Thanks for stopping by !

Hello, from southwestern Minnesota!  This is where my internet business, www.thelittleladderstore.com, is located, and, as an authorized dealer for Wing Enterprises' Little Giant Ladders, my store is listed on their web site under Minnesota dealers. The picture to the right shows just a few of the quality Little Giant Ladder products available through my internet store, with select products always featured here on eBay, in Trident's LittleLadderStore.  I pride myself on fast service and shipping of all in-stock Little Giant Ladder products, and will gladly place your order for specialty items, as well.  My midwest location means fast delivery to all parts of the country.  I can always be reached at info@thelittleladderstore.com  or call 507-531-6933.

I've been on eBay since 2001, and loved every minute of it, both as a buyer and a seller.  As a former Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) instructor, I enjoy discussions about safety related issues involving motorcycling.  I also recently became a Ride Captain with the Patriot Guard, a group of dedicated cyclists who attend, by invitation, the funerals of our fallen heros in the military, to honor their service to our country, and to form a human shield between the families of the soldiers and radical war protestors.

My hobby is finding, restoring, and riding older motorcycles, and collecting motorcycling related articles of things that, as a youth, defined my future.  My eBay id comes from my classic, 1975 Triumph Trident T150, a very rare three cylinder British motorcycle.  Many people have contacted me to tell me there is no such thing as a 1975 T150 (the "official" records show production from 1969-1974), but with a JK serial number on this one (denoting a '75 model year), along with many others I have documented here "in the states," including several which have come up for sale on eBay,  there are definitely 1975 T150's.  They often have manufacturing "quirks," such as mine, which has a red and black color scheme from a 1973 model, and a useless 1976 T160 electric start button.  I believe, as do other owners of these oddities, that the Triumph factory and its workers, in an attempt to keep Triumph alive, took whatever parts they had and built bikes, creating these oddities, which all seemed to have been shipped to U.S. dealers.  Further proof of their existance are the numerous Triumph ads that appeared in American motorcycling magazines, that often come up for sale on ebay, featuring 1975 T150's.

Introduced to the motorcyling world in the fall of 1968, the Trident was one of the fastest production motorcycles ever built to that date.  The racing version, known as "Slippery Sam," won the prestigious Isle of Mann motorcycle race five  years in a row, from 1971 to 1975. 

Here's the first picture I took of my Trident, on the day I brought it home. Note the tarnished sidecovers from sitting for over a decade and a half.

I found this beauty in 1996 in original, but unrestored condition, minus only the passenger grab bar, having been left sitting in a garage for 15 years after its owner died. It had about 7400 miles on it. Two years later, coming home from the British Biker Cooperative rallye in Wisconsin, I sought shelter from a coming storm at a gas station in New Ulm, Mn., and no sooner got off the bike when the town was hit by a microburst "wind shear," a 100mph+ straight down, non-stop blast of wind from a collapsing thunderhead. I got to watch as my Trident rolled through the gas station, while I hung on for my life to a gas pump. Pretty much anything that stuck out was broken or damaged--turn signals, foot pegs, kick start lever, headlight, bars, wheels, swing arm, exhaust, etc. Remarkably, the tank survived with only a minor ding.

It took me two years to find the parts and time to rebuild, and the  picture below is of the final result.

1975 Triumph Trident T150

I now have about 27,000 miles on it, and did have to do a valve job two years ago. Otherwise the 30 year old engine is good, still oil tight. I have modified it with Boyer electronic ignition, a 5.10 x 16 inch rear tire on rim with chrome spokes, a new front rim with stainless steel spokes, a smoked windshield, and oil pressure, voltage, and temperature gauges, shorty turn signals, an early model air cleaner, and an 180 watt Norton stator. A WIPAC 100 watt Halogen with a visor lights up the road. Where the missing grab bar should have been,  I built a backrest/luggage rack--that and the saddle bags have allowed me to take many trips more than a 1000 miles at a time with no problems. An extra thick copper head gasket reduced the need to run 106 octane gas in its high performance engine--that and a 51 tooth rear sprocket (53 tooth was standard)  allow it to purr on 92 octane at 75 mph, nearly vibration free with its 120 degree crankshaft.

 The wonders of eBay continue, putting buyers and sellers together. This is my next project, which I purchased through eBay from a Texas seller in December, 2005 . It is a 1976 registered Trident T160, an electric start mode that was made for only one year, 1975, and sold in 1975 and '76. It needs very little restoration work, other than a complete new wiring harness, which helps account for the fact it arrived with just 7,274 miles on the odometer! I hope to have it back on the road by spring 2006.  With a total production of only 7,211, this one has serial number 7160, so it is truly one of the last of the classic Triumph Tridents !

  
I also love to travel by motorcycle and camp , along with my lady, Bethany. Our touring motorcycle was a 1984 Yamaha Venture that I rescued from a damp machine shed in 2001. Discovering the wonders of eBay allowed a total restoration of this cycle over a two year period, as well as adding numerous chrome goodies. Here was the finished result:

Unfortunately, after several years of trouble free service, this beautiful Venture left it's transmission at mile marker 143 on I-90 in the summer of '06, and again using the wonders of ebay, various parts are now at home on Ventures around the world.

After the demise of the Venture, we took the plunge and bought the ultimate touring bike, an '06 Harley Ultra, which makes pulling our Bunkhouse camper a breeze.

Not too many cyclists can take their 'garage' with on vacation, but the Bunkhouse camper allows us to do just that, and provides the capability to actually camp with everything with we need to cook and relax.  The king size bed certainly beats sleeping on the ground as well !