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Milwaukee Revolution 330mm Released Today– The Fat Man’s Speed Shop, the world’s largest Milwaukee Motorcycle dealer,announces release for sale, 2006 Milwaukee Revolution 330mm motorcycle.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (9 February, 2006) The Fat Man’s Speed Shop announcedtoday the release to the retail public, 2006 Milwaukee Revolution 330mm.Senior builder, Will Day, tells us the Revolution 330mm can be bought by theretail public in Rolling Chassis form for only $5,699.99. The customer canalso purchase the Revolution 330mm in Bike Kit form for only $17,999.99.
The Fat Man’s Speed Shop will also take orders on a completed Revolution330mm in any House of Kolors paint scheme for $21,999.99. Will also tellsus to keep in mind when purchasing any Milwaukee product, that you arepurchasing it from a long time, licensed manufacturer. In today’s sellingenvironment, this means the retail customer can insure it, finance itthrough GE Retail, and have a product that meets all E.P.A. and D.O.T.standards, as well as be listed in N.A.D.A. and Kelly Blue Book. Willexpects the new Revolution 330mm to blow out the door.www.fatmanspeedshop.com or call 715-832-4400.
HARDBIKES APPOINTS SHAUNA AUGUSTINE SALES COORDINATOR–Hardbikes, a leading designer and manufacturer of custom American motorcyclesand Choppers, welcomes Shauna Augustine as Sales Coordinator. Her new positioninvolves organizing tradeshows and events, taking orders and coordinatingmotorcycle production with the Dealers and monitoring the website designcenter.
Shauna joins Hardbikes with three years of experience in enterprise softwareconsulting and two years in customer service management.
“I am excited about coming on board with Hardbikes,” said Shauna Augustine. “Ilook forward to assisting in building a new motorcycle company from the groundup.”
Shauna Augustine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Thiel College inPennsylvania.
The Hardbikes team is fortunate and pleased with the new partnership of thishigh-caliber individual and looks forward to a prosperous future together.
“I am proud to announce Shauna as a new member of our team,” said Bob Kay, VPSales and Marketing. “She came onboard running flat out and is alreadycontributing to our success”
ABOUT MARINE MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENTS–I would like to share my thoughts and comments on the recent articles published on Marines dying on Motorcycles after returning home from Combat. Being a former Marine and experiencing the death of several friends in the past, I am compelled to speak up.
First of all Marines are a bunch of arrogant bastards, you know you are, but for good reason. They are the BEST in the WORLD at what they do! This statement is not intended to belittle or offend any other military person, however young men join the United States Marine Corps to be the BEST and to be the first to go into a hot situation. And the training reflects this desire and skills to be just that. For a young man of 18 to want to be the “First to Fight” in a foreign country tells you his thinking is a little outside the norm. Add to this the invincible attitude of youth and you have several cocky young men with a tremendous amount of pride, again for good reason!
This being the basic facts of these young warriors, now add to it they survived combat. In several cases 2 tours of combat. Now you have a whole new attitude of arrogance and being cocky. You also have those from this group who believe they can not be seriously injured or killed. Hell they survived combat so anything else is just peanuts – Right! Plus why shouldn’t they enjoy some American Freedoms? The same Freedoms you and I and the rest of the United States is allowed to enjoy! And so they do. Do they take unnecessary risks? Of course they do – they are Marines and that is what they do! But they do not see it in this light as their skills are typically superior than those of the common person, plus they are usually thrill seekers and their perspective is different.
Americans do not want to see a combat veteran come home safely and then die in an accident that could have been prevented. But at the same time do we want to restrict these young warriors their Freedoms? The same Freedoms we enjoy! I should hope not!!
Of course we had more motorcycle deaths on the highways – because we had 4 times the number of people on the highways and the cage traffic wasn’t trained or prepared to handle it. These were simple Laws of Averages!
Perhaps the base could implement additional training courses for these young men. Perhaps they could establish an area that sanctioned organized racing on the base with medical personnel on-sight. When I was stationed in California my buddy used to drag race his motorcycle on the Highway 5 Drag Strip on the weekends. I served as his pit crew and we had a blast! Specific protective clothing and safety gear was required and once you achieved these things you could pay your entry fee and race. Perhaps something such as this could be put together as an organized and safer outlet for these young Marines.
I say don’t come down to hard on these Young Warriors. Educate them in the style they will respect and respond to and provide a better outlet to them.
Semper Fi my Warrior Brothers!
–Silver Eagle
HARLEYS MAY BE RETURNED– The Niles City Police Department’s motorcycle program may be in jeopardy.Officer Jim Kidwell of the Niles City Police Department may have to give up riding the department’s leased Harley-Davidson, one of the two motorcycles the department is leasing. Due to sharply increased rates, it is in question whether or not the department will be able to retain the motorcycles. Since 2002, the department has leased two Harley-Davidson motorcycles from Motown Harley-Davidson in Taylor, near Detroit.The Harley-Davidson Company initially developed a program where they lease brand-new motorcycles to police departments at a $1 per year rate.
“You can’t pass up a deal like that,” said Chief of Police Richard Huff.Not only are they invaluable in certain situations, but they are also a favorite among citizens. “They’ve been the best P.R. (public relations) tool we’ve ever had. Just with the feedback we get from the community,” Huff said.
From 2002 until 2004, that $1 per year rate was intact. Harley-Davidson ended up “flooding the market” with this deal, and several police departments across the country took advantage of it.
The agreement was that a department leased a motorcycle for a year, then the next year traded up and leased the newest models. As a result of its popularity, the supply and demand of the motorcycles drove the price of the traded-in models way down.
The program began to lose its luster and Harley-Davidson wasn’t making nearly as much money on the used models as it originally had.This caused the company to significantly increase the lease rate. In 2005, the rate had jumped from $1 a year to $1,200 a year per motorcycle. The Niles Police Department was able to come up with the extra $2,400 to lease the two motorcycles for that year. But as of the end of this month, the 2006 lease year, the price per motorcycle has again sharply increased, now to $2,250 per year.
“This money just isn’t available.” Huff said.”One of the biggest assets is being able to access areas in the city that we can’t with patrol cars,” Huff said.Those areas include sidewalks, parks and easier access to car accidents on busy streets.
The motorcycles are only used when it’s above 50 degrees. The motorcycles also get much better fuel efficiency than the patrol cars and they take advantage of that.
The Harley-Davidson dealer that the police department leases their motorcycles from has offered to sell the current models to the Niles department for $13,750 a piece.Based on the average amount of miles they’ve put on each motorcycle each year, Huff estimates they would likely get about 10 years out of each motorcycle. That comes out to $1,375 a year.
By RYAN STEWART / Niles Daily Star
–from Rogue
BREAKDOWN LANE AVAILABLE TO MOTORCYCLES IN WASHINGTON STATE– Senate Bill 6663 would allow motorcycles to use the breakdown or access lanes when traffic is slowed to less than 10 MPH. Riders would not be able to proceed faster than 20 MPH and must give way to emergency vehicles and disabled vehicles.
The status of this bill, as well as most motorcycle-related legislation throughout the country can be viewed by accessing StateWatch on the American Motorcyclist Association?s (AMA) Rapid Response Center at www.AMADirectLink.com. This service is available to all riders thanks to those who join the AMA.
FLORIDA DROPS HIGHER INSURANCE– Florida highway safety officials have dropped a proposal that would have dramatically increased the medical insurance required of those who ride while not wearing a helmet from $10,000 to $50,000.
Discovering that the insurance policies could be difficult, if not impossible, to find and exorbitantly expensive — and after getting a cool reception from Gov. Jeb Bush and the state Cabinet — the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles scrapped the idea.
But officials are proposing another change that they say could help increase motorcycle safety. That change would require all new motorcyclists to complete a rider training course. Currently, Florida requires only riders under the age of 21 to complete the course.
While the concept may sound good, Florida would be hard-pressed to meet the logistical challenges of such a mandate. The dramatic increase in training demand combined with an insufficient number of instructors, equipment, and training sites could result in lengthy delays and actually push new riders to avoid training and licensing altogether.
While the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) strongly supports and encourages riders to take advantage of rider education opportunities, the Association maintains a position against making such programs mandatory. Our full position statement on compulsory rider education can be found at
WISCONSIN LEGISLATION WOULD PROTECT MOTORCYCLISTS– The Roadway Users Responsibility Act, SB 528 introduced in the Wisconsin state Senate and based on model legislation that’s part of the Justice for All campaign, takes a multi-pronged approach to protecting motorcyclists.
With assistance from AMA and ABATE of Wisconsin, the measure was introduced by state Sen. David Zien (R-Chippewa Falls), an 18-year AMA member, and seeks to increase penalties for drivers who kill or injure motorcyclists or other vulnerable road users.
The bill would increase the penalties for right-of-way violations that result in injuries or death to others. In many cases across the country, inattentive drivers have killed or maimed motorcyclists and been punished with fines as small as $70, because state laws treat these serious crashes as minor traffic infractions.
Zien’s bill would also include motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian awareness information in driver education programs. And it includes a provision that would allow motorcyclists to proceed through a red light when the traffic sensor doesn’t detect the motorcycle and conditions make it safe to proceed.
You can learn more about the Justice for All Campaign, keep track of legislation that affects your right to ride, and contact your elected representatives quickly and easily, through the AMA’s Rapid Response Center found at http://www.amadirectlink.com.
OKLAHOMA LAW HITS IRRESPONSIBLE MOTORISTS–Oklahoma’s Jaggers? Law represents ABATE of Oklahoma’s renewed effort to enhance penalties for irresponsible motorists who injure or kill other roadway users. Senate Bill 1989 is named in honor of David Jaggers, former Sgt-at-Arms of the Downed Bikers Association of Oklahoma, who was killed by an irresponsible driver in October, 2003.
This marks the third year that ABATE of Oklahoma, AMA and others are attempting to enact Jaggers’ Law as part of the Justice for All campaign. You can get more information on this bill and Justice for All by checking out http://www.amadirectlink.com
NEW PENNSYLVANIA LEARNER’S PERMIT RULES– Pennsylvania recently revised the motorcycle learner’s permit procedure. Prospective riders who are seeking a learner’s permit must now pass the knowledge test before the permit will be issued. Previously, learner’s permits were issued without the requirement of the test.
Future riders can visit www.dmv.state.pa. to learn more about Pennsylvania’s motorcycle licensing and safety program.
MINNESOTA CAPITOL BIKERDAY– Minnesota riders are invited to attend the 3rd Annual Bikerday at the Capitol from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Wednesday, March 8, 2006.
This event is cosponsored by ABATE of Minnesota, St. Croix Valley Riders, Minnesota Motorcycle Club Coalition, Motorcycle PAC of Minnesota, and Minnesota Motorcycle Riders Association.
Attendees will receive an information packet and copies of relevant House and Senate bills. For more information contact Mack Backlund at MandMback@aol.com.
ENGLAND URGES CAGERS TO SEE BIKERS– The United Kingdoms Department for Transport’s ‘THINK! Take longer to look for bikes’ campaign started on January 30th. The campaign urges motorists to continually look for motorcyclists throughout the Kingdom. A parallel campaign, urging motorcyclists to make themselves more visible, will run via six-sheet posters.
The 30 second television advertisement encourages urban car drivers to look longer for bikes. A radio advertisement backs up the TV message and “acts as an in-car reminder,” said a statement from the Department.
In 2003, 73 per cent of all crashes involving a two-wheeled motor vehicle also involved a car. The Department’s report, ‘In-Depth Study of Motorcycle Accidents’, concluded that the most common cause of motorcycle crashes – as with bicycle crashes – is a right of way violation.
The majority of these incidents occur at intersections and “it is usually the motorist – rather than the rider – who is at fault.” In 65 percent of these ‘right of way’ incidents, drivers fail to see motorcyclists who other witnesses report were easily visible.
To learn more about the campaign and view the advertisements, visit the campaign website at http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk.
SAN FRANCISCO ATTACKS BIKERS–San Francisco, CA area motorcyclists have turned an anti-motorcycle rant into positive press for riders.
Recently, morning disc jockeys on a Bay Area radio station, Live 105, complained about lane-sharing motorcyclists and joked about drivers opening car doors in front of riders, causing them to crash. Lane-sharing is not illegal in California and helps reduce traffic congestion.
Outraged motorcyclists, concerned that the comments could incite car drivers to injure riders, flooded the station with complaints. The Bay Area Riders Forum (BARF), an online message board, played a central role in allowing riders to coordinate their actions.
As a result of the complaints, the on-air personalities apologized and at least one of them has promised to take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Rider Course to learn more about motorcycling. The station also agreed to air public service announcements about motorcycle safety.
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