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TEXAS CONNECTION REPORT–Tried to send from home last night but something was amiss. I kept thinking the tank image was blurry but it is the flames that stand out.
Bike Night at Jack’s Backyard in Austin, Texas was the place to be last Thursday. We broke the 600+ bike mark! Some lucky rider got a check for $600 bucks for pulling in at the right time! They announced his name but Hell by then I had found other interests to occupy my time. I believe they started the cash give away at the 400-bike mark, then again at 500. That was last year before the holidays. So it took a while to make this milestone.
It was like a reunion of sorts last week I ran into folks I hadn’t seen in a while. Saw the lovely Crystal and Sportbike Girl. Tye was MIA this evening.
Then there are the “Social Butterflies”, Shelly and Randon. Of course I am sure I just misspelled both their names and will be in trouble. Shelly came up to me several times and asked why I did not use her picture didn’t make the home page last time. I explained that I don’t have the power. I just hate to disappoint a beautiful woman! I was fortunate to share their company off & on throughout the entire evening. They flitter through the crowd being Social Ambassadors and having fun.
It’s tough to find a place to park even when you make an early arrival. I believe I saw representatives from all of the clubs; even the police officers that ride were there with their club members. Everyone was having fun.
So ladies, if you make Bike Night at Jack’s Backyard just look for the suave, debonair gentlemen taking pictures. If you can’t find him, look for me instead. I can usually be found taking photos of cute girls with a double Jack Daniels close at hand.
See Y’all There!
Rigid Frame Richard
MADD?s 24 POINT STRATEGY TO KILL FREEDOM–
1.???? Get people to believe government statistics (not an easy task) by adopting them as our own. Interpret them in our favor.
2.???? Blame alcohol for causing all accidents and deaths no matter what the actual cause, as long as any measurable amount of alcohol is present at the scene.
3.???? Define drunk driver as any passenger, pedestrian, bicyclist and/or driver with an alcohol reading above .00. If two passengers were drinking and the driver was sober, add 2 to the total drunk drivers involved in the accident.
4.???? Add a percentage of sober & ?alcohol unknown? drivers to the total, just for good measure.
5.???? Round all of the phony percentages up: 41% becomes 50%, 16,400 becomes 17,000.
6.???? Stress stories from Mothers with personal tragedies, not our $44 million corporate structure and the Men in charge.
7.???? Refer to accidents as crashes. It sounds more dramatic and implies that they could have all been prevented if drivers did not drink.
8.???? Lobby Congress for money for the NHTSA so they can “grant” more money to us.
9.???? Define the ratio of blood alcohol to breath alcohol as 2100:1 even though the range varies from about 1300:1 to 3500:1
10. Label drunk drivers violent criminals and compare them to murderers and rapists.
11. Begin using the term impaired driver so that even if the driver is not legally drunk, they can still be arrested.
12. Spend over $200 million in 20 years to convince the public that this is a more serious social issue than healthcare, poverty or education.
13. Swap employees with government agencies and research groups who will promote our cause.
14. Solicit money from groups that will benefit from more arrests, like insurance companies.
15. Lump the social drinkers in with the hard-core drunks and threaten them with vague statements like, ?You drink, you drive. You lose.?
16. Support police roadblocks to stop people without probable cause who don?t display any drunk driving characteristics.
17. Convince lawmakers to sentence drunks to mandatory attandance at our Victim Impact Panels and collect over $2 million each year for the effort.
18. ?Pass laws to shred anyone?s drivers license on the spot if they refuse to incriminate themselves by taking the breath test and suspend it for one year even if they are found not guilty of DUI.
19. Pass laws to suspend the drivers license of everyone convicted of DUI, so they can?t earn money to buy alcohol. Impound their car, if we want to.
20. Continue to cite studies that support our cause even if they have been discredited by other studies that we also cite.
21. Continue to push for lower legal alcohol limits so more people qualify for arrest and deny that we are actually for virtual Prohibition.
22. Never show any sympathy or concern for the suicides, ruined careers and failed marriages of thousands of people arrested for DUI?even those who caused no accident, injury or death. After all they are still violent criminals.
23. Never worry about awkward Constitutional issues like probable cause, self-incrimination, right to counsel, cruel & unusual punishment, trial by jury and illegal search.
24. Spoon feed the press distorted and exaggerated information knowing that they?ll never check its veracity.
All information is from MADD, NHTSA (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration) web sites and the American Institute of Philanthropy.
–from Rogue
FRENCH IS BEST– Three men; an Italian, a Spanish and a French go for a job interview in England.
Before the interview, they were told that they must compose a few sentences in English with three main words: green, pink and yellow.
The Italian was first: “I wake up in the morning. I see the yellow sun. I see the green grass and I think to myself, I hope it will be a pink day.”
The Spanish was next: “I wake up in the morning; I eat a yellow banana, a green avocado and in the evening I watch the pink panther on TV.”
Last was the French: “I wake up in ze morning, I hear ze phone “green…green…”, I pink up ze phone and say “Yellow?”
ANNUAL NCOM CONVENTION–“Winds of Change” will be the theme of the 19th annual NCOM Convention, being held May 6-8, 2004 at the Biltmore Hotel in Oklahoma City, located at 401 S. Meridian, and hosted by ABATE of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Confederation of Clubs. For room reservations call (800) 522-6620, and mention NCOM for a special room rate of $64.00 single/double. Convention fees are $75 per person, including the Silver Spoke Awards Banquet, or $40 for Convention only. Pre-registration is recommended.
For further information, call NCOM at (800) 525-5355, or log-on to our website at www.aimncom.com.
If you have any inclination of being more involved in the legislative side of motorcycling attend one of these conferences. You’ll discover a vast knowledge base and the active heart behind our industry. Incredible.–Bandit
PRO-BUILDER RIGID–Check out this slick new build-to-order chassis from PRO-ONE. Designated the PRO-BUILDER RIGID, it incorporates a number of unique design features including the optional single downtube, pointed motor mount and rear axle housings shown here. Designed specifically to accommodate EVO and TC88 engines with strokes up to 4 inches, the PRO-BUILDER can be used with left or right hand drive units, accepts 180/200 and 250 tires and features CNC machined steel tabs and brackets throughout.
Recognizing the importance of personalized machinery, PRO-ONE will provide the frames with backbone stretch, rake and styling changes to meet individual requirements. For complete details call 800-884-4173 or check out the full PRO-ONE line at www.pro-one.com.
THAT’S IT-LET’S RIDE–I hope the sun’s out in your area. It’s gloomy and gray here. Whatta downer. I need some warmth. I’m working on bikes this afternoon, need to warm up the shop.
We’re rockin’ with new gates being installed, new lights for the shop and I may pop for a tubing bender so we can bend pipes. Look out we may finish the Shrunken FXR in the next week.
–Bandit