The Story of Quadette

As promised - the story of how my quad came to be...

My husband is an avid dirt biker and, while he wants me to learn to ride dirtbikes, we figured 4 wheels would be easier for me to start on than 2. About a year ago, we went to visit his folks in northern Alberta. They have a couple quads and a nice BIG property, so I got to take my first ride on a quad. It was a blast & I loved it. So Lawrence was excited to know how much I enjoyed it & vowed to get me one, one day. I told him we couldn't buy a quad until we had our own 'dirt', ie, our own home, because we were renting at the time. Well, lo & behold, we came home from Alberta to a notice from our landlord saying he had sold the house & we had 2 months to get out. So, we took the plunge & bought a house instead of sinking our funds into rent each month. And of course, that got Lawrence thinking about what I had said...

Some time after Christmas, Lawrence's dad called up with an offer. A quad for sale REAL cheap because it had been beside a shed that burnt down. All the plastic was melted off & needed new wiring but the frame, tires & motor were in great condition. So he agreed...without telling me of course. This is what the quad looked like...at that time!

In March, the whole Wolfe family got together in Calgary for a family visit! Unbeknownst to me, dad was bringing the quad down for Lawrence. I couldn't figure out why on earth Lawrence wanted to drive the work van all the way to Calgary when we have a perfectly wonderful DIESEL car that would have been so much more efficient. We even argued about it because he didn't want to ruin the surprise. Luckily, I gave in & we took the work van!

My sister in law distracted me in our hotel rooms while THIS was going on outside in the parking lot...

All the boys helped load it into the van while I was being distracted. When we finally came downstairs, Lawrence handed me this pretty little gift bag & said it was an early birthday present.
Inside the gift bag was this toy quad. He said, that he knew I wanted one so now I was getting one. The whole family was watching. At first I didn't get it, and then I started freaking out that he might have bought me a quad cuz we so didn't have the money for a quad (or at least that's what I thought)So they whipped open the van doors and there was this THING in there with birthday bows on it & everybody was staring at me & waiting for my reaction...

And I sort of stood there looking at it thinking 'what the heck is that burnt piece of crap? and why does it have bows on it?' My biggest fear of taking the van was that Lawrence would fill it with junk to bring home. And I was looking at it with uncertainty, wondering if my fear was coming true!

It took a minute for me to catch on that it was a quad and that Lawrence was determined to fix it up for me. Mom Wolfe was so worried that I would freak out or be worried that it would be a never-ending project. But, I trusted my husband. Though he has a lot of projects always on the go, I knew that this one would be special and that he WOULD complete it because it was for me. So then, I was happy about the gift & looking forward to it.

Lawrence & I went out shopping to a big atv/motorsports shop in Calgary later that day & got me (and himself) new riding jerseys. Fox is finally bringing out NICE girl style stuff and I was in love with one that was camoflage & HOT PINK!!

And that became the inspiration for the quad colors that I chose. I wanted it to be girly but 'bad' looking at the same time. So slowly but surely, the project started to take shape. Thanks in particular to E-bay for us to be able to get a TONNE of used parts relatively cheap. He found me a whole set of plastic for a great deal. We just had to clean it up & pull off all the old labels.

Lawrence sanded & painted every single part on her. She was stripped down to nothing. Even the frame & muffler were repainted a shiny black.
We have a friend that is an autobody guy, so he came with his spray gun & painted more parts for me. Lots of accesorizing parts were in metallic pink...
And the inside of the rims were a vibrant metallic green

She was slowly starting to take shape, motor back to gether, wiring hooked up and hubby going for test runs around the backyard & up the driveway.

On our last trip down through Washington, we found another Honda shop that carried lots of different things that we hadn't been able to find in Canada. Including awesome helmets for girls. This is a fox brand to match my jersey with hot pink of course to match the quad. Our friend Jeff came one more time and painted all the plastic for us. Most of it was the metallic green and a couple parts were the pink. So Lawrence started to put it together.

And here she is in all her put-together glory. We even have a small mirror on the front (it covers a hole) but its very appropriate for a girl quad. Can check & see if I have dirt on my face after a good ride. LOL

And so, after a few photos in my gear, posing on her, it was time for me to try her out!

Lawrence took me, my quad & his dirtbike up one of the hills behind us and unloaded it for me. I was so chicken. I think lawnmowers go faster. I'd go & stop & go & stop. It took a while to get the hang of it. There was a good open spot to try but I had to go DOWN a steep hill first. That was scary, I went soooo slow because the dust was several inches deep (its very dry up there) and kept pulling me into the ditch. Anyways, I made it and then I started tearing around, getting braver & going faster, even up & down a few dusty hills. It was great fun & I had a blast. I can't wait to go again. Hopefully we'll get a bit of rain so it won't be such thick choking dust up there.

And that, my friends, is the story of Quadette. The Labour of Love project by my wonderful husband so that we can enjoy hours & hours of fun together up in the mountains that I love so much!