morning, I proceeded to paint the next assembly, front forks silver metal specks, followed by candy red. I dropped by SBT to pick up new T8 brake cables, headed back, and found everything dry enough for Dupli-Color Clear coat. When I was finished with all the clear coats, I went to the bucket and started to clean everything and re-lube it all including the bearings. By 4:30 Saturday, I started to re-assemble the T8.

The paint looks great, only a few dings in the process, and easy to touch up later. by 7pm all was back together. I spent a little more time assembling it so as not to scratch it.

If I was going for a custom show paint job, I would have taken the time to color sand the red, and then the clear as well and polish it out, but even without that, you can see how great this turned out.

I would have never attempted anything like this ( a complete tear down), but going through the Trikke training academy enabled me with the knowledge to do this. I enjoyed evey minute of it, and now my T8 matches my 1800 V-twin mtorcycles color.

Here are the pictures, and I’ll send more in the next e-mail (and please share this with Fred)

Blasting over the snow dunes on Capitan. Carving down a lift line in the thickest of powder puffs and tuffs – without eating it. Having Apache Bowl, with its wild ass terrain and untouched powder – all to myself – for nearly two hours. Blazing through the trees into the deepest marshmallow cream sandwich. Taking all the runs – even the blackest of Diamonds – with no fear. Since the first snowfall of the ‘Ski’ season up here in the Sacramento Mountains of South Central New Mexico — I’ve been up on the slopes of the southern most Ski Area in the Northern Hemisphere! The snow events have come like clock work — in big dumps, at once a week – or every other week – since last Thanksgiving Day! Ski Apache received over 220 inches this season and saw thousands of Skiers and Snowboarders each of those many weeks — some in just one day! Oh, and one lone Trikke Snow Skkier up there too — me! Without tooting my own horn too loudly (and I actually play a Trumpet!) — I’ve had the best complements laid upon me by locals and tourists — from witnessing my SKKI riding. When some of the best local ‘boarders’ and ’skiers’ tell me I’m ‘hot’ and make riding the Snow Skki – ‘look easy’ — I’m full of chagrin and humility. Taking my Trikke Snow Skki up to Apache at least twice every week since they opened — my skill set is tops. To explain just what the ‘ride’ does for me – physically and mentally — would take a tome longer to read than anyone would care to. But I’d just say that the Skki has been the best riding experience I’ve had in all my life up to this point. The winter mixes have waned and the crowds have thinned out as the snow pack begins to melt into the creeks and streams and feed the wildflowers. To be the one standout attraction in such a glorious setting amongst so many other snow sports enthusiasts has been a tremendous gift. For many months, to hear shouts of – ‘hey, it’s the Trikke guy!’ – ‘here comes the Skking Mantis!’ (from the way I look on this fantastic carving vehicle) — has done my soul much good — and has made me extremely proud to be a Certified Trikke Trainer. My gratitude and admiration to Gildo Beleski is boundless. I applaud the universe for spawning forth such a human being — who has the brain power to create such a device that brings such joy to my heart!

Andy Pliska

I’d been threatening to get a Trikke with a battery for a long time, despite the disapproval of a couple of people in the DFW Trikke group (those pesky purists). I wasn’t discouraged by the shunning that I imagined they’d give me when I joined them one Sunday morning with my new battery-operated Trikke.

At last one day, assured that I could live with the disdain of my fellow Trikkers, I set out to finally buy a Pon-e. My local dealer had no Pon-es , so I had to go elsewhere, crossing state lines and going to unfamiliar territory.

That’s when I found Andy Pliska of South Bay Trikke. South Bay. Bay. Sounded San Francisco-ish, but after just having seen “Milk”, I thought I throw some biz up there. Oh, not the Bay Area? Southern California? The land that no self-respecting Texan would do business with? All those Hollywood folks and fat-lipped women and beach bums. It helped at a time like this not to be a self-respecting Texan. Or even a real Texan, for that matter.

Now the OTHER Andy may be operating out of some lean-to against a palm tree in Torrance, CA for all I know, with a long extension cord illegally hooked up to a city public lavatory, but he responded to my emails, question after question, about the Pon-e. Not just responded, though. Responded immediately. I liked that. We swapped approximately 7 emails before I finally took the plunge and threw caution to the wind and made the expenditure. Might as well enjoy the summer since business is slow for me.

Amazingly, once I wrote off the price of the Pon-e, I felt good about it. Andy seemed competent and conscientious and dedicated to providing good service. I liked that he wasn’t THE Andy, not that I have anything against THE Andy (I swear this is so, THE Andy). I liked the idea of contributing to THE OTHER Andy’s bottom line since I’d never heard of this Andy until recently. There’s enough room for two Andys in the Trikke world, I’m sure of it.

I received the Pon-e less than a week after ordering it. It came intact, and it came mostly put together. As usual, I spent an inordinate amount of time assembling the darned thing, but it was due to my characteristic ineptness at following written directions despite having spent my career doing just that thing. I got the wheel and handlebar on, the wire thingys attached, and my new bell attached just right.

Do not be intimidated by the simple directions for assembling the Pon-e. And remember, unless it’s past 7:00 PM Central time, you can count on the OTHER Andy to help.

Something else. You have to be of the writing persuasion to appreciate this. Though no strict grammarian myself, I still remember most lessons of grades 4 through 8 of parochial school, when I last studied grammar by diagramming sentences . After several emails back and forth, and after giving up my credit card number, I had to tell the OTHER Andy something that had been bothering me. Hey, I just spent a chunk of money and he did have my credit card numbers.

I took the liberty of informing the OTHER Andy that he’s not good with plural nouns and apostrophes. And his spelling is none too impressive, either. His website needed some serious editing. The OTHER Andy pleasantly surprised me by stating that it was his desire to look as professional as possible, and that included fixing up his web site. He said he appreciated my (unsolicited) help. This kind of sentiment tugs at the heartstrings of a wordsmith. I sent him a couple of emails pointing out some errors on his web site. He fixed them immediately.

This OTHER Andy is serious about selling Trikkes, providing good customer service, and correcting his sentences. Give him a shot if you want to order a new Trikke.

For now, ignore his spelling and grammar. He’s a work in progress.

(I just want to say thank you for the support Donna – Enjoy your new ride)