Personal History: Whilst at the TT races in June 2002, i was involved in a three bike collision, resulting in bilateral fractures of both tibiae and fibulae. My left leg also suffered gross soft tissue loss. I was taken to Nobles Hospital where the fractures of both legs were pinned and plated. I remained on the Isle of Man for a further ten days, following which, I was flown to Biggin Hill airport in Kent and from there taken to the Queen Victoria Hospital at East Grinstead in West Sussex, a renowned plastic surgery centre.

I remained at East Grinstead for a total of twenty weeks whilst numerous surgical procedures were performed, initially to save the lower leg and then to reconstruct it. The surgery to reconstruct the leg immediately below my knee using various muscle and skin graft was successful but unfortunately, the surgery to reconstruct the lower part of my leg failed despite the dedicated efforts of a brilliant surgeon and his team.

The time came for a decision to be made with regard to any further attempts to save the leg. I eventually decided that it would be easier to get my life back on track if the leg was amputated below the knee and this procedure was performed in October 2002. It was entirely due to the efforts of the staff at East Grinstead that the amputation was able to remain below the knee because the original injuries would have necessitated an above the knee amputation.

Now, some eight months on, I have achieved an excellent level of mobility and I am beginning to live a normal life again. The urge to get back on a bike was only very temporarily suspended and as summer arrived, once again became a passion. I bought a BMW R1100R in June and adapted it myself.

Fitting of Klicktronic Unit: As no fairing is fitted to the R1100R, it was a relatively simple job to make up a mounting bracket to accommodate the Klicktronic unit directly above the gear lever. The gear lever itself however did need to be slightly modified by filing flat the profile on either side and drilling through to accommodate the ball joint, which was supplied with the kit. The gear change was mounted in a conventional position on the handle bar. The control box was mounted beneath the tank in the position normally reserved for ABS braking (which is not a feature of this model). There is a simple connection via the wiring loom into the ignition switch.

My thanks must go to Mr Blair, Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and his team, Austen Faibairn at Bracken Motorcycles in London for his helpful advice and all at NABD and Klicktronic for their help and support.