My name is Adrian Hine, and in November 1999 I had a serious motorcycle accident involving, yes you've guessed it, a bloody Volvo. The collision resulted in me being in intensive care for 4 days after the wonderful surgeons at Southampton hospital put me back together, which was quite a task as my injuries were extensive and numerous. I had a multiple break of the right ankle, a triple fracture of the pelvis, a shattered L2 vertebrae, broken ribs, punctured lungs, damaged liver, kidneys and pancreas, not bad going for a 50mph collision. After a couple of weeks I was transferred to Salisbury spinal unit (Odstock) for a skin graft on my ankle, which didn't work (thanks to the wonderful M.R.S.A. virus resulting having my right leg amputated below the knee six months later. After a further three months in Odstock I was released back into the real world, and let me tell you after nine months in isolation in hospital it takes some getting used to being back in the real world. Fifteen months later I had to have a further operation on my right leg to amputate above knee as (thanks to the spinal injury) it no longer worked.

Now we come to the exciting part, in December of 2001 I decided to find out about having a trike built as I was now ready to attempt to get my motorcycle life back and as I knew I could no longer ride a motorcycle the next best thing was a Trike. I had already joined N.A.B.D. in August 2000 at the West Point show at Exeter, and now I thought I'd ask if they would help me get back the missing piece in my life. On putting in my request I was very pleasantly surprised when I had my full grant application approved. Now I needed to see the men who are going to build my machine, this was Chris and Tank at C.C.S. Engineering in Bristol. They had already got the go ahead from N.A.B.D. and so the process began, first to find the required bike. This turned out to be a Suzuki GSX 1100G which, being shaft drive, made life a bit easier and less maintenance. Next was to decide on hard tail suspension (I choose hard tail as I'm a bit of a masochist, but in years to come I will probably get the seats sprung), how and where to attach my wheelchair. I was up to Bristol on a regular basis to be measured up for seat height, foot peg positions, handlebars etc and basically just to be bloody nosey. It was very interesting to see the trike taking shape and even though I'm sure it annoyed Chris and Tank, I used to like to watch them work.

I finally picked up my new toy on June 10th 2002 and was very nervous having only ever ridden one some 300 yards once before. I was advised to ride it up and down the road a few times before I set off on my way home, which involved a 75 mile trip (of which 42 miles of it were on the M5). As I turned in the middle of the road I kept having this uneasy feeling that I was going to fall over unless I put my foot down. Of course this is silly as I have three wheels, but it took some time for me to get used to this information. The next hurdle was getting use to the way it bounced over bumps, a hard tail has a very unique way of doing this and if you are not used to it you get the feeling you are going to be thrown off, which of course you don't. All this took about 15-20 miles to overcome, at this point I am hurtling down the outside lane of the M5 at about 70mph and I was really beginning to enjoy myself.

The adaptations were quite straightforward; I had the rear brake pedal transferred to the left leg (as a heel brake) and the bucket seats were an absolute godsend for someone with back problems. The wheelchair rack was a 50/50 arrangement between Chris and myself. I suggested how the bottom should attach and Chris came up with the rest. Also the rack can easily carry my crutches should the need arise. The overall build of the trike is excellent and from very little information C.C.S. came up with a perfect representation of the image I had in my mind. The information I originally gave them was I wanted the trike to be short, low and fast and be able to carry a wheelchair .

I am so pleased to be reclaiming the most important part of my life (after my wife and son of course) I would not have been able to do this without the help from N.A.B.D. they do a great job in keeping us all on the road.

I am hoping that I will be able to show off the engineering skills of C.C.S. Engineering and where the money I was granted has gone soon, but it will probably not be possible till the season starts again in May 2003, by which time I will have been able to buy myself some camping gear and get back into the rally world once more. Here's hoping to see a few of you next season, look out for a crazy redhead on something big shiny and purple (no rude comments please).

All the best to N.A.B.D. it's helpers and supporters.

This NABD Grant was sponsored by donations made in memory of Ian Todd and Paul Philip Watson Vaughan