Catch their drift
<p>David Harrington, right, follows Joe Davis down Montana Avenue on Wednesday on his custom made drift trike.</p>
<p>David Harrington, right and Joe Davis look at their custom built drift trikes, which sit in the back of Davids 1965 WV Split Window Van on Wednesday afternoon.</p>
<p>Joe Davis drifts down Montana Avenue between 9th and 10th on Wednesday afternoon with his custom made drift trike.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Growing up doesn't mean you have to stop having fun.
When people hear the scrape of hard plastic wheels on asphalt, they'll move out of the way, thinking a tyke on a Big Wheel is coming down the street.
But when they turn to see two grown dudes with tattoos on their arms rallying on their homemade drift trikes, they take a second look.
"People think we're kids until they see us closer," said Joe Davis, 30, of Coeur d'Alene.
Davis and his roommate, David Harrington, ride their drift trikes all over town, receiving puzzled and amused expressions from onlookers who see them careen around corners, skid along curbs and joyfully smash into each other.
"We terrorize Sherman (Avenue) a little bit," Harrington, 27, said with a grin. "When we ride down Sherman, everyone cheers and people ask if they can ride them."
"And we let them ride them," Davis added. "We stop at intersections and we'll back up to a curb and we'll just sit there and people go, 'Oh, what is that?' and they all freak out."
Harrington and Davis are both interested in mechanics and enjoy building and tinkering. They saw drift trikes on social media a while ago and the concept intrigued them. Drift trikes are similar to Big Wheels for adults, with a few spins on the design. In April, Davis and Harrington decided to come up with their own creations. They didn't use directions or diagrams, just trial and error and elbow grease.
"I got bored and just cut up a bunch of junk bikes and built one," Harrington said. "We just started cutting and going."
The best friends, who work as landscapers, combined parts from old BMX bikes, Huffy Green Machines (similar to recumbent bikes), dolly tires set in PVC pipe and more to create their personalized trikes. The guys can usually build one, start to finish, in just a few hours and with only about $20.
"Mine has an old school seat. His has a school seat frame modified to a Green Machine seat," Davis said. "We welded Green Machine adapters on there so they can have pedals, and they're free-spin still, so you can go backwards."
The drifting is made possible by the slickness of the pipe around the rear tires, which allows the trikes to spin and drag as Davis and Harrington cruise. And they use old-fashioned brakes - their feet.
Taylor Murray, 16, of Coeur d'Alene, was out riding bikes with a friend as Davis and Harrington rode by them, drifting sideways and catching speed as they barreled downhill. She and her friend said the drift trikes were positively "sick."
"They were really cool, I've never seen anything like that," Taylor said. "I was afraid they were going to tip over and fall."
Luckily, if they do tip, the trikes are close enough to the ground to avoid serious impact. While Davis and Harrington have bent some tire rims and had to do repairs here and there, they feel confidently safe on the trikes. They said they are just like bicycles when it comes to following the rules of the road, during the day and at night.
"I got pulled over by a bike cop once," Harrington admitted. "I didn't have a headlight."
The sport of drift triking has picked up speed throughout the United States and other countries, but Davis and Harrington are not aware of anyone else in the area who rides. They have plans to build more of them and eventually add motors. And they're always finding more ways to entertain themselves, like riding them down the steps into the water at Independence Point.
"We actually came up with a game - drift trike dodgeball," Davis said. "It was actually really fun. You ride around and you're drifting on flat ground and you're trying to dodge and we made it to where you can only hit torsos ... you throw (the ball) and you drift into each other to try to get the ball before the other guy. It's pretty intense."
Harrington said he has cut up his trike and rebuilt it several times, but it was just to make improvements so it could steer, turn or ride better. He and Davis agreed that when people have an idea to create something, they should go for it and not be discouraged if they have to rework the pieces.
"The only bad idea is the idea you didn't do," Harrington said.