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I had a spinal cord infarction at T10 (commonly called a spinal stroke) in December 2000, which was only three years after passing my motorcycle test. This left me with paralysis from the chest down.
Three months later I was released from Charing Cross Hospital with a wheelchair, a walking stick, ‘partial mobility’, an ‘indeterminate’ bowel, and excruciating pain in legs I couldn’t feel.
I was ‘certified’ disabled shortly afterward and given a blue badge.
Patrick (my husband/carer) and I then joined the NABD. My Yamaha SR125 remained enshrined in the garage, though with the help of several stepladders and a winch I got to sit on it occasionally.
With the encouragement and advice of the many friends we’ve made through the NABD we realised that getting back on the road wasn’t as impossible as I had thought. Peter Funnel of Eurotech Engineering (01580 713734) was recommended to us and we eventually met him at the BMF Garden of England Show (his stand was next to that of the NABD). He impressed us with his self-effacing manner, in-depth knowledge, and understanding of what I was up against.
After going to see him at his workshop in Kent, marvelling at the set-up and seeing more of his work, we decided that we wanted him to design and build a trike for us. We then had to find a suitable ‘donor’ bike and after travelling miles to see many complete wrecks we found a 1883 BMW K100 that was in good condition with only 35,000 miles on the clock.
Peter at Eurotech was a little apprehensive about its suitability as a donor when told the age of the bike. But he gave a huge sigh of relief when he came to collect it and saw how good it was. He then carted it back to his workshop to perform his magic.
The first plan was to fit a live axle but this configuration made the rear end too high in relation to the front. So in line with Peter’s policy of always leaving the option of being able to return the machine to a solo (and therefore not cutting the frame), changed the reliant axle for an independent, race-bred set-up of his own design.
To make the driving position more comfortable and to give me more leverage in steering he replaced the existing handlebars with a slightly wider swept-back set. (Not as simple as it sounds given that BMW tend to make all the cables exactly the right length for each model. However after much fiddling and modification he managed it).
We were keen to ride the trike ‘in tandem’ rather than having a bench style pillion seat, so a tractor seat was fitted up front with a fully adjustable crop-spraying aircraft seat for the pillion. He also fitted folding arm-rests to give me the all-important back support I require on long journeys. A large top box, an ingenious wheelchair rack, and a towbar for the trailer (also built for us by Peter) completed the picture nicely.
All was finished in time for Patrick to master driving it before getting us to the Autumn Nabd’ness rally at Cornbury Park where we spent our first weekend under canvas for many years.
Needless to say, none of this would have come to pass without all of the help and encouragement of our friends in the NABD (notably London Rep Ken May and Kent Rep Gary Tompkins) and of course our grant from the NABD.
Karen O'Brien
This NABD grant of £1,200.00 was sponsored by a donation from The EVS Club
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