Sorry about last Sunday. I was returning from the Emerald City on the Colorado River. Let’s see what Sunday has in store:
One of the contributors to our Antique section is none other than Glen Bator, the Chandler Museum curator. He’s hosting the 3rd Annual Vintage Cycle Rally at the San Joaquin Valley King’s Fairgrounds on May 19. Gates open at 6 a.m. sharp.
I keep forgeting to mention Street Vibrations in Reno on Sept. 19-23. For all the scoop, check road-show.com.
The Digital Discovery team never hesitates to research even the oddest animals on the planet. This is a rat, but we don’t know where it came from. We’re on the hunt though.
A blonde decides to try horseback riding, even though she has had no lessons or experience. She mounts the horse unassisted and the horse immediately springs into motion.
It gallops along at a steady and rhythmic pace, but the blonde begins to slip from the saddle. In terror, she grabs for the horse’s mane, but cannot seem to get a firm grip. She tries to throw her arms around the horse’s neck, but she slides down the side of the horse anyway. The horse gallops?along, seemingly oblivious to its slipping rider. Finally, giving up her frail grip, the blonde attempts to leap away from the horse and throw herself to safety. Unfortunately, her foot has become entangled in the stirrup.
She is now at the mercy of the horse’s pounding hooves as her head is struck against the ground over and over.
As her head is battered against the ground, she is mere moments away from unconsciousness when to her great fortune, Bill, the Walmart greeter, sees her and unplugs the horse.
Big Dog and American Iron Horse are the staples of the manufactured custom motorcycle market. Big Dog has invested in a new, more efficient production facility with more than 100,000 square feet. We’ll bring you a company tour as soon as they’re drunk enough to let us in.
We’re fortunate to be watching this custom evolve on the free tech section of the site. Cyril Huze, a master customizing expert from Florida, is submitting weekly updates on his most recent creation. The guys in the garage are taking notes.
True to my word, I read your book (I take it I ain’t gett’n no $50 bucks, though…… HA!).?
For what it’s worth, you did good, dude. Aside from several misspellings, grammatical errors and have’n no dirty pictures to oggle over, the story line went quite well and kept my interest from begining to end. I’d read another one of yours, if that says anything to you. Seriously, though, you might lean a bit on who ever is doing your editing. The errors are strewn throughout. Many could have been caught by simply hitting spell check before going to print.
Well, you showed us your personal/professional handiwork. Here’s a taste of mine that’s out and about in various locations. Not so technical and?demanding as yours… but pays pretty well in the long run. Ride free, Bandit.
F.C. White (aka: Zzap!)
Spell what? F.C. White is a Washington-based sculptor and we hope to cover his talents in the Digital Discovery in the near future.
Like most Fortune 500 companies, we run background checks on all of our upper management. Accused of being a Yuppie, we followed Helen Wolfe, drag racing photographer and key team leader for the new Drag Racing Section on Bikernet, to the home she shares with drag racing legend “The Mailman.” We’re proud to say that this photograph of their family home in the Black Forest exonerates her of any such accusations.
There’s Something About a Ride, by Jim Coca
There’s something about the smell of damp morning pavement when the sun first begins to warm it. To me, it’s the smell of daybreak on the road, of travel, and of countless hours and days lost in thought amidst the rumble of exhaust and the clatter of valves. A long ride is always a time of discovery and solitude; it truly is the best of times.
I left Gillette early and headed to Rapid City for some blood work for this elusive ailment that seems to come and go. I took a sick day when I saw the weather–the only nice day for a week or so–an oasis of sunshine, light winds, warmth and blue sky. A perfect day to play hooky. So, feeling like a school-kid skipping high school, I stopped by Exit 14 Amoco, iced a sixer of my favorite traveling beer and stuck it in my saddlebags before continuing onward. By the time I hit Rapid, the electric vest and the heated grips were off. I swung by the doctor’s, gave them some blood, then headed south. I had the whole afternoon ahead of me, and I sure as hell wasn’t up for repeating the two hour drone on the interstate…it was almost 80 degrees by noon…in April…so I rocked on.
I caught Highway 79 south to Hermosa, then took 16A through a series of tunnels that led to Keystone, past Mount Rushmore, by Hill City, over to Custer, then down to Edgemont, and west to Mule Creek Junction and north to Newcastle before heading home to Gillette…all on two lanes. I even hit some snow and brush on one of the tunnel roads and had to take a dirt-road detour into Keystone (so it was a good GS day as well).
It turned out to be almost a 500-mile round trip of absolutely beautiful roads and scenery…and since it’s the “off season” and a weekday to boot, there were no motor homes to pass and hardly anybody else on the road. As far as other traveling bikes go, I saw another Beemer, a Dresser and a Goldwing…brothers of the road, and the three types of bikes that can always be found on any road, in any weather, in search of a journey.
I picked up a 12-inch sub in Custer, then had a beer and a lunch down a forest gravel side road on the way to Edgemont. I took a nap, wrote in my journal and enjoyed the solitude of a great ride and a great day.
For a brief space in time, I was completely free; what a bonus for April. The high temp for Saturday is supposed to be 43 with rain, and on Sunday, we’re supposed to have a range of 31-36 degrees with rain and snow…so I guess taking a fade on Wednesday was a good call…
–Ron
Is it Ron or Jim?
Just looked at the “Badlands” Buell (in the Tech Area or the Buell Report). The pictures really looked good! That along with the “Ink” made it killer. It left me a Buell rider wanting to see more of the bike. The cam cover came out good and leaving the rear dowel pin?boss was a wise?move. Also the air cleaner cover looks good. How do you like the Buell pipe? It works really good, huh? I like a SuperTrapp muffler myself. More tuning options for me.
Note: there is a recall?for that muffler. It’s a safety strap and a cable setup. Get it done before you go anywhere! Call the local dealer for info. A long ride will produce a lot of vibration down there.
For Sturgis, you might want to try a 55-tooth rear pulley. It’s a Buell International P/N. You probably have the motor now for it. It drops the rpm’s about 500 or so. Good for mileage and “High Speed Gear Jammin” down the road. You leave those big-inch, Big Twin slugs in the dust!
Also, the Baker Buell 6-speed?install would be a great addition to the bike and your articles.
–Secret Agent, Charolette H-D
A man met a beautiful lady and he decided he wanted to marry her right away.
She said, “But we don’t know anything about each other.”
He said, “That’s all right, we’ll learn about each other as we go along.” So she consented, and they were married.
They went on a honeymoon to a very nice resort. While they were lying by the pool one morning, he got up off of his towel, climbed the 10 meter board, and did a two-and-a-half-tuck gainer, followed by three rotations in the jackknife position. When he straightened out, he cut the water like a knife. After a few more demonstrations, he came back and lay down on the towel.
She said, “That was incredible!” He said, “I used to be an Olympic diving champion. You see, I told you we’d learn more about each other as we went along.” So she got up, jumped in the pool, and started doing laps. After about 30 laps, she climbed back out and lay down on her towel, hardly out of breath. He said, “That was incredible! Were you an Olympic endurance swimmer?”
“No,” she said, “I was a hooker in Venice and I worked both sides of the canal.”
We’ve hooked up with an online bike shop. We’re giving them a test. It’s our intention to make Bikernet the place to come for everything, except a drink and a girl. Too bad. We’re working on a real Bandit’s Cantina, though. Okay, so we wanted you to be able to get the parts you need here with the best possible service. So we hooked up with Chopperscycle.com out of Canada. They promise to take good care of you, so report in if they don’t. They currently carry the entire Custom Chrome Inc. and Chrome Specialties catalog. They’ll be adding more lines weekly. Let us know what you think.
— Terry
Hey, put a shot of Jack in your coffee. Finish it off and go for a ride. Let her sleep. You can roll out to the blues joint, listen to some tune and be back in time for a nooner. Ride forever, Bandit.
