patience to build a trike.
Once Nece Trikes had the kit, they had to dismantle the whole bike to get it ready for the conversion process and custom paint. The Cheiftan is 111 cubic inches, with the power it needs to become a trike. The Indian sales person tried to convince me to use the Lehman trike kit( so they could sell it to me). I wanted the Hannigan so I told him that“ Well I guess we can’ t do business”, they sold me the Indian without the Lehman kit and had it shipped to me in Cheyenne, WY.
When the Indian was ready for the custom paint it went to High Tech Auto Body in Greeley, Colorado. The Chieftain was black when I purchased it, but I wanted to change the color to that Indian cream to give it that vintage look. The problem was, getting the paint color. Polaris doesn’ t like to give up their paint colors. Luckily for me, Steve at High Tech Auto Body knew someone who had the vintage Indian crème color paint and he matched it and mixed it from that color.
I had many suggestions as to what to put on the bike. Feathers, pin striping and other design ideas were given to me, but I wanted to keep it sleek and use the chrome on it for the decoration. The entire bike had to be painted along with the trike kit since the kit is primer coated from the factory. The painting process added another two weeks to the process. It was a handson experience to make sure my trike was customized perfectly for me.
While the painting was in progress, I started making my decisions on the custom accessories I wanted to add. I chose Rusty Jones chrome footboards, passenger boards and toe shifter with a heel shifter to match, Aeromach accent coins, a chrome horn cover and chrome bolt covers, chrome windshield trim from Indian. I also chose lighted trim, passenger seat, heated grips, leather tassels, highway pegs, led light and a front chrome bumper.
The trike has too many accessories to list all of
them here but I ordered all of the accessories with the encouragement of my brothers.
The Indian then went back to Nece Trikes for installation of the trike kit and reassembly. This took several more weeks to complete. During reassembly Monty added the customized accessories that I chose.
I am an admirer of the American free spirit and this beautiful trike that I feel very connected to deserves to be labeled“ Crazy Horse” in my eyes. Having the opportunity to own and ride two custom trikes has helped me to feel confident with the safety, stability, visibility, of the trikes which has brought me a lot of pleasure. I also just like the looks of these two fantastic custom motorcycles because they lend themselves to my personality and character. I am caregiver for my 90 year old Mom who has Alzheimer’ s disease. Taking care of her sometimes takes so much out of me and sometimes I just need a break. When I throw a leg over one of my trikes, my whole demeanor changes and I
26 Thunder Roads Magazine ® Colorado December 2015 www. thunderroadscolorado. com