Local senior shares his love for adult trikes

Bay Village resident Dick Dillon demonstrates his trike during his presentation at the Dwyer Senior Center.

Dick Dillon, a volunteer and friend of the Village Bicycle Cooperative, is 86 years old and an avid adult tri-cyclist. As a former NASA aerospace engineer who was head of Engine Systems in the Launch Vehicles Division and a Marine Motorcycle Scout in the Pacific during WWII, Dick became an expert on two- and three-wheeled vehicles.

Over the past six years, Dick has developed a passion for adult tricycles as a method of providing enjoyment, physical activity, freedom and, of course, transportation.

Dick lives in Bay Village with his wife Dona, who helps contribute to his exercise regimen by providing a list of errands for him to run on his blue tricycle, which he explained he carefully chose to match the “blue” in everything else around Bay. In the process of running all his errands, Dick was able to save enough in gasoline costs over the first two years of tricycle ownership to pay for his trike.

Dick was kind enough to share his extensive knowledge and passion for adult trikes with others who attended a May 30 workshop sponsored by the Village Bike Cooperative, held at the Dwyer Senior Center in Bay Village. Through his involvement in conducting the workshop, Dick became aware that some of the seniors had physical challenges that could prohibit them from gaining the most out of "trike-dom."

With his desire to assist others and his expertise as an engineer, he helped prototype trike modifications to provide some of his senior friends with a more optimal experience, enabling residents in their eighties and nineties to journey around Bay on their trikes. For that, we sincerely thank him, and look forward to his participation in more VBC workshops at the Dwyer Center in the future. 

Carl Gonzalez

Bay Village resident and VBC board member 

Read More on Senior Living
Volume 6, Issue 12, Posted 9:12 AM, 06.10.2014