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BIKERNET CARIBBEAN REPORT– I don’t know if you have noticed, but recently there’s a lot more “talking” and a lot less news, so you may ask why ? Of course I’m going to answer this, my way, since I pre-hooked the question. I don’t know if the things that I use for the news are less important to me today, like such and such ride of the local HOG, or any other sort of irrelevant information, or it’s simply that the “biking” scene this side of the Atlantic is not hot and happening right now (event wise). Or it could be that we ( I and all) are really too busy to keep the network going. Sometimes the best news are the ones I can’t share with you guys. May it be that the event or action is planned for the future and until it happens, I can’t say shit. Sometimes it’s information I should not share or was are asked not to.
I enjoy ranting about general stuff. If you want to get something different let me know, I might have an idea or two up my sleeve. Like I’ve said many times before, everything changes. We are in constant evolution, well maybe not everything. Sometimes when I am laying around, thinking about what should I write, some ideas stick and stay , then they start evolving. This one started as simple as a short ride to one of our local hang outs.
We all change, right? Some decide to live in the glory days past. Styles, bikes, clothing, it all changes, or does it ?I was riding a couple nights ago to a party for Cinco de Mayo. I took one of the choppers at the shop, randomly, and rode away, but you know what’s funny, I felt totally uncomfortable and out of place. I was not “happy” riding. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like a chopper is a replacement for Prozac. The bike is as neat as can be, rigid chop, with a potent motor and really nice lines. It’s a bike I really enjoyed breaking in, but I hated it for some reason. It wasn’t the bike, it was me….
While all the hot chicks were dancing and pounding the Tequilas and Cervezas, I could not get the sense of “not liking it” out of my mind. Don’t get me wrong. It was hard to get a decent thought, since the party was full on, and needless to say, the Puertorrican beauties in those low cut jeans and shirts make a pretty strong “point”. But I still pondered. Between mental images of hot babes girating, I have realized the reasons, or the reason, I’ve changed.While sometimes I don’t give a fuck what I am riding, like when people lend me a bike or want me to try it out. It really matters to me what I do ride, to put it mildly, sometimes I’d rather walk than ride a bike I don’t like. Yeah call me a snob, what the hell do I care. This all started more or less five years ago, on one of my early dates with my current ex. We went riding and I grabbed a Fat Boy (for her comfort) but man was I a sorry ass, lame, puppy. I hated the ride. Yeah, it’s retarded, new girl on the back, kick ass beach roads, the tropics, and still I felt totally out of place, uncomfortable should be the right word and it was the bike.
As we all have styles, guess what? So do I, and I’m calling mine, “minimalistic” simplicity at it’s purest form, or like Frank Lloyd Wright coined, “Less is More”.I hated that short ride because the bike had mirrors, speedo, switches and a whole lot of other stuff that I really don’t like, stuff that clutters the area and in reality are of no purpose, (by the way before we keep on and for the sake of argument, have you ever had a mirror that worked?). It had the wrong bars (for me) and too many of those gadgets that the DOT make manufacturers use in order to get the “Sticker”. I might be sounding like a prima donna to some, but I guess I can choose what I want, Right?
To top it off, I have been rebuilding my old Pan chop and while trying to do it with the less money possible, I find myself looking for stuff that would, and now hear this, make me happy. I don’t really give a flying fuck if it works or looks good, I like stuff that you can barely see, or even better that can’t be seen or is not even there.
Sure I have to be reasonable, I can use jockey shift / suicide clutch, but in PR I would be really dumb if I did not have a front brake, or at least something to grab the bike while I take off. I have a couple choices, and the usual would be a six piston, 13″ rotor, nope, wrong. The smaller the better, 2-piston, 8 1/2″ rotor. I’ve been going crazy trying to find the smallest (hope invisible) master cylinder possible, such is the way it is. Sure I may go with a 250 tire, or 120 spokes, but at least it’s clean and simple, not over done aluminum stuff with intricate designs, like the norm is today. Front fenders are history, if it rains, you get wet, rear fenders, minimal, just enough space for a back rest and maybe a bitch pad, gas tanks with enough capacity to get you to the next station. I guess you know what I mean.
It’s not my call to do “theme” bikes, nor overdone baggers. We follow our path, as simple as that. I’m taking a wild guess and would say that’s the state of mind of the early bobbers and choppers…Just a hunch.Anyway, this is a small example of what I mean. This line of thought is too long for here, check upcoming issues of The Horse for the full story.
A now to the news…..or lack there off…. The local HOG chapter celebrated their Mother’s day ride last Sunday. The numbers are in the 300’s. I bet they had a lot of fun wearing leather chaps and jackets in 90 degree weather. As always, and as it always be, I did not go. I heard they had fun doing the Macarena.
By the way, Happy Mother’s day to everyone out there. Remember it’s this Sunday. Get to the store before all the cards are gone.
I just received Freeway magazine from France, Rumble Customs has it’s Camel Bike featured there, plus a really cool story on Daytona 2003 by every member of the staff. Also a few cool choppers from all over. Those guys have a really great publication, too bad it’s only available in France and of course french.
Anyway…I’m outta here.
–Jose, Caribbean Bikernet reporter
BANDIT’S CANTINA PLUG–There’s a new episode of Bandit’s Cantina Soap Opera up in the Cantina. Don’t miss it. By joining you support all of Bikernet for better and mo’ content. Just click on the link at the bottom of any page.
Do it for Mom.
–Wilburn Roach
FINALLLY BAD DRIVER TAKES THE FALL–A Des Moines charter van driver and his employer face 14 criminal charges between them nearly a year after a Tama County crash killed three motorcyclists and critically injured three others on U.S. Highway 30.
Gary Butler, 48, allegedly fell asleep at the wheel of the empty van on June 22. The van crossed the center line of the two-lane highway near Chelsea and slammed into six eastbound motorcycles.
Butler shuttled railroad workers from eastern Iowa to Boone for Armadillo Express, a Cheyenne, Wyo., charter company.
A grand jury decided Monday to charge Butler with three counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of serious injury by vehicle. The company was charged with an additional three counts of involuntary manslaughter. Butler testified that he had been tired after a long shift, witnesses said.
The crash killed three motorcyclists who rode nearest to the center line: Arlen Pickering, 53, of Story City; Douglas Sampson, 51, of Ames; and Ross Holland, 57, of Boone. The injured men were Jim Olson, 62, Richard Vauble, 50, and Wayne Wierson, 56, all of Ames.
Olson, who was hospitalized with a brain injury for four months, suffered hearing loss in one ear, eye damage and a loss of balance.
He has no memory of the accident, but said he was riding last in the line of motorcycles. Reports indicate that Olson laid down his motorcycle and slid around the wreckage. The impact threw him into the air, and he landed on pavement more than 100 feet from his motorcycle.
“I never liked life the way I have in the last few months because I’m alive,” Olson said. “But my friends aren’t.”
The experienced motorcyclists were on their way to a motorcycle open house in Anamosa. It wasn’t clear where Butler was going.
All the crash survivors and families of the victims are suing Butler for undetermined sums of money, Olson said.
He said the crash caused him to leave his job and collect disability payments. The former water-softener dealer bought a new motorcycle, but hasn’t taken it for a ride.
“I guess I’m not ready to,” he said.
Send a letter to the editor Bro, this will show that some people still value human life. The pisser is the punishment won’t fit the crime, but it’s a start. The newspaper is The Des Moines Register (Iowa). –from David Dinneen Continued On Page 4
