General Posts

Hey, It’s interesting how life can twist.Sometimes we like it and others we don’t, but it never stops twisting and turning until the end. Then as we have discovered there isn’t an end… You will see in this piece many twists and turns of the industry, motorcycling, you name it. Many of us look at these elements and shrug our shoulders, like damn, that’s too bad. But behind each shift are the folks who relied on a paycheck. Often with magazines there are hundreds of contributors who also relied on magazines to survive. Bikernet has done our best to help dozens of former staff members and contributors over the years, as time has changed and the industry shifted. Let’s hit the news and see how things pan out. Click here to read it all.

Hey, It’s a day of progress.Franky will get his Tattoo Dyna ready for a trip to Bennett’s Performance on Saturday. He worked out a Tattoo Deal to get his FXR rear belt replaced. The lastest Horse magazine arrived in the mail yesterday. We heard they were in trouble, but up pops a new issue. Parts arrived for my strange Panhead project from J&P Cycle and Franky delivered them to Bob Bennett for the rebuild. The master painter Deny is almost finished with the ’64, ’69, and ’79 Panhead paint job. What the hell? We have high hopes for the Easyriders pending deal. It came after the auction deal didn’t work, but this deal was initiated by the auction, so maybe the auction didn’t fail. “Still working on it,” said Joe Teresi, the publisher this morning. “No news!” Our mural is scrambling along. I have a meeting regarding my VA benefits on Friday. I did three tours in Vietnam on the first fleet flag ship. I came back unaware of the physical impact. I’m still trying to find the perfect Pickup for Bikernet. I’m looking for around a 2012 Ford F150 with an extended cab and long bed. I’m going to drive it to Kugal Customs for a couple of mods, then doctor it with Bikernet bling and drive away. Click here to read all of the news.

How much fun can one have on three wheels? We found the answer with Polaris’ new 2018 line of road-hugging screamers. Read more.

Over the Labor Day weekend, I got to work on a special project at a body shop around L.A. In the space next to me was a team of guys who spent no more than 24 hours fixing an old Toyota. They wanted to get it done so that one of the guys’ mom could drive to work in a car that wasn’t all mangled up and was the same color all over. It wasn’t particularly pretty work, it wasn’t done by the rules, but it would have to do. One guy was mixing and applying plastic filler with extra hardener so it would cure quickly, while another was thrashing with an orbital sander mere minutes after the goop was applied. Anyway, they stayed up all night and ended up painting the car around 3:00 am. When I came to work the next day at 8:00, there were many bottles of Pacifico beer laying around the shop, trays of half-eaten enchiladas, salsa and tortilla chips piled high on top of wrecked cars in the alley. I spotted two of the hard-working, hard-driking guys asleep, face down on pieces of cardboard that they laid right on top of the dusty shop floor.  Mom’s car was mostly back together by noon, and it looked OK from 30 feet. That would have to do… Anyway, this picture reminds me of the mad dash I was a witness to, and I thought I would share it here.

Can-Am 500, Polaris Slingshot Ride Command, Rewaco Trike discounts, and a monster dealer in Florida. Read more.

Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Ed Krawiec used a Harley-Davidson Street Rod competition motorcycle to crush the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle field at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway. Krawiec was the top qualifier for the prestigious Labor Day weekend event, heading the class with a 6.822-second elapsed time. In Monday’s elimination rounds Krawiec set the quickest time of the day with a 6.842-second blast at 196.56 mph in round one and then proceeded to charge through the field. His final-round win was the third of the season for the three-time world champion and the 39th of his career. “This was a really big win for us,” said Krawiec. “We showed the rest of the field that we have our new chassis figured out and we’ll be bringing two very fast Harley Street Rods to the Countdown. We are here to play and they better be ready.” Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines qualified second at 6.825 seconds and advanced to the second round of eliminations on Monday. Hines set the top Pro Stock Motorcycle speed of the Indy weekend when his Street Rod race bike was clocked at 197.22 mph Krawiec and Hines have both secured slots in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, open to the top ten racers in each NHRA class. Krawiec is the number two Pro Stock Motorcycle seed for the Countdown and Hines, a five-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion, is seeded sixth. The Harley-Davidson® Street Rod™ production motorcycle is an agile middle-weight powered by the liquid-cooled High Output Revolution X 750 engine tuned for maneuvering through traffic and congestion. The new Harley-Davidson Street Rod drag bikes made their racing debut at the NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown, N.J. in June. “This was the prefect weekend to get the new

Hey, It’s been sorta hot on the coast and I’m sure the desert near Three Palms (the rest, 26, burnt down), California and Vegas is smokin’ hot. The south is under water and it had to be caused because someone bailed out the auto industry and they’ve sold too many cars causing global warming, climate change and devastation. It had to be our fault. The earth has been perfect for millions of years until we came along and lite the first bonfire, cooked meat and the rest is history… I have another one to consider. I keep reading about radical Muslims and the blame game. Power hungry humans have made every historic mistake possible in the desire to expand their religion or power. Most have ultimately had their asses handed to them. But I sense the current issue is not about religion or history, but population. Two many folks on the planet and you’re bound to find splinter groups. Hell, they need something to do. So, can we give them something positive to do? Of course, and I have something to add at the end… Let’s hit the news. Grab a Cantina subscription here.

Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA, today announced a production delay for the 2018 Star Venture transcontinental touring motorcycle. This delay will result in delivery of the new model to dealerships and customers in the latter half of December, 2017. “The excitement and reception of the 2018 Yamaha Star Venture exceeded all of our initial expectations,” said Mike Doughty, General Manager of Yamaha’s Motorcycle Group. “This production delay is a very unfortunate situation, but we stand by our commitment to the quality of our motorcycles, and the highest level of customer service for both our customers and our dealers.” The announcement is being shared with Star Venture customers who participated in the Priority Delivery Program, as well as Yamaha Dealers nationwide, after the U.S. distributorship (YMUS) was informed by Yamaha Motor Corporation (YMC) of a needed modification to the production process at the factory located in Japan. As part of their commitment to customer service, Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. (YMUS) will be providing customers who participated in the Priority Delivery Program with a $1,000 Genuine Yamaha Parts and Accessories purchase credit. The company will be taking action to keep ongoing communication with its customers and dealers in place, and plans to move forward with production as soon as possible.