Hey,
This day is sorta strange, but all positive, I hope. First STD will live again, although under a different name, most likely. I believe you’ll see a new reasonably priced line of complete, made in America engines and components come to life shortly from the guys at Spyke Engineering. We’ll bring you all the products as they complete development.
We had another meeting at the SEMA offices yesterday, with a handful of bros from the industry. It looks as if we have an opportunity to be apart of PowerSports Action Group. This could be very exciting from several perspectives. From a trade standpoint, this would allow all of our businesses to reach out of the biker box and into the vast automotive sector. From an enthusiast/legislative/grassroots standpoint it would afford us a batch of new resources and open the door for the hardworking motorcycle legislative network to help the custom car enthusiast and visa versa. You know what they say about having a stronger voice in this regulatory era. We need the biggest voice we can muster to encourage legislators to respect our freedoms and take a balanced approach. I’m going to publish a complete report on the Powersports Action Group next week.
One last odd number before I hit the news. I watched a 1940 Ginger Rogers movie last night, and although it’s not a biker movie, it was definitely a motorcycle movie, and a very cool one. Primrose Path featured Joel McCrea on a beat up old JD with a sidecar throughout the movie. It’s a very cool flick and one of Ginger’s first dramatic roles. Let’s hit the news.
CHECK OUT OUR LATEST ADVENTURE–Chance is a young chopper rider that is looking to make his way through the mean streets of LA. Check it out? details here.
STEALTHMAN RESPONDS–I read the article Is Harley-Davidson a Victim of It’s Own Success and have to say I agree with Bandit. I don’t agree with anything in that article. Harley-Davidson has rubbed me the wrong way also from time to time, but they are still an American icon. Whoever Richard D’Aveni is, I don’t know but he strikes me as guy who is full of figures and formulas that in the end add up to nothing. Harley has proven it can compete with Japanese bikes, once the playing field was leveled years ago. As far as the aftermarket bikes are concerned, let’s face it, if were not for Harley-Davidson a lot of these companies would not exist. A large percentage of these builders use engines from the factory.
With all the fancy terms Mr. D’Aveni uses and his formulas, he leaves out one important factor. One reason and the MAIN reason Harleys are not selling is the UNEMPLOYMENT factor! Give us jobs and you will see those sales soar again. Also you need to know this, Mr. D’Aveni, never under estimate the heart of the biker who rides a Harley. You can’t measure that, but it’s damn strong. That bike is a major part of his heart and soul, and it does not matter what new bells and whistles are on the metric bikes, we will always ride Harleys.
Right now the eagle at Harley-Davidson is quiet, give us jobs and we will all see him soar again!
–Stealth
UNCLE MONKEY OPENS SPRING RIDING SEASON–The gloves are stiff and gritty. The jacket and chaps shrunk from last year. You let the chaps out another hole or two. The sun is warm and inviting and the plates are hung with care on the bike. Days of anticipation and excitement come down to this. The bike rumbles to life. Those valves seem to be making more noise then last year. You throw your leg over and right the bike up.
You don’t recall the bike being quite so heavy. You pull the clutch in and out a couple of times and twist the stiff throttle. The engine snarls. You teeter forward out of the garage. The warm sun on your face, and the birds chirp in protest of the iron beast that disturbs them. You roll the bike out on the street. It wobbles and trembles like a new born fawn. Blush comes to your cheeks, you’ve been riding for years, don’t look like an idiot.
A snap of the throttle reminds you of the engine work you did over the winter months. It?s faster than you thought, as you clench the bars, so you’re not bucked off. At the corner the front tire breaks loose and slides in the loose sand. You tense your whole body. But you know the drill, let the bike handle it. Don’t hit the brakes. Exhaling slowly watch for obstacles and curve direction. The tire finds traction and the tension drains away.
You kick it into gear again and head west, smooth and confident. You have your bearings once more. The road is yours once again. You snap the throttle and sneer at the startled squares walking on the sidewalks. You flip a cool wave to the kid on his Christmas bike racing along side. One day he may ride a real motorcycle too.
We’ve all been there. That first ride of the season. The familiarity unwelcoming after months of neglect in the frigid cold months. For all our skill and years of riding, that first ride is always uncomfortable for the first few blocks. We are nervous of the sand slick streets, nervous of the drivers who haven’t seen a motorcycle in months and forgot how to share the road with others. But we survive, alert, and keep to everything moving around us. It’s a rush to feel the freedom, the exhilaration, the power, and the sun once more. -bad Uncle Monkey
D&D HAS PERFORMANCE SLIPONS FOR THE VISION–NEW D&D 2008-2010 Victory Vision Boss Slip-ons for the ultimate touring Victory motorbike. The slipons increase power and torque allow you to install in less time than your lunch break. They come in midnight black or show-quality chrome. The Vision Boss Slip-ons utilize stock heatshields.
3 Cuts available – L = Slant cut, T = Straight cut or F = 45 Deg cut.
Checkout the latest at D&D (www.danddexhaust.com) or call 817-834-8961.
Subject: WHEN KAFKA WRITES GUN CONTROL LAWS–Unexpected Flight Delay => Hotel Stay => Criminal Prosecution for GunPossession
By Eugene Volokh
Law professor
UCLA
The Volokh Conspiracy
March 30, 2010
http://volokh.com/2010/03/30/unexpected-flight-delay-hotel-stay-criminal-prosecution-for-gun-possession/An unfortunate story, detailed in Revell v. Port Authority (3d Cir.2010): Gregg C. Revell was flying from Salt Lake City to Allentown,Pennsylvania, via Minneapolis and Newark. He had an unloaded gun legallychecked in his luggage, which was supposed to meet him at Allentown.Supposed to. In fact, the flight to Newark was late, so Revell missedhis connection. He booked himself on the next flight, but the airlinechanged those plans. He was supposed to get on a bus, but his luggagedidn?t get on the bus with him. He found the luggage, but the bus hadleft, so he had to stay overnight at the hotel, with his luggage.Aha! That?s where the crime came in. The Firearms Owners? Protection Actprotected Revell on the plane, and would have protected him on the bus.But the moment the luggage came into his hands or otherwise became?readily accessible? to him outside a car ? here, when he got theluggage to go to the hotel, but it would have also happened if he hadgotten the luggage to put it into the trunk of a rental car ? heviolated New Jersey law, which requires a permit to possess a handgun(and which bans the hollow-point ammunition that Revell also had in aseparate locked container in his luggage).
Revell was arrested when hechecked in with the luggage at Newark Airport, and said (as he wassupposed to) that he had an unloaded gun in a locked case in hisluggage; he then spent four days in jail until he was released on bail.Eventually the New Jersey prosecutor dropped the charges against him,but Revell didn?t get the gun and his other property back until almostthree years later.
Revell sued, and lost; the Third Circuit concluded that once he took theluggage in hand in New Jersey, it became ?readily accessible,? and theFOPA immunity was lost. And this is indeed a sensible reading of thestatutory text: Notwithstanding any other provision of any law or any rule orregulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof, any personwho is not otherwise prohibited by this chapter from transporting,shipping, or receiving a firearm shall be entitled to transport afirearm for any lawful purpose from any place where he may lawfullypossess and carry such firearm to any other place where he may lawfullypossess and carry such firearm if, during such transportation thefirearm is unloaded, and neither the firearm nor any ammunition beingtransported is readily accessible or is directly accessible from thepassenger compartment of such transporting vehicle: Provided, That inthe case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver?scompartment the firearm or ammunition shall be contained in a lockedcontainer other than the glove compartment or console.
So what do you if this happens to you?
Stranded gun owners like Revell have the option of going to lawenforcement representatives at an airport or to airport personnel beforethey retrieve their luggage. The careful owner will do so and explainhis situation, requesting that his firearm and ammunition be held forhim overnight.[18] [Footnote 18:] Of course, this suggestion leaves unanswered thequestion of what the gun owner should do if the law enforcement officersdecline to assist him. It may be hoped, however, that officers will notcompound a blameless owner?s problems in that way.
Hope does spring eternal, but I suspect that airport police and airportstaff aren?t going to be willing to hold people?s luggage for themovernight, especially when it contains a gun. And of course the airportpolice or staff would then have to personally check in the luggage forthe owner, since the owner can?t take it in hand without losing the FOPAimmunity.
So watch out when you travel with your gun in checked luggage. If yourflight gets routed to a different city, or you have to stay overnight atone of the stops, you could be arrested. Or if you drive across countrybut your car breaks down, and you need to move the luggage to anothercar, you could likewise be violating the law (though you?d be lesslikely to be caught, since you have no obligation declare your gun whenyou switch cars the way you do when you get on a plane). FOPA gives youa good deal of protection on your travels ? but, as Mr. Revell learned,not complete protection.
–from Agent Zebra
COOL PIX FROM DAYTONA SHOT BY BOSSMAN, DAR HOLDSWORTH–Team Brass Balls had a great time and saw so much outstanding 2 wheel artistry. One place that had it on display was the Limpnickie Lot. Here are some of our favorite pix from the Lot and Tattoo Willies.
Note: Just as the sun finally began to heat up the Florida coastline, it was time to leave. Daytona was cold this year but as usual, the bikes and the babes were hot. For those of you who couldn?t make it down this year for one reason or another, hope to see you there next year.
That?s if we don?t see you at Sturgis first.
– BossMan, Dar Holdsworth
BIKERNET TECH QUESTION OF THE WEEK–Bandit, I am a subscriber to Bikernet and would like to know if you have any reviews for White Brothers Lowering Kit vs. Progressive Lowering Kits?
I recently purchased a 04 FXSTBI Softail Night Train. The previous owner said he dropped the rear with a White Brothers Lowering Kit, not sure by how much. When I compare my bike to my buddy’s Softail I can totally see the difference in drop. He’s not sure what kind of lowering kit is on the bike since he bought it used already with it lowered, both front and rear.
I want to achieve this look on the front and back of my bike, but not sure which kit is the best. I’ve been looking on eBay for front fork drop in springs and rear, and noticed that Progressive has an add on rear lowering kit, that has rubber mount attached to the shortening bolts, but the White Bros. shortening bolts do not have a rubber mount. Does this rubber mount help absorb bumps?Let me know what you think.
Thanks
— Mario
Mario,
For the front end I’d recommend the Drop-In style lowering kit, easy install and will pull 2″ out of the fork with minimal impact in ride quality. There are several options in the rear of the Softails, first is the shock extension style of lowering you mention (extends stock shocks to lower the bike), we make a kit that is adjustable and will let you tune the height, although inexpensive, you may face the challenge of minimal travel and a pair of tired stock shocks.
The rubber you may be seeing is the replacement bushings we supply for the late model Softails.
Another option would be a set of 422 Series shocks that are superior to stockers, offer preload adjustment (allowing you to tune to your weight and bike), as well as height adjustable. Check em out below:
http://www.progressivesuspension.com/dropin/index.html
http://www.progressivesuspension.com/accessories/index.html
(mouse over bottom middle image to see the kit)
http://www.progressivesuspension.com/hd/422series/index.html
–David Zemla
Progressive Suspension
BIKERNET JOB LISTING, BODYGUARD JOB NEEDED–After completing high school, Mr. Pecoraro studied Business Administration for 1 and 1/2 years at the College of DuPage in Illinois. From 1989 to present Mr. Pecoraro has been highly successful as a small business owner in diverse areas. However, his true passion is in the area of security and self defense where he is an accomplished professional fighter, bodyguard and security expert.
Mr. Pecoraro started his Martial Arts training in 1973 at 12 years old under World renowned trainers including Master Randall Dittman, Master Jaime Fernandez, Master Ed Parker and Master Joe Sasso to name a few. In 1995 Steve expanded his knowledge in the martial arts obtaining a Black Sash in Southern Praying mantis Kung- Fu under Master Anthony Spahn. In 1999 earned his 3rd Black-Belt in Tae-Kwon-Do under Grandmaster Seok Bong Kim, a South Korean middle weight Tae-Kwon-Do champion and head Military police self-defense instructor from 1983-1987 in Seoul, Korea.
His overall amateur record is: 87 wins, 13 losses, 9 draws
From 1993 ? 2006 Steve maintained a professional banking and real estate license, owned and operated multiple pawnshop/jewelry stores in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois and founded his own production company. In 2000 Steve started a production company “Too Famous Productions LLC.” Too Famous was involved in a myriad of projects including “Tales of Pawn” (test marketed by Comedy Central), various commercials, and promoting World Class Martial Arts events. “Tales of Pain” was rivaled only by the K-1 and was considered the 2nd most prestigious tournament in the USA.
In addition Steve has a CPR certification and Red Cross certificate.
If interested drop an e-mail to: kbunnyo@cox.net
NHRA & NASCAR TECHNOLOGY IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR YOUR SLED–This is a story about a man named Mike Alex who builds suspension for NHRA Pro Stock and NASCAR teams. He decided that since his experience was so bad with his stock Harley that he could improve on it. After friends and associates tried his bike, they wanted a set for their own ride. Then they told their friends, and they told their friends? And that was how Suspension Technologies came about.
They build performance shocks for your Harley. And this means that you will be able to corner better and feel the road without the jarring of a stock suspension. And maybe the most important part is that your honey will enjoy riding on the back.
Checkout the latest from Suspension Technologies.
BIKERNET CULINARY INSTITUTE PARTNERS WITH OL’ GRINGO IN TEXAS–Ol’Gringo has boiled up nasty, award-winning salsas and hot sauces for 20 years. The Bikernet Culinary Institute tested several of their sizzling sauces on Bandit over the last year.
“If they don’t kill the old bastard, I guess we can sell ’em,” said Renegade, the Bikernet Chief Critic. “Then we took a vote on a flavors.”
Bandit vetoed the vote and picked his favorites, Habarnero Sauce and the Jalapeno Salsa. Watch for them in the Black Market next week.
DOMESTIC SALES JUMP AT BIG BEAR CHOPPERS–“We had to develop a more efficient way to ship bikes,” said Kevin Alsop, the Big Bear Boss.
Actually Mona, his wife, took one look in a big rig and said, “What the hell, you could ship twice as many bikes in this rig, if it was two-tiered. Kevin, build some racks. And no lunch until the job is done.”
The Big Bear Chopper team met the challenge immediately. They were starving. Watch for more Big Bear Choppers on the streets all over the US in the near future.
BIKERNET READER RECEIVES NEW CHANGE HOGAN BOOK– Hey there sweetie, I got the book today! Thank you and thank the big guy for me. Love the artwork, reminds me of drive in movie stuff from the ’60s
–pete(fromflorida)
Grandpa
NRA
FSSA
GOA
AMA
USCGAUX
PHOTO TECH FROM DOC ROBINSON, BIKERNET TECH EDITOR AND TECH EDITOR OF HEAVY DUTY MAGAZINE IN AUSTRALIA–Most (even expensive) digital cameras do not handle artificial lighting all that well.You can get around this by setting your camera for the appropriate lighting but that means a bit of extra effort in setting up and then remembering to change it when you go outside or into a different sort of artificial light.
Now, you need to reduce your photo sizes anyway, so here?s a trick I learned to perform both tasks together.
1 Open the pic with whatever version of Photoshop you have.
2 Select auto color from the drop down menu. In most (95%) cases this will get rid of the excess yellow in the coloring.
3 Now select image size and type in the pixel width or height that your require (whichever is the greater value bring back to 600).
4 Select save as, give it a name, and depending upon original size save at 5 or 6 and you should have a color corrected pic about the right kilobyte size for web posting.
N.B. That is all, repeat all, that I really know about Photoshop but it has served me very well indeed.
Compare the before and after pics side by side to see the difference.
This one simple extra click will stop tens of thousands of visitors to Bikernet.com from smirking at your photographic efforts ?.
Yours in the interest of an ever-better Bikernet.
–Doc
Doc Robinson
Associate & Technical Editor
HEAVY DUTY Magazine
www.heavyduty.com.au
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