Hey,
Talk about a wild week. Visitors rolled in from New Orleans. Anson Alexander worked on offshore oil rigs, but liked to keep up with Bikernet. The bosses banged on his door and shut off access—something about the girls. Anson went right to the top. The girls in the free section are cool and he made his case. He won.
A local brother stopped by on his Dyna. He’s headed for his second hip replacement and he’s anxious to install a Trask Turbo as soon as he gets out of the hospital. We will stay on top of his progress.
I’m confused about a couple of issues. I believe we as an industry need to create a strong voice against CARB in California. If you don’t know the impact against performance modifications on bikes 2013 and newer, you need to check it out. Carb in California will have an impact all over the industry if we don’t step up.
As long as you only work with bikes older than 2013 I think you’re cool, but that’s going to become a problem rapidly, although I’m an Evo fan. Okay, so no negative waves.
Always remember: Everything will be all right in the end. If it’s not all right, it’s not the end…
HARLEY-DAVIDSON MUSEUM PUTS PEDAL TO THE METAL WITH ITS LINEUP OF 2016 EXHIBITS
Sprint, Run, Race Or Ride To The Museum For Programming That Highlights The Need For Speed
The Harley-Davidson Museum is going full throttle into 2016 with high-octane exhibits, events and programming that shine a spotlight on Harley-Davidson’s deep ties to the sport of racing.
It all kick-starts this week with two new exhibits that will go on display Friday, Jan. 22. The Bridge Gallery will be taken over by Race Day: Photos from the Flat Track, which will feature dozens of photos from flat track racing’s foremost photographer, Dave Hoenig. Also on Friday, the public will get its first opportunity to see the revamped Design Lab. Racing Machines from the KR to the XR drills down deep to show how Harley-Davidson engineers created the world’s foremost racing team. The Museum will also have extended hours on Jan. 22 (10 a.m. – 9 p.m.) as a part of Gallery Night.
Later this year, the Museum’s special summer exhibit will open June 17, with a special media preview day on June 16. Drag Racing: America’s Fast Time will give museum-goers the opportunity to trace drag racing’s humble back-road – and often illegal – beginnings to the high-tech and high-powered races of today.
With new exhibits, unique race-inspired items from The Shop, a new menu from MOTOR® Bar & Restaurant to be revealed Jan. 27, parties, events and so much more scheduled for 2016, the Harley-Davidson Museum is on a mission to show the world that #SpeedThrills.
Race Day: Photos from the Flat Track, Jan. 22-Sept. 5
The Museum will start kicking up a little dirt on Jan. 22, when Race Day: Photos from the Flat Track, a photo exhibit featuring dozens of images from flat track racing’s preeminent photographer, is unveiled. Dave Hoenig takes you down to pit row and into the grandstands to document the thrills and chills of life in the fast lane. Hoenig has captured more than 1,000 races in his career, keeping his lens trained on the pageantry, emotion and camaraderie of a day at the track.
Racing Machines from the KR to the XR
The Museum’s Design Lab, which recently underwent a renovation, will also reopen on Jan. 22. The installation focuses on the role Harley-Davidson’s hardscrabble engineering team played in creating the legendary bikes that would dominate the race tracks of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. This exhibit shows how man and machine have combined to make Harley-Davidson Racing a king and the winner's circle its throne.
Additionally, the Museum lobby will feature a newly acquired 1947 WR Harley=Davidson racer believed to be one of only 20 made. The bike was also discovered to have Wisconsin ties, as it was owned by legendary racer Ray Tursky of Madison.
Drag Racing: America’s Fast Time summer exhibit; June 17-Sept. 5
Go under the hood with mind-blowing mad scientists of speed to see just how much blood, sweat and elbow grease hot rodders pour into their machines – two wheels or four – in their race against time. See the sport make tracks from its humble beginnings on darkened streets to the bright lights of the winner’s circle as the need for speed permeated pop culture.
Confirmed artifacts and exhibit details will be shared this spring.
--Jenn
Click for more info. Lisa Ligon and the Purrfect Angelz – Touted as the “Queen of Country Music Videos,” Lisa Ligon will act as the Master of Ceremonies at all Easyriders Bike Shows.
The Purrfect Angelz, who are most-recently recognizable as the “Flaunt Girls” at Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis [which tragically burned down in the Fall of 2015], will be showing off their choreographed dance performances live on the main stage and offering attendees photo opportunities.
Geico Giveaway Bike – Presenting sponsor Geico Motorcycle is furnishing a motorcycle to be given away to one lucky entrant at the end of the 2016 tour year. The giveaway bike will be on display at all 2016 Easyriders Bike Show Tour locations and attendees can enter to win at all tour stops.
NEW YEAR BRINGS NEW LEGISLATION-- Along with the new year comes an onslaught of new legislation, as new legislative sessions across the nation consider a myriad of motorcycle laws such as helmet legislation in ARIZONA that would charge riders a fee to ride without one.
Prefiled on January 6, 2016, H.B. 2052 introduced by State Representative Dr. Randall Friese (D-Tucson) would modify their Under-18 helmet law to read; “An operator or passenger of a motorcycle, all-terrain vehicle or motor driven cycle who is at least eighteen years of age is exempt from the helmet requirement if the owner pays a (as yet undetermined) fee when registering their vehicle.”
“A person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty of five hundred dollars,” and a ‘portion’ of the fees collected from the pay-to-play p-pot plot would be “deposited in the Spinal and Head Injuries Trust Fund.”
Meanwhile, in INDIANA S.B. 157 would “eliminate the portion of the motorcycle registration fee that is currently distributed to the spinal cord and brain injury fund.”
MISSOURI is considering numerous motorcycle-related bills, including seven helmet bills; one would repeal the law for anyone 18 or over (HB1663), another would exempt motorcyclists 21 or older from wearing a helmet if they have appropriate health insurance coverage (HB1464), one “Prohibits law enforcement from stopping a motorcycle for failing to wear protective headgear” (HB1957), while (HB1371) treats the infraction as a secondary offense, requiring another reason to pull a rider over, and four separate bills concern autocycles and primarily exempts certain operators of motorcycles and motor-tricycles from wearing protective headgear (SB659, SB694, SB851 & SB1732).
Three-wheelers are of concern in several states, as legislatures struggle with defining and regulating “autocycles,” and in KANSAS House Bill 2436 would allow persons to take a motorcycle license driving exam on a 3-wheeled motorcycle and would restrict such licenses to trikes.
In NEW HAMPSHIRE, as in some other states, the state legislature will consider HB 1308 to allow motorcycles to travel between lanes of traffic in certain instances, a.k.a.; lane-splitting. HB1347 would “establish a committee to study sharing the road with bicycles and motorcycles.”
Also in the Granite State, Senator Andrew Hosmer, a Democrat from Laconia, has introduced SB 360 to repeal the statute restricting handlebar height and legalize so-called “ape-hangers”. New Hampshire is currently among more than 30 states that limit the height of motorcycle handlebars.
Since 1967, existing statute prohibits handlebar grips “higher than the shoulder level of the driver when in the seat or saddle” and also prohibits riding a motorcycle with “improvised, defective, or repaired handlebars.”
“I applaud Senator Hosmer for sponsoring this bill,” said Charlie St. Clair, executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association. “I have never heard the height of handlebars presented as a safety issue,” he told the Laconia Daily Sun. “There is no history of accidents caused by high bars.”
Without a federal standard, the regulation of handlebars on motorcycles rests with the states. Currently, 12 states limit the height of handlebars to 15 inches above the saddle. 5 others require the handlebars to be below the height of the shoulder. Last summer, South Dakota, which hosts the annual Sturgis Rally became the most recent state to repeal its shoulder level statute.
--Bill Bish
Watch for the full NCOM State-to–State report on Bikernet in the next couple of days.
LARGEST SWAP MEET IN TEXAS-- Cherokee Antique Motorcycle Swap Meet and Concours Motorcycle Show coming.
The Cherokee Chapter is proud to be the major Motorcycle Swap Meet once again at the 44th Annual Pate Swap Meet. In 2016 Cherokee has obtained over 400 Vintage and Classic Motorcycle Swap Meet vending booth spaces to be able to expand the motorcycle parts offerings and the Concours Bike Show to the over 100,000 general public attendees at Pate even more.
Admission for the general public is free!
The Pate Swap Meet is now the second largest “Everything Transportation Related Swap Meet in the USA” with over 9,000 booth spaces lining over 18 miles of asphalt streets at Texas Motor Speedway on Interstate 35 in Fort Worth TX.
For information on acquiring motorcycle vending spaces contact:
Shelby M. Withrow, Event Chairman at 940-748-2555 or email
shelbyinparadise@wccs.net
For information on entering the Concours d’Pate Bike Show or sponsorship opportunities contact: Steve Klein, Concours Chairman at 361.652.8300 or
Steve@SteveKlein.com
For up to date information leading up to the event please visit
www.CherokeeAMCA.org
MAJOR AD AGENCIES HEADED TO MILWAUKEE-- Agent Zebra, a Bikernet contributor who works for a major advertising agency out of Miami threatened to ride to the meeting unaware of the 0 temps in Milwaukee.
We discussed the highs and lows of the motorcycle industry in the United States and some of the factors messing with sales.
We discussed the threat of distracted drivers and awareness campaigns, and motorcycle training.
Kids are growing up surrounded by the threats of climate change and the evil giant is the oil industry followed closely by the auto industry. I would love to see the message changed. We all know there’s another side of the coin, but no one talks about it. How about all the freedom and jobs oil provides. How about all the riding adventures we’ve had.
The whole crazed biker notion was a very blue collar movement. It was fueled by young guys with only limited tools and resources, but they could work on a motorcycle. Regulation is taking that away from us. Kids don’t know tools, end up obese and staring at a cell phone screen.
I mentioned Freedom initially. So many young people have been told being safe is more important than freedom. But without Freedom our spirit is dead. So many of the above topics don’t mention Freedom but it’s always behind the scenes.
Some of these topics are apart of a bigger picture. He would be selling the sport of motorcycling and not a specific model.
We need to bolster the allure of riding, the open road, the brotherhood, the desire to create and the keys to adventure travels.
My 2-cents to the Creative Director Agent.
--Bandit
A BIKERNET SMALL SPIRITUAL MOMENT-- Subject: Dealing with the squirrel problem...
The Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.
At the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistery.
The Deacons met and decided to put a water slide on the baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked sliding and unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week.
The Episcopal Church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist Church.
Two weeks later the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water slide.
But the Catholic Church came up with a very creative strategy. They baptized all the squirrels and consecrated them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.
Not much was heard from the Jewish Synagogue, but it's rumored that they took one squirrel and circumcised him, and they haven't seen a squirrel on their property since.
--from Rogue and Jerry
DRIVELINE UPGRADE FOR ’80-01 FXR AND TOURING MACHINES-- Check this out. Paughco has designed and now offers this unique “5-Speed Swingarm Upgrade Kit” for use on popular FXR and touring models.
The kit significantly enhances both the feel and function of the driveline by replacing old style OEM parts with high tech spherical bearings and CNC precision machined spacers and collars. The conversion fits all FXR and Touring models from 1980 through 2001.
Suggested retail for the 7-piece kit is $335.95. To order call 775-246-5738 or checkem' out online at
www.paughco.com
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SPEEDY UPDATE~ Fast Andie Racing
We've Been working with a coach and testing my 1640 big tire Suzuki to get it race ready! Justin Collier laid down an impressive 7.52 1/4mile pass @ 172mph! We are looking at running a 4.60 1/8th mile index class and hitting up to 20 races this season! Sturgis is definitely on the list!
Also~I'm very excited to announce that Wind Therapy has just signed on as a product sponsor for this race season! Go check them out at
www.windtherapy.rocks and on
Facebook.com/windtherapy
Andie and the crew at Fast Andie Racing are also excited to announce that they are fueled by Le-Vel's 8-week Thrive Experience! Whether you are racing, or just riding your Harley on the weekends, check out why the ENTIRE crew is thriving:
*energy and focus
*weight management
*digestive & immune support
*joint support
*lean muscle support
*appetite control
*restful sleep
To support the crew and feel great yourself, go check it out at:
www.fastandie.le-vel.com
Watch for more pics and updates on
Facebook.com/fastandieracing and of
course at our favorite biker website,
BikerNet.com!
For more info on how YOU can become a supporter of Fast Andie Racing, contact Andie at
fastandie200@gmail.com
