With International Women’s Day on 8th March, we would like to showcase two stories from Women on Trikes series. Read how Susan and Nerolie got into triking and why they are living the dream with Trikes.
https://www.touroztrikes.com.au
Susan – “Wild and crazy and it felt a little bit rebellious”
A surprise and spontaneous ride to high school on the back of a friends new Trike while living in a small country town in New Zealand, was the very moment I knew I wanted one. It was love at first ride, I was hooked.
At the time I was not old enough to have a car licence, but I will never forget how it felt to be on the back of the Trike. It was cool and it was different, lots of people had two-wheeler bikes, but this chopped up, backyard, custom made Trike was the real deal, it was wild and crazy and felt a little bit rebellious.
I moved back to Australia a few years later, and I never really saw many trikes. Every so often I would look around to buy one, but they were hard to find and never quite what I was looking for.
Most trikes were motorbike conversions but I wanted a long-raked style trike with a low centre of gravity but also one that would not spend more time in the garage being pulled apart and repaired. I’m not a mechanic, I just wanted to ride.
Life got in the way of my dream – kids, family, work all took priority for many years, and a trike was not something I could afford and it was not practical. How would I fit a baby seat to a trike?
In my early forties, the internet had made looking for a trike a lot easier, but they were still hard to find. I was prepared to travel to America to find a trike and bring it back to Australia, as there seemed to be a much bigger selection of trikes overseas than there were in Australia.
I finally came across the custom-made German Rewaco Trikes and could not believe my luck when I discovered they had a dealer in Australia.
I collected my trike around Valentine’s Day and it is still the love of my life. Since owning my trike and racking up nearly 50,000Ks I have met people from all walks of life, been involved in charity and fundraising events which give me a great amount of satisfaction but most of all I just love the wild, crazy rebellious feeling of cruising around Australia.
People young and old still stop and stare, and most fuel stops involve a conversation with a stranger asking what sort of motor it has. I still giggle at the reactions I get and the shocked whisper of “oh and it’s a girl riding it”.
Kids stare out the back window of their parent’s car waving at me, and I always wonder if one of them will grow up remembering the first time they saw my trike cruising down the highway and want one when they are older.
Nerolie fell in love with a Trike too
“Geez, that’s bright green, not sure about the colour. Then the green seemed to grow on us and now I absolutely love Kermmi!”
Growing up on a farm allowed me to ride motorbikes all the time…this sadly all changed once I moved into a town. Years went by and at the age of 38, I decided life is too short and went and got a motorbike licence. Read more…
I started with a Yamaha 650 Vstar. Due to an injury, I struggled to ride it or even get it out of the garage.
My partner Brendon and I had heard about trikes. We decided to look into buying one as this would enable me to still enjoy riding and it was something we could both still do together.
April 2016, we headed off to Bendigo to have a look at TOUROZ Trikes and maybe have a test ride to see if we liked them.
Col had a green and black demo RF1 LT sitting there.
First thoughts were: Geez, that is a bright green, unsure if I like that colour.
After some chatting with Col the green seemed to grow on us. Well the test ride did not happen, we said stuff it, you only live once!
We came home with that beautiful green machine nearly 3 years ago, and I haven’t looked back…
I absolutely love Kermmi. I feel so great riding, and the freedom you feel with no pain! I would not change it for the world.
