Welcome to our Association website. We are having some technical difficulties with the blogger template. There should be an entire column on the right side; but it is found at the very bottom instead. I've tried to fix it but it looks like I'll need to move to another blog site. For now, Send your bike photo, ride story or bike related photos for me to post. Send to RJGrawet@yahoo.com Let's ride!
Thank's a lot for your prompt answer. I am very glade to be part of this group.
I have a Suzuki Boulevard C90 (in Brazil it is called C1500). She is just incredable, I love her.
I am not used to ride in group. But in fact I never ride alone, my family is always with me (my wife and my two little kids). Each one enjoing the road by different ways.
It is good to do what you love and keep your family together.
Thank you for accepting me into your "gang". You have asked for a picture but having 5 bikes in the garage and having owned over 30+ now, I would not know where to start. Therefore, here is a pic(s) of the bike we built up for our booth for last year's tradeshow circuit.
My company, BikerBuddy, produces the most advanced solid-state headlight modulator. We supply several branches of the military, some law enforcement agencies as well as clubs at very special rates. I have attached an article about our product that was in last springs RoadBike magazine. I would like to extend an offer of a special price to the "virtual Gang" members. How would I go about that or do I simply give you the details and have you send it out to all members?
I look very much forward to "linking up" with some other members as my travels take me to various places across this great nation.
We did it!!!!!
400 Members who represent a truly worldwide motorcycle riding group!
Keep in touch. Use our 'Discussions' section in the Linkedin.com Worldwide Motorcycle Association group to ask questions and read comments of others.
Ride safe brothers and sisters!
Welcome to our website. As mentioned above the site is having some technical difficulties right now. They are only about the aesthetics.....all the meat is still here.
We have reached 399 members with NO advertising....only thru word of mouth, or 'word of web'.....
Come join us. Take the time to enjoy the many photos of members and their bikes...and the ride stories that are embedded thruout.
Ride Safe, brothers and sisters!
The photo is from a trip a few weeks ago. My wife is sitting on our bike as we ferry across Puget Sound from Vashon Island to Port Orchard.
We have so many awesome ferry rides here in Washington State, and at most of them, the bikes get to go to the front of the line.
Nothing prettier than sitting out on the deck watching the water, the birds, the sealife, etc. go by as you float along on a lazy afternoon.
Send me your favorite ride shot!
Hello to all, I am a new member of the group and as requested, am sharing some of my bikes, present and past.
I currently have an 83 KZ550 H2 (GPZ) as my daily driver. A 1974 KZ 400 S2 as my classic and a 1981 Honda XL 500 S (not pictured) to bang around with.
Pictures of the bikes I used to have and would take back in a minute are my favorite of all time, a 1983 VF750F (Interceptor) and a super classic, the 1978 Yamaha SR 500 (Thumper). Those along with a few 125 and 250 kept me riding when I was a kid.
My worst mistake was to move from a pro choice state (Helmets that is) to a helmets mandatory state. That is when I sold the Interceptor since I needed to strap on a lid to just go around the block and could not stand it. Eleven years went by without a single ride. What a waste. Well I couldn't take it any more so I saw the KZ 400 for sale at $200. She was a runner but pretty beat up so I spent some money for new paint and upholstery and got back to riding in 2001. Then along came the other two and a couple of dirt bikes for the kids. Lets say there is not a lot of room in the garage.
Here’s a shot of a friend on a H-D deluxe and me with my ’02 UMC Fat Pounder for the website. Also one of me close-up. We were taking a ride into the foothills north of Boise, Idaho to an old mining town named Idaho City for a nice steak dinner and pie Ala Mode. I look happier than him in the picture because he lost a bet and had to buy!
Thanks for letting me join the Virtual Motorcycle Gang! Tough to narrow the bike choices down (one of my old CZs is in the guest bedroom along with my Husky and my 1969 Penton), but since there is only one streetbike in the stable, here are some shots of my Royal Enfield. Thanks to Jim at Encore Performance & Fabrication (www.epfguzzi.com), Evan Wilcox for the hand-hammered "aluminium" and photographer Joe Bonnello,
Thank you for your acceptance of my request to join WMA, here are a photo of me on Ben Bostrom’s Bimota race bike at the SB8K press launch at Donington circuit back in 2003. Amazingly the road bike broke down on its shake down lap and the Italians only brought 1 bike with them!
Robert, thanks for the invite to the "Virtual Motorcycle Gang" Here are my babies, although I have a few others. I'm pretty well a "old bike" guy or at least 20 years old. My newest is a 1997 Suzuki. I will be looking forward to making new connections. All are welcome, feel free to e-mail or connect.
The following bike pictures are attached. All are un-restored original bikes. 1979 Honda CBX, 1981 Honda CBX, ( my two-up rider), 1997 Suzuki VJ23 RGV250SP-T Lucky Strike (my thrill bike), 1986 Suzuki RG500G WWolf 2 Masaru Mizutani Replica, 1969 Honda CB750 (Sand Cast), and 1973 Kawasaki Z1 (My expertise)
glad you did not say Yamaha - my Roadstar wouldn't like that
Hey, check out the green and yellow Harley (attached) I saw in Jerome, Arizona a few weeks ago. Hmmm ... okay for farmers I guess
I road some stretches of Route 66 but only on 4 wheels, drat! (attached)
Drat
From: Peter Galea Subject: Smart Kid
Thought you'd get a kick out of this below
Peter
A Little 10-year-old girl was walking home, alone, from school one day, when a big man on a black motorcycle pulls up beside her. After following along for a while, turns to her and asks, "Hey there little girl, do you want to go for a ride?" "NO!" says the little girl as she keeps on walking. The motorcyclist again pulls up beside her and asks, "Hey little girl, I will give you $10 if you hop on the back." "NO!" says the little girl as she hurries down the street. The motorcyclist pulls up beside the little girl again and says, "Okay kid, my last offer! I'll give you 20 Bucks and a Big Bag of Candy if you will just hop on the back of my bike and we will go for a ride." Finally, the little girl stops and turns towards him and Screams Out...
"Look Dad, your the one who bought the Honda instead of the Harley! YOU RIDE IT!"
I am a Moto Guzzi owner and also president of the Guzzisti Irriducibili moto club, I own a web site www.guzzisti-irriducibili.it and an on-line photo album; here attached are some pictures of my Guzzi’s.
Regards
Antonio Abriola
Da: messages-noreply@bounce.linkedin.com [mailto:messages-noreply@bounce.linkedin.com] Per conto di Robert Grawet Inviato: martedì 21 aprile 2009 19.19 A: Abriola, Antonio
Robert J Grawet General Manager .advancedMethod robert.g@advancedmethod.com 360-481-6176 Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
From: vena@triumphoftacoma.com Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:52:11 -0700 Subject: Hi From Triumph of Tacoma
Hi,
GERBINGS - We will now carry Gerbings gear at our shop. Our inventory will arrive in two weeks.
APRIL 18, 2009 RIDE TOMORROW - Meet at the shop at 10:00 a.m. for a 1.5 hour ride on back roads leading to GERBINGS in Tumwater, WA. Gerbings will provide a FREE BARBECUE beginning at 11:30 and serve until 2:00 p.m. The latest in heated products will be available as well as door prizes. Various motorcycle vendors will be attending beginning at 9:00 a.m. Make sure you stop by our Triumph tent to say "HI".
APRIL 20, 2009 RIDE MONDAY - Many of you have commented that all the rides are held on weekends and not week days so this one is especially for the weekday crowd. Meet at the shop at 10:00 a.m. to go riding. We'll ride from 10 a.m. and head back before rush hour traffic - approximately 3 p.m.
APRIL 26, 2009 SUNDAY - The 4th Annual Northwest RAT (Riders Association of Triumph) Lunch in Chehalis takes place at the Kit Carson Restaurant at 1:00pm.
APRIL 28-MAY 2, 2009 TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY - TRIUMPH OPEN HOUSE WEEK Specials and sales are all week long!
MAY 2, 2009 SATURDAY - TRIUMPH OF TACOMA OPEN HOUSE! 10-5 p.m. Spread the news. We will be hosting our Open House with special Triumph deals, sales, various representatives for gear, free maps, hourly raffle prizes, free food and a bike wash with proceeds benefiting Fort Lewis' Fisher House as well as guests from Brothers in Arms, Lakewood Police, Puget Sound Safety and the US military. If you have any questions about endorsements, road laws, etc. this would be the perfect time to ask. More reminders yet to come.
FREE MAGAZINE - This month's issue of Friction Zone is available. Drop by for your copy.
JUNE 5, 2009 - The Advanced Street Skills class is now full. If you are still interested, please let me know. I'll make sure you are placed on a standby list. We are sharing the track with the military and others so there may be last minute absences.
2008 DAYTONA 675SE- I've had many people ask why I parted with my 2008 Daytona 675 SE. Triumph made a great bike even greater in '09. More horsepower (which I never used all that I had in the 2008), lighter bike, many updates for performance and it's RED! The separation anxiety won't be too awful because my bike has been sold to a mature responsible rider and I'll still be able to see it!
That's it for now. Enjoy the beautiful sunny high temperature days this weekend. Hope to see you at Gerbings on Saturday.
For posting to worldwidemotorcycleassociation -
Hi everyone!
I'm a 25-year rider, both offroad and onroad, although now it's all dualsporting.
I run a small graphic design business in Riverside, CA catered to powersports industry businesses.
Check out http://www.mwgraphicdesign.com
We just keep growing at a steady pace. It's exciting to see members from all corners of the world!
The diversity of location and of the type of bike you ride is quite impressive.
Please consider sending us a motorcycle photograph of you; you and your bike; or any bike related photo. We love your ride stories also. Please send us a story about one or more of your motorcycle rides!
Ride Safe!
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A Boostaroo headphone amp and audio splitter is self powered. It will never decrease the volume level of your audio player. Plus, the additional power increase allows you to turn down the volume of your audio player. This extends the players battery life, reduces distortion, and increases audio clarity.
This newsletter feels a little grim because of its content so if you only want happy news I would suggest you hit the delete button now. As motorcyclists, we all assume risk as part of the sport and try to stay as safe as possible. Sometimes too many factors build up and things happen in life, but a great part of motorcycling is the closeness of the motorcycle community and our willingness to support one another.
DAWN - Many of you have met Dawn who is in our shop a lot. She shattered both bones in her lower leg while dirtbike riding and she will need multiple surgeries and months to recover fully. Drop by and sign a card to cheer her on! She also signed up for the June 5th Advanced Street Skills class for the discounted $265.50 versus the regular price of $295.00. If you're interested in filling her spot, please let me know as soon as possible.
SATURDAY RIDE - In yesterday's newspaper, I saw the "Harrison Memorial Ride" which will raise donations for the funeral expenses for the five children that were killed in their Graham home. It is organized by a fellow motorcyclist. If you are interested in participating, meet at Denny's at 10 a.m. for breakfast or at the shop at 11 a.m. to ride. We will wind our way to Orting by noon and the 20 mile charity ride will begin at 2 p.m. Please RSVP so I can give the restaurant a heads up and prepare for the ride to Orting accordingly. Thank you.
BE SAFE - This morning on the news they reported that four motorcyclists have been killed in WA in the last TWO WEEKS!!! Yikes!! We all know that motorcycling is a sport involving perishable skills so take it easy coming out from winter hibernation. Many of the roads still have debris from winter on them. If you've only ever taken the beginner's MSF course it might be fun for you to challenge yourself and take the Intermediate MSF course, Advanced Street Skills course or one of the many other courses that Puget Sound Safety (www.PugetSoundSafety.com) or other motorcycle instruction schools have to offer in your area. Use those spidey senses to watch for car drivers who have to adjust to seeing us on the road again. Be careful out there!
Shelly Horan found Thunder Roads Texas BIKE NIGHT(tm) - Bedford, TX on LinkedIn Events and thought you might be interested in going!
http://events.linkedin.com/Thunder-Roads-Texas-BIKE-NIGHT-tm/pub/56822
Thunder Roads Texas BIKE NIGHT(tm) - Bedford, TX
Thu, Apr 23
Big Shots Sports Cafe, Bedford, TX, US
Keywords: bike night Texas motorcycle party bar pub meetup Harley-Davidson Honda Kawasaki Suzuki biker motorcyclist Harley Buell nite club beer music
NEW!
Thunder Roads Texas BIKE NIGHT™ in Bedford, Texas (D/FW area). Hosted by the new Big Shots Sports Café and co-sponsored by Texas Harley-Davidson.
Live Music, Cheap Drinks, Good Food, Door Prizes… GREAT Time!
4th Thursday of every month
Next date: April 23rd; featuring the Justin Ro...
http://events.linkedin.com/Thunder-Roads-Texas-BIKE-NIGHT-tm/pub/56822
For more details, go here.
My name is Beth Faulkner and I am a member of WMA on LinkedIn. Here is a photo of my friend Kara and I (I have the TTR and green helmet) for the gallery.
Some photos of my MZ 660 Supermoto, a bike which I sold recently to buy myself a Goldwing 2009.
The original bike is hidden behind the sheet metal work, the paint job, and the fabrication done by my friend masterbuilder Greg Rice, of Greg Custom Cycles Works (www.gregscycles.com).
We changed the headers to make the 660 powerplant breathe better, using headers made in Germany by a company specializing in MZ kits.
To take care of the heat, Greg wrapped the headers, and built a heat shield. He also built a mudguard beneath the engine.
The front headlight was changed to an Acerbis Diamond block.
The bars are Renthal, much better than the original. The guards on the bars are Acerbis too.
To give the MZ a better look, we also polished the lower legs of the fork, and the swing arm.
A bit part of the metamorphosis of the bike is in the back. The original MZ has an unsightly tail piece which is so long you could rip it up if you would pop a hard wheelie. Ugly as hell. Greg designed a completely new piece which we welded on the subframe. The big squarish stock taillight was replaced with this beautiful ovoid LED taillight. And for the turn signals, we chose 2 much more discreet metal pairs (can’t remember the make).
The exhaust pipe was also changed. The stock one weighs a ton, and it was specifically made to pass CA emission standards. The previous owner got rid of it to install an M4 exhaust with a beautifully throaty (and very loud) sound.
And for the paint job, Greg offered a green mica paint with gold undertones, no airbrush job.
Man, what a bike. It gained some HP after we changed the headers and rejetted the carbs, and I could have continued the mods with a Stage 2 kit (made by the same German workshop) which would have gotten rid of the rev limiter. The stock version limits revs at 7500 rpm, which is a bit short when you push the bike hard in 3rd and 4th after the tune-up.
Anyway, this was a pleasure to ride this MZ, and its motor (the Yamaha Raptor modified at tranny level) is an unkillable, super-flexible powerplant.
March 31, 2009
For Riders Who Love to Cruise with Music….
The New Boostaroo Revolution MC ™ Audio Amp Has Just Arrived!
UpBeat Audio has received its first limited shipment of the new Boostaroo Revolution MC.
A few years back our team at UpBeat Audio designed an amp called the Boostaroo Revolution™. It gives 4x the volume enhancement, so that we could hear over road and engine noise. Plus we designed and patented a cross feed circuit that cracks open the compression that limits the sound field of iPods and other music players. The result is full rich home stereo sound from your small digital player.
Motorcyclists loved it, we loved it – but there was one problem. It used batteries. A lot of our customers wrote to us that they wanted an amp that was powered through their cigarette lighter.
So, this year we came up with a new amp just for motorcycle riders. It's the 12 Volt Powered Boostaroo Revolution and we just received our very first shipment. This unit plugs into your motorcycle's cigarette lighter, and has been engineered with special filters to eliminate electrical and engine noise. Best of all, it's made right here in the United States.
I am very excited about this unit because the sound reproduction is far better than anything you've ever heard from your iPod. It also features a powered splitter, so that you can share your tunes with a rider. The additional power means you can turn down the volume on your player, which will eliminate distortion and also add significantly to the battery life of your player per charge. That means you can take the longer rides and not have your player battery die after four to six hours.
There is one catch. We are only selling it on the web. It was a tough call, but we had to make a choice. Manufacture in the US and keep our price down in these tough times, or manufacture overseas and have the margins to sell it in to mass retail. So, if you'd like to try it, you can do so at http://www.boostaroo.com/store_detail.php4?id=114
We give a 90 day no questions asked money back guarantee if you don't absolutely love it, and a one year warranty on all parts. As a thank you for trying our new product, when you click on the link above, you'll receive a $5.00 discount if you order by April 15th.
We ship within 24 hours when we receive your order, so if you have a ride coming up, you can get your unit fast .
It's plug and play – nothing complicated to install.
Poke around our web site and read the comments from other riders. You'll learn what they think of the battery powered Revolution – so that you can get a good idea of what to expect from our new model.
Please let us know what you think – and send us a photo . We'd like to show all the places the Boostaroo has traveled.
http://www.boostaroo.com/store_detail.php4?id=114
THIRTY FIVE CENTS
The Colonel waited on an overpass above the highway. He sat astride his Norton and surveyed the flow of traffic headed to the toll bridge over Lake Washington to Seattle. It was Sunday morning, April 1st. That was the date selected for his breach of the toll plaza without paying toll. The Colonel waited until there was a two-mile gap in traffic, the length of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge spanning the lake. He kicked over the English motorcycle and left the overpass to ride out onto the highway.
The Colonel was not really a colonel. He had been given the moniker "Colonel Okie" by the Muskogee Motorcycle Club—so named because of the rag-tag assortment of two-wheeled machines ridden by its members, of which he was one.
Another member of that motley crew, Willie, had been dubbed The Admiral. Willie had earned that name the day he used his old motorcycle, a Triumph, for an unsuccessful assault on an island from the banks of Keechelus Lake.
The Admiral's motorcycle did well on its amphibious mission until the water rose to the air intake for the carburetor, at which point the ragged riders of the Muskogee had to dismount and perform a rescue at sea.
Willie had previously announced that since he had "discovered" the island—which barely stuck above the surface—he was entitled to be its governor. Watching Willie's failure to establish a beachhead on his new estate, the Colonel promptly entitled it the Isle of Disappointment.
Even though the Admiral's tool kit typically consisted of little more than a hammer, vicegrips and electrical tape, the riders of the Muskogee were able to dismantle the carburetor to drain water out. The Admiral, getting both cylinders firing again, thereupon felt required to demonstrate his prowess by riding up to the summit of "Snowplow Mountain"—a forty-foot mount of snow piled on the side of Interstate 90 to keep Snoqualmie Pass clear for traffic. It was then Willie was dubbed The Admiral, while yelling about his dominance—finally proving he could be victorious on water, at least in its solid form.
Another member of the motorcycle club, Bob, worked as a warehouseman. Bob had dreams of breaking out of his dead-end job to make a living as a photographer. He had already received some encouragement. The magazine "Easy Rider”, oriented toward owners of Harley Davidsons, had published one of Bob's photographs taken during a Muskogee trip. The Colonel assumed he would be doing Bob an excellent service were Bob to be poised in the bushes with his camera during the Colonel's observance of April Fool's. The Colonel thought that giving the finger to the occupant of the booth, as he accelerated through the toll plaza, would definitely be a gesture worthy of publication in "Easy Rider". The Colonel told Bob about the photo opportunity he proposed. All Bob could say was, "You're nuts!" The Colonel was crushed but went on with his planning for April Fool's anyway.
The Colonel had originally targeted the toll road—officially called the A. D. Rossellini Bridge after a former governor of Washington—because he viewed the imposition of tolls on highway travel anywhere west of the Mississippi River as somewhat unAmerican or, at least, unWestern. Even at a charge of 35 cents, the toll was an affront to his driving dignity.
The Colonel's planning had been extensive. From numerous reconnaissance sorties, he knew that the lightest traffic flow during daytime hours was on Sunday mornings. In case he was pursued across the two-mile bridge, the Colonel had rehearsed an elaborate escape route through the University of Washington Arboretum, such that his Norton could slip through roadblocks and travel where no police car could follow. (He already knew from drag races on the street that full-dress Harley Davidsons, like those used by the State Patrol, were no match for his Norton.)
Only a mile of the Evergreen Point Bridge actually floated—on concrete pontoons. The other half of its expanse inclined to the water from either shore. From the toll plaza on the eastern side of Lake Washington to trails through the Arboretum in Seattle, the Colonel had measured a total distance of three miles in which he would need to engage in a high-speed getaway.
The Colonel rode west on the highway, State Route 520, and nonchalantly pulled to a stop at the toll both. The clerk at the plaza stuck out his hand, pregnant with the anticipation of 35 cents. Without Bob and his camera to record the gesture, the Colonel saw little reason to give the finger to the poor toll-taker. Instead, he stared solemnly straight ahead, eased out the clutch handle with his left hand, and gave the throttle a mighty twist with his right.
The motorcycle roared away from the toll plaza. Rapidly shifting through all four gears, the Colonel soon achieved the Norton's top speed of 115 mph.
It was no coincidence that the Colonel had waited until there was a two-mile gap in traffic. Traveling at more than double the posted speed limit, the Norton and the Colonel would have been knocked into Lake Washington should a car in front make even a casual lane change. The Colonel had no desire to compete for the Admiral's title in such a fashion.
At 115 mph, the Colonel had calculated he could transit the bridge in slightly more than 60 seconds. He knew, however, that police cars were capable of faster top speeds than his motorcycle. There was intense wind pressure on the face shield of the Colonel's helmet. He hunched down, thrusting his chin forward past the handlebars and over the headlight, to minimize the resistance from the velocity at which he was traveling. His knuckles were white from a death-grip on the handlebars.
To this day the Colonel does not know if he was pursued across the floating bridge. He couldn't look behind. The rearview mirror was useless because he poked his face in front of it. To turn his head to look behind would have been certain suicide; at the speed he was traveling, a turning of his head—with helmet and face shield attached—would mean being torn off of the motorcycle by sheer pressure.
The Colonel's timing worked. No cars were on the floating bridge during his high-speed traverse of the lake. No roadblocks or barricades had been erected at the exit. Assuming there was a host of demonic law enforcement vehicles in pursuit, he carried on with his escape plan.
The Norton entered the Arboretum at 50-60 mph and decelerated rapidly thereafter. The Colonel steered for footpaths, in accordance with his pre-planned route. Various strollers and joggers were appalled at the approach of a motorcycle violating all the rules on a calm Sunday morning. They promptly yielded the right-of-way when hearing the roar from defective mufflers and seeing the crazed look in the Colonel's eyes. The Colonel traveled the length of the Arboretum and scrambled his motorcycle up a hillside out onto Lake Washington Boulevard. He was close to home.
The Colonel drove the Norton into his basement and hid it. He began to realize that he was probably never even pursued. ‘What toll taker gives a damn about 35 cents anyway,’ he wondered
The next time the Colonel kicked over the Norton he noticed smoke issuing from the exhaust pipes. A compression check revealed that he had burned all four of the motorcycle's valves by exceeding the red line for R.P.M.s during his field trip across the floating bridge. Not having the tools for a valve grind, he had to pay a motorcycle shop to do it. For the valve job the shop charged over 200 times what the Colonel had saved by not paying toll on the floating bridge.
MARCH 27th DISCOUNT EXPIRES TOMORROW - Just a reminder of the deadline for the Advanced Street Skills class. Call 253-770-8888 and talk to Lauren. Tell her the promotional pass code "RATT PACK" to receive the $265.50 tuition versus the $295 tuition. You do NOT have to prepare your bike in any way for this event. Traditional track days require mirror removal, leathers, etc. You may ride with your regular riding gear on the streets with the exception of pants. Pants with more protection than jeans are required. Spend a day with friends while honing your cornering skills. It's going to be a great day of fun, laughs and friends. Yesterday I called Puget Sound Safety to enroll three more customers and 30 out of 60 spots are full. Hurry and sign up to receive your discount!
MARCH 29th, SHORT LUNCH RIDE ON SUNDAY - We have had feedback asking us for shorter rides so this Sunday we plan to do exactly that. The forecast for Sunday is 20% chance rain, 50 degrees and partly cloudy. We will meet at the shop at 10:00 a.m. (no breakfast meeting), ride the many backroads to Centralia, stop for lunch and take the freeway home. Total mileage should be between 100-150 miles depending on the group, weather, etc. This will be a RELAXED SCENIC PACED ride for beginners and for anyone needing a little wind therapy.
2009 TRIUMPH CRUISER - If you're thinking about a 2009 America or 2009 Speedmaster now is the time to think hard. Triumph is offering our customers 5.9% APR for 72 months for qualified buyers PLUS your choice of $1000 in Triumph Clothing/Accessories OR $650 in Dealer Cash. That's around $125 per month! At this point, we have no notice as to when this offer expires.
USED BIKES - Our website currently has all our consignment bikes online. There are some really sweet deals for bikes well cared for with low miles. We know the owners of the motorcycles and have the liberty to not accept a consignment bike if we think it may be a problem for another owner. It's all about good karma and a good reputation.
MARCH 31, 2009 DEADLINE for 2008 ROCKET III TOURING - We have one left in our shop. Triumph's quick offer is giving our customers rates as low as 3.9% APR or $2000 in Triumph clothing/accessories if you purchase it before March 31, 2009.
ROCKY NEWS - Thank you for your kind inquiries as to Rocky's progress. He is now walking without a walker and improving daily. He is now at home and can use his left arm and hand to eat and dress himself. If you want to visit him just let me know. I go with riders to visit him regularly and he loves the company - both new friends and old!
2008 DAYTONA 675 SPECIAL EDITION - My precious baby is up for sale. Drop me an e-mail and I will fill you in on the details. It took a lot of mental counseling to part with my bike and I don't want everyone online laughing at how I came to the decision to sell my bike so drop me an e-mail if you're interested and I'll tell you the story.
LOCATION CHANGE FOR RATT CLUB - Our next meeting is April 15th. What a better way to spend tax day then with a group of friends at a casino... Our meeting location will change from Carr's Restaurant to The Ripe Tomato Bar and Grill. The Ripe Tomato Bar and Grill is located within the casino on the northeast corner of South Tacoma Way and 512 across the street from Eagle Leather and McDonald's. I will have a formal address for you with the next RATT meeting reminder.
HAD ENOUGH? I have more to tell you, but I'll stop this novel length e-mail for now.
CLICK ON THE PHOTOGRAPH TO EXPLODE IT TO FULL SIZE!
Take a look at this bike, it doesn't look that big, then scroll down and
see it with a girl sitting on it. A big production motorcycle engine would
be 140 cubic inches, this one is 410!
The Gunbus 410 cubic inch (6728cc's) V-Twin motorcycle is complete.
The monster engine placed in a motorcycle frame of comparable size looked
impossible and many who saw the photos were skeptical of the bike ever being
finished, but I guess Clemens F. Leonhardt is one of those persistent guys who
ignores the naysayers and keeps at his work.
The fuel-injected, 45 degree 6728 cc/410 cubic inch V-Twin runs through a 3 speed
transmission with reverse and actually looks pretty good in its finished state. In fact,
everything looks good!
It puts out 523 foot pounds of torque. Seat height is 31.5 inches and overall length is
136 inches. It is a little heavy at 1433 pounds so high speed corner carving might be
an issue and there aren't any photos of the big bike on the road, so I guess we'll have
to wait for the road test, that is if someone can actually road test this monster.
This is actually going to go into limited series production and a sidecar will
be available as well, which might help with balance when waiting at a light.
I don't even want to think about a driveway tip over.
Four years ago, I figured something out. I love track days, but there are way too many people at them. So I figured out a way around it. I decided to find a racetrack where I could host a 10-person track day. I'd split the cost 10 ways, and invite nine friends.
Talladega Gran Prix Raceway fit the bill perfectly. Now, four years later, I just completed the fourth 10-person invitational track day. This year, however, was a little different.
I usually book the track and announce the date around December 1, and it fills within a week. Last year, I actually filled 9 of the 10 spots in the first 6 hours. This year, on February 23rd, with only a month left, I still had 7 spots left. Since I already had paid the track deposit, I was a little nervous.
Actually, I was a lot nervous. I lost my job shortly after announcing the date, and decided to host the track day anyway, figuring I'd never have trouble filling it. So I had a big chunk of cash riding on filling this day, and another big chunk due on the day of the track day. If I canceled, I lost the substantial deposit, but if I didn't fill it, I was stuck with writing a huge check for the difference. So I removed the "invitational" part of the track day, and went public. I advertised it on about 30 different sportbike forums, and said "first come, first serve." Even then, I only sold the last spot about 14 days prior to the event. One hurdle gone over.
The downside: I only knew two of the other guys showing up this year. Then, wouldn't you know, one of those guys got sick with a week to go, and had to sell his spot, so now I was hosting a private track day where I knew only ONE of the riders who was scheduled to be there.
Got there Sunday afternoon and hung out at Elite Sportbike's track day, saw a few friends, and got ready to walk the track. As their day finished up, I talked to the track owner, asked him if we were cool to walk the track, and he agreed. Just as my girlfriend and I were finishing up the track walk, one of the riders called to let me know they were about a half-hour out. I told him we were gonna bail and meet them at the hotel, but they were cool to come drop their gear.
On the road back to the hotel, we saw his truck coming the other way, and I got a wild hair and decided to turn around and follow them back to the track, so we could meet the guys we were gonna be riding with the next day. Well, this guy had brought about half of our track day attendees with him, so we met them all, helped them get their gear dropped at the track, and went for dinner.
Monday was warm, sunny, and beautiful. Everyone got there early, got the pits set up, and we hit the track. I hadn't been there since the prior year, and the new pit set-up out there is great. Lots of places to get power! Other than one guy (who should have known better, to be honest) running out of gas a couple times, we had nothing but sunshine, clear track, and no incidents. Strangely, even though we had 10 registrations, only 8 guys showed up, so everyone had as much track time as they could want. I led a couple parade laps around for people new to the track to show some suggested lines.
Lunch from Big Daddy's Barbecue was fantastic. These ladies went out of their way for us. They're normally not even open on Mondays, but decided to make an exception because, in their words "We're big fans of the guys there at Talladega." 5 pounds of pulled pork, two sauces, baked beans, cole slaw, peach cobbler, and iced tea. The South knows how to eat, folks.
The crew at TGPR was excellent, as usual, and ran pit out for us all day! (We've had to do it ourselves in the past.) We had a couple relative newbies who did very well, and were really picking up speed by the end of the day. In my final session of the day, by some weird mutual non-verbal agreement, I got into an out-and-out race with one of the other guys for the last three or four laps. We had a blast dicing it up out there!
By 4pm, I was spent. I just physically couldn't do it anymore, so I sat out my last session. A successful track day - I was uninjured, and we can use the motorcycle again!
CLICK ON THE PHOTOGRAPH AND IT WILL EXPLODE TO FULL SIZE!
Dear Blog Grawet-here's a story for your website
Dixie Classic Bike Club (aka OFMC or Old Farts MC) is based in Birmingham, Alabama and was established in 1979 by a small group of British motorcycle enthusiasts trying to keep their machines together after the demise of the British MC industry in the 1970's.. Today's OFMC includes vintage and classic bikes of all marqueshas with nearly 60 members, average age of 58 year, but many active members still riding in their 70's and 80's! Members are often asked if "OF" refers to the bikes or the members....but we're not telling!! Birmingham is also home to the famous Barber's VIntage Motorsports Museum, the largest private collection of vintage bikes in world, so vintage bike enthusiasts are as easy to find in Alabama as biscuits and gravy! Visit http://barbermuseum.org/
OFMC meets monthly and holds several annual evens as well as a monthly ride for members and their guests. The March 22 event drew 17 bikes on a sunny 70 degree SUnday, riding from Birmingham, up through the twisty two-lane Appalachian backroads to the Clarkson Covered Bridge in remote Cullman County, Alabama. Built in 1904 at a length of 270 feet, it is the second-longest covered bridge in Alabama and the fifth-longest in the US, listed as an Historic National Landmark. From there, the OF's rode the perimeter of 22,000 acre Lewis Smith Lake, stopping for a Southerm-style "meat and three (veggies)" lunch at a lakeside marina. After a long break, the crew pushed onward through the Sipsey National Forest where the confluence of several rivers and old growth trees make for some great countyside riding. After nearly 200 miles, all 17 bikes arrived home without incident or mechanical mishap and a great time was had by all.
--- On Sat, 3/21/09, Ed Bird <edbird@charter.net> wrote:
From: Ed Bird <edbird@charter.net> Subject: Re: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn To: "Robert Grawet" <rjgrawet@yahoo.com> Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009, 8:33 AM
Hi Robert attached is a picture of my daughter Brittany & I in the Belchertown Parade. We are riding my pretty much original 1972 Harley Electraglide. The next pic is my Glide and my 1960 Sportster Chopper that I built.
-----Original Message----- From: Sankara Subramanian [mailto:sankara.cs@gmail.com] Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:41 AM To: robert.g@advancedmethod.com Subject: call of the wild beckons...on an all-india motorcycle journey Re:
Starting Dec 1, 2008 through May 31, 2009, I will be on my all-India motorcycle trip traversing the remotest parts of India (http://sankaracs.wordpress.com). Hence, I will have extremely limited connectivity (email, mobile, etc.).
Click on the Photograph to explode it to full size!
FIREWORKS AND MOTORCYCLES!
Welcome to Edmund Bird...WMA - The Virtual Motorcycle Gang...Member #300!!!!
Just 10 months ago, this was an idea. There has been virtually no promotion of our club. It's grown mostly thru Linkedin.com on its own. Even better; ALMOST every member is an addicted motorcyclist, and joined this (out of the 1000's of Linkedin.com groups) because they love to ride their bikes!
We truly are a Worldwide Motorcycle Gang....with members from all continents and over 50 countries!
Please consider sending us a photo of you, you and your bike, or any related bike photograph! Make sure to check out the Motorcycle Photograph Gallery, by clicking on the Blue Motorcycle on the upper right side. There's more than 100 photos there from around the world.
Ride Safe Edmund! Ride Safe Brothers and Sisters! Keep the rubber side down!
The Longest Day Ride 5 Capitals 20/21 June 2009 in aid of Make A Wish Foundation
Hello Everyone, I hope no one minds me posting this as I thought it might be of interest to some of you. I am part of a large group of motorcyclists that on the weekend of the 20th/21st of June 2009, will ride from Edinburgh to Belfast, on to Dublin, then back across the water to Cardiff and finish in London at the Ace Cafe, all in under 24 hours. Oddly enough, we're calling the event The Longest Day Ride 5 Capitals challenge.
We are aiming to raise £5000 in aid of Make A Wish Foundation, a charity that works with children who have life threatening illnesses, granting them what for many, sadly, will be their final wish. www.make-a-wish.org.uk Make A Wish Foundation want to be able to grant 1000 wishes to 1000 special children in 2010. With your help we can help them to achieve this.
Last year we raised in excess of £15,000 for MacMillan Cancer Support, by riding from John O'Groats to Landsend in under 24 hours. This year the challenge we set ourselves is tougher, but with your help we will be able to make an outstanding success of it and raise that £5000 for those magical wishes to be made real for those wonderful, special children.
Please contribute anything you can. We are totally self funding, covering all costs of ferries, petrol, accommodation, and food from our own pockets; by donating directly to www.justgiving.com/thelongestday2009 you can be assured your donation goes directly to Make A Wish Foundation.
Thank you for reading this far. If you can help us, I extend the gratitude of Team XRV to you in advance, for helping us to make those wishes come true.
Hello fellow 'Virtual Motorcycle Gang' members!
I hope you've all had a chance to go for a ride recently.....I'm waiting for the snow to stop once more here in Washington State, USA.
We are nearing another milestone in our club. We will soon go over 300 members in the WMA! Considering we have never done any promotion at all....that it has grown stictly from word of mouth....that's quite impressive; AND its only been 10 months since the club started. It was almost 2 weeks before the first member signed on....then another few weeks til the next. Somewhere around June 2008, we began to pick up momentum.
Please consider sending me a photo of you, you and your bike, just your bike, your favorite bike related shot, or anything that a fellow motorcyclist would find interesting.
REMEMBER: You can make your own post (including photos) by sending a normal email to this email address: robertgrawet.motorcycles@blogger.com
Whatever you send (the words and the photos attached) will automatically post to this site within 5 minutes after you send them.
I audit the site every hour or so, if someone sends something by mistake - just let me know and I'll fix it.
Ride Safe brothers and sisters!
Robert Grawet
Founder - Worldwide Motorcycle Association (WMA)
"The Virtual Motorcycle Gang"
the post is on our Events Page. To get there; just click on the photo of the couple riding away on a red motorcycle with white helmets. It will take you right to this great info page on several rides in New Zealand, including a tribute to Burt Munro, "The World's Fastest Indian".
Ride Safe Brothers and Sisters!
Motorcycle Motorcycle Magazine seeks story ideas/topics.
Greetings fellow motorcycle riders. We are looking for ideas for future stories/articles that are compelling to motorcycle enthusiasts of all types.
I am the founder of a monthly motorcycle magazine titled "Throttler Motorcycle Magazine" ( www.throttlermagazine.com ). We are a free magazine available through a distributor network of businesses in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin and South Dakota.
We are a clean publication (No T & A) with a bias towards human interest topics specific to the enjoyment of motorcycle riding plus, business profiles and product reviews. We print a full-color, high quality, high gloss magazine and cover topics related to all brands of motorcycles.
Throttler Motorcycle Magazine was recently awarded honorable mention as one of the nations best home based businesses by the entrepreneurial peer group, StartupNation.com.
Plus, we’re also looking for first hand accounts on... “Getting to Sturgis. The ride. The experience. The stay.” We want to hear from anyone who has made the trip or WILL make the trip to Sturgis this year. Take us down the road with them on the trip. How far did they or will they ride, what was it like, where did they stay along the way and where did they stay when they got there? What did they see along the way? What were their hurdles? Etc...
We are looking for contributing writers with some degree of writing experience. If you might like to toss us an article idea, please email me directly at roderick@throttlermagazine.com.
THERE IS ANOTHER POST BY THE SAME AUTHOR JUST BELOW THIS ONE; WITH LOTS OF PHOTOS.
The following is an account of my recent epic motorcycle journey around Kyushu, the southern island of Japan. The ensuing folly should only be undertaken by trained professionals with high pain thresholds and who have scant regard for their personal safety or public decency. Essential equipment: One large and well seasoned Harley Davidson Motorcycle (1584 CCs thereof), one hernia belt and one pair of ear plugs. (Loud pipes save lives – but damage hearing!).
The trip was a great voyage of deep spiritual refreshment and acute lumbar pain, but my riding buddy Akira has had some chiropractic training, so he helped me stretch out every morning and keep in reasonable shape. There were a couple of times I was in so much pain I couldn't get off my bike without doing stretching exercises to free up my back - they don't tell you about that in the Harley Davidson service manual! They should come with a warning label saying 'CAUTION! This is the world's most enjoyable motorcycle. Limit your riding pleasure to 12 hours a day or paralysis may set in and you may have to get the ear-to-ear grin on your face removed by surgery. Harley Davidson Motor Corp accepts no liability for excessive enjoyment of our product!'
The trip was a great way for me to really get back in touch with why I came to Japan in the first place, and it was my first real good look at Kyushu. I finally found the kind of scenery I've been missing since I left the UK. The mountains and alpine pastures high up in central Kyushu were stunning, the air crystal clean and the food and water delicious. It was a really refreshing and soul cleansing experience. We rode 2300Km and had two 12 hour ferry journeys in 6 days. The final day's ride was from Osaka ferry terminal back to Tokyo, 15 hours and about 400 miles through relentless rain the whole way. We had barely a drop of rain for the whole of the rest of the trip though, except when we rode up above the cloud line in central Kyushu to the top of Mount Aso, which used to be Japan's highest mountain until a volcanic eruption blew the top off it about 200 years ago. All in all it was an amazing trip with too many good moments to recount. (The on-sens were great too. That's the great thing about touring in Japan, there's always a nice hot bath waiting for you somewhere!).
We set off on the first day at 04:00 from Tokyo and rode nearly 400 miles to Kobe to catch the evening ferry to Kita Kyushu (The Northern end of Kyushu), arriving at the ferry terminal at around 16:00. The overnight ferry was quite comfortable as we had private berths booked with a nice comfortable bed. There was even a big on-sen style bath on the ferry, which was very nice. The next morning we arrived in kyushu at about 07:30 and set off on the ride down to Kumamoto on the West coast of Kyushu, where we turned east and headed up into the mountains. The road wound on for several hours, climbing high up into the clouds and eventually taking us to the caldera at the summit of Mount Aso, a live volcano with smoke and steam belching out and mixing with the clouds. The scenery and views on the way up were fantastic, reminding me a lot of a trip through parts of the Yorkshire Dales, or the road up through Northumberland and over the tops to the Scottish border. We then headed down the other side of the Aso mountain range and several hours later arrived in Beppu, a medium sized tourist resort on the East coast. It had the feeling of a Japanese Scarborough, and we stayed in an hotel that looked shabby and unprepossessing from the outside, but surprised us with really first class service, delicious food and an excellent on-sen bath to soak away our aches from the day's ride.
The next day we headed north and rode up to the top end of Kyushu and crossed the Kanmon straits, the narrow channel of sea running between Kyushu and Honshu. We rode on for another two hours into the center of Yamaguchi prefecture and the site of the Vibes rally, and annual gathering of Harley Davidson riders and enthusiasts from all over Japan. Approximately 5000 bikes and around 10,000 people attend and it's held in a different part of Japan each year, so it's an annual pilgrimage for die-hard bikers from all over Japan. It's a truly spectacular gathering of the most beautiful gleaming machinery and grubbiest humanity (self included!) Japan has to offer. We got there in the early afternoon, pitched our tents and spent the rest of the day admiring bikes and browsing the many stalls selling all manner of paraphernalia guaranteed to tease and entice the discerning motorcyclist. By around 9:00pm my legs were tired and my wallet decidedly thinner so I hit the sack. The next morning my riding buddy Akira told me the people in the tent next to ours had been up partying until 03:00 but I didn't hear any of it, I slept like a baby. 3 days of hard riding starting to catch up on me.
We broke camp and headed out at about 11:00 the next morning, heading back to the Kanmon Kaikyo - the straits between Honshu and Kyushu, where we stopped for coffee, junk food and photos. We then headed south again into the heart of Kyushu and went way up into the central mountain range, again near mount Aso, and aimed for a beautiful area in the heart of the range called Kuju, in Oita Prefecture, where we were to spend the night. The final two hours of the night was a hair raising adventure through tight twisting mountain roads in pitch darkness. In October night falls at around 5:00 pm in this part of Japan, and we finally arrived at our lodgings at around 7:30pm. Amid the inky blackness that one only experiences deep in wilderness territory we arrived at the Kuju Highlands Resort, a log cabin style hotel, onsen and camp site complex. We had a log cabin cottage booked, and they were packed with visitors which was good as we got bumped up into a higher grade room as someone else needed our original one. The evening meal, which was included, was a royal feast of locally farmed barbeque steak, chicken, fresh veggies and all manner of other delicious things. The on-sen was a volcanic spring rich in ferrous mineral deposits that took my back pain away and left my skin feeling like silk. It was a strange feeling being in this little Shangri-La in the mountains yet having no clue about what the surrounding countryside looked like, having arrived in pitch darkness. The next morning as dawn broke we awoke to a stunning view through the picture window in our room, of mountain tops poking up above the clouds lingering in the valley down below us. We had truly found a little piece of Japanese heaven, courtesy of Messrs Harley and Davidson!
After another dip in the mineral springs and a sumptuous breakfast of fresh local produce and milk from Japanese cows that had clearly only ever eaten the sweetest grass, bathed in hot springs, been educated in the tea ceremony in a temple in Kyoto and spent their lives reading novels by Natsume Soseki and Shiga Naoya, we headed out on the bikes for one of the most beautiful rides of my life. Weaving through high mountain pasture roads, past dairy farms and hay fields gradually down through the foot hills we eventually left OitaPrefecture and crossed into Miyazaki prefecture, the Japanese Riviera on the south east coast of Kyushu. Warmed by the waters of the South Pacific Miyazaki is famous for it's beautiful sea coast, palm trees, PacificIsland resort ambiance and the most interesting and entertaining Prefectural Governor in Japan. Until recently he was a famous television personality and comedian, he ran for Governor of the nearly bankrupt Prefecture of Miyazaki as an outsider and won in a landslide vote. He promptly fired all the corrupt officials who had been taking bribes and hiding money, opened up the prefectural government building to the public and set about advertising Miyazaki prefecture like his life depended on it. A year later it is the top tourist destination in Japan outside of Tokyo and it has a thriving economy. We arrived in Miyazaki city in the mid afternoon, rode on through the city and out the other side up to a stretch of coast line called the Pheonix Line, for it's rows of beautiful Pheonix palms along the roadsides. The views along the coast were beautiful, and a fitting close to our last day of touring before the grueling trip back to Tokyo.
After a quick visit to the local Harley Davidson store to buy a Harley Davidson Miyazaki T shirt we got to the ferry terminal at around 5:00pm, checked in, boarded, enjoyed another great hot bath on the boat and readied ourselves for a much needed evening meal in the ships canteen. By the time we were changed and ready for dinner however the ship had set sail, launching into one of the choppiest seas of the year. My buddy Akira, who had earlier told me with great authority that "you don't need sea sickness pills on Japanese ferries, the ride is smooth as silk" came knocking on my cabin door saying "Jerry....have you got any of those pills to spare?". I gave him my last pill, having taken mine earlier, and while he went off to nurse a queasy stomach I tucked into a hearty dinner, then hit the sack at about 8:30 pm. The ship bucked and tossed around like a fairground ride in the rough seas, but my pills did their job, and with the thrumming of the ships engines and motion of the ship I told myself I was lying in a huge massage chair, which is exactly what it felt like, and drifted off to a deep and peaceful sleep.
We arrived at Osaka ferry terminal at dawn on the sixth day of our trip. Disembarked on our bikes and immediately donned our waterproofs. The end of our trip brought the rain, and we had a 15 hour slog through sheet rain all the way back to Tokyo. October is the end of one of the budget cycles for the local councils in Japan, and all along the Tomei expressway between Nagoya and Tokyo, a stretch of about 200 miles, local authorities were digging up the motorway carrying out unnecessary repairs in order to use up money so they could claim more government grants the following year. The result was that around 200 miles of our 400 mile final journey was solid traffic jams. The highlight of our trip home was being caught cruising down the emergency lane to avoid the traffic jams.
We were pulled over by the motorway police, given spot fines and got a couple of points on our licenses. By then I really didn't mind. I had been riding through solid rain for 10 hours and I got to sit in the back of a nice warm dry police car while the officer processed us two bedraggled villains. The policemen were really very nice and one of them was actually thinking of buying a Harley Davidson. I really can't remember when I've enjoyed being fined 35 pounds quite as much! The rest of the ride home was uneventful except for one point when fatigue suddenly hit me about 13 hours into the ride. My vision went blurry and I lost my sense of balance completely. I got semi hypnotized by the rain drips on my visor and the truck brake lights in front of me. Luckily we were moving very slowly in a traffic queue at the time (OK maybe the road works were a good thing after all!) I pulled over into the emergency lane, cleared my eyes and shook my head around a bit, then slowly headed up the on ramp for a motorway service area that was only a quarter of a mile ahead. We took a long break, got some hot food and dried out a bit, then headed out on the last two hour ride back into Tokyo. The final couple of miles on the Tokyo urban expressway was terrifying. Narrow as it is, with frequent right angle bends, with steel expansion strips in the road surface every few hundred yards, that are like ice in the wet. Huge trucks driven by retarded blind psychotic killers came charging up behind my bike sitting two feet off my rear fender trying to push me to ride around the treacherous bends faster. I kept telling myself, "you've just ridden 2300 Km, don't screw it up in the last 10 minutes of the journey!". So, shaking, wet and exhausted I finally made it off the freeway and arrived home at 11:30 pm to a sleeping baby daughter and a very very relieved wife who wanted to talk to me until 01:00 am! It was the trip of a lifetime and I still can't get the stupid grin off my face. Can't wait 'till next time!
Well, cheers for now. I'm off to get a back massage!
Here are a couple of pictures for the site, taken in October last year. My buddy Akira and me went on an 8 day 2500 Km round trip ride from Tokyo to Miyazaki, the southern tip of Kyushu in Japan. Me on my Road King Classic and him on his Softtail Springer. We took in the Vibes Meeting on the way, Japan's equivalent of Sturgis, It was an awesome ride and we took in some of the best scenery in Japan. These photos are just a taste. I have also attached a written account of the trip, which might prove interesting reading for anyone who wants to know what it's like motorcycle touring in Japan.
Best wishes, Jeremy
************************************************************************* Jeremy M Sanderson Chief Executive Officer Icon Partners KK
〒１０３−００２７東京都中央区日本橋１−７−６日興美装ビ２F
2F Nikko Bisou Bld, 1-7-6 Nihonbashi, Chuo Ku, Tokyo 103-0027
Graciously provided by "Art In Motion". You can learn about them in the post below this. They have a booth at this year's Bike Week. Stop by and tell them hello.
Here's how to see the photos:
See some Daytona clips at: http://www.youtube.com/artinmotionllc
The Art In Motion booth is at the Battlegrounds at 1644 US Hwy 1 North. Ormond Beach, FL 32174
along with Boss Hoss, the Chopper Challenge Show, and many more vendors.
We have some exciting new products in our booth including the Find It NowGPS bike locator,
VStream (tm) Windshields, Flash 2 Pass, 360 Brakes, and the Safety Alert System
designed to show riders or drivers that you are slowing down when you downshift
(no braking required), the V-Stream windshield, and Ride Wright wheels.And of course, you can see the new Nostalgic Bagger frame designed by Tom Kapp
and built by Rolling Thunder Manufacturing.
Visit http://www.ArtInMotionLLC.com for pics from V-twin expo 2009
FEB 27 - MARCH 8, 2009.
Daytona Beach, Florida
The first big gathering of the year. Bikes; bikes everywhere.....lots of bikes everywhere! People, interesting people, lots of interesting people everywhere!
Let's Ride!
Starting with the black and white photo of me on my first bike; 80cc Yamaha Trail Bike...and moving up....you'll see some of the bike's I've owned along the way. Missing are a series of increasingly more powerful scooters from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. I am still a huge fan of scooters in general, and envision myself having a Vespa in my later years.
There are lots of photos in the series in the WMA photo gallery. Just click on the link to the gallery on the right side and you'll be taken to more than 100 shots of our members and their bikes.
Please consider sending me a photo of you and your bike....more than one.....great...the more the merrier.
Excellent, thanks for the add. I am the producer for a new TV motorcycle travel show called Two Wheels 2 Anywhere and am looking for people with intersting stories or bikes that may me inclined to be interviewed, particularly in the Boston area, where our production is based.
I am not sure if your group is a vehical for reaching out, hopefully it is.
Making the Move from Four Wheels to Two Wheels
By: Andrew Regan
In 2008, the statistics for private transport sales certainly revealed a lot about events elsewhere in the world. Between October 2007 and October 2008, motorcycle sales increased by four percent, whilst car sales decreased by 23 percent. Indeed, it doesn’t take a genius to realise that this demonstrates people are ditching their cars and taking to the pavements, the buses and motorised two-wheeled transport.
Of course, it’s not difficult to understand why. A combination of rising fuel prices and the global economic downturn means that people are either unwilling or unable to pay to keep their car on the road. Furthermore, increasing road congestion has meant that cars are no longer a viable option for those who need to travel swiftly from A to B.
And these are the chief reasons why there has been an increase in people switching to motorcycles, mopeds and scooters; not only do they generally consume less fuel than cars and are cheaper to sustain, but they also allow people to maintain their freedom on the roads. After all, who really wants to rely on public transport?
But there are other things to consider when making the switch to two wheels. First of all, a car driving licence isn’t transferable over to a motorcycle. After applying for a provisional motorcycle licence, it is then necessary to take a Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) course before being allowed anywhere near a public road.
To pass the CBT course, the rider must demonstrate a basic level of competence, after which a certificate is issued which is valid for two years. And then, it is necessary to sit a theory test to gain the full motorcycle license, although it’s possible to do this whilst riding on the roads with ‘L’ plates. This is a two-part test which covers the Highway Code and general hazard awareness.
However, the journey towards a full, unrestricted motorcycle licence doesn’t end with the theory test, as the rider will still be limited to riding a machine that is no more than 33 brake horsepower (bhp) for the first two years after passing the CBT and theory test. Of course, this will be sufficient for many people, but to be allowed on faster and more powerful models, it is necessary to do a further ‘Direct Access Licence’ course, which can either be done in stages or as part of an intense course lasting a full week.
Indeed, it’s probably fair to say that becoming proficient on a motorcycle is a learning curve, and the chances are there will be a few spills and tumbles along the way. And just like cars, it is necessary to take out motorbike insurance, although the one important difference here is that bike insurance is usually cheaper.
And when making motorbike insurance claims, not only will there be cover for the replacement of a damaged or stolen motorcycle, but it can also cover the riding equipment too, such as crash helmet and clothing – gear that is essential for anybody taking to the road on two wheels.
So overall it would seem that there is good reason why people are switching from four wheels to two wheels. At a time when financial uncertainties are rife throughout society, people are looking for ways to save money without having to surrender their freedom on the roads.
Newspaper claims suspect transformed into a goat
Fri Jan 23, 6:07 pm ET
LAGOS, Nigeria – One of Nigeria's biggest daily newspapers reported that police implicated a goat in an attempted automobile theft. In a front-page article on Friday, the Vanguard newspaper said that two men tried to steal a Mazda car two days earlier in Kwara State, with one suspect transforming himself into a goat as vigilantes cornered him.
The paper quoted police spokesman Tunde Mohammed as saying that while one suspect escaped, the other transformed into a goat as he was about to be apprehended.
The newspaper reported that police paraded the goat before journalists, and published a picture of the animal.
Police in the state couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Belief in black magic is widespread in Nigeria, particularly in far-flung rural areas.
Thomas Routson wrote 2 notes (below):
Robert:
Thank you for accepting me as a member of the Worldwide Motorcycle Association. I have been riding motorcycles since I was 16 (I'm now 56) and currently have a 2005 Kawasaki 1600 Vulcan Classic that has been fully dressed and has GPS and satellite radio. I also have a 1994 Kawasaki KDX 200 enduro bike. My wife and I ride mostly in south Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware although she does allow me to take some week long rides. I'll send you a picture of my Vulcan on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I'm glad to answer any e-mails and will be happy to provide information on good rides in the area. I know New Jersey isn't thought of as a good riding area, but there are many fine rides in the state.
Thanks again.
Tom
Hello Robert:
Per your request I have attached a couple of pictures of me and my 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan for the website. I am an avid rider and have owned about 15 motorcycles in my 40 years of riding. My dream retirement is to spend about six months touring Europe and then perhaps tour Asia. I was in China in 2008 and it looks like a very interesting place to ride. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions of if I can be of help to any of the members.
Best regards,
Tom
Hi Robert,
I hope this is the right way to upload a picture of my ride. I have a 2007 Suzuki Boulevard S40 (655cc) and I have 8000 miles on it. I live in Tampa, Florida, bought it in July 2007, and it is fun and powerful enough to take me to the 2008 Daytona's Bike Week and to carry a pasenger on local trips. As soon as my economic situation changes I will trade it up for a bigger cruiser with wider seats, windshield, saddlebags and a back-rest. Any recommendations?
I never rode a bike until July 2007 when I took the course. I recommend it to everyone, although it is required by law now. It is a fun thing to do, whether for doing errands, going to work, going to bike fests, or just riding around. And it takes your mind away from your daily problems.
Have a great one, Jose
Hi Robert,
Hi. I've attached a pic of me on my bike as I didn't know how you wanted them posted.....and I don't take many pictures of myself. :-)
I thought of another saying to add to the list below......because I've found myself wanting to do it on numerous occassions......
* When you find yourself wanting to roll down the window of your four-wheeler to give the biker salute to other bikers.
Connie Renard
Here I am getting ready to ride in our local Toys for Tots Run in Olympia, WA. Normally between 5,000 and 10,000 motorcycles participate. Please consider sending a photo of you on a charity or holiday ride!
Hi - I live near Cromwell in Central Otago New Zealand - great riding roads around here. We can help group members out with a rental motorcycle if they want to ride around the lakes and mountains in our area while on holiday. We are near Queenstown.http://www.comotorcyclehire.co.nz . Cheers, Dave
Hi
I sent a photo of my trike – I just requested to join on Linkedin. (Christine@justintegration.com)
Christi Kapp
Art In Motion LLC
1728 N Kelley Ave
Kissimmee, FL 34744
(407) 361-9992
www.ArtInMotionLLC.com
Dear Robert,
Many thanks for accepting my invitation.
I'm riding motorcycles but I also work for the European headquarter of Kawasaki.
Currently I do have an own bike which is for sale. See picture.
However I'm also responsible for the European accessory photoshoots.
I'm visiting the biggest shows in Europe etc etc.
Nice job for a motorcycle enthousiastic guy.
Find in the attachment a nice photo of the 2009 ZX10R incl. accessories.
Best regards,
Some great photos from Richard....thanks Richard. I've just put a few up today, and will put more up daily until I get them all posted! So come back to see them all.
I've put many additional photos from Richard on the Motorcycle Photo Gallery. Just click on the url on the right of the page and you can see the more than 100 bike photos from members around the world, plus lots of strange looking bikes.
Ride Safe!
Last weekend, Joyce and I made what probably will be the last ride of this year for us! In the Pacific Northwest when November hits, the rains are not far behind. Riding in cold rain is not on my list of desirable hobbies, so we normally stay off the bike until the spring.
On occasion we might ride in a Christmas ride of some type for charity, but that's only if there is a day that is without rain that coincides with the ride.
I don't want you to think we're just fair weather riders. I've riden through rain, snow, sleet, hail, super high winds, super high temps (twice to Las Vegas and back thru the desert in the summer). I just don't like to 'start' my ride knowing that it's going to be rainy. In addition, safety goes downhill quickly no matter how much I put into my riding safety.
I hope you'll read the many posts from the year, and look at all the many motorcycle photos that are in the previous months. When it's cold out, and you feel like a ride; just take the time to go thru and find a ride story or two and drink them up, until the sun comes out again next spring.
I'll continue to post from time to time....and I'd love to keep receiving your photos and posts.
After all, this is the 'Worldwide' Motorcycle Association.....and there are truly members from around the world. I know that in the Southern Hemisphere it is spring, and you riders from below the equator are probably just beginning to get on your bikes.
Send me a photo and a ride story from your part of the world....I'd really enjoy that, and so would the other readers.
Until next spring.....ride safe!
Joyce and I decided to jump on 'Ruby' (our bike) and take a ride with absolutely no clear destination in mind this morning.
It is Sunday, and it was supposed to be cloudy all day. Instead the sun was shining brightly. About 10 AM we decided we had to go for it. If it turned cloudy and cold, we'd just be prepared and not worry about it.
We have a good collection of jackets and helmets to select from so we really can ride in almost any weather; although we'd probably not ride in snow.
So, we chose the warmest riding jackets and helmets with full face protection to make sure our ride wouldn't be cut short by cold and wind.
The day turned out to be just great. We rode south from our home in Olympia, Washington on old highway 99. This road used to be the main north and south highway from Vancouver, British Columbia to Tijuana, Mexico...all down the west coast of the United States.
Now it passes thru small town after smaller town and includes lots of interesting things to look at that you wouldn't see if you were on the interstate highway going 75 mph.
We took State highway 507 south from Tenino, Washington on down to Centralia. Centralia is loaded with choices for most anything you'd like for a lunch stop. We decided to pass on them all as we had a late big breakfast. Instead we slowly ended up heading west from Centralia to a very small place called Galvin, Washington. There is one stop sign, and this old gas station/museum, 15 or 20 houses, and thats about it.
A few miles west of Galvin we could see that if we continued west we would ride straight into a dense layer of clouds and possibly hit rain. So, being the 'no destination in mind' kind of riders we were today; we simply turned a u and headed back into the sunshine.
We essentially retraced the ride down, although I believe you'd admit, the ride is quite different when you are going the opposite direction. You see entirely different things.
By now, we'd become hungry enough to stop for lunch in Centralia. We often stop at La Tarasca a traditional southern Mexican restaurant that is serviced by 'mom' and her daughters; straight from Mexico. Their specialty is slow cooked port roast, just like my mom used to make on a Sunday back home in Nebraska in my youth.
Today we decided to eat junk food. We passed many favorite restaurants and headed for Mr. J's on the north end of Centralia...just a little stand.
They have great tater tots...and I had a growing desire to eat some of these.
So....we ended the day after tots and hot dogs....and retraced the route back to Olympia and home.
It was just beginning to cloud up and get cooled off as we arrived back in town.
Will this be the last ride of our season?
You never know....
Please be sure to send me a photo of your bike and I love 'ride' stories.
Ride Safe!
With just 'electronic' word of mouth advertising to spread the word; we have grown from 0 - 230 members worldwide in the last 6 months!
Our membership is truly worldwide. It's been very interesting to hear from the riders who join, as no matter where they live; they have a special feeling for 'the ride'.
Many have been kind enough to send photos and some even have sent stories of their favorite rides! This really is the most fun part of the group. I truly enjoy receiving the pictures and stories, and hearing how much we all have in common, from our 'two wheeled' view of things.
From Pravin in the U.A.E. who is riding now in the cool part of the year in the desert; to Richard Schlinkert in Alabama who rides year round, to our many riders from Slovakia and the guys from India....it's just great to hear from you all and see the photos of your bikes. Although the men far outnumber the number of women, there are plenty of women who have joined.
Please keep the photos and stories coming...and I'll promise to continue to add them to our growing collection for all to share.
Ride safe!
Below is from the email I received from Sankara; Welcome to the WMA!
Hi Robert,
Apologies for my tardy response. I have been traveling and hence slow with my email responses.
I am thrilled to be a part of the Worldwide Motorcycle association and would love to share my and my bike's snap with the group.
I have attached them for your reference. I would have no problems if these snaps get posted on the forum.
Cheers and look forward to a long saga!
Sankara
I am so excited as we have member #216 join this last week. We have grown at a very steady rate since beginning in April of 2008.
We had a couple of fluxuations in the numbers as our main source of members; LinkedIn.com changes some of their rules for group participation. AND they were very good changes in my mind. The changes they made was to make it impossible for any LinkedIn member to belong to more than 50 groups. There had become a "MySpace" type race to add groups and 'connections' to your profile in order to appear to be well connected.
As a result, many people joined 10 - 25 or more groups on every day. You'd see the same old names on LinkedIn in their update section, and these names would be there to announce that they had joined 25 groups today.
With the change, many were forced to actually drop out of groups that they had no real interest in. This caused us to have a long series of membership bounces.
Things seem to have finally stabilized, and it now appears that EVERY single one of our members ACTUALLY is a motorcycle fan; whether they own one or not.
So, the end result seems good, as I never had expected anyone to join unless they were a motorcycle nut like me.
Let's all get some good riding in before the fall weather begins to slow us down!
Ride Safe!
This is a reminder to those who are planning to attend the
Oyster Run
this
Sunday, September 28, 2008.
Meet at Denny's Restaurant just north of Triumph of Tacoma/Lakewood Motosports got breakfast at 7:00 A.M.
Meet at Triumph of Tacoma/Lakewood Motosports at 8:00 A.M.
Please let us know if you plan on riding.
We may make last minute route changes depending on the number of riders.
Thank you!
We will take scenic 101 to Anacortes.
Welcome to Jeff Lee from 'soggy' Blightly (as he puts it), in the U.K. Soon it will 'soggy' here at my home in Olympia, Washington....but WOW...what an amazingly beautiful fall.
Here's Jeff's note below; where's your photo and ride story....I'd like to post it.
Good evening Robert,
Please find attached a picture of my VN1500 Classic, yes in the garage, I live in soggy Blighty!
Will send some more if the sun ever comes out!!!
Regards,
Jeff.
Sixth Annual Ride for the Red presented by National City Bank, Liberty Harley Davidson and the Main Street Saloon will depart from LIBERTY HARLEY DAVIDSON NORTH IN BOSTON HEIGHTS at 1:30pm.
The police escorted parade will tour thru the Cuyahoga Valley ending with a HUGE biker's blow-out at Lock 3 in Downtown Akron. We literally shut down downtown!
Last year more than 2,000 bikers and Red Cross enthusiasts raised more than $50,000 for local disaster relief and safety programs in Wadsworth, and Summit and Portage counties. Once at Lock 3, riders will enjoy LIVE music with TONY RIO & RELENTLESS & DC Flux, barbecue chicken and pulled pork, chips and their favorite beverages. Riders can stop by our vendor tables to shop for decals, motorcycle art and a wide variety of leather garb. The first 1,000 riders registered get a FREE collectors t-shirt. All of which are included in the cost of the event.
This event benefits local disaster relief, services to the military and veteran's assistance and other lifesaving Red Cross programs and services.
Call Jackie Z at 330.535.2351 or email zavodneyj@usa.redcross.org for more information.
Pre-registration is $20 rider/$10 passenger
Day of Registration is $20 rider/$20 passenger
SATELLITE REGISTRATION LOCATIONS:
**If you register at one of the satellite locations, please allow yourself enough time to ride out to Liberty Harley in Boston Heights for the 1:30pm parade start**
Summit County
American Red Cross, 501 West Market, Akron
The Main Street Saloon, 1481 South Main Street, Akron
Medina County
Century Harley Davidson, 3053 Eastpointe Drive Medina
Portage County
Deerfield Circle Restaurant, 1290 State Route 14 Deerfield, OH
NEW THIS YEAR...
OFFICIAL PARADE START AT LIBERTY HARLEY NORTH
334 E. Hines Hill Road Boston Heights, OH
The post from Lucretia is below:
Thanks!
I currently don't own a bike, however...I draw them!
I attached one and there's 3 motorcycle pictures on my website:
http://evecustomart.com/gallery/drawnpaint/myart.htm
Take care!
Lucretia Torva
www.evecustomart.com
480-251-3817
Thank you WMA Members! We just went over 200 members this weekend and we have truly become a 'Worldwide' Motorcycle Association.
We have members from every continent and representing just about every motorcycle make that I know of.
Now...if I could just get everyone to send in a favorite ride story and a photo....we'd really have something, wouldn't we?
Thanks everyone....and Ride Safe!
Picture is Barbara Lee and Joyce Grawet at the gas stop in Morton, WA.
On Sunday, September 7th, 2008, Joyce and I hit the highway at 10:30 AM to meet Howard and Barbara Lee in Centralia, Washington by 11:30 AM.
We had decided to meet at McMeniman's Restaurant in Centralia for lunch and then to head out on backroads to make a circuitous trip to the base of Mt. Rainier and back home.
From Centralia we took Hwy 99 South to the cut-across road that goes thru Onalaska, WA and eventually in Morton, WA. The road meanders thru open foothill country with farms and ranches on both sides of the road along with the occasional stream.
As you approach Morton you begin to follow the route of a river that eventually goes up to Mt. Rainier. At the entrance to Morton there are some gorgeous rock formations in the river that sort of make a natural swimming and fishing hole right in town.
We gassed up in Morton along with about 50 other bikers as it is a great spot to fill up and have a drink of water before beginning the ride up toward the mountain.
We ended up stopping in Packwood, WA. at Pete's (picture) to have a snack and some coffee, and then we were off again from Packwood over the mountains to Ashford. Ashford is on a high plateau surrounded by Mt. Rainier and many other lesser mountains. It is a gorgeous road from Ashford back to Elbe along another river and finally into the little dinky town of Elbe. In Elbe there is a hamburger stand along the road that always has a crowd. This little stand makes some of the best burgers and hotdogs you could imagine.
Finally you make your way slowly back down from high country going west into Yelm and back around to Olympia and home.
This route takes about 5 hours or more if you stop much. It is always devoid of much traffic and you see more motorcycles on a warm day than cars is seems like.
I invite you all to take a look at your Washington map and take the time for this trip one day.
Ride Safe!
Pravin; I am so excited to have a member from Dubai! We are truly a 'Worldwide'Motorcycle Association. I would love to be able to ride with you in the 'top down' time of the year (as you say).
You're welcome to come ride with me anytime!
Ride Safe!
Here is the email I received from Pravin below:
Robert,
Thank you for adding me to your club. I think it’s a fantastic way to keep all the road hogs, the wannabe bikers, the new entrants, the cool bikes and people like us for whom the passion for biking is just.. AWESOME.. I live in Dubai, UAE and its HOTT out here… bike and open top season is usually form end October to end march …
I’m hard-core devout car & bike passionist….. I currently have a SUZUKI GSXR 1000R SuperSport bike.. and trust me… 300kmph aint a bling on this…. She’s mean and hard and can really hit the road… I’ve not ventured over the 300 mark as it was wayyyy too scary .. !! its not about the speed though.. its about the passion and love .. I also have a Dodge 67 challenger R/T, currently in my garage for a paint job. My baby.. is a Chevy Corvette Stingray ’74 350Ci V8 and shes a growler….
I’ve attached a few pics of my babies .. feel free to put some or all. I would love to keep in touch now that I’m a member and share experiences. I travel often to the US for business and pleasure as I have family staying there. I’m actually going to be up in Atlanta during dec for a varsity reunion and might hit the road on some bikes with friends… will post updates…..
Regards,
Pravin Bhagwat
Dubai, UAE
Yesterday was Saturday. Nine days from the date of Joyce's surgery to remove some sunshine caused cancer on her lower lip (they removed the entire surface of her lower lip and built a new lip), she was itching to get back on the bike and go 'anywhere'.
So, we hopped on about 11 AM and road west from Olympia, Washington where we live. About 20 miles west of Olympia is a very small town called McCleary. We end up riding thru McCleary often as there are three nice 'riding roads' that meet in McCleary.
From McCleary to Shelton on back roads ending up at the Little Creek Casino (and then going either North to Port Townsend or South back to Olympia), is a great 45 minute road with very little traffic on it.
McCleary going west parallel to State Hwy 8 on the side road is fantastic! The speed limit is 50 mph so a nice speed to ride and look around at the scenery. There are farms, ranches, a huge range of housing types from beat up old trailers to spectacular mansions on mini-farms. You ride over a couple of rivers, and they are full of salmon this time of year. On this road you can go out to Elma and then from there to some other great riding roads.
Finally there is the road from McCleary that goes south to Malone and connects up with Hwy 12.
Each of these roads are almost completely car free, and often the majority of traffic are motorcycles on a sunny day.
McCleary itself is a very small little place. There isn't even a traffic light, although there is ONE STOP SIGN! You'd better be sure to stop as the police station is at the same corner, and there is almost always a local police car sitting there.
There are two restaurants, a bar, and a non branded Harley repair shop in town, plus a couple of quick stop grocery/gas stations, and a few other stores.
One of those restaurants is fairly new. It is called "Rain Country Restaurant". We made our third stop there yesterday. They make the best Club Sandwich in the world! It is so huge that even when we had them split it for us both to share, we could barely finish it. A few weeks ago, we split one of them into quarters as a snack for four of us to share. Even then it filled all four folks up for a good while. They also have 'curly fries' to die for!...(probably would die if you ate too many of them). AND....there is always something special in the home made desert cooler....Yesterday they had some Lemon Merangue Pie and a Sticky Bun that looked incredibly delicious. Luckily I was able to overcome my strong desire to have desert, as the sandwich really filled me up again.
So....Ride Safe fellow members! If you're ever out near McCleary, Washington, stop in the Rain Country Restaurant, you'll be glad you did.
Hi, Robert.
I saw your blog and I want to join your Worldwide Motorcycle Association. My name is Leda Roth and I'm from LA, CA. I'm on blogger as well.
Regards,
Leda
Below is the email I received from Lee.....OBVIOUSLY a very active rider just like me! Lee...thank you so much for the great email.
Best of luck to you in Germany. Watch out for those 250 kph Mercedes, BMW's and Audi's passing you by...... I have to admit, I'd be quite intimidated if I had to ride in fast traffic like that.
Welcome Lee....Please send us a ride story from Europe if you have one you'd like to share!
Ride Safe!
My name's Lee Ajaye and you just accepted me as a member of the WMA, so
I thought that I'd go ahead and provide you with a picture ASAP! Please
see the attached. Please feel free to post either one or all of them.
They were taken when I was living in Alexandria, VA, which was any time
before the 6th of June (from March 31st the prior year). I work for the
DoD (Army) as a Computer Specialist (prior as Helpdesk Chief, then
Network Admin, then Sys Admin, and now Service Desk Chief). So I guess
that I've been around the (GS) block for a little while. It's
interesting doing the managerial thing, and I'm welcoming the time to
actually singularly focus on one thing, instead of the multitudes all at
once, as in the past. Oh, I'm currently living in Laumersheim, Germany
(near Bad Durkheim, which is in one of Germany's many wine regions) and
working in Heidelberg, Germany. So I do the daily commute thing.
I was also reading what you wrote about how I try to wrench my neck when
I'm driving my car and I see another motorcyclist. Not to mention a few
of the other things that you mentioned really seemed to have struck a
chord with yours truly. Uncanny, I must say. I'm considering going to
the Intermot ( http://www.intermot.de/ ) on October 8th up in Koeln, but
am not sure yet if I can make it or not yet. I'd love to ride, but
parking always seems to be a bit of a hassle at these things (unless I
go to Frankfurt, I like and know that area VERY well, so parking's never
an issue), so I may just take the train (more relaxing as well).
Oh, and one last thing. My bike is a 2001 Sprint RS. If there are any
other Triumph riders out there, they can look me up on the
TriumphRAT.net pages as BTR01 (Black TRiumph 2001).
Keep the rubber side down man, and I look forward to crossing your path
one of these days. Maybe if I ever make it back to the states again.
Ciao-Ciao,
Lee Ajaye
Hi Robert
Thank you so much for accepting me in the group and for your kind response.
I have sent you three pictures, two of my motorcycle and one of myself and the puppy Smokey, he's not a puppy any more but I love the picture.
Pina Sicari
We rode out to Westport, WA with our great friends Howard and Barb Lee. They live in University Place, WA. and we often ride with them in Southwest Washington.
We met in McCleary, Washington about 16 miles west of my home in Olympia, WA. There is a new restaurant in McCleary called the Raincity Cafe (it's a very small town, you'll see it right smack dab in the middle of town). We had an amazing Club Sandwich...which was so big we split it....wonderful food, and great service...we'll be back.
We then rode thru the backroads and ended up at our destination of Westport. It was supposed to be a hot day in Olympia, so we decided a ride to the coast would be good...where the temps would be much lower.
Westport was having a celebration, booths, food, goodies to buy, and lots of folks.
It's always a nice place to ride to....great views of the ocean on one side of the peninsula where it is located, and the entire Westport fishing fleet in the harbor on the other side; where the main street is located.
I didn't take enough pictures, sorry...but here's a little look. Also a look at my partner Joyce....just a few days prior to a very painful surgery on her lower lip to remove some cancer built from tooooo many days laying in the sun as a teenager....
McCleary, Westport, backroads of Southwest Washington....all make for a relaxing ride and some good eating....
Ride Safe brothers and sisters!
Hey Bob, I thought I'd share a few pics.
We had 10 bikes on yesterday's ride to Snoqualmie falls.
--
Keith Sawka
Executive Producer
Advanced Method
Seattle, WA
From Keith below:
Thanks for linking in with me.
I attached a pic of me and my SV650 back from when I raced out here in the SW.
Don’t have a picture with me of my current bike, a DRZ400SM, lots of fun. Great commuter bike.
Keith Royle
Director of Dynamometer Sales
Dynojet Research Inc.
Ride Safe Keith!
Ok, yeah...I'm sure I must have mentioned it by now......but just in case!
I LOVE riding my motorcycle!
If you do....send me a photo of you with your 'steed'.....with you in the pic....or not.....and send us a ride story!
The only thing better than riding itself....is talking about it, and thinking about it!
Ride Safe, brothers and sisters!
Howard and his wife Ellen take a big ride quite often.....Howard has graced us with two stories of his rides.....I only wish my website was more kind to large storage, so I could have included some more of the many pictures that Howard sent me, of this wonderful, amazing ride!
Make sure to check it out....just a few below this!
and.....Ride Safe!
5000 miles in two weeks and my backside does not hurt.
July 13th and we are leaving Los Angeles with two destination goals in mind: The International BMW Motorcycle Owners Association rally in Gillette, Wyoming and accumulating the many of the 24 national parks for the Southern California Motorcycle Association’s “California Parks Adventure”, one the AMA’s “Grand Tour Events.”
The two bikes have been serviced, the gear has been packed and the Mapsource route has been downloaded into the GPS’s. It is 6 am, tanks filled, bladders empty, and the air is cool when we backed Ellen’s and my bike out of the garage and started the short 1200-mile, two-day ride to Custer, South Dakota.
Custer is only a short ride to Gillette and on the way we saw a few sights not part of our normal travels: Custer State Park, Mt Rushmore, the Badlands, Devils Tower, and had breakfast in Sturgis.
During the ride to Gillette we had a stop in Sturgis, which at the time was getting ready for its annual lemming revival, for breakfast so that we could tell our non-motorcycle friends that we have “been to Sturgis.” Sturgis is a nice little town, like Mayberry, in the middle of nowhere, just off the highway, with a couple of main streets and lots of small shops and helpful folks. I recommend that if you are in this area of the country stop by, have breakfast and buy a tee shirt at the Harley and BMW dealerships. Relax and learn to smile.
On to Devils Tower. When we were there we did not have any close encounters of any kind, just a stop for some pictures and to see a great national park.
Finally, we arrive for the Rally in Gillette. This moving party is located in a different part of North America each year. It is the annual pilgrimage for BMW motorcycle owners. We meet, we learn, we laugh, at night we tell lies of what great rider we are, we eat bratwurst and drink beer. Not a bad way to spend three days.
After three days, we leave Gillette and head for Yellowstone National Park. Upon arriving we learn to really see the park you have to slow down and ride behind the RV roadwhales. The sights in Yellowstone are breathtaking; here are two: Old Faithful and Yellowstone’s version of the Grand Canyon.
So after a nights stay it is on to California but first we have to see the Grand Tetons.
We finally arrived in California via Idaho, Utah and Oregon and visited these California National Parks: Lava Beds National Park, Redwood National and State Park, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Point Ryes National Seashore, Mur Woods National Monument, Fort Point National Historic Site, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Devils PostPile National Monument, Manzanar National Historic Site, Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and Yosemite National Park.
The most interest part of this ride was that this portion of the state is on fire and riding through a little smoke became a normal occurrence. I thought I gave up smoking a long time ago.
That haze in the background is the forest on fire. CA299 was very smoky.
I am always asked would I do it again? Yes and more, the western United States has some of the finest national parks in the world, or at least that part of the world I have seen. Each one has a certain air about them and I am glad our government had the good sense to preserve this beauty.
If you have the time, or make the time, get yourself a yearly park pass. Load up the bike with your favorite things and explore what this county has to offer.
Hum, the Iron Butt Association has a tour of 50 parks in 25 states in one year. Maybe that can be a three-week ride next year?
Truly the best motorcycle photography I have ever seen. These shots are absolutely stunning photos of Gerco's BMW Cruiser.
Hi Robert,
I've send you some pictures of my bike & me.
For the record:
I used to be a professional motorcycle driver some 20 years ago working with the dutch police force. Nowadays I driving just for fun on my BMW cruiser.
Thank you for the membership of WMA.
Greetings Gerco
Welcome to David Dumas, Owner of Soul Rydah Magazine. http://www.soulrydahmag.com
David rides an awesome 2000 Harley Davidson Softail.
What an amazing beauty! Ride Safe David!
Send us more!
Aline is from the 'good' FEMA. (Not the USA one).
Aline is Secretary General of the 'good' FEMA. Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations.
Welcome Aline! Welcome to 'The Virtual Motorcycle Gang'!
Please find enclosed the requested picture.
Kind regards,
Aline Delhaye
Secretary General
FEMA – Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations
Rue des Champs, 62 – B1040 Brussels - Belgium
Phone +32 2 7369047
Fax +32 2 7369401
a.delhaye@fema-online.eu
www.fema.ridersrights.org
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