General Posts

    A wreck can lead to a New Beginning.  Sunday, March 23, 2014, a day that will be remembered in Bikernet Baggers history as the day that I decided to total the new to us, 1997 FLHTC bagger. I picked it up from Lifestyle Cycle two months and roughly 3500 miles earlier. It dragged my ass from Bikernet Headquarters to the Bikernet Baggers garage hidden away in the Pacific Northwest. We rode together through rain, sleet, sunshine (yes we get that up here once in awhile) and I was just starting to find her faults and what needed to be fixed. When we picked her up she had 30,000 miles on her and was in great shape for a bike almost old enough to vote. We made some terrific upgrades to her with Samson True Duals, Saddlemen Profile Seat, Primo Rivera LED headlight, LA Chopper bars and Lyndall Racing Brakes in the front. She was really starting to come along. READ MORE!  

    All the news from the motorcycle industry that is fit to print.  This is an interesting day. I was hit with a 24-Hour Mung this week and missed Monday. It’s taken me all week to catch up with e-mail and such. We are not heavily political this week. Rogue is out of town, so he hasn’t barraged me with news reports. I mentioned the EPA being sued for not doing their job, well get this from Forbes Magazine. The EPA has a jihad against the evil coal industry although there is no scientific data to support it. And they are set to ban production and sale of 80 percent of current wood-burning stoves. I’ve also heard they plan to attach your backyard barbecue. ….. Let’s hit the news: CLICK to read

The Sturgis Buffalo Chip® proudly announces that the custom 2014 Harley-Davidson® Street Glide built by participants of the Chip’s Student Build Challenge received first place in the High School Build Open Class at the 27th annual Donnie Smith Bike Show this past Sunday, Read more

Lincoln Electric has just added the Jessi Combs Women’s Welding Gear Ready-Pak to its Welding Apparel product group. Female welders no longer need to wrestle with oversized jackets and gloves that don’t fit. The Jessi Combs Women’s Welding Gear Ready-Pak includes all of the essential personal protective equipment that a female professional welder would need. The new Ready-Pak includes the following gear: Lincoln industrial duffle bag VIKING Jessi vs. The Robot 3350 Series auto-darkening helmet Jessi Combs Women’s Shadow FR welding jacket Jessi Combs MIG/stick welding gloves Jessi Combs Steelworker gloves Women’s Starlite clear safety glasses FR doo rag For more information on Lincoln Electric’s Jessi Combs Women’s Welding Gear Ready-Pak®, call (888) 935-3877 or visit www.lincolnelectric.com to obtain E14.001.

In the late 1970’s, my Dad, Indian Joe Martin, and I had just finished restoring an Indian Sport Scout. We tried to kick start the bike but it would only hit and back-fire. We worked for hours trying to start the Indian. We had just about given up when my Mom came into the garage to tell us supper was ready. As she started back toward the house she turned and said, “If you switch the plug wires it will start.” My Dad laughed. After all, he had worked on Indians for years. To make a long story short, after kicking the bike for some time we decided to switch the plug wires. On the first kick the motor came to life and ran like a new motor. As we walked to the house my Dad turned to me and said, “If you ever tell your Mom she was right about the plug wires I will kick your butt.” I said nothing but later on after my Dad had passed; I asked my Mom if she remembered my Dad and I working on that Indian. That’s when she told me he had told her we took her advice about the plug wires, but he said not to tell me that it would be their secret. My Mom, Dad, as well as my brother David have passed on but we enjoyed helping my Dad run Indian Joe’s Antique Motorcycle Parts and helping others get their Indian’s back on the road. Ride on.   Advertisement

If you drive a motorcycle or a scooter, then certainly you know of the pains associated with street parking. Not only do you first have to deal with actually finding a parking spot for your compact vehicle, but you also run the additional risk of getting ticketed. Well, good news! Yesterday, CurbNinja launched its app, which allows users to find and share parking spots for two-wheeled vehicles. Check it out!

Harley-Davidson of Scottsdale announced Wednesday it plans to build a 146,000-square-foot building in the Scottsdale Airpark that would be one of the largest for the popular American motorcycle brand. “According to our calculations, it will be the world’s largest Harley-Davidson dealership,” General Manager Justin Johnson told a crowd of hundreds of Harley riders participating in a charity ride for Arizona Bike Week. Harley-Davidson of Scottsdale is one of three motorcycle dealerships owned by billionaire GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons. That includes Go AZ Motorcycles in Scottsdale, with nine brands, and Southern Thunder Harley-Davidson in Southaven, Miss. Parsons, a motorcycle enthusiast, also founded Spooky Fast Customs, which builds custom bikes. Read more

  Universal motorcycle helmet laws?   The study recommends universal motorcycle helmet laws as the sole method to reduce fatalities and injuries. The report fails to address ways to prevent or reduce motorcycle crashes. There is no mention of motorcycle training and education. The recommendation instead focuses on surviving the inevitable crash. Read Article   Advertisement  

    Harley-Davidson Advice on Avoiding Battery Abuse.   A motorcycle battery never gets a day off. The service experts at Harley-Davidson® point out that even when a motorcycle is parked the battery discharges continuously in small internal loads called “self-discharge.” Self-discharge speeds up drastically as the temperature rises – for example in a hot garage in the summer – and accessories like alarm systems will further increase the rate of discharge. If a battery is discharged too deeply, for too long, it may be permanently damaged. Instead of a V-Twin rumble, a push on the starter button produces … silence. And there goes a Saturday ride. CLICK to read