The Mail Pouch: From Wade - "A testament to your work....."

I appreciate it when people send me Emails about the work that I've done for them, and how it's met their expectations. But I've never gotten an Email like this one. I'll let Wade take it from here:

Wade's Softail TC 88B that I hardtailed for him a couple riding seasons ago....

"Hey Rich:

I laid the TC down yesterday.  Busy highway (Rt. 66 actually) out of Claremore, OK.  Heavily traveled four lane (particularly in the 5:00 hour) with a grass median.  Headed home from work, suddenly I see the headlights of an elderly Continental (and, turns out to be an elderly driver) coming at us splitting the yellow line in our inside lane. The girl that is the first to meet her stops, in hopes of avoiding a head on as does the lady in the outside lane. The girl that's stopped get's rearended by a 3/4 ton van that had been punched by a Durango.  The van loses a front wheel then careens across the median, both lanes of oncoming traffic and ends up in the trees on the far side of the highway."

Wade's bike in progress - hardtail done, sissy bar & fender finished, and the license plate frame started.....

"I am in the middle of this chaos; for a fleeting moment I thought I might make it between the two cars but instead (and in retrospect wisely) I laid the bike down and thankfully, the slide stopped just before I reached the two cars in front of me. As soon as I got stopped, I jumped up, as my greatest fear was getting run over from behind as it was still a very active scene."

Wade's license plate frame after skidding on it at 65 MPH........

"But I didn't, and once I figured out that everyone was shut down I picked the bike up and remarkably the only damage was to the footpeg, handlegrip and the point of this e-mail, your license plate bracket. As you can see from the picture, it ground some steel off, but there was absolutely no bend or other damage to the bracket (and I slid a good long way on it; we were running about 60-65 when the show began). Nice work.

The bike fired up, and two hours later, I rode it home.
Wade

BTW, I am pretty scuffed up from butt cheek to shoulder, and my left arm above the elbow, but overall, considering the number of vehicles flying around, I'm pretty damn lucky."

Fortunately for Wade, this whole sceneario could have been a lot worse, and I'm glad he's able to send me the above Email.. You know, I've always stressed on my blog about using sound fabrication practices, the importance of selecting quality raw materials that go into your work, and the importance of  the (and my) never ending process of mastering and executing welding and the other skills involved in building motorcycles. As the above illustrates, you never know when your work might be put to the ultimate stress test.