Hey,
It’s sort of a mellow Sunday. I just returned from the Pomona granddaddy of car shows. I helped judge the bike entrants and was twisted by some of the scooters. There’s a constant bitch at many show that some contestants motorcycle don’t run, or they’re not ridden often.
This is the only show I’ve ever attended that’s professionally judged. The judges class each bike and car. The entrant doesn’t pick his class. All vehicles must start or they can’t win in any class. I was surprised to see so many incomplete entrants at this show. What gives? The rules may be more stringent next year. Most builders know and respect the deal. There were a few beautiful bikes that would have easily taken trophies, if they were set up to run. We’ll see what we can do for the next round.
I’m still scrambling from the show. Let’s hit the post running:
FATTY SHIFT ARMS– North County Customs is now offering the exclusive Softbrake ?FATTY? shift linkage arms for 1983 to present Softail models. Unlike the flimsy OEM pieces that are welded to the cross shaft, FATTYS are CNC machined from a thick piece of billet and splined to slip on and off of a separate cross shaft.
Machined with an offset for proper alignment the arms are available in 3 styles, slotted, ball milled and slotted. Making them truly universal the arms are supplied with either a long of short cross bar.
The short bar allows for a single shifter without the hangover encountered when converting using the stock shaft. The longer shaft is designed for heel and toe applications and once again the shaft is splined for easy removal and precise adjustment.
FATTY shift arms retail for $120.00 in chrome and $130.00 black powdercoat including the single or dual shaft. For complete details call North County Customs at 714-680-0911.
DAYTONA BIKE WEEK PLANS–On Friday March 6th, there will also be a Linkert Carburetor class at the Cycle Source ride in bike show. Linkert was the primary American Carb manufacturer from 1933 to 1965. So if you have an Indian, Knuckle, Pan, flattie or any other bike that has been retrofitted with this carb set up, bring it over and enter it.
So if you are interested in learning more about how to start and operate old bikes then swing by the Antique Motorcycle Club of America?s booth at the Limpnickie lot this year and get in touch with your antique side!
VINTAGE SEAT CONVERSION KITS– Add a period-style bobber seat to your venerable Softail. These seat kits are inspired by the Softail conversion Roland Sands Design created and dubbed El Borracho. The seat kit includes fiberglass battery cover, billet seat pivot, steel seat supports, seat springs and steel seat pan. It is designed to seamlessly fit with the RSD gas tank kit and 200mm or 240mm fender kits. The seat pan kit and seat spring/mount kit are also available separately. All necessary mounting hardware included. Made in the U.S.A.
STEELERS made it!– And they’ll win the Superbowl! Off to bed now! Have a nice day off tomorrow.
Andreas
I think I like the Steelers for their colors, they can look so sweeeet…
SUNDAY TOOL NOTIONS SPONSORED BY JIMS MACHINE– HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent to the object we are trying to hit.
UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
DAMN-IT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling ‘DAMM-IT’ at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.
TWIN CAM STAGGERED DUALS– Owners of 2000 and up Twin Cam machines are going to get off on the traditional Hot Rod styling offered by Paughco?s new STAGGERED DUALS. Designed specifically for late Twin Cam Harley’s, the new pipes measure 1 ?? with a 3? muffler. Staggered duals feature that timeless, low slung layout and produce an exhaust note to match their aggressive looks.
PAUGHCO STAGGERED DUALS are fit with steel baffles and come finished in the company?s flawless in-house chrome.
Supplied with all mounting hardware the TWIN CAM STAGGERED DUALS are available with either TAPERED OR SUPER SLASH CUT tips and retail for $349.95.
Call 775-246-5738 or catch PAUGHCO on the web at www.paughco.com.
BIKERNET HOUSING RESEARCH–This happened on a flight getting ready to depart Detroit for Fresno.
Jack was sitting on the plane when a guy took the seat beside him. The guy was an emotional wreck, pale, hands shaking, moaning in fear.
“What’s the matter?” Jack asked.
“I’ve been transferred to Fresno, California, there’s crazy people there. They’ve got lots of shootings, gangs, race riots, drugs, poor public schools, and the highest crime rate.”
Jack replied, “I’ve lived in Fresno all my life. It’s not as bad as the media says. Find a nice home, go to work, mind your own business, enroll your kids in a nice private school. It’s as safe a place as anywhere in the world.”
The guy relaxed and stopped shaking and said, “Oh, thank you. I’ve been worried to death. But if you live there and say it’s OK, I’ll take your word for it. What do you do for a living?”
“Me?” said Jack. “I’m a tail gunner on a Budweiser truck.”
–from Buckshot
STRIP CLUB CHOPPERS Announces the addition of a brand new Pole Girl Speaker Cover– Stuart, FL – STRIP CLUB CHOPPERS introduces a chrome pole girl Speaker Cover! The pole girl Speaker Cover fits all stock Harley speaker enclosures. It is priced at $79.95 per pair.
For more information, please view our website WWW.STRIPCLUBCHOPPERS.COM
And should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to email info@STRIPCLUBCHOPPERS.COM or call/fax the office at 772-287-8748.
BILLY LANE CONTROVERSY– Thanks for letting people like Rogue who is in Brevard County Florida and close to the truth, report on news like this. Like he said the prosecutors office and local law enforcement is where the media is getting their information and it is bias and one sided. I live in Brevard County Florida and read the newspaper everyday and have followed the case closely and a lot of this report I did not know, like charges getting dropped and the fact that Gerald Morelock pulled out into the lane and was not in the lane when the pass started.
All that was reported was that Billy was drunk and passing other traffic and ran head on into Gerald Morelock and Mr Morelock was killed, Rogue is right about people making comments, assumptions and opinions without knowing all the facts, and I agree that billy lane cannot get a fair trail in Brevard County Florida or surrounding areas.
–Pete
H-D SAYS IS WILL CUT 1,100 JOBS– The announcement that Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) is cutting 1,100 jobs, including hundreds in Milwaukee, could hardly have come at a worse time, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker said this morning.
Harley said it will consolidate engine and transmission production in Milwaukee into its Menomonee Falls plant. The company will close a distribution facility in Franklin and shrink its paint and frame operations in York, Pa.
Harley also says it will end its domestic transportation fleet and plans a 10% to 13% reduction in motorcycle shipments for 2009.
Details on the job reductions are still being finalized, but Harley executives said many of the cuts will come in the first half of 2009. About 800 of the job losses are expected to be in hourly, manufacturing positions.
The Milwaukee area has been pummeled by job losses in recent weeks. “The news from Harley-Davidson would be bad at any time, but it is even worse now,” Walker said. “This is a serious blow. We need to get more money into the economy and the quickest way to do that is through bold tax cuts. Reducing the payroll tax can be done immediately and that will put more money into the hands of consumers who can then buy things like Harley-Davidson motorcycles. I hope that we can save some of the 1,100 jobs.”
Harley employs about 3,600 people in the Milwaukee area, including nearly 1,000 at the Juneau Ave. headquarters. In 2008, the company cut 730 jobs, including several hundred at its headquarters.
About 80% of the assembly line job reductions in 2008 were at Harley’s largest plant in York, Pa., which has more than 2,770 hourly workers.
For its fourth-fiscal quarter, ended Dec. 30, Harley said earnings fell 58% to $77.8 million, or 34 cents per share, from $186.1 million, or 78 cents per share, last year. Sales fell 6.8% to $1.29 billion.
Analysts expected earnings of 57 cents per share on sales of $1.29 billion.
Harley shares have taken a beating in recent months amid declining motorcycle sales tethered to sinking consumer confidence.
CEO Jim Ziemer recently announced that he will retire sometime in 2009. Earlier this month, Sy Naqvi, president of Harley-Davidson Financial Services, announced his resignation effectively immediately.
Analysts see considerable downside from the dual impact of declining motorcycle sales and tightened credit markets.
Until recently, international sales had been a bright spot for Harley. But a slowdown in the global economy, coupled with a strengthened U.S. dollar, has put a damper on overseas sales.
— By Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel
See the complete H-D financial later in the news.
HISTORIC Headlines on This Date 4 Years Ago– “Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops die in unarmored Humvees”
“Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times”
“Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft”
Headlines Today:
“Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $120 million”
“Obama Spends $120 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party”
“Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate”
“Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration”
Nothing like fair & unbiased coverage of the news!!!
–Rogue
POLICE BUST MOTORCYCLE CHOP SHOP IN WAIPAHU– Honolulu police tracked a crime from the website Craigslist to a suspected chop shop in Waipahu and Friday night, four men are in jail.
Police confiscated 32 motorcycles from the business. Most were sports bikes and all had their vehicle identification numbers defaced. Of the 32, at least 18 had been stolen. Police also found several firearms.
Police say they were tipped off by someone who spotted an Internet ad, selling a bike that appeared to be hot.
Any buyers who knew the bikes were stolen could be in trouble as well. “They would be facing the same offense, control or custody of a vehicle with a defaced serial number,” said Capt. Sean Naito of HPD. All four men are in their 20s. Some have prior records. All face stolen property and firearm charges.
–By KGMB9 News
MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE ECONOMIC FORECAST FROM AI PUBLISHER BUZZ KANTOR– Not sure if anyone has told you about this, but there are massive changes happening in the magazine newsstand distribution system that might kill off a lot of magazines – including motorcycle ones.
A week ago Anderson News, which distributes about 25% of all magazines sold in stores, announced to the industry that they will be charging all magazine publishers an additional 7 cents per copy distributed plus other charges. They said this would be effective Feb 1, less than 2 weeks from the announcement.
A few days later Source Interlink, which distributes at least 30% of all magazines on the newsstand came out with similar demands. We are waiting to hear from the two other major magazine wholesalers what, if anything, their plans are in this situation.
You might think 7 cents per copy distributed might not be much, but it is massive.
Right now most magazines (motorcycle and other) are suffering from the worst challenges in decades. Advertising income is way down, readership is declining and money is tight everywhere.
If the 7 cents per copy distributed charge, or anything like it, becomes the norm, many experts feel 15% or more of all consumer magazines on the newsstand will be forced out of business. And that would include motorcycle magazines too. Thank goodness our American Iron Magazine www.aimag.com, and RoadBike www.RoadBikeMag.com are in decent financial shape, but I am concerned about many of the other motorcycle magazines. Fortunately Hot Bike is owned by Source Interlink, so they’ll be in good shape also, since they control their own distribution. Also Easyriders and all Paisano Publication will be in good shape due to pricing controls.
— Buzz Kanter
BIKERNET TERRORIST SURVEILLANCE– Just discovered in exclusive NSA surveillance cameras around LaGuardia airport IN CASE YOU DIDN’T FIGURE IT OUT BY NOW……………
This is what brought down the plane in the Hudson River!
SPEAKING OF MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINES, AMERICAN CYCLE AND AMERICAN BAGGER MAGAZINES–Editor Buck Lovell Riding in South Dakota (Spearfish canyon today 1-23-2009) 2 degrees, to prevent using his truck and lowering fuel costs.
The July issue is on newsstands now, so ask for us in your local shop or retailer. We feature the hottest new products, the most in-depth tech articles, the wildest customs and the shows and personalities that define the American V-Twin market. Ask Wags any tech questions you may have, or post a message to our message board (coming soon). You can even send in photos of your bike to show off what you’ve got. Learn more by contacting us.
Also watch for our sister publication, American Bagger, the original all-Bagger magazine. It’s the source for custom paint, custom fabrication, lowering kits, wide-tire kits, heavy engine modification, new exhaust and air intake, and new wheels. After all, everything we’ve done to Softails over the past 20 years can and is being done to Baggers.
–Randy Aron Cycle visions
SEMA SEEKS SUPPORT IN FUND RAISING EFFORT– During last year?s SEMA Installation Banquet, SEMA held a series of activities to raise funds for two worthy charities: Childhelp and Victory Junction Gang Camp. More than $175,000 was donated to the two groups, and thousands of children were able to enjoy a better life than they would have otherwise. This year?s SEMA Installation Banquet & Gala Fundraiser will be held on July 25 in Irvine, California.
Activities are again being held to raise funds for Childhelp and Victory Junction Gang Camp. Among the activities is an auction that will take place onsite that evening. So that more people can participate and help support these two charities, one rare and unique item is up for bid at ebay, the online auction site. That item is Kyle Petty?s own 2006 Victory motorcycle, valued at over $15,000 and driven in the 2007 Ride Across America Charity Ride.
This motorcycle is a black Jackpot model and includes a custom luggage rack built by Kyle himself, saddlebags and a full windshield. In addition, the winner will receive one core rider position on the 15th Anniversary Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America in 2009, valued at over $13,000, and includes:
Nine nights hotel accommodations
Fuel for one motorcycle at all scheduled Pit stops
All scheduled group meals
Commemorative Designer Leather Jacket
Event t-shirt and cap
All company-sponsored t-shirts
Transportation of one (1) motorcycle from NC to designated 2009 headquarters of Charity Ride
The Kyle Petty Motorcycle and Ride Package is available for bid at www.ebay.com/sema. It will remain on bid until Friday, July 25, 2008.
Continued On Page 2
