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BIG DOG INTRODUCES NEW STYLING AND ELECTORNIC FUEL INJECTION FOR 2007– In the Company?s 2007 five bike line-up, four are crowned with 300 series rear tires and its flagship, the Bulldog, is reintroduced with EFI.
Big Dog Motorcycles, the leader in the high style cruiser niche and number 2 American V-Twin motorcycle manufacturer, unveiled its complete 2007 model line and made another giant leap forward in the premium motorcycle industry with fatter tires, new styling features, and new technologies.
?Big Dog Motorcycles created the benchmark by which other custom manufacturers are judged,? commented Nick Messer, company president. ?As the competition continues its crusade to catch up, we continue to set new, higher standards in terms of design and performance.?
The entire 2007 line of two chopper-style motorcycles and three pro-street cruisers have all of the styling cues that clearly identify them as the work of Big Dog Motorcycles engineers: ?
Aggressive Lines ?
Gleaming Chrome and Polished Aluminum ?
Radical Frame Rakes and Stretches ?
NEW Curved Downtubes ?
AND-Continuing a long Big Dog Motorcycles tradition- MASSIVE rear tires.
Four models– The Bulldog, K-9, Mastiff, and the Pitbull are marked with full foot-wide 300 series rear tires, while the Chopper has its own significant 250.
Pushing the envelope was not limited to style. Each model is armed with a potent 117 cubic inch V-Twin engine (1916cc) and refined Baker 6-speed transmission.
The engine, in most models, is fed by a Super G carburetor; the Bulldog is now electronically fuel injected for better performance, improved throttle response, increased torque, easier starting, and cleaner emissions.
The award-winning BDM Balance Drive System, with it?s exclusive clutch, primary, and transmission enhances the bike?s balance, agility, and lean angles, resulting in a motorcycle as comfortable devouring canyons as it is cruising down the boulevard.
The 2007 line also offers braking performance and other features to match. Two-piece full floating rotors and four-piston calipers give the rider unrivaled braking control, feel, and confidence. Other standard components include: ?
a hidden oil tank ?
rear mounted kickstand ?
stretched one piece tank ?
steel fenders ?
speedometer with integrated LED tachometer ?
custom-designed polished aluminum wheels ?
Innovative Electronics
Stay tuned to Bikernet.com in the next few weeks for the largest, most informative breakdown of each model offered by Big Dog in 2007. We will have exclusive pics, tech sheets, and information which will entail the most comprehensive bike launch ever on Bikernet.com.
ERIC TAKES OVER ROADBIKE MAGAZINE– After two decades of west-coast-based motojournalism and communications work, I’m taking the experience I’ve built along the way to Connecticut as the editor of RoadBike magazine.
Although I’d like to thank each of you individually for the friendship, sage advice and valuable lessons bestowed upon me in this time, an email will have to suffice–for now.
For those who haven’t seen the official release, I’ve included it as an attachment.
I’ll be moving in the next 30 days. Until then, you can reach me using the contact information below.
I look forward to working with–and among–you in the years to come.
–Eric
Office: 714/444-4034
Mobile: 949/279-0909
LONG BEACH PROMOTES SNITCHES– LONG BEACH – Next time that jerk throttles his obnoxiously loud motorcycle down your street at 2 a.m., don’t hesitate to call police.
And if you’re sick of being jolted awake at 6 a.m. by the ear-busting leaf blower outside your window, don’t just take the abuse – tell the culprit he’s breaking the law!
After all, city ordinance 8.80.200 prevents leaf blowers from blowing until 8 a.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. Sundays.
Noise pollution was the topic of a town hall meeting this week organized by 2nd District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, who said common courtesy is often missing in densely populated Long Beach.
“I know in the grand scheme of things some of these things don’t rate very high” on police priority lists, said Lowenthal at Thursday night’s “Let’s Talk About Noise” Town Hall. “But quality of life is very important, and these issues affect all of us.”
Unlike several surrounding cities, Long Beach does have laws in place regarding noise.
Noise from airplanes, power tools, barking dogs, construction crews, loud stereos, horns, birds, television, filming, concerts, police sirens, air conditioners and lawn mowers.
You name the source, the city probably has guidelines.
Long Beach even has a Noise Control Officer, Robert Hunt, who fields noise complaints from residents and businesses and can monitor noise with a portable decibel meter.
— By Kristopher Hanson, Staff writer, Press Telegram
LOCAL MOTORCYCLE SAFETY INSTRUCTOR DIES IN MARYLAND MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT– RISING SUN, Md. – A King of Prussia woman was killed in a truck-versus-motorcycle accident involving two Pennsylvania residents in Maryland Tuesday afternoon.
State police said the 43-year-old King of Prussia woman killed was a motorcycle safety instructor in suburban Philadelphia.
Her motorcycle struck a truck driven by a Lancaster man when he made a left-hand turn on Route One in Cecil County. Police did not release the victim’s name.
The truck driver, 37-year-old Jose Torres-Arroyo, was ticketed for negligent driving and failure to yield the right of way while turning.
A woman riding on another motorcycle with the crash victim was not injured, police said.
U.S. CHOPPERS SNEAK PEAK– Notice the perimeter brake ala: Hank Young. Also the rear Sprotor set-up by ISR ala: Gard Hollinger. The Kiwi Indian Leaf Spring fork, ala Mike Tomas, The saddle leather seat ala : Azteka Leather And of course, the one and only Boardtrack frame from the Janitor at U.S. Choppers
–U.S. Choppers
2039 S. Lyon St
Santa Ana, CA 92705
714-546-4699
Appointments Only Please
http://www.uschopper.com/
WISCONSIN LAWMAKER URGES ARMING TEACHERS– MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A state lawmaker, worried about a recent string of deadly school shootings, suggested arming teachers, principals and other school personnel as a safety measure and a deterrent.
VIDEO: Congressman suggests arming teachers It might not be politically correct, but it has worked effectively in other countries, Republican Rep. Frank Lasee said Wednesday.
“To make our schools safe for our students to learn, all options should be on the table,” he said. “Israel and Thailand have well-trained teachers carrying weapons and keeping their children safe from harm. It can work in Wisconsin.”
In Thailand, where officials have been waging a bloody fight with Muslim separatists for the last two years, some teachers carry weapons for self defense as they are viewed as part of the government.
In Israel, teachers are not allowed to carry weapons in the school, but security guards at the entrances are armed.
Lasee said he planned to introduce legislation that would allow school personnel to carry concealed weapons. He stressed that it would hinge on school staff members getting strict training on the use of the weapons, and he acknowledged he would have to work around a federal law that bans guns on school grounds.
The director of school safety for Milwaukee Public Schools, Pete Pochowski, opposed the idea. “Statistically, the safest place for a child to be is in school,” Pochowski said. “We have problems in our schools, but not to the point where we need to arm our teachers and principals.”
Last week, a 15-year-old Wisconsin student was arrested in the shooting death of Weston Schools Principal John Klang. The criminal complaint said the teen brought guns to school to confront students, teachers and the principal.
ARE YOU REGISTERED TO BE APART OF THE BIG TWIN WEST EXPERIENCE– Big Twin West held December 1-3, 2006 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas Nevada – is not just another tradeshow! We pride ourselves on creating the ultimate Big Twin Experience and have combined features and events with our trade focus to deliver a business-building industry event unlike any other. Spend three days of networking with Big Twin exhibitors and discovering Big Twin trends as you preview the newest products for the 2007 buying season. Get a jumpstart on your competition by stocking your shelves with 2007’s accessories and merchandise!
EPA Regulations Forum
Confused About the New Government Regulations? Big Twin West hosts a forum led by Tom Austin – Co-founder and Senior Partner at Sierra Research, one of the leading research and consulting firms in the field of air pollution control – and a panel of industry leaders to answer your questions about how these regulations affect your business and the future of the big twin industry. Sponsored by Big Twin Dealer , presented by the MIC this forum is open to all Big Twin West attendees as part of your show experience.
Big Twin Dealer Live! Seminar Series
Our valuable seminar series brings the pages of Big Twin Dealer Magazine to life, as experienced columnists provide you valuable business tools:
Remodel Without Rebuilding with Steve Zarwell. Merchandising 101 taught by Mercedes Ross. What is a 20 Group? Get your quesions answered! Attend our Daytona Twin Tec Fuel Injection Class
Visit www.bigtwinwest.com for a complete seminar schedule.
The Ness Collection at Big Twin West
Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to view the most comprehensive collection of Ness Motorcycles and memorabilia, outside of Dublin, California at Big Twin West. As a Big Twin West attendee you will have the opportunity to view Motorcycles, Memorabilia, Trophies and Artwork from Arlen’s personal collection.
Autograph Signing Session with Arlen & Cory Ness
11:00am – 1:00pm * 2:30pm – 4:30pm Daily
Big Twin West Industry Party
You’re invited to relax for a night away from business with a much-deserved evening of fun. Eat, drink and socialize with old and new friends at the most attended event outside of the exhibit halls. Your Big Twin West badge is all you need to attend this annual event!
Saturday, December 2, 2006 * 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm * Mandalay Bay Islander Ballroom
Telephone 800-556-3369 US & Canada 213-740-7130 International
WORLD FINALS AT BONNEVILLE CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN– I am a little bummed, the World Finals was cancelled… was all loaded ready to go Monday am when I found out. We solved a few issues with the bike, a new ram air box, gearing, revised cooling system. We are up 20% more hp… but there is always next year.
I have been planning on building a big motor/big power bike. I think Buell, this way I don`t stray too far away from what I am use to.
The front end by Leo, in Colorado, worked very well, figuring out geometry is important though, I have ran at 135mph on rough road, it is very stable. You can call Leo at 303 438-8991 (Colorado) or e-mail at leodtwinspeed@msn.com
I look forward to seeing what you guys build!
–Roger Goldhammer
18th CSB RETURNS FROM IRAQ WITH TALES OF SALSA AND SURVIVAL– GRAFENW?HR, Germany – When they weren’t dodging rockets and roadside bombs in Baghdad, soldiers from the 18th Combat Support Battalion danced the salsa.
Salsa classes were one way soldiers from the unit relaxed during down time at their forward operating base at Baghdad International Airport. The classes weren’t as glamorous as the “Dancing With The Stars” television show – the soldiers danced in their desert camouflage uniforms – but Cpl. Jonathon Days, 20, of Miami, appears to have caught the dancing bug.
“I’m getting better. I want to do a little more practice before I go to Miami,” said the young intelligence soldier, who is planning 30 days of leave to visit family in his home town next month. Days was one of 60 Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 18th CSB soldiers who arrived home to Grafenwhr on Friday morning.
Many other soldiers had family waiting for them when they rolled into the Grafenwhr Field House at 3:30 a.m.
Grafenwhr commissary supervisor Michael Gibson, 30, clutched a bouquet of flowers as he waited for his wife, Staff Sgt. Tiffany Gibson, 32. Beside him, their 10-year-old daughter, Michaela, and 14-year-old son, Aquan, were excited to see their mom after such a long separation.
“It has been a job. Helping them with school work on the telephone because I work nights cooking their dinner every day before I go to work so they have something to eat when they get home ? making sure they have fresh, clean laundry,” Michael Gibson said.
There was no time to participate in the unit’s family readiness group “because I work so much and, looking after the kids, I didn’t have time to sit down and talk about stuff,” he added.
The Gibsons rushed together to hug after the soldiers finished a brief ceremony in the field house.
The family said they might plan a trip to Garmisch or the States later this month. Michaela said she’s looking forward to taking her mom to the Steak on the Stone restaurant near Bamberg.
Battalion commander Lt. Col. David Luders said the unit provided logistics support to Multi-National Division Baghdad, completing more than 2,000 missions in the Iraqi capital. The unit drove 1.5 million miles, delivered 25 million liters of fuel and completed 11,000 maintenance jobs, Luders said.
Although convoys of 18th CSB vehicles were hit by roadside bombs many times, none of its soldiers was killed in action, and only a few suffered minor injuries, he said.
AUSTRALIAN STUDY POINT TO FULL-FACE HELMET FLAWS–Be aware that what the report tell did not tell us is what sort of accidents the full-face helmet riders were involved in. For example did they incur other non sustainable injuries apart from a broken neck or broken brain stem? Like everything it’s always going to be 50-50 when you come off a bike hard, and there is no doubt that luck plays a large part in surviving a major impact regardless of whether one is wearing any kind of helmet or not. . http://www.bikersrights.com/statistics/cooter/cooter.html
–Cheers: Jaq.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING, TEENS PREFER SUICIDE OVER CHIP IMPLANT– The sky is falling! Or is it? A breathless report in the UK Daily Mail proclaimed earlier this week that “young shoppers want to pay with chip in skin.” While this headline is certainly explosive (it got the attention of the Drudge report), it is also utterly preposterous. If you read the article, you will quickly discover that young people do NOT want to “pay with a chip in the skin.” Indeed, 92% of them said they did not.
Picking up a survey in which virtually all respondents say they would NOT do something and reporting it as a ringing endorsement is misleading journalism, plain and simple. The Daily Mail should be ashamed.
But assuming there was some real news here, how significant is it that 8% of teens said they’d get a payment chip? Just for kicks, we looked around the net at other studies of UK teens and found a few interesting statistics. While 8% of teens say they would consider a payment chip implant, another survey shows that 20% of UK teens are experiencing psychological problems at any given time, and nearly a third of college students have contemplated suicide at some point in their lives. Contemplating suicide would seem far more dramatic than considering a chip implant, yet we don’t read stories proclaiming that UK youth are lining up in droves to kill themselves.
What’s more, a third of UK teens reported vandalizing property within the last year, a quarter reported shoplifting, forty percent had binged on alcohol, and half reported committing at least one criminal act. In other words, teens (as we know) are still trying to figure out the basic rules of social behavior and self-control, and are likely to harm themselves in the process.
Given these other eye-opening statistics, the amazing part of the chipping study is that more teens didn’t agree, even on paper (where there’s no reality check in the form of a massive hypodermic needle), to get a chip implant.
What all this boils down to is that, statistically speaking, teens prefer suicide over chip implants. The Daily Mail headline might have more accurately read “I’d sooner kill myself than get chipped.”
— Liz McIntyre & Katherine
–from Rogue
NEW FILM FROM HARLEY-DAVIDSON HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD–Check it out. http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/Riders/Creed_Video.jsp?locale=en_US&bmLocale=en_US
–from Rogue
PRE-BIKETOBERFEST REPORT FROM THE STREETS OF DAYTONA– Reports from friends that went to Daytona Saturday said it was not busy. That is understandable because they do not consider Biketoberfest started until next weekend. Folks went to different towns around the area and found plenty to do. Doris and I may ride up today to take a look around. I will keep you informed.
–Rogue
NEW ATTACK AGAINST CHOICE– This is about a girl (17) who’s Dad wasn’t wearing a helmet when he died in a motorcycle accident two years ago. By the article on TV you could see the man was in his 40s or 50s so he knew what he was doing and he chose to ride with the wind in his hair.
Now she wants EVERYBODY to wear a helmet and therefore started a campaign to try to get someone to sponsor a bill to do so. http://www.cfnews13.com/StoryHeadline.aspx?id=19392
Time to get out your call list, writing material and fill up the gas tank as we are going to have to once again do battle to be FREE to choose.
If you go to http://www.cfnews13.com you can vote on line by clicking on the I-pod to help keep our freedom of choice.
–Sarge
It’s interesting to note that about 2,000 motorcyclists die every year of head injuries and about 25,000 auto drivers die every year of head injuries. I’ve always thought it was discriminatory to saddle only motorcyclists with helmet laws.–Bandit
IRAQI POLICE LEARN SWAT TACTICS AT FOB MCHENRY– FORWARD OPERATING BASE McHENRY, Iraq – At a rickety plywood structure in a corner of this isolated base southwest of Kirkuk, Iraqi policemen stand in a tight line, guns ready. On signal, one man shoulders open a plywood door and the rest rush inside, shouting “Get down! Get down!” in Arabic, clearing rooms and subduing suspects as they move along.
It’s week four of a six-week police training program overseen by security experts called International Police Liaison Officers – U.S. municipal and state police officers who are in Iraq to mold local police into high-speed law enforcers.
Their goal is essentially to create Iraqi versions of stateside SWAT teams, said Jim Barnett, a policeman from Clyde, Ohio, and one of the officers at FOB McHenry. It’s a program used around Iraq to improve security forces, an asset sorely needed in Hawijah, a small city undergoing an upsurge in violence.
Feros Jabar Saleh, head of the eight-man Iraqi team, said they have been drilling on the basics of house raids, room clearance and driving their newest assets donated by coalition forces: black Humvee trucks.
Saleh joined the force, he said through an interpreter, “In order to make the city more safe.”
IT’S SUNDAY MARGARITA TIME–But the sun’s not out and Margaritas and clouds don’t mix. So there you have it. A couple of brothers are riding over and I’m going to fire up the ’48 Pan for a ride to Shamrocks for fish tacos and Coronas.
Next week you’ll experience my report on new Saxon models and Johnny Humble’s report on the new model line-up from Big Dog. We’ll launch several bike features, and I’ll head out to the BDL factory to see Mil Blair and Wink Eller about a fuel injection system for our “World’s Fastest Panhead”. I’ll work up a tech. We’ll bring you teaser shots of Gard Hollinger’s build-off project and I know there’s another Girl of Bikernet waiting in the wings.
And goddamnit, I’ll find some time every week for the first Chance rewrite. Have a helluva week.
Ride Forever,
–Bandit
