The End Of An Era

When Trike Design Ltd, in Caerphilly, South Wales, officially ceased trading on the 17^th of January 2025, I was somewhat shocked and greatly saddened.

Both Hank and Robin had talked about retiring several times over recent years, but I had optimistically assumed that the business would survive, at least for a few more years, perhaps with each of them taking a more passive supervisory role.

What I hadn’t factored into my optimistic assumption was the fact that both of them had already crashed through retirement age, with Robin being just a couple of months short of 70-years old and Hank being 68-years old.  I also hadn’t considered the debilitating effects of Hank’s steadily deteriorating health, which was simply not conducive to spending any more of his days in a cold draughty workshop.

Given these contributary factors, and all of the other stresses involved in running a business where you have to deal directly with members of the public, I completely understand their decision to call it a day, however regrettable that may be!

Hank and Robin began collaborating on innovative custom motorcycles 45-years-ago, with ‘Hanks Chop Shop’, which went on, in the late 1990’s, to evolve into ‘Trike Design Ltd’.

Trike Design has been one of the UK’s leading, and most respected, trike builders for more than 25-years, producing countless show-winning trikes and working closely with the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD), they have produced many specially adapted bikes and trikes for people with disabilities ranging from amputations to paraplegia and from MS to hemiplegia.

In more recent years they had also been the sole producer of the ‘Chair Rider’ outfit, which is a specialised ride-from-a-wheelchair (RFW) motorcycle/sidecar combination, featuring a custom-built ramp-entry sidecar unit that enables the rider to remain in a wheelchair, within the sidecar, while controlling the motorcycle via a remote set of handlebars with adapted motorcycle hand-controls mounted to the sidecar unit.

For people who are unable to independently transfer from a wheelchair to a trike, the Chairider outfit provides the only viable way for them to enjoy the freedom and independence of motorcycling.

1. Trike Design developed the production ‘Chairider’ from a basic RFW outfit, originally designed and developed by NABD member, Mike Harper, of Ebbw Vale in South Wales. Mike is himself T4/5 paraplegic and has travelled all over Europe in his outfit and I know he was overjoyed to know that even more people with disabilities would now have access to the same joy that he gets from motorcycling. 

Hot on the heels of the closure of Trike Design Ltd, I received the equally unexpected and unwelcome news that the other iconic trike builders in South Wales, The Trike Shop, in Cardiff, were also to cease trading on March 14^th, 2025.

When The Trike Shop opened in Cardiff in 1996, there were very few professional trike builders in the UK, and the NABD only knew of one other (Desperate Dan’s, based in Leighton Buzzard at that time) who was willing and able to build adapted trikes for people with disabilities.

Within months of the Trike Shop opening, Haydn and I were already in deep discussions about new forms of adaptations to suit the needs of people with disabilities, and he was happy to help the NABD expand the range and availability of custom-built adapted trikes.  Thus began a long and successful collaboration between The Trike Shop and the NABD, which has benefitted countless people with disabilities over the past 29-years.

In what Bob Dylan may well have considered ‘a simple twist of fate’, Hank (who later went on to open Trike Design Ltd) worked with Haydn at The Trike Shop for a year or so, and together they developed the excellent and innovative independent rear suspension (IRS) system that became so synonymous with the trikes of both companies.

In 2009 the NABD completed a three-year fundraising project to enable it to commission two specially adapted trikes for use in assessments and as a valuable addition display to the existing display vehicles which are used to demonstrate the range and types of adapted motorcycles that were available for wheelchair users at the time.

Our faith in these two companies was reflected in the choice of a 700cc Honda DN01 DCT trike (with a semi-automatic transmission), built by The Trike Shop specifically to suit the needs of wheelchair users, and a Yamaha XVS950 Midnight Star trike (with a manual transmission), built by Trike Design Ltd, also specifically to suit the needs of wheelchair users, but featuring a different range of adaptations.

Both of these trikes have served us well over the years and are both still going strong!

The closure of Trike Design Ltd, and The Trike Shop, came as a real blow to all of the Trustees and officials of the NABD, not just because it signalled the end of two long, successful, and amicable, collaborations in the provision of adapted trikes for people with disabilities, but also because their closure will result in a profound deficiency in the steadily dwindling number of reputable, high-quality, trike builders and adaptation engineers, in the UK.

Another serious concern we have, resulting from the closure of Trike Design Ltd, is the loss of the Chairider as a production vehicle.

1. I am now actively seeking another reputable company to produce the Chairider RFW sidecar outfits, and Hank, being the gentleman and friend that he is, has agreed to provide all of the technical information that he can to aid me in that quest, despite him currently being in the centre of the maelstrom of issues arising from the closure of Trike Design.

On behalf of all at the NABD, I offer Hank and Robin at Trike Design, and Haydn and Bev at The Trike Shop, our very best wishes for their respective retirements and our heartfelt gratitude for their efforts and the innovations that have helped so many people with disabilities to enjoy the freedom and independence of motorcycling over so many years.

This really does feel like the forlorn end of a golden era!

Rick Hulse
NABD Chairman

Update: Shortly after this article was first published in Back Street Heroes magazine, I got the news that another of the NABD’s trusted trike manufacturers, DTB Panther Trikes, of Liversedge, West Yorkshire, have also ceased trading this year (due to retirement).

Fortunately, there are still a couple of companies in the UK that the NABD know to be experienced in building and adapting high-quality trikes for people with disabilities.

Casarva Trikes in Peterborough, https://www.casarva.co.uk/

Grinnall Trikes in Worcestershire, https://www.grinnalltrikes.co.uk/

And we know of several Can-Am trike dealerships who are happy to adapt various models of Can-Am trikes to suit the needs of many people with disabilities, but, as far as we are aware, they cannot accept commissions to build trikes specifically to suit the needs of an individual.

Offshore Performance in Poole, Dorset, https://offshoreperformance.co.uk/

LondonSpeed/GSTech in London, https://londonspeed.co.uk/

The Trike Guy in Derbyshire, https://www.thetrikeguy.co.uk/

Of course, we are always happy to find new engineers who are skilled in adaptations to suit the needs of disabled bikers.  Please contact the NABD office via email office@thenabd.org.uk if you wish to recommend one from your own personal experience.