Brothers and Sisters,
As many of us may know by now, we lost brother Rhino and his wife, 8/19/06 in a motorcycle accident on the way to a planning meeting for R’s-2 and 5. I’m sure there are a few questions as to what had happened. Let me try and help us understand what happened. First off, helmets did not help in this accident. Chris landed face first and suffered serious injury. Sally suffered serious internal injuries. What happened, as best as witness’ can tell us, was Chris waved at a couple of bikes heading in the opposite direction. The witness’ stated that when he placed his hand back on the handlebars, it looked like he was panic braking and heading to side of the road. The Trike, (Chris had converted his HOG to a Trike), traveled off the road for a bit before striking a dirt embankment which in turn vaulted or launched the bike into a roll. Sally was slingshot off the bike; Chris rode in through as it landed on its top, with Chris face down in the road. The speed wasn’t excessive; both were alive at the scene. Chris never regained conscious. Sally was conscious through out it all. My fiancée stayed and comforted her until the flight out. Chris passed on the flight, Sally shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Now what caused this? It wasn’t Chris, or a bad cager driver, or road conditions. I believe what happened had to do with the Rake and Trail of the newly converted Trike. I’m bringing this up because those of us, hell, most of us have modified their rides someway or another. What I believe happened was the rear end of the Trike was lowered, causing the “Rake and Trail” to change, when they built the Trike. This caused the front wheel to be unstable and wanting to swap ends or be a little too sensitive. I believe this is what the witness’ saw when they described it as “The hard braking and veering off to the side of the road.” Brothers and sisters, when ever we do things to affect the geometry of the motorcycle we need to be sure it is still safe. I was told today that Chris had mentioned to one of our brothers, when he had ridden up to Lake Havasu, that his front end felt funny. I wish I had heard that. At the very least there should have been a steering dampener or stabilizer installed on that Trike. Very likely the Rake and trail needed correction, which is a drawn out process of cutting the yoke and adjusting it until the original factory rake is achieved or a rake that is more stable. A builder should know this. Be careful what you do. This bike was converted by “A company, a professional?” I’m going to recommend the Trike gets a through look over by an expert. These deaths are one too many. We take our risks with other vehicles on the road. Our bikes should not be the cause of an accident or death. They should kept in top condition, just like we kept our firearms and police equipment, (I hope!) Here are a couple of articles that describe rake and trail to give you a general idea of what happened to Chris;
Stryder,
R-5 Treasurer
Tucson
