General Posts

  It’s incredible, the amount of news flying at us each week. New runs, new shows, new laws, new fights, fewer magazines, new models, better deals, you name it.   https://www.bikernet.com/pages/story_detail.aspx?id=14364&id=14364    Check it out. Our new format calls for membership to read the news. I hope it’s not too much of an inconvenience. It’s like a subscription to your favorite magazine only better. Plus, we will send you a signed book and bling if you sign up for two years. In the meantime, join your local motorcycle or national motorcycle rights group and keep up the fight for freedom.   –Bandit

  8-Time Land Speed Record Holder to make first appearance at Ireland’s biggest motorcycle promotional event Scottsdale, AZ (Feb. 5, 2019) – America’s Queen of Speed, Valerie Thompson, will kick off one of Europe’s largest celebrations of two-wheel racing and cruising at the 2019 Carole Nash Irish Motorbike & Scooter Show on March 1 in Dublin. Thompson is the only woman to attempt breaking the world’s fastest motorcycle record of 376 mph and the first female to exceed 300 mph in a two-wheeled streamliner. She set a new land speed record of 328.467 mph (528.616 km/h) at the DLRA Speed Week competition and survived a horrific 363 mph crash days later during the World Speed Trials in early 2018. “This will be my first visit to the Emerald Isle, and I can’t wait to get there. I’m looking forward to opening the Carole Nash Irish Motorbike and Scooter Show, especially as Ruth Lemass, the event organizer, has convinced me this event is one of Ireland’s biggest and most fun motorcycle celebrations,” said Thompson. “I hope to test drive some of the new 2019 models and experience Ireland’s beautiful cruising roads,” added Thompson. Thompson holds eight land speed records on a variety of bikes ranging from Harley-Davidsons to BMWs to Streamliners. She is a member of seven different land speed racing 200 MPH Clubs, one 300 MPH Club and is the only motorcycle racer ever featured in a Super Bowl commercial. “Valerie’s many land speed accomplishments have always impressed me and I’m definitely one of her biggest fans,” stated Ruth Lemass.  “I’ve been following Valerie’s amazing career over the past three years and I’m so pleased she has agreed to attend our event as the World’s Fastest Female on a motorbike – a world class achievement,” added Lemass. Valerie Thompson Background Valerie

  Frank and Frankie loaded the wrecked bike and delivered it back to the Bikernet Headquarters, where we started to wait for the repaired Spitfire girder. Unfortunately, it never arrived, and Frankie’s mom and bike building boyfriend, Domenic, pushed him to replace it with a glide. I didn’t like the notion of a glide for this bike and wanted to give Paul a shot to straighten it out. But ultimately, we started to look around and discussed it with Tim at Custom Cycle Engineering. SEE THE RESULTS HERE: When they are finished working on the sites. Upgrades happening now.   –Bandit

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — We know that more motorcycle owners these days are women, and now we know increasing percentages of all owners are married and college graduates, and they’re generally older, according to the 2018 Motorcycle Industry Council Owner Survey. “Demographics are changing for Americans across the country and it’s no different for motorcycle owners,” said MIC President and CEO Tim Buche. “For decades, the MIC Owner Survey has told us a lot about who we are, and we’re now learning how things have shifted since our last study was done in 2014. Some of the stats are encouraging, like the increasing number of women owners, while other data, such as the rising median age, show where we have more work to do.” Gender, Age, Marital Status Male Owners – 81 percent Female Owners – 19 percent Median Age 2018 – 50 2014 – 47 2012 – 45 Married 2018 – 68 percent 2014 – 61 percent 2012 – 63 percent Education, Income and Work Status College Graduate 2018 – 24 percent 2014 – 20 percent 2012 – 17 percent Median Household Income 2018 – $62,500 2014 – $62,200 2012 – $64,100 Employed – 71 percent Retired – 24 percent The owner survey also uncovered trends among the emerging group of millennial motorcyclists. More than half have taken a training course and use their bikes frequently for commuting. Sixty-nine percent say they are interested in electric motorcycles, citing fuel and the environment as top drivers. “For the past several years, manufacturers have offered more great entry-level motorcycles at affordable prices,” Buche said, “while at the same time focusing on increasing the industry’s outreach to millennials.” The Motorcycle Industry Council exists to preserve, protect and promote motorcycling through government relations, communications and media relations, statistics and research, aftermarket

  Fort Collins, CO (February 4, 2019) – Realities Ride, the world’s largest poker run and fundraising vehicle for Realities For Children charity, will host it’s annual rally and ride for the kids on Memorial Day Weekend, May 25th and 26th, 2019. Advance tickets are now on sale. Celebrating those who’ve served in our armed forces and helping Northern Colorado children in need, Realities Ride has been bringing people together on Memorial Day weekend for the past 18 years. This year’s event kicks off Saturday, May 25, at 11 a.m., with the Presentation of the Colors and the singing of the National Anthem. Featuring motorcycle stunt shows, Schrader’s Grand Prix adult trike races, Cycle Source Magazine Bike Show and Motorcycle Rodeo, the Patriotic Pin-up Girl Contest, Hooters Bikini Bike Wash, live music and vendors offering everything from BBQ to tattoos, the Realities Ride rally is not to be missed. Advance tickets are available here. On Sunday, May 26, thousands of riders will join together in Fort Collins for the World’s Largest Poker Run. Held to benefit children who have been abused, neglected or are otherwise at risk, Realities Ride provides a fun and patriotic way to honor our service men and women and help a population who really needs it. Participants can make their ride even more meaningful by choosing to Ride for a Fallen Hero—these riders receive a card with a photo and service description of a fallen soldier. Registration opens at 8 a.m., and the spectacular parade starts at 9:30. Thanks to the generosity of the event’s sponsors, 100% of participants’ $30 ride donation goes to benefit children in need in Northern Colorado. Special VIP tickets are also available for $100, which includes food and drinks at the Rally all weekend long. Last year’s event raised nearly $120,000 for this worthy, charitable cause. So come out

  Last week, we emailed and posted on our website a guest newsletter entitled Are Cyclists Vision Zero Zealots? written by Eric Berg, an NMA Board Member, an NMA Life Member, an avid sport bicyclist, and a staunch defender of motorists’ rights. Readers, including some of whom (like Eric) are bicyclists, responded with interesting perspectives which follow.   Eric Berg is certainly correct when he states that these issues are usually not black and white. I suspect that’s particularly true even within groups like the Washington Area Bicyclists’ Association, to which I belonged most of the years I lived in that city, and Mass Bike, to which I now belong.   I’m a leisure/commuter cyclist (and a long-ago veteran of a Seattle to Boston ride). I’m very much opposed to efforts to discourage driving, notably the 25 mph speed limits that have sprung up all over Boston and other metro areas. (I would note that Washington DC now has speed bumps in neighborhoods all over the city.) If these laws were enforced (so far as I can tell, they are not enforced in the Boston area, but I am uncertain about that) they would increase stop and go traffic, since reducing speeds means more cars will be on the road at any given time, and the increasing traffic density will cause traffic snarls.   As for Vision Zero, this idealistic campaign ignores the law of diminishing returns. A better way to reduce fatalities and maimings–both laudable goals–would be to ban use of electronics and infotainment in moving vehicles.   I don’t ride on streets nearly as much as I used to–I rode 3,600 miles annually during the 1980s and early ’90s─because I’m especially afraid of people texting. I am lucky to live very close to bicycle paths that take me

  WOMEN OF FOOTBALL EVENT  Fourth Annual Salute to Women in Sports On Sat., Feb. 2 ATLANTA, GA – Paramount Pictures’ WHAT MEN WANT fourth annual Women of Football event presented by Women Rising will return to the Super Bowl week event lineup in Atlanta on Sat., Feb. 2 from 12:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. EST., at American Cut Steakhouse. In partnership with Paramount Pictures’ new film, WHAT MEN WANT, the event will feature a Q&A with the film’s producer Will Packer (Girl’s Trip, Night School, Think Like a Man), special VIP & celebrity guests, NFL industry influencers, live music from Atlanta’s DJ Hourglass and 13-year-old Lauren Mckenzie, and heavy hors d’oeuvre & signature cocktails. Red carpet arrivals begin at 12:00 p.m. Media Check-in is at 11:30 a.m. “Women make incredibly important contributions to the professional football industry, and play such a critical role in the lives of NFL players,” said Kelli Masters, one of the event’s founding members. “These amazing individuals deserve to be celebrated!” Ali Davis (Taraji P. Henson) is a successful sports agent who’s constantly boxed out by her male colleagues. When Ali is passed up for a well-deserved promotion, she questions what else she needs to do to succeed in a man’s world… until she gains the ability to hear men’s thoughts! With her newfound power, Ali looks to outsmart her colleagues as she races to sign the next basketball superstar, but the lengths she has to go to will put her relationship with her best friends and a potential new love interest (Aldis Hodge) to the test. WHAT MEN WANT is the latest comedy from director Adam Shankman (HAIRSPRAY) and producers Will Packer and James Lopez (GIRLS TRIP), co-starring Tracy Morgan, Richard Roundtree, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Josh Brener, Tamala Jones, Phoebe Robinson, Max Greenfield, Jason Jones, Brian Bosworth, Chris Witaske