adjustability combined with torsional rigidity, multi-directional stresses can be tamed, putting all the directive forces on the pavement where they belong. When Jeff Vey purchased Motor Trike, he quickly applied his combined vocation in specialized welding and his avocation, race car building and driving, to vastly improve the Motor Trike product line. Within months, nearly all of the original owner's engineering had been replaced, yielding a better product and much higher customer satisfaction ratings.        
    On my way back to the installation area, I browsed through the showroom and customer lounge. Several riders were here, either having service performed or test riding new trikes on the showroom floor. The atmosphere is definitely family-oriented...virtually everybody in this company is happy to answer questions, escort you to someone  who is expertly 

involved with in the aspect of Motor Trike you are, or just lead you to the company coffee pot.       
    Back in the installation area, Richard hefts the Wing's single-sided swing arm and rear wheel from the frame. At this point, the Wing looks a bit forlorn, its body cavity laid open and vulnerable. Richard begins to rectify this, bolting the patented ladder bar suspension (that will support the trike's chassis) to the Wing's aluminum frame. This is followed by a black powder-coated tubular frame to separately support the trike's bodywork.
    Next comes the rear axle assembly, including the wheel hubs and dual disk brakes. There are many hydraulic, electric, and pneumatic connections to make now, so I wander out to the fiberglass and painting facility.       
    Motor Trike does all of its fiberglass fabrication on site. Sheets of fiberglass fabric are laid in place, followed by brushed-on epoxy. Air

bubbles are carefully eliminated by hand before the body pieces are cured.                             
    Once a fiberglass body is cured, it goes to one of several downdraft ventilated sanding rooms where every irregularity is sanded and buffed away. This is muscle-melting work done with the finesse required of plastic surgery. I watched in admiration as a diminutive young lady hefted a 42-pound body piece onto a fixture, and then swept a heavy industrial buffer across its contours as if it were a powder puff. Crouching close, she hand-sanded the close corners, checking frequently for imperfections with delicate fingertips.                              
    Opposite the sanding booths is a series of paint booths, also down-draft ventilated. Jeff Vey says he'll stack up his painters' work against the best work coming out of Honda's Marysville facility, and from what I saw, I'd agree. paint matching is  exact, and there isn't an orange-peel anywhere. Expert.                                
    As my first day was drawing to a close, Richard was concluding the chassis, drive train and suspension assembly. From a nearby shelf, the Spyder body was lifted into place and secured. A lot had been accomplished in eight hours. Throughout the facility, everyone cleaned their spaces before securing for the night. When the doors closed and the lights went off, everything was shipshape and ready for the next day.                                                                
    On Monday evening, after watching the first half of the conversion process underway, I joined Diane & Jeff Vey for dinner at a Lone Star Steakhouse in nearby Tyler. We talked some about Texas (they're unabashed Aggie fans), some about racing (Jeff's still got the burn), some about GWRRA ("some of the nicest folks in the world," they say) and some about trikes in general and Motor Trike's history and culture.
    Jeff & Diane admit their naivete when they bought the company less than ten years ago. The potential for trikes and triking they could see; the underlying issues of their situation they couldn't. They honestly admit nearly going broke repairing and reconstructing many early