A & L Trikes started as a business within another business in 1992 after I had been riding a trike since 1983.  I started out with a Stires VW trike kit I put together in 1983.  I drove that one many miles around the United States until I replaced it with a 1989 Arizona Custom trike kit.  I drove that one until 1992.  In 1990 I had seen a Goldwing trike on Main Street in Sturgis during the rally and picked up some literature that was on the seat and told my wife, “That will be our next trike.”  That happened to be a Lehman trike out of Canada; John and Linda Lehman were trying to promote their business to get it off the ground.  I called and visited with them late that fall and in January 1992 I made the decision to order my first Lehman kit and installed it on a used 1991 GL1500 Goldwing. Soon I was asked if I would like to be a Lehman dealer  and after much thought I started building Lehman trikes and Arizona VW trikes.  Thus, A & L Trikes was born in 1992.  I did this   evenings and weekends in the garage at my house.

Doing conversions became a full-time part-time business and gave me no free time, so in 2000 after 20 years I closed my other business and put up a 3600 square foot building across from our house and A & L Trikes became a full time one-man business.  I discontinued the VW line of trikes in 2000 because of their high maintenance problems.

I built Lehman trikes for 17 years and built my last Lehman trike at the end of August 2007.

The decision to look at other trike manufacturers had started in early 2005 and was based on the problems with the Lehman conversion.  We were having quality control and half-order problems, and the general public wanted an independent suspension instead of a solid axle.  The demand for trikes kept getting bigger and bigger and people wanted a smoother, better ride.  By the fall of 2005 I committed to California Side Car Trikes.  The ride, the looks and the quality, along with the price, impressed me.  It also took corners as well if not better than the Lehman trike.  I took my training in January of 2006 at the California Side Car factory in Virginia. The end result was that my business more than doubled right away - it was a great decision.

With the economic situation in 2009,  everyone’s business suffered so in 2010 California Side Car decided to do something about that and reduced their prices by $1000.00 to help  dealers and their customers.  This has made California Side Car Trikes the least expensive of all the large, independent-suspension trike companies.

California Side Car also introduced two new trike kits in 2010, which shows that this company is continuing to move forward.