Parent Company of Royal Enfield, Eicher Motors Ltd, Announces Strategic Investment In Stark Future SL

The Board of Eicher Motors Ltd. (EML) has approved an equity investment of 50 million euros, and plans for collaboration with the electric motorcycle manufacturer.

Milwaukee, WI (Friday, December 29, 2022) – Eicher Motors Ltd., leading Indian multinational automobile company, and parent company of Royal Enfield, global leader in the middleweight motorcycles segment (250cc-750cc), today announced a strategic collaboration in the space of electric motorcycles with Spain-based Stark Future SL. As part of this collaboration, the Board of Directors of Eicher Motors Ltd. has today approved an investment of € 50 million for a close to 10.35% equity stake in Stark Future. With this investment, Eicher Motors Ltd., will have a seat on Stark Future’s Board, and will explore further opportunities to collaborate in the space of electric mobility. This investment has strategic significance for both Royal Enfield and for Stark Future, as both companies are keenly invested in creating innovative and sustainable solutions in global mobility. Stark Future recently launched its first high-performance electric motocross bike, the Stark VARG, which received an exceptional response from global media, professional riders and dealers. Speaking about Stark Future and this partnership, Eicher Motors Ltd Managing Director, Siddhartha Lal says, “We love the vision, passion and focus of the amazing team at Stark Future. Leisure motorcycles do not easily lend themselves to EV technology at this stage, due to challenges like the battery range, packaging, weight and cost. This has resulted in stunted growth of this segment till now. Stark Future has been able to understand and harness the potential of EV technology by dramatically outperforming ICE offerings, without compromising on range, weight, packaging and cost. They have created an absolutely astounding motocross motorcycle – the Stark VARG as their entry into the EV world. We believe that Stark Future has the highest potential for real breakout growth in the EV leisure space with this model, and the potential to use this strong base to extend into other contiguous segments and beyond.” At the helm of affairs at Royal Enfield, B Govindarajan, CEO of the company, feels this is a perfectly symbiotic partnership, and says, “We are very excited to closely collaborate with Stark Future who are as focused as we are on challenging norms, pushing the boundaries and building uniquely differentiated offerings for riders. In addition to the sheer potential of Stark Future, we see immense synergies in this partnership. While they are scaling up and planning their market entry soon, we will support Stark in the industrialization process. While they are thought leaders in EV technology, particularly in lightweight components and innovative solutions, we at Royal Enfield will draw on these capabilities for developing our EV platforms and will also plan to share some EV platforms in the future.” Also speaking about this partnership, Stark Future Founder and CEO, Anton Wass says, “We aimed to challenge and inspire the motorcycle industry with the creation of the Stark VARG and by bringing our electric technology from the drawing board to reality. To now partner with one of the very first motorcycle brands in history and be part of their journey towards sustainability is a huge inspiration for us at Stark. We have now worked closely with Sid, Govind and team for a few months, and have been deeply impressed by what they have created in the past 25 years, as well as the mindset and focus to continue to build and develop Royal Enfield into the future of sustainable motorcycling. With the Stark VARG we believe we have a launch model that will reset benchmarks, so to know that the bike’s technical basis will spread much further and filter into more machinery and products is another source of pride for us. It has been a short, intense and incredible journey for us so far but our link with Royal Enfield and what lies in store in the coming years are brilliant signs for the future.” Stark Future is a European electric motorcycle manufacturer with specific focus in the area of performance electric motorcycles. With a vision to inspire the motorcycle industry towards sustainable mobility, Stark Future endeavors to build sustainable products that are superior to traditional technology in performance, emotion and design. Stark Future has deep understanding in the EV space and connected technology, with several patents on its newly developed Stark VARG. Royal Enfield has made huge strides on its EV journey over the last few years. The company’s R&D programs have included a major focus on sustainable mobility technologies, and there are several ideas in advanced stages of testing. The company has been aggressively building a sharp and insightful understanding of the EV space with an intention to create uniquely differentiated electric motorcycles with strong Royal Enfield DNA, in the middleweight segment. Royal Enfield has been building several thoughts and approaches towards design and development and also towards bringing in the right talent and resources. About Stark Future: Stark Future is a multinational company, established in 2020 with Swedish roots, located on the fringes of Barcelona. Making the most of Catalunya’s reputation as the European capital of motorcycling, Stark Future was able to construct a dedicated, passionate, and knowledgeable team from the elite of both the motorcycle and power electronics industries, in order to build the first electric motorcycle to be the performance leader within its category, Motocross. About Royal Enfield: The oldest motorcycle company in continuous production in the world, Royal Enfield made its first motorcycle in 1901. A division of Eicher Motors Limited, Royal Enfield has created the midsize motorcycle segment in India with its unique and distinctive modern classic motorcycles. With its manufacturing base in Chennai, India, Royal Enfield has been able to grow its production rapidly against a surge in demand for its motorcycles.

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Hey,

It’s that time of the year, when we reflect on what we’ve done in 2022 and what we plan for 2023.

I’ve had discussions with my 28-year-old grandson about next year. He’s a magnificent tattoo artist taught by his father Frank Ball who is Austin Texas at All-Saints Tattoo on 6th street. He is a master. Frank senior is going to buy his first home in 2023, but the location isn’t set just yet.

Back to Frank Jr. who has several possibilities laid carefully at his feet at this juncture of his life. He may open a shop in a Harley dealership, expand 5-Ball leathers and or go to Bonneville with me. I’m going to pick up his dad on the way to test runs at the Texas mile.

Now get this. I just received an email from my 93-year-old father-in-law, Ralph, who lives in Lacy Washington next to homeless, war-torn, crime ridden Olympia, Washington (with his wife Betty). He explained how the politics have shifted in Lacy and homelessness is down 70 percent. He’s in the process of studying Bonneville racing. On a personal note, while her folks visited this summer, Ralph complained that he couldn’t work out because of Covid restrictions. Betty complained about him using gallon-jugs of water.

When they left, I gave him two 10-pound, hand-made by Bandit dumbbells. Since he’s been home, he started working out four days a week with only these dumbbells. He’s noticed significant improvement and in 2023 he will continue to fight against his old-guy bending posture.

Think about all of the above and the sheer potential of life in America. Like I told my grandson, it’s time to dream a little. Anything is possible.

Let’s hit the news. At the end I will outline my goals for 2023. Hang on.

The Bikernet Weekly News is sponsored in part by companies who also dig Freedom including: Cycle Source Magazine, the MRF, Las Vegas Bikefest, Iron Trader News, ChopperTown, BorntoRide.com and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum.

STRIDER BIKES CONTINUES THEIR MISSION–We’re on a mission to teach every child in America how to ride a bike in kindergarten PE class!

There are just 2 days left to make your 2022 tax-deductible gift to All Kids Bike!

Please consider a gift to support the kids in your community and across the United States before the year is out. Everything we do at All Kids Bike is aimed at enhancing children’s lives, starting with their journey on two wheels. Our All Kids Bike Learn-to-Ride Kindergarten PE Program ensures that every child gets to experience the joy and confidence that comes along with learning how to ride a bike!

“The All Kids Bike program has been one of my favorite additions to our P.E. program. The kids absolutely love getting on the bikes and so many kids have now had biking experiences who, otherwise, had not or would not have had the opportunity to learn to ride. Joy, confidence, and grit. You can’t beat those experiences and lessons being learned at school!” – PE Teacher Kenny Cope, Fredstrom Elementary

Our program has been implemented into more than 800 schools in America, but we have so much more to go! We hope you will help us finish the year strong so we can continue our mission…until every child in America has experienced the joy, confidence, and wellness that two wheels can bring!

Make My 2022 Tax-Deductable Gift Today!

Allkidsbike.org

THE BIKERNET PHILOSOPHY CLASS IS STILL OPEN–The road is paved with flat squirrels who couldn’t make a decision.

Happiness is not having to set the alarm clock.

When I get a headache I take two aspirin and keep away from children just like the bottle says.

Just once, I want the prompt for username and password to say, “Close enough.”

Becoming an adult is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.

If you see me talking to myself, just move along. I’m self-employed. We’re having a meeting.

“Your call is very important to us. Please enjoy this 40-minute flute solo.”

Does anyone else have a plastic bag full of plastic bags, or is it just me?

I hate it when I can’t figure out how to operate the iPad and my tech support guy is asleep. He’s 5 and it’s past his bedtime.

Today’s 3-year-olds can switch on laptops and open their favorite apps. When I was 3, I ate mud.

Tip for a successful marriage: Don’t ask your wife when dinner will be ready while she’s mowing the lawn.

So, you drive across town to a gym to walk on a treadmill?

I didn’t make it to the gym today. That makes five years in a row.

I decided to stop calling the bathroom “John” and renamed it the “Jim”. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning. Old age is coming at a really bad time.

If God wanted me to touch my toes, He would’ve put them on my knees.

Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators. We haven’t met yet.

Why do I have to press one for English when you’re just going to transfer me to someone I can’t understand anyway?

Now, I’m wondering . . did I send this to you, did you send it to me or have I only sent one copy?

–Sam Burns
Senior Philosopher
Bikernet Thought Temple
Pillar Peak
Sturgis, SD

CULTURAL NEWS–Motorcyclist Who Identifies As Bicyclist Sets Cycling World Record

NEW YORK, NY – In an inspiring story from the world of professional cycling, a motorcyclist who identifies as a bicyclist has crushed all the regular bicyclists, setting an unbelievable world record.

In a local qualifying race for the World Road Cycling League, the motorcyclist crushed the previous 100-mile record of 3 hours, 13 minutes with his amazing new score of well under an hour.

Professional motorcycle racer Judd E. Banner, the brave trans-vehicle rider, was allowed to race after he told league organizers he’s always felt like a bicyclist in a motorcyclist’s body.

“Look, my ride has handlebars, two wheels, and a seat,” he told reporters as he accepted a trophy for his incredible time trial. “Just because I’ve got a little extra hardware, such as an 1170-cc flat-twin engine with 110 horsepower, doesn’t mean I have any kind of inherent advantage here.”

Banner also said he painted the word “HUFFY” on the side of his bike, ensuring he has no advantage over the bikes that came out of the factory as bicycles.

Some critics say he needs to cut off his motor in order to make the competition fairer, but he quickly called these people bigots, and they were immediately banned from professional cycle racing.

—BabylonBee.com

–from Rogue
Senior Editor
Bikernet.com™

HANG ON FOR THIS–One way to hoodwink the populace into accepting ever-increasing control by the omnibenevolent and all-seeing federal government is to convince them that freedom and autonomy are bad for you. But surely Leftists wouldn’t stoop that low, would they? Sure they would.

PJM’s Ben Bartee had the story on Saturday: the American Journal of Medicine has published a preposterous new study warning that “distrust of the government” and “a belief in freedom” are liable to get you killed. Get back in line, sheep! Don’t put your lives on the line chasing after freedom! Slavery is so much safer!

This arrant nonsense was actually published this month in the American Journal of Medicine, proving yet again that academic study in the United States has become irremediably politicized and open to cultural and intellectual fads. Honest investigation of a controverted issue, leading to the acknowledgment of unwelcome truths, is vanishingly rare. The pretext for pushing slavery on Americans is, once again, the COVID-19 vaccine. According to Fortune magazine, this study claims to prove that “if you passed on getting the COVID vaccine, you might be a lot more likely to get into a car crash.”

The study asserts that “unvaccinated people were 72% more likely to be involved in a severe traffic crash — in which at least one person was transported to the hospital — than those who were vaccinated. That’s similar to the increased risk of car crashes for people with sleep apnea, though only about half that of people who abuse alcohol.”

Does the vaccine somehow improve your eyesight and coordination, so that you can more easily get out of scrapes while driving? Oh, nothing like that. Unvaccinated people are more likely to wreck their cars because they’re the sort of people who don’t obey the rules. The study speculates that people who are so headstrong and stubborn as to resist getting a vaccine that is causing young people in perfect health suddenly to drop dead might also “neglect basic road safety guidelines.”

Now, who in his right mind would get behind the wheel and neglect basic safety guidelines? Incorrigible lovers of freedom, of course: “Why would they ignore the rules of the road? Distrust of the government, a belief in freedom, misconceptions of daily risks, ‘faith in natural protection,’ ‘antipathy toward regulation,’ poverty, misinformation, a lack of resources, and personal beliefs are potential reasons proposed by the authors.”

So actually, the study is all about why you should be a good conformist and do whatever the government tells you to do, no matter what the obvious risks may be.

This ridiculous and superstitious propaganda is frankly fascist in its warning against “a belief in freedom,” and it’s all designed to sell a shoddy and dangerous product to the weak and gullible.

—JIHADWATCH.ORG
–PJMEDIA
–from J.J. Solari

“If you leave out enough data you can come up with any conclusion.”
–The Redhead

2023 EVENTS FROM BILTWELL–Here’s a heads-up on the motorcycle events we’ve got on our schedule for 2023. It’s gonna be a busy year and we hope to see ya at least one of these shindigs!

GET OUT AND STAY OUT-SIDE THAT IS…

JAN 13, 14 PARTS & LABOR
Del Mar, CA
www.partsandlaborexpo.com

JAN 19-22 BRODOWN
Louisville, KY
www.biltwellinc.com

FEB 18, 19 MAMA TRIED
Milwaukee, WI
www.mamatriedshow.com

MARCH 18, 19 THE PROWL
Bisbee, AZ
www.instagram.com/theprowl_bisbeeaz

APRIL 1 BILTWELL 100
Ridgecrest, CA
www.biltwell100.com

APRIL 27-30 GOAF MOJAVE
Mojave, CA
www.revzilla.com/adv-fest

MAY 4-7 EL DIABLO RUN
San Felipe, Baja, Mexico
www.eldiablorun.com

JUNE 23, 24, 25 PEOPLES CHAMP/BORN FREE
Oak Canyon Ranch, CA
www.peopleschampshow.com

JULY 20-23 GOAF STURGIS
Sturgis, SD
www.revzilla.com/adv-fest

JULY 29-30 FUEL CLEVELAND
Bath, OH
www.fuelcleveland.com

AUG 4-13 STURGIS
Sturgis, SD
www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com

AUG 25, 26 VIRGINIA CITY ROUND-UP
Virginia City, NV
www.instagram.com/virginia_city_round_up

SEPT 1-3 FOUR CORNERS
Durango, CO
www.fourcornersmotorcyclerally.com

SEPT 16 INDIAN LARRY BLOCK PARTY 20TH
Brooklyn, NY
www.indianlarry.com

OCT 5-8 KERNVILLE KAMPOUT
Kernville, CA
www.kernvillekampout.com

–Biltwell Crew

QUICK, KEEP THE BANDIT’S CANTINA BAD JOKE LIBRARY WIDE OPEN— An armed thief entered a house mid-afternoon and found two people there.

He tied up the woman and ordered the man to hand over the family jewellery and other valuables.

The frightened man started sobbing, and said:

“You can take anything you want, and even beat me up, but please, untie the rope and free her.”

“You must really love your wife” said the burglar.

“Not particularly,” replied the man, “but she will be home soon.”

–from Micah

NEW FROM LE PERA— We have new Trucker hats. Sorry was the only thing I could think of… running out the door to party my ass off with Cory Ness in some faraway location.

We will be closed December 23rd returning January 3rd. Happy Holidays!

–Christine Le Pera

LIFESTYLE CYCLES DEAL OF THE WEEK— 2010 Harley-Davidson FXD – Dyna Super Glide FOR $13.995.00

SEE IT HERE: https://www.lifestylecycles.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=13004446

2010 Black/Red flame Harley-Davidson DYNA SUPER GLIDE with only 8597.00 miles!

This bike is a FULL CUSTOM DYNA with every thing done top notch and some of the features/Add-ons on this bike are

* High Performance 96c.i. Motor with a thunder header exhaust and 6-Speed trans.
* Digital Speed-O
* 14 inch T-bars
* Adjustable front forks and rear shocks
* Steering stabilizer and fork stabilizer
* Color Matched hard bags
* MX front floor boards, rear pegs, and shifter
* Custom paint with Flames
* Upgraded-grips,levers

This bike is only $13,995.00

Plus, license, $85.00 documentation fee, and local sales tax. NO HIDDEN FEES like some dealers. And we have no reconditioning or prep fees. This bike has passed Lifestyle Cycles rigorous 92-point safety/mechanical/structural inspection.This motorcycle has not been refurbished and does not come with any warranty expressed or implied!

EXTENDED WARRANTIES are available!

Fill out an online application today. We have EZ FINANCING

Lifestyle Cycles is located at 1510 State College Blvd, Anaheim, CA 92806. Open 7 days a week.

NHTSA Put on Notice Regarding the Profiling of Motorcyclist

This week, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives agreed to a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that funds the federal government through September 2023 and avoids a government shutdown. Attached to that 4,155-page bill is a request by Congress to learn more about the profiling of motorcyclists.

Within the funding section for the Department of Transportation, language was included that states: The Committee is concerned that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) may be conducting activities that encourage states to adopt legislation, regulation, or other policies that unjustly profile motorcycle riders. The Committee directs NHTSA to report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on the extent to which the agency works with states on motorcycle passenger policies within 120 days of enactment of this Act.

For years the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) has worked to address the profiling of motorcyclists. We believe this action by Congress is an important step that will continue the dialogue on this topic. We cannot thank Rep. Susie Lee of Nevada enough for her leadership on this issue. Her willingness to seek answers from NHTSA is why this language was included in the final bill.

We hope that when NHTSA responds to the request from Congress, we will have more information to share with you.

Thank you for your continued support of biker rights and the MRF.

As always Ride Safe and Ride Free.

LETTER TO RETIRING SENATOR JAMES INHOFE—

Sorry, not from your state, but I have much respect. So, we’ve uncovered election fraud, Covid fraud, climate fraud and Biden crimes in this country, in Afghanistan and at the border. So, is anything going to be done about anything?

–Bandit

TWISTED ROAD TRAVEL ADVICE—They can hook you up with a bike while you’re in the City of Los Angeles.

If you’re planning a trip to Los Angeles, here are some of the best motorcycle rides, hangouts, and travel tips. And Twisted Road is your source for motorcycle rental in LA—rent a bike from owners in our rider community!

The Los Angeles area is expansive and has a little bit of everything. For riders, that means a motorcycle tour of Los Angeles can include long stretches of superslab, cool beachfront cruises, and exhilarating mountain twisties. And the Southern California motorcycle scene is quite vibrant, with all styles of bikes and characters. So being able to rent a motorcycle in Los Angeles that fits your riding style, and where you want to go, is huge. Read on to learn about:

• Renting a Motorcycle in Los Angeles
• Best Motorcycle Rides in Southern California
• Los Angeles Motorcycle Rules & Tips
• Preparing For Your Los Angeles motorcycle trip

Where to Rent a Motorcycle in Los Angeles

The good news is, with Twisted Road your Los Angeles motorcycle rental options are virtually unlimited. You can search our site and rent whatever you feel like riding during your trip; a touring motorcycle, a sportbike, a cruiser… our community of riders have all sorts of bikes listed. And no need to rent just one bike while you’re in town; you can check out a different one every day or two if you want to!

Best Motorcycle Rides in Southern California

Some of the best motorcycle rides in Southern California are in Los Angeles County. You’ve got a wide selection of neighborhoods and iconic sights to explore—DTLA, the Hollywood sign, and Beverly Hills, just to name a few. Some of the best motorcycle routes and roads to scope out in the area are:

• Angeles Crest Highway
• The Snake (a stretch of Mulholland Highway)
• Big Bear
• Sunset Boulevard to Pacific Coast Highway (PCH)
• Ortega Highway

Every Twisted road motorcycle rental includes unlimited miles, so you can ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco if you feel like it! (Check out our Twisted Road review page to hear from our riders, and see why we’re your best source for a motorcycle rental in Los Angeles!)

Motorcycle Hangouts in Los Angeles

When you’re out exploring a new area, there’s nothing cooler than connecting with the riding community at the local bike spots. Los Angeles and the surrounding area have some interesting places to stop off during your ride.

The Rock Store

There’s no place quite like the Rock Store, and a visit there is likely to be memorable for any number of reasons. It’s been there since 1963, and it’s built entirely out of volcanic rock. But the really interesting part is the people. There’s a mix of modern and vintage bikes of all types, and a range of riders to match. And the regulars include prolific car and bike collector Jay Leno, who frequently rides up on his latest toy. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, and Tommy Lee are also among the celeb moto aficionados who frequent the Rock Store. (Please note that it’s only open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.)

The House of Machines

The House of Machines is a biker bar with locations all around the world. The LA installment has an artisanal, slightly hipster (in a good way) aesthetic, and offers bikes, bites, and beer, and frequently live music. During the day, you can get your caffeine fix at Clutch, the in-house espresso bar.

Cook’s Corner

Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon is one of the most famous biker bars in Southern California. It’s in a rustic cabin where it’s resided since 1884 (and hosted miners back in the gold rush days) and offers food and drink, a pool, and horseshoes. There’s even live music, and sometimes country dancing. Cook’s Corner is the real deal—an OG biker bar that’s authentic down to its floorboards. A lot of Los Angeles motorcycle events are hosted here, too!

There’s more. Go to Twisteroad.com to find out.

POLITICAL NEWS–J6 committee waves the white flag, quietly withdraws Trump subpoena: ‘They knew I did nothing wrong!’

Despite constant and overwhelming media hype that its work would bring an end to former President Donald J. Trump, the vaunted House select committee to investigate the so-called “insurrection” of January 6, 2021 is going out with a whimper.

Days before House Democrats are forced to surrender control of their committees to Republicans, the uber-partisan panel said that it would be withdrawing its subpoena of Trump, a document that was greeted with jubilation by Resistance Twitter when it was issued in October with many seeing it as the elusive silver bullet that would finally bring about the end of their hated enemy’s political career.

On Wednesday night, committee chairman Rep. Benny Thompson acknowledged that it was over in a letter to Trump’s attorney that was obtained and reported by CNN.

“In light of the imminent end of our investigation, the Select Committee can no longer pursue the specific information covered by the subpoena,” he wrote.

“Therefore, through this letter, I hereby formally withdraw the subpoena issued to former President Trump, and notify you that he is no longer obligated to comply or produce records in response to said subpoena,” the Mississippi Democrat added.

NEWS FROM THE PRISM GANG— Our Mini Spoon Footpegs are made from stainless steel while our Heritage Footpegs are machined from aluminum. Both footpegs are designed to mount to any 5/8″ diameter foot peg including our 4″ Mid-Peg as well as our Sportster Mid-Control Kit. Watch as Mitch shows you how to install them.

AGING AND EXERCISE–Ok. So, that’s how sports can benefit Senior Citizens?

* it boosts the morale
* it soothes muscle aches and therefore allows you to cut down on medication
* it stimulates your immune system, so you have stronger defences against viruses
* it helps to fight against arthritis: no exercise = muscle wastage = the joints are no longer supported
* it trains your memory: doing sport means you must use different zones of your brain.
* It boosts your self-esteem.

In a nutshell, exercise allows you to maintain a healthy lifestyle (and this applies to all ages).

So, What about Combat Sports?
Coordination, laterality, proprioception, muscle tone, flexibility, and increased balance.

These are just some of the benefits of combat sports.

The increase in balance is particularly helpful for older people. Unfortunately, senior citizens are prone to falls.

The benefit of combat sports, notably judo, is the dual workout: physical AND mental exercise.

Learning to fall without hurting yourself is also a significant advantage.

—Blog.decathlon.in

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ART PROJECT OF THE WEEK—Custom vintage taillight engraved by Bruzz.

–Sam Burns
Tech Editor
Bikernet.com™

The U.S. Supreme Court declared New York’s “good-cause” requirement for the right to bear arms outside the home unconstitutional, but the struggle for freedom is hardly over.

The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated New York’s “good-cause” requirement to exercise the right to bear arms in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in a 6-3 decision on June 23, 2022. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing the opinion for the Court, ruled that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home. Every law-abiding citizen is now eligible for a carry permit.

The lower courts have been waging massive resistance to the Supreme Court’s decisions in D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago—decisions more than a decade old. In those cases, the Court held, respectively, that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right and that it prohibits local, state and federal infringement. The Court read the Second Amendment to mean what it says and to say what it means, according to its original public understanding. In other words, Justice Thomas wrote, “[W]hen the Second Amendment’s plain text covers an individual’s conduct, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct.” To justify a restriction, “the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

To get around this clear ruling, many lower courts invented a second “balancing test” to deconstruct the right and to thus uphold each and every restriction. Also called “intermediate scrutiny,” it was nothing more than a version of the deferential interest-balancing test Justice Stephen Breyer advocated in his Heller dissent, which the Heller majority rejected. “Despite the popularity of this two-step approach, it is one step too many,” wrote Justice Thomas in Bruen. What this means is that courts should consider the Second Amendment’s text and early history, not the “means-end scrutiny” that allows the supposed government interest to negate the natural right; as a result, virtually every lower-court ruling based on part two of the supposed test is now up for grabs.

As to the merits, nothing in the text of the Second Amendment restricts the right to “keep” arms in the home, as this would obliterate the other half of the liberty: the right to “bear arms.” As noted in Bruen, “Most gun owners do not wear a holstered pistol at their hip in their bedroom or while sitting at the dinner table.”

As to the “good-cause” requirement under which New York has limited permits to celebrities, the wealthy and those who paid the right bribes—and yes, that did happen—this amendment’s status as a constitutional right precludes mother-may-I-schemes. “We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need,” wrote Justice Thomas.

Clarence Thomas

“[We] hold, consistent with Heller and McDonald, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.” — Clarence Thomas

History was Set Straight

To get its way, New York appealed to historical sources from medieval times through the twentieth century to argue that precedents exist for its carry ban. Yes, oppressive kings sometimes disarmed subjects, but isn’t that why we have the Second Amendment? New York neglected to include as a precedent the actions of George III, whose attempt to disarm the Americans sparked our Revolution. As Justice Thomas wrote, “[W]hen it comes to interpreting the Constitution, not all history is created equal. ‘Constitutional rights are enshrined with the scope they were understood to have when the people adopted them.’”

Instead of looking at the intent of James Madison and the other Founders in drafting the Second Amendment, New York would rely on the intent of King Edward III in passing the Statute of Northampton of 1328. “Notwithstanding the ink the parties spill over this provision, the Statute of Northampton—at least as it was understood during the Middle Ages—has little bearing on the Second Amendment adopted in 1791,” wrote Thomas.

Spilled ink is right. For over a decade, Bloomberg-financed research has promoted a revisionist history of an all-pervading Northampton rule that peaceably carrying arms without “the king’s license” has always been illegal. As Justice Thomas correctly points out, in Sir John Knight’s case of 1686, the English court ruled that going armed was an offense only if done in a manner “to terrify the King’s subjects.”

Perhaps misled by the revisionists, Justice Breyer suggested in his dissent that Knight was acquitted because he “based his defense on his loyalty to the Crown, not a lack of intent to terrify.” That disregarded what the English court actually said and the further fact that the Crown had Knight prosecuted because he opposed the Crown’s policies. The Crown was none other than James II, whose disarming of the protestant subjects sparked the Glorious Revolution in England. That resulted in the adoption of the Declaration of Rights of 1689, which declared that “Protestants … may have Arms for their Defence,” and so became the predecessor of the Second Amendment.

In the colonial and founding periods, peaceably going armed was lawful. In the early republic, a minority of states banned concealed carry, but that was upheld because open carry was legal. For a current restriction to be valid, it must be analogous to regulations that were generally accepted as constitutional when the amendment was adopted, as that is the will of the people. When slavery was abolished and the “Black Codes” sought to disarm the freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 in part to protect Second Amendment rights from state infringement, which were aimed primarily at African Americans. The scope of the right was considered basically the same in that period as in the Founding.

But New York’s Sullivan Law, enacted in 1911, teaches us nothing about the original public understanding. Not to mention that “to the extent later history contradicts what the text says, the text controls.” Consider that rule, oh mighty Ninth Circuit! In Peruta, you upheld discretionary licensing because you said the Second Amendment doesn’t protect concealed carry. And in Young, you upheld Hawaii’s carry ban because you said the Amendment doesn’t protect open carry, either. Bruen pulls the rug out from under your anti-textual “reasoning.”

Justice Samuel Alito

“The police cannot … provide bodyguard protection for the State’s nearly 20 million residents or the 8.8 million people who live in New York City … . — Justice Samuel Alito

The Fight Over the Details

The Court does recognize “longstanding” laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in “sensitive places,” such as schools, government buildings, legislatures, polling places and courthouses. But such places must be narrowly defined: “Put simply, there is no historical basis for New York to effectively declare the island of Manhattan a ‘sensitive place’ simply because it is crowded and protected generally by the New York City Police Department.”

But, as this was being written, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who, like all public officials at her level, is protected by armed bodyguards, was already working to negate the “frightful” Bruen decision by planning to ban firearms in places, like subways, where they are most needed by law-abiding citizens and to jack up permit-qualification requirements.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who is reluctant to prosecute violent criminals, stated that “my office is analyzing this [Bruen] ruling and crafting gun-safety legislation that will take the strongest steps possible to mitigate the damage done today.” Does Bragg want to victimize the victims all the more? As the amicus brief in this case from the Black Attorneys of Legal Aid exposed, many otherwise law-abiding black and brown residents of New York have been incarcerated for attempting to defend themselves.

This U.S. Supreme Court decision does not address bans on modern rifles (the political term “assault weapon” does not appear), but it reaffirms the Heller rule that the Second Amendment “protects the possession and use of weapons that are ‘in common use at the time.’” AR-type rifles are indisputably in common use. After Heller was decided, in Heller II, we challenged the District of Columbia’s ban on semi-automatic rifles. Ruling that they are in common use and therefore protected by the Second Amendment should have been a no-brainer, as the majority admitted these firearms are commonly owned. But the court nevertheless upheld the ban based on part two of the “two-part” test that Bruen now rejects. Then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh dissented on the basis that the ban violated the Second Amendment.

All of the circuits to uphold rifle bans conceded that the banned firearms passed the first part of the test—they are, after all, “bearable arms” per Heller—except for the Fourth Circuit in Kolbe v. Hogan. That court made the absurd claim that AR-15 semi-automatics are “like” M-16 full automatics and thus may be banned. They saw no legal difference between a rifle that fires only one shot per trigger pull and a machine gun. This was truly an “emperor has no clothes” moment.

So, while Bruen doesn’t go into that issue, Justice Thomas did write that while “the Second Amendment’s definition of ‘arms’ is fixed according to its historical understanding, that general definition covers modern instruments that facilitate armed self-defense.”

This is a National Ruling

While the specific ruling is against New York, the Court called out the other five states with equivalent restrictions that are now invalid—California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey. All six states must now consider their “good-cause” factor to be crossed out and issue carry permits according to the other existing procedures. No need exists to wait until their legislatures repeal portions of laws now ruled to be unconstitutional.

The California attorney general released an alert that “issuing authorities should no longer require proof of good cause for the issuance of a public-carry license.” However, he said, they should thoroughly investigate an applicant, including a search of social media, to decide if the person has “good moral character.” New Jersey’s attorney general announced that “justifiable need” would no longer be a reason to deny a permit, but “good moral character” is still required. The danger exists that ideological tests may follow, which would violate both the First and the Second Amendments.

As of the time of this writing, the attorneys general of Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York had issued terse denunciations of the decision.

As the Court notes, some 43 states have “shall-issue” permit systems. Three of those states—Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island—have discretionary language in their laws, but in practice they operate as “shall-issue.” Vermont does not issue permits, but neither does it require a permit for open or concealed carry. So that makes a total of 44 states that recognize the right of law-abiding citizens in general to bear arms.

Bruen does not question the various other requirements for carry permits, such as background checks, which were not challenged; however, “because any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.” Left unsaid is that New York allows up to six months to act on a carry-permit application, which requires a fee of hundreds of dollars.

The Concurring Opinions

Concurring opinions were written by three justices, all agreeing with the opinion by Justice Thomas but adding further points. The dissent argued that the case should be remanded to the lower court for trial, to find out whether it is really so hard for a New Yorker to get a carry permit.

As Justice Samuel Alito responded, the record “tells us everything we need on this score.” The very words of the New York law and judicial decisions thereon make clear that “proper cause” does not include living in a high-crime neighborhood. He noted that amicus briefs were filed “by members of groups whose members feel that they have special reasons to fear attacks,” including the brief for the National African American Gun Association that counsel Nezida Davis and I filed.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, with whom Chief Justice John Roberts joined, pointed out that “43 States employ objective shall-issue licensing regimes,” such as fingerprinting, a background check and training. That word “objective” will gain added significance if rogue states try to substitute ideological tests for “good moral character,” a covert way of reviving the subjective “proper-cause” criteria.

In her concurrence, Justice Amy Coney Barrett noted the scholarly debate on whether the scope of the right to bear arms should focus on when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791 or when the Fourteenth Amendment, which made the Amendment applicable to the states, was ratified in 1868. She cautioned that the Bruen decision “should not be understood to endorse freewheeling reliance on historical practice from the mid-to-late 19th century to establish the original meaning of the Bill of Rights.” That’s good advice, because more restrictions began to appear late in the 19th century, and they were inconsistent with the original public understanding.

The Dissents and What’s to Come

Predictably, Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented. The dissent goes on and on about criminals who murder victims with firearms, as if that didn’t prove the need for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. Justice Alito asked “how does the dissent account for the fact that one of the mass shootings near the top of its list took place in Buffalo?” The dissent also makes the frankly weird argument that Bruen is in conflict with Heller, from which Justice Breyer also dissented.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has fully recognized the right to bear arms, much work lies ahead. When Heller threw out the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, the District defiantly enacted new, arbitrary restrictions to get revenge against gun owners. Some of them were invalidated in the case known as Heller III. As we go to print, the six nanny states whose “may-issue” laws are now declared to be unconstitutional are already scheming new restrictions on the right to carry, not to mention other rights basic to gun ownership. Americans must remain ever-vigilant to stop violations of their rights from every quarter.

Stephen P. Halbrook (stephenhalbrook.com) is a senior fellow with the Independent Institute and the author of 10 books, including The Right to Bear Arms: A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?

–by STEPHEN P. HALBROOK

LETTER TO TIME MAGAZINE—

Hey guys Noel, Noel,

This gets better by the day. Almost a joke, but not funny. Oil doesn’t come from Fossils. CO2 is not a pollutant. And you don’t want to question a guy who will destroy civilization because he wants to force you to pepper the landscape with solar panels and wind turbines mostly made with the help of oil-based products?

And you call yourselves journalists. When you walk home and the lights won’t come on, you can’t fire up your computer and you can’t get warm because you can’t burn wood, will you say Yippee, we won?

–Bandit

VINTAGE ENGINE DEAL OF THE WEEK—Grant, from Born Free is willing to sell this rebuilt UL, 80-inch flathead H-D motor with title for $11,000. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll pass it on.

–Bandit

MOTORCYCLES AS ART Exhibit–Changes Format and Michael Lichter Moves to Advisory Role

Sturgis Buffalo Chip to Remodel Event Center Gallery and Expand Exhibit

The Motorcycles As Art showcase and gallery will continue to be the home of the industry party, slated for Saturday, August 5th, 2023. Artists and sponsors can inquire directly to info@BuffaloChip.com

 For more information, visit MotorcyclesAsArt.com

Bird’s eye view of Oxford, the West’s newest prison city. Public domain.

PRISON CITY, UK–Oxford residents will soon be prisoners of their own neighborhoods

This is one of those stories that you’re certain is from the Babylon Bee, and that is stunning in its implications when it turns out to be the truth. In this case, the truth is that, in accordance with UN and WEF climate recommendations, the city of Oxford (home to the famed university) approved plans mandating that citizens may not drive more than 15 minutes distance from their homes without permission. It’s called the “15 Minute City” and is intended to reduce auto emissions. Mostly, though, it will reduce liberty, which is what climate change madness has always been about.

In many ways, the 15 Minute City (which the WEF and UN approvingly tout) is an old, unexceptional idea: Even in big cities, people like vibrant neighborhoods that allow them to travel very short distances (walking, riding a bike, or driving) to fulfill their daily needs (food, clothing, haircuts, etc.). Indeed, there are lots of people who pick homes based on their proximity to amenities. They don’t want to spend their lives in their cars or on public transportation chasing from one thing to another. And that’s fine. Making choices based on lifestyle preferences is a perfectly sound, market-based way to go through life.

But the marketplace is not what globalists want. They want control. Certainly, that’s the case in and around Oxford, England. Word is trickling into America that both the leftist Oxfordshire County Council and the Oxford City Council have plans. Big plans.

Spiked got wind of the planned changes in October. The ostensible push behind the plan is to end traffic problems, which certainly makes sense, but the plan will be implemented with the chain and jackboot:

… Oxfordshire County Council, which is run by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, wants to divide the city of Oxford into six ‘15 minute’ districts. In these districts, it is said, most household essentials will be accessible by a quarter-of-an-hour walk or bike ride, and so residents will have no need for a car.

On the surface, these 15-minute neigbourhoods might sound pleasant and convenient. But there is a coercive edge. The council plans to cut car use and traffic congestion by placing strict rules on car journeys. Under the new proposals, if any of Oxford’s 150,000 residents drives outside of their designated district more than 100 days a year, he or she could be fined £70.

Run by a Labour administration, Oxford City Council takes a similar line.

Since Spiked wrote the above, the Oxford City Council went from theory to fact by a council vote on November 29 to implement trial traffic filters as of January 2024 that will require residents to get permission to leave their neighborhoods, all in the name of saving the planet:

Oxfordshire County Council yesterday approved plans to lock residents into one of six zones to ‘save the planet’ from global warming. The latest stage in the ’15 minute city’ agenda is to place electronic gates on key roads in and out of the city, confining residents to their own neighbourhoods.

Under the new scheme if residents want to leave their zone they will need permission from the Council who gets to decide who is worthy of freedom and who isn’t. Under the new scheme residents will be allowed to leave their zone a maximum of 100 days per year, but in order to even gain this every resident will have to register their car details with the council who will then track their movements via smart cameras round the city.

In 1992, Rush Limbaugh appeared on ABC’s Nightline to engage in a debate with Al Gore regarding Gore’s charge, in his then-new book Earth in the Balance, that the earth was facing imminent climate death. After Gore blathered on “a global ecological crisis that is more serious than anything human civilization has ever faced,” Rush cut to the heart of the matter:

The environmental movement as fueled by the militants who lead it, I think, is the new home of socialism. I think it is. They’ve adopted a constituency here which can’t speak — that is trees and rocks and so forth — and can’t reject the so-called help and concern that the advocates are giving it, and gives them a stage from which to constantly launch attacks at capitalism.

Rush was right, of course. Socialism is totalitarianism, which exists under many names (theocracy, military junta, fascism, communism) but, no matter the name, the goal is always the same: Completely control a population for the benefit of a small, well-defined group of elites. In Oxford, England, with its new plan to trap people near their homes and spy on them wherever they go, we’re seeing the latest phase in the socialist crackdown that Rush identified 30 years ago.

–American Thinker

Song: “Eye of the Tiger”
Music by: Survivor
Songwriters: Frank Sullivan / James
Album: Eye of the Tiger (1982)

Rising up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I’m back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

It’s the eye of the tiger
It’s the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hanging tough, staying hungry
They stack the odds ’til we take to the street
For the kill with the skill to survive

It’s the eye of the tiger
It’s the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Rising up straight to the top
Had the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I’m not going to stop
Just a man and his will to survive

It’s the eye of the tiger
It’s the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watching us all with the eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger

 

INSTAGRAM CUSTOMS FROM TWISTED ROAD—Here’s number one: 1. Mike Le

Mike Le had a vision and that vision became a reality in Kinetic Motorcycles. This team aims to create art on wheels through innovation, creativity, and function.

And number six: 6. Colt Wrangler
Defining the future of cool in custom bike building throughout Texas, Colt Wrangler is known affectionately as the rasta-redneck-Yoda of custom motorcycle building.

–Twisted Road
www.twistedroad.com

CLIMATE QUOTE OF THE WEEK—

Those who oppose economically destructive “climate” policies – like those promoted by the Biden administration and at the recent United Nations COP27 conference – will continue to fail to stop the advance of these policies so long as they continue to accept the false claim that warming of the planet and carbon dioxide emissions are harmful.

They are not. On balance, global warming and CO2 emission are beneficial.

–David Simon
Realclearmarkets.com

BAKER DEALER OF THE MONTH–Dream Rides of Tennessee. BAKER Dealer Since 2021

The name Dream Rides may sound familiar to you because of their reputable shop in California, but in 2021, Dream Rides opened their Tennessee location and have had nothing but success. Their experienced team of techs have made it easy for Dream Rides of Tennessee to make a name for themselves as one of the leading independent shops in eastern Tennessee.

Dream Rides of Tennessee is a reliable “alternative solution to a Harley-Davidson dealer”. The shop specializes in everything from simple service work to extreme performance upgrades. They even sell parts, apparel, and used bikes.

They contribute to the motorcycle community with many events year-round, but their newest and most popular event is the BAKER-sponsored Drag Races.

Michelle talked to John Jessup, the owner of Dream Rides of Tennessee, and learned more about their success in this industry.

Baker will be closed until January 3rd, next year.

HOLIDAY NEWS FROM THE MASTER OF LIGHT–Final Reminder

Holiday greetings to all! And welcome to our new subscribers. We are looking forward to a fantastic New Year and are eager to see what 2023 has in store for us!

This is your final reminder on David’s 2022 Holiday piece, “Arctic Express”. We do have one of each of the embellished pieces left, so please let me know if you’d like to acquire one of those (see specifics below). We’ll be closing this edition on Sunday.

Thanks for your time and Happy New Year!

Greg
International Sales Director
David Uhl Fine Art
Uhl Studios
303-913-4840

REDUCING SPEED LIMITS to 20 mph has little Impact on Driving Behavior—

UK research found that cutting speed limits on urban roads does not significantly improve safety. The likely reason—motorists will drive the speed limit they feel most comfortable with based on road design, weather conditions, and traffic.

Belfast officials changed the speed limits to 20 mph on 76 roads in 2016. Researchers analyzed data from before and after the 20 mph limit was introduced on the same streets and compared that data with other Northern Ireland roads that retained 30 to 40 mph. They did not find any statistically significant differences in average traffic speeds and the number of accidents. One change they did find: the 20-mph roads experienced a reduction in traffic.

These findings from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Edinburgh were published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The researchers also recommended that to change driver behavior, the 20 mph limits should be combined with other measures such as:

• Driver training
• Community engagement
• Community interventions (speed watch)
• Closed-Circuit TV (CCTV) and other surveillance
• In-car Interventions such as speed limiters
• Police enforcement
• Social media marketing to increase awareness

They also stated in the report that bringing the speed limit down to 20 mph would help facilitate a culture change from the car-dominant paradigm by putting people before cars.

Cutting speed limits to 20 mph has been increasingly popular in the UK and Europe. The Welsh government has even committed to lowering speeds on all roads where cars mix with cyclists and pedestrians.

In an interview with the UK’s Evening Standard, Royal Automobile Club (RAC) road safety spokesman Simon Williams said, “The findings of this study are surprising as they appear to suggest that drivers on 20 mph roads in Belfast hardly slowed down at all, despite the lower speed limit.”

He added, “It seems there is a serious problem with compliance as we would expect that even without enforcement, average speed would drop. Consequently, the study may demonstrate a need for councils to find other ways to get drivers to slow down, whether that’s through the enforcement or modifying road design with traffic islands, well-designed speed bumps, or chicanes.”

“Our research shows drivers are less likely to comply with a lower limit if they don’t believe it’s appropriate for the type of road.”

The same paradigm has already made it across the pond. The US is not exactly at 20 mph yet, but many cities have reduced default speed limits to 25, and Detroit, Motor City itself, has become the speed hump capital of the country.

Feel free to send your comments to nma@motorists.org.

TRIKE OF THE WEEK—from a fan of the LA Dodgers.

HOLIDAY TESTIMONIAL—

I would like to share a personal experience with my friends about drinking and driving. This might save you the cost and embarrassment of being arrested for DUI.

As you know, people have been known to have unexpected brushes with the authorities from time to time, often on the way home after a “social session” with family or friends.

Well, this year, it happened to me. I was out for the evening to a party and had more than several margaritas coupled with a bottle of rather nice red wine.

It was held at a great Mexican restaurant. Although relaxed, I still had the common sense to know I was slightly over the limit. That’s when I did something I’ve never done before…I took a taxi home.

On the way home there was a police roadblock, but since it was a taxi they waved it past and I arrived home safely without incident. These roadblocks can be anywhere and I realized how lucky I was to have chosen to take a taxi.

The real surprise to me was I had never driven a taxi before. I don’t know where I got it, and now that it’s in my garage I don’t know what to do with it.

If you want to borrow it, give me a call.

–Joe Smith
Peachtree County
West Netherlands

THERE YOU HAVE IT—Okay, so what’s Bandit, Bikernet and 5-Ball going to do next year? You can bet we’re going to do something, even if it’s wrong…

I discovered I had five Chapters of Chance III in my file. I’m working on slipping them into the Cantina over the next couple of months. We are working with a couple of producers to get Bandit’s Cantina turned into a TV series and one of our books made into a movie.

In March we will roll with Micah, Cabana Dan, and Luke with the Salt Torpedo to the Texas Mile for some test passes. I will either pick up my son on the way down or stop by on the way back in Austin. Markus Cuff, our staff photographer just passed away. Austin was one of his favorite places on the planet.

The Redhead is looking into dash mount GPS speedometers. We only have a tach, but Micah will need a speedometer as he goes through the certification process in August, in Bonneville.

Of course, I’m building another motorcycle, the VL, XA, S&S FL and received the wheels from Black Bike yesterday in the snow.

The other book involves Rogue a freedom fighter from the beginning. We are both still active in the fight for freedom and truth in our industry. We know folks are after our freedoms constantly and motorcycles could be banned if we don’t keep fighting.

A major goal for 2023 is to eliminate Climate Doom and replace it with Scientific Transparency. We have some plans and research continues daily.

Remember the guy who has the 45 for sale? Sam found this inspirational image. If he cleaned it up, blacked out the tires and added some pinstriping, it could be a sharp puppy.

I’m working with the Hagerty guys on a shop organizing and storage article. Coming up shortly.

Ordering a Sprotor kit from Hawg Haulters through Randy and Dakota V-Twin for the brakes on our project bike.

It’s going to be a very exciting year. Hang on, join your local or national motorcycle rights group and keep up the fight for freedom.

–Bandit

Click Here to Read this week’s News only on Bikernet.com

Hey,

It’s that time of the year, when we reflect on what we’ve done in 2022 and what we plan for 2023.

Think about all of the anecdotes and the sheer potential of life in America. Like I told my grandson, it’s time to dream a little. Anything is possible.

Okay, so what’s Bandit, Bikernet and 5-Ball going to do next year? You can bet we’re going to do something, even if it’s wrong…

It’s going to be a very exciting year. Hang on, join your local or national motorcycle rights group for freedom to ride.

Let’s hit the news.

–Bandit

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Roll up your 5/8 Jak shirt sleeves & stuff those stockings into the New Year, get some books to inspire your next adventure or stash it all in a Bandit’s bedroll. Visit: https://5-ballgarage.com/

And what happened, then?

Well, the kindergartners they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.

For our supporters who bring endless joy to thousands of kids across America each year, All Kids Bike is wishing you a very happy holiday season!

Website: https://allkidsbike.org/

Want to make the biggest impact? Like, share, retweet, favorite, and tag us on your social media platforms!

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Get all news on two-wheels to get you moving or when you are on the move. Click to view Free Weekly Newsletter subscription.

I pray for a world that harbors no hate,

Where hunger, poverty, homelessness has been eradicated and greed, fraud, likes and deceit have been replaced with kindness, sharing, giving, trust and love,

Where animals all have enough space and the school playground is a safe place and All can live and work together as one and enjoy nature’s simple beauty that’s around everyone,

Where all disease is under control and health care is available for all,

Where zealots, tyrants, war bullies, thugs no longer thrive,

Where all are free, healthy, happy to be alive,

So give thanks for that in which you love and believe,

For us it’s God, family and friends,

We all need love, friendship and a home,

Peace be with you,

May your holidays be truly blessed,

— Love, Lana and Wayne Cobb

December 23, 2022 House Passes Motorcyclist Profiling Resolution!

In one of the final actions before the 117th Congress dissolved the House of Representatives passed, H. Res 366, the motorcyclist profiling resolution.

The resolution, which was first introduced in 2016, failed to receive a vote on the House floor until today. In the six years since it was introduced motorcyclists have spent countless hours educating lawmakers and raising awareness on the issue of motorcyclist profiling.

The 2016 version of the resolution had just 18 cosponsors, but that number grew to 103 this month. These 103 cosponsors represented a diverse set of political beliefs and geographic interests, but all were committed to supporting bikers.

It has been a long journey to this point and many parties are responsible for this victory. Former Representative Reid Ribble of Wisconsin originally introduced the resolution and after his departure from Congress Representative Tim Walberg of Michigan picked up the baton. The Motorcycle Profiling Project provided important data that helped inform lawmakers about the extent of motorcyclist profiling. Motorcycle clubs and independent riders all invested time and resources in the battle on Capitol Hill. State motorcyclist rights organizations leveraged their relationships with home state lawmakers and increased cosponsor numbers dramatically. Most importantly all these groups remained committed and focused despite setbacks and disappointments.

With this action, the House joins the Senate, which passed a similar resolution in 2018 standing against motorcyclist profiling and asking for collaboration between law enforcement and bikers to prevent profiling. Additionally, five states, Washington, Maryland, Louisiana, Idaho, and New Hampshire all have state laws against the profiling of bikers.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation hopes that this demonstration of support from the United States Congress will provide other states a foundation to enact legislation.

To see a full version of H. Res 366 click here.

Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) provides leadership at the federal level for states’ motorcyclists’ rights organizations as well as motorcycle clubs and individual riders. Website: http://mrf.org

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NEVER RIDE UNAWARE ! Simply Subscribe to Bikernet’s Weekly Newsletter. Its the motorcycling news you can use. Click Here to know!

by Dustin Wheelen from https://www.rideapart.com

• On January 18, we get to see the 2023 motorcycles from the iconic Milwaukee Motorcycle Company

• The Motor Company will also detail its 120-year anniversary Homecoming event.

Harley-Davidson does things differently; Always has, (probably) always will. For example, while most motorcycle manufacturers scrambled to showcase their latest lineups and brand-new models at EICMA 2022, the Motor Company remained aloof. With all the hubbub settling down from Milan, it looks like Harley’s finally stepping into the spotlight.

The Bar and Shield will reveal its 2023 motorcycle lineup on January 18, 2023. The announcement will stream live at 10 a.m. CST on Harley-Davidson’s website. Presenters won’t just unveil the first wave of 2023 Hogs but also highlight the brand’s new accessories and gear.

During the event, the firm will also divulge details about the first annual Harley-Davidson Homecoming to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 13-16, 2023. While we can confidently forecast music, food, and entertainment at the 120th-anniversary celebration, Harley will expand on the event’s schedule, venues, ticket packages, and lodging.

“2023 marks the 120th Anniversary of Harley-Davidson during which we’ll honor our rich heritage, celebrate with our fans and riding community, and reveal our newest motorcycles and product offerings,” revealed Harley-Davidson President and CEO Jochen Zeitz. “Please join us as we kick off our 120th Anniversary with exciting new model introductions and a peek at what we have in store for the landmark year ahead.”

The news comes during a time of transition for H-D. The American OEM recently discontinued the long-running Evo-powered Sportster lineup but rumors of a Pan America 975 variant keep hopes high for 2023. The company also continues to move toward a remote/work-from-home model as top brass considers options for reconfiguring Harley’s Milwaukee headquarters.

It’s safe to say that the brand is juggling several initiatives as 2022 draws to a close. That’s even more reason to tune in on January 18, 2023, and see what Harley-Davidson has up its sleeve. After all, they always seem to do things differently.

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STAY UPDATED With All Motorcycling Events, News, Updates, Products, Reviews and More. Grab the Bikernet Blog FREE Weekly Newsletter. CLICK HERE To Sign-up. Free, No Spam Ever, Never any non-motorcycling stuff. Unsubscribe Anytime.

Hey,

I share info from the NRA, the Gun industry, SEMA and the Hot Rod and car industry, because like us, they exist on Freedom. I don’t always agree with them, but I always celebrate their efforts for Freedom.

SEMA is constantly fighting for the right to repair and modify (see report below in the news). That’s right up our ally, so I cover it. Just as I cover and support all motorcycle rights groups and hope for the best.

Here’s the perfect Christmas Quote from a longtime friend from Australia: If we can be kind and thoughtful around Christmas time, why can’t we continue this throughout the year? Let me suggest we all make a New Year’s Resolution and that is to continue this goodwill in 2023.

–Ray Russell

Let’s hit the news:

The Bikernet Weekly News is sponsored in part by companies who also dig Freedom including: Cycle Source Magazine, the MRF, Las Vegas Bikefest, Iron Trader News, ChopperTown, BorntoRide.com and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum.

MY FAVORITE GLOVES ARE NOW LINED— On Sale: Winter Lined Gauntlet: Made to Order

This is our traditional Gauntlet glove but lined with a winter poly blend for extra warmth. These are great for cooler weather rides. The top is distressed brown bison, with a deerskin palm. These are made to order in the USA, and take about a week to ship.

$ 75

—Griftercompany.com

A LOOK AT THE ROAD CONDITIONS IN INDIA—

Hopefully with all the EV blasts on two-wheelers and elections coming and terrorism threat, there will be slower pace to push self-driving vehicles in India.

Already Tesla went away because their cars would be at the price of a Ferrari or Aston Martin due to import duty (similar to why Harley-Davidson is a luxury vehicle in India. ) Haven’t heard of electric car explosions. Contracts have been awarded for electric buses. Bus and Trains are the lifeline of the working masses here. A blast for any reason would jolt the economy.

Seat belts are mandatory here and government forced new ICE and EV cars to have mandatory 6 air bags for cars.

Also, since 2019, all new cars have factory fitted warning — continuous beep if car goes above 80 KMPH and beep cannot be stopped even by unauthorized mechanics if the car surpasses speed of 120 KMPH. Such a high speed of 120 would mandate action and report to government agencies about the driver and the vehicle. Only the authorized service center would be able to shut out the beep caused by 120 KM per hour speed.

These are not jokes or fiction nor is it proposed laws. These are actual laws here.

Comparatively, the wild ones on two-wheels here definitely deserve a helmet to slow down their insane riding. Any bloke can get a two-wheeler license here but not so easy with a car driving license.

My 200cc bike has a very fast pickup and goes from 40 to 100 kmph in seconds — unlike Enfield motorcycles. Actually, I felt safer on the slow and heavy Enfield, since even if I get carried away by thrill-mood, I could not possibly go too fast on that white elephant called Enfield “Bullet” model motorcycle.

Source: Airbags rule
https://www.businesstoday.in/auto/story/breaking-centre-to-make-6-airbag-safety-norm-mandatory-from-october-2023-says-nitin-gadkari-348530-2022-09-29

Source: Speed Warning rule
https://www.autocarindia.com/car-news/speed-warning-system-irritating-but-effective-ministry-of-road-transport-and-highways-409842

–Ming Ball
 International News Desk correspondent
Bikernet.com™

NATIONAL MOTORIST ASSOCIATION REPORT–Red-Light Cameras Turned Off in Greenville, NC—At Least for Now!

A little background.

In March 2022 the North Carolina State Court of Appeals ruled that Greenville’s red-light camera program was unconstitutional but not because of the cameras themselves. Under the state’s RLC citation scheme, expenses from fines cannot exceed 10 percent of the income, and the rest of the fine money funnels to the school district where the cameras reside.

The problem with Greenville cameras, the expenses topped out at 28 percent. The court ruled that Greenville’s funding framework violated the state’s constitutional directive that the ‘clear proceeds’ of all collected fines must be used exclusively to maintain free public schools.

Two motorists who received $100 RLC tickets sued the city and the Pitt County Board of Education and have won this round at the appeals court level.

Due to the ruling from seven months ago, the Greenville City Council finally decided not to renew the American Traffic Solutions (ATS) camera contract in early November, and the cams went dark on November 15th. The cams had been up since 2017.

In a scathing rebuke over the cameras, local columnist Bobby Burns said that when he wrote a column in May 2016, before the RLC installation, he suggested that the Pitt County Board of Education mind its own business. He claimed his reasoning was simple—the school board had no business involved in Greenville’s policing efforts.

Even though the cams are off, the city has already appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court, which has yet to indicate if it will hear the case.

But, as we already know, the lure can be too great regarding RLC camera revenue.

Immediately following the city council vote to cancel the RLC contract, the Pitt County Board of Education adopted a resolution that supported the city’s efforts to go to the state legislature. The city and the Board want the cameras back on, and they are okay with the costs of the cameras to be paid from the proceeds of fines assessed against violators.

The city of Fayetteville already did so—a legislative bill allowed the city and the school system to manage a joint contract, which helped get around the constitutional quandary somehow.

Columnist Bobby Burns asked a straightforward question about this kind of legislative action—why should laws be made to subvert the meaning of the state Constitution? He stated that this kind of behavior doesn’t seem appropriate and it’s not fair to the other 20 NC cities and towns that also are allowed to operate RLCs.

The issue now is whether voters should decide on making a change to the state’s Constitution.

What do you think?

–NMA

THE 101 RUN FROM DICE MAGAZINE–The 101 RUN is back once again in Margate, England next July.

If you love motorcycles and having a laugh this is definitely the show for you!

–DICE Magazine

“We will publish a report on the state of the Chopper Magazine World next week. Dice Magazine is part of the chromed mix.”
–Bandit

CHRISTMAS AT HARDTAIL CHOPPERS–Happy Holidays Bandit

See you guys got plenty of snow . Get a bigger shovel. I attached a few pics of a New, Finned Cast Stainless Steel kicker pedal I just started making . January price is $225 and $10 shipping in USA, $200 until the first of new year . These are not imports! I make them and use Fab Kevin’s pivot shafts with stainless shoulder bolts .

They are not on my website yet. I can be reached at john@hardtailchoppers.com or shop phone 360-750- 6780 or hardtailchoppers on instagram

I’ve only got 15, just sold 20 in 3-4 days .

–John
Hardtail Choppers

TOYOTA BOSS SPEAKS OUT–Toyota’s president is questioning whether the push for the auto industry to phase out gas-powered vehicles and go exclusively electric is the right decision.

Akio Toyoda made the comments to reporters in Thailand after the auto manufacturer said around this time last year that it would produce 3.5 million electric vehicles annually by 2030, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority,” Toyoda said. “That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly.”

Toyoda reportedly has been trying to express that point to governments and industry stakeholders.

“Because the right answer is still unclear, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one option,” he added.

Toyota’s rivals, including General Motors and Honda Motor Company, have set dates for when their lineups will be all-electric. However, Toyota has invested in a collection of models that includes hydrogen-powered cars and gas/electric hybrids, The Wall Street Journal reports.

General Motors is set to rapidly ramp up its electric car production in North America from about 50,000 this year to one million in 2025, but it is not parking its internal combustion engine cars and trucks just yet.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM WINDVEST–May your days be filled with peace, hope, and joy this holiday season.

As always, thank you for your business, loyalty, and support.

All of us at WindVest
Motorcycle Windshields

PRODUCT ALERT FROM SAWICKI SPEED—

Carbon fiber heat shields are now available for your Sawicki Speed exhaust system!!!!

For the right combo of straight & curved components for you go to the pipe that fits your bike on our site. The info is right in there.

Get ‘em while you can and keep your eyes open for more coming soon!

SCIENCE QUOTE OF THE WEEK–We have no problem with additional man-made CO2 being added to the atmosphere. After all, it is the Miracle Molecule!

–CO2 COALITION

BRAND New Bikernet Reader Comment!–MARVELOUS MOLLY

https://www.bikernet.com/pages/MARVELOUS_MOLLY.aspx

Molly was a true reflection of her family and friends. And Rouge very well said.

–Harold Armstrong
Lake Wales, FL

Purchase your 2023 Buffalo Motorama pre-sale tickets online and get a FREE Limited Edition Buffalo Motorama event poster with each ticket purchase. (Actual poster art to be released at later date)

Purchase Buffalo Motorama Tickets Today

HANG ON FOR THIS–Ken Paxton was on TV this am. He said, “The Mexican cartels are making $300,000,000 a week on illegals. Mexican politicians are all getting a cut. I wonder if any of our politicians who are allowing this for 24 months are getting paid, too.”

• We don’t let athletes bet on games they have the ability to influence. Why do we allow Congress to invest in companies they regulate?

• Why is it that when archeologists find human remains, they always determine that they are either male or female and none of the other hundreds of genders?

• Why is it that so many are more outraged that Brittney Griner is stuck in Russia than they were about Americans being stranded in Afghanistan?

• How is it that the government can’t control gasoline prices…but the weather is something they can fix?

• We’re churning out a generation of poorly educated people with no skill, no ambition, no guidance, and no realistic expectations of what it means to go to work.—Mike Rowe

• If kids knew what they wanted to be at age eight, the world would be filled with cowboys and princesses. I wanted to be a pirate. Thank goodness nobody took me seriously and scheduled me for eye removal and peg leg surgery—Bill Mahe

• Why were we told to lower our AC usage on hot days to prevent overwhelming the electric grid while simultaneously being told to trade in our gas cars for electric vehicles?

• Why is canceling student debt a good idea? Does it make sense to reward people who do not honor their financial commitment by taxing the people who do?

• Does it make sense to cut off oil from an ally and buy it from an enemy who calls for your death?

• Are we living in a time where intelligent people are silenced so that stupid people won’t be offended?

• Is this a great description of America: Andy has left town and Barney is in charge?

• Why is talking sexually in the workplace considered sexual harassment to adults…but talking about sexuality to children K-3 at school considered education?

• Who else had a ‘ministry of truth”…Hitler…Goebbels…Stalin

• Eliminating the production of 500,000 American barrels of oil a day to buy 500,000 barrels a day from Russia is simply…well…stupid

• I saw a movie where only the police and military had guns; it was called Schindler’s List.

• If your electric car runs out of power on the interstate, do you walk to a charging station to get a bucket of electricity?

• Why are we running out of money for Social Security and Medicare and not for welfare, illegals and free college?

• I just got a full tank of gas for $22. Granted, it was for my lawn mower, but I’m trying to stay positive.

• There is a coin shortage. America is officially out of common sense.

• If an 18 year old isn’t mature enough to own a firearm, then maybe five year olds aren’t mature enough to change their gender

• Sign in Texas: DON’T VOTE FOR WHAT YOU FLED

• Nobody called it “Toxic Masculinity when we were saving the world.

• Mice die in mouse traps because they do not understand why the cheese is free. Just like socialism

• The most powerful governments on earth can’t stop a virus from spreading…but they say they can change the earth’s temperature if you pay more taxes.

• Want to stop drunk drivers from killing sober drivers? Ban sober drivers from driving. That’s how gun control and COVID lockdowns work

• If you don’t want to stand for the national anthem, perhaps you should give your legs to a veteran who lost his. That way a real man can stand in your place.

• If socialism is so good and capitalism is so bad…then why aren’t the caravans heading to Venezuela?

History is not there for us to like or dislike. It is there for us to learn from it. And if it offends you, even better…because then you are less likely to repeat it. It is not anyone’s to erase…it belongs to all of us.

–Sam Burns
Official Correspondent
Bikernet.com™

YAMAHA CELEBRATES 2022 Champions —
Yamaha honors champions at the 2022 Wall of Champions induction ceremony

MARIETTA, Ga. – December 16, 2022 – Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA, honored its 2022 Yamaha bLU cRU champions last week at the annual Yamaha Wall of Champions induction ceremony. Held this year at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, nine racers were recognized for their crowning achievements in their respective professional championships.

Eli Tomac was recognized for his landmark season aboard the YZ450F, winning premier class titles in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross Championships, as well as being a Motocross of Nations Champion with Team USA. Also honored for his achievements in supercross was 2022 250SX West Champion Christian Craig, who carried on the YZ250F’s title-winning tradition.

In road racing, Jake Gagne was inducted for his second-consecutive MotoAmerica Superbike Championship aboard the YZF-R1. The young Blake Davis earned his first Wall of Champions plaque for winning the MotoAmerica Twins Cup Championship with the YZF-R7.

Yamaha racers also reaped success off-road on both two- and four-wheels. Rachael Archer earned her first title in the Grand National Cross Country Series (GNCC), winning the 2022 GNCC WXC Motorcycle Championship aboard the YZ250FX. Taking top honors on the YFZ450R was Brycen Neal in the GNCC XC1 Pro ATV Championship and Joel Hetrick in the AMA Pro ATV Motocross Championship. Yamaha racers also swept the Championship Off-Road Tour Side-by-Side (SxS) classes in the pure sport YXZ1000R, with Brock Heger winning the Pro Stock SxS title and Hamish Kelsey winning the Pro Turbo SxS title.

The inductees received copies of their honorary plaques that will be added to the Wall of Champions at Yamaha Motorsports headquarters in Marietta, Georgia. Established to honor Yamaha bLU cRU champions with a lasting memory of their accomplishments, the first induction ceremony for the Wall of Champions was held on November 16, 2012. Since then, over 100 racers have been inducted for their achievements.

SONG OF THE WEEK–This Tom Petty song reminded me of Bandit’s efforts for fair trade and right to choose between EV and ICE engines.

SONG FOR BANDIT’s CANTINA JUKEBOX

Song: “I Won’t Back Down”
Artist: Tom Petty
Album: Full Moon Fever (1989)
Lyrics: Tom Petty & Jeff Lynne

Well, I won’t back down
No I won’t back down
You could stand me up at the gates of Hell
But I won’t back down

No I’ll stand my ground
Won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won’t back down

Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down

Well, I know what’s right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground
And I won’t back down

Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground (I won’t back down)
And I won’t back down

Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I won’t back down

Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground (I won’t back down)
And I won’t back down (I won’t back down)
No I won’t back down

–Wayfarer
Certified DJ
Bikernet.com™

BIKERNET BIKE FEATURE OF THE WEEK—

ONE WAY MACHINE by Julian von Oheimb
Lollarer Str. 48
D-35460 Staufenberg

Phone: +49 (0)177-3264316
Fax: +49 (0)6406-9232776
E-Mail: we@onewaymachine.com

Three-time world champion.

–Sam Burns
Feature Bike Editor
Bikernet.com™

BIKERNET GUN NUT REPORT–Governor Ron DeSantis Suggests That Florida’s Legislators Will Approve Constitutional Carry of Guns in 2023: “I’m Ready”

On December 15, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis gave the clearest indication yet, that he intends to approve constitutional carry of handguns during the state’s forthcoming legislative season. While speaking at a press event to announce relief on toll charges, DeSantis was pressed on the topic of constitutional carry and whether he’d finally be ready to approve it.

–Toby Hazlewood

THE GOOD DOCTOR CONFIRMS SCIENCE—We read about a carbon capture effort and asked the Dr. Ed Berry, Montana to confirm something. Why would anyone want to capture CO2 and bury it underground? Don’t we need more CO2?

We all like to eat and plants are the source of all our food. Plants need CO2 to grow. In fact, plants capture CO2.

To artificially capture CO2 and bury it underground removes plant food, which removes human food. Pretty stupid.

–Ed Berry

“So much of this issue is education and understanding. CO2 is not a pollutant, but so many folks don’t know the basics.” –Bandit

[page break]

BRING A TRAILER AUCTION OF THE WEEK– No Reserve: 1968 Bonanza BC-1300

This 1968 Bonanza BC-1300 was acquired by the seller as a non-running project in 2013, and it subsequently underwent an approximately six-year refurbishment that was completed in 2020.

Work included repainting the bike in metallic blue, polishing the wheels, chrome-plating the fork lowers and fenders, replacing the black vinyl seat, fuel tank, and tires, and overhauling the replacement 156cc Tecumseh four-stroke single with a .010?-oversized piston and a replacement camshaft, connecting rod, exhaust system, and pull-starter.

Equipment includes a centrifugal clutch, a jackshaft, a rear drum brake, chrome shocks, a side stand, folding foot pegs. This Bonanza BC-1300 is offered at no reserve in Oregon with refurbishment receipts and a bill of sale.

Current Bid: $2,900

—Bringatrailer.com

BIKERNET CHRISTMAS TEMPLE REPORT–

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”  ~ Arthur Ashe

“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” ~ Lou Holtz

“Never regret anything that made you smile.” ~ Mark Twain

“Leaders can let you fail and yet not let you be a failure.” ~ Stanley McChrystal

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ~ Thomas Edison

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” ~ Michael Jordan

–Wayfarer
Editor
Bikernet Blog & Facebook Page

SEMA ALERT–California State Parks Says No New Dust Mitigation Measures Needed at Oceano Dunes

California State Parks issued a draft report that finds no new dust reduction measures are needed at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA). State Parks is required under a court order to reduce dust emissions at Oceano Dunes at a rate of 50% compared to 2013 levels.

However, the scientific advisory group (SAG) that guides the dust mitigation work released a report in February that 50% is too high given that the current configuration of sensors tracking dust is flawed in favor of a higher number. The SAG recommended 40.7% instead.

The collected data for the 2022 annual report measured a 40.8% dust emissions reduction and State Parks is recommending that the current mitigation plan has worked, and no additional measures are needed.

–SEMA

LIFESTYLE CYCLES HOLIDAY DEAL OF THE WEEK— 2012 Harley-Davidson FXDWG – Dyna Wide Glide for $12,995.00

SEE IT HERE: https://www.lifestylecycles.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=13139403

2012 Orange Harley-Davidson WIDE GLIDE FXDWG with only 40933.00 miles!

This bike is a Super clean custom Orange paint and some of the features/Add-ons on this bike are

* 103c.i. Motor with a 6-Speed trans.
* Chrome wheels 18 inch rear and 21 front
* Chrome lower legs and axle caps
* Chrome pull back T-bars with braided cables
* Chrome Vance & Hines exhaust
* Chrome K&N air cleaner system
* H.D. skull tear drop mirrors
* Chrome swing arm
* Solo seat

This bike is only $12,995.00 plus license, $85.00 documentation fee, and local sales tax. NO HIDDEN FEES like some dealers. And we have no reconditioning or prep fees.

This bike has passed Lifestyle Cycles rigorous 92-point safety/mechanical/structural inspection.

This motorcycle has not been refurbished and does not come with any warranty expressed or implied! EXTENDED WARRANTIES are available!

Fill out an online application today. We have EZ FINANCING

Lifestyle Cycles is located at 1510 State College Blvd, Anaheim, CA 92806. Open 7 days a week.

NOT LOCAL? WE HAVE SHIPPING AVAILABLE! Call today (714) 490-0155.

We are California’s pre-owned Harley Mega-Store with over 200 Pre-Owned Harley-Davidsons in stock! To view our current inventory CLICK BELOW.

December 22, 2022: SEMA and Performance Racing Industry (PRI) must share that despite strong Congressional backing and extraordinary support from the racing community, the 2021-2022 Congressional session is ending without passage of the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act.

Key negotiators in Congress could not reach an agreement on bill language that balanced the need for federal law to protect racers and motorsports parts businesses from EPA enforcement with reasonable measures to ensure that race parts are not used on vehicles driven on roads and public highways.

The RPM Act made incredible progress in the 2021-2022 session of Congress. In addition to more than 1.5 million letters advocating for the RPM Act from the grassroots motorsports community to Congress, SEMA and PRI worked with Richard Petty to meet personally with key lawmakers in Washington, DC, and with NHRA Top Fuel driver Antron Brown to testify before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

SEMA and PRI thank the RPM Act’s lead sponsors, the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee, and the House Energy & Commerce Committee for their efforts to advance the RPM Act over the course of this year. Their leadership was integral throughout this process, despite the outcome.

“We wouldn’t have made it this far without this incredible effort by so many of our members,” said SEMA President and CEO Mike Spagnola. “The RPM Act was one of the most bipartisan bills in the 117th Congress with over 165 lawmakers cosponsoring the legislation. SEMA and PRI will leverage the momentum we built during this congressional session, assess the current challenges the industry faces, and chart a new path forward for the industry’s advocacy efforts at both the federal and state levels.

SEMA/PRI will continue its advocacy work to bring needed certainty to the racing community to protect a great American pastime and hundreds of thousands of jobs in communities throughout the country. For updates and information, visit www.saveourracecars.com.

“You know SEMA got taken in this deal. It was never going to happen as long as we are doomed. But there’s hope. The Greens in Puerto Rico sued the oil companies behind the RICO act. This could be the lawsuit we’ve been waiting for and they initiated it. The truth behind climate doom needs to surface so we can once again celebrate the blessings of CO2 and quit trying to capture it.

Hang on, there’s hope for the truth and scientific transparency.” –Bandit

FROM THE ROYAL ENFIELD CLOSET–

It looks very much like the Royal Enfield Interceptor which was launched with the twin engine, two exhaust pipes, 650cc

They stopped producing Enfield Bullet 500cc so as to boost sales of 650cc twin engines.

https://www.royalenfield.com/in/en/motorcycles/interceptor/

For the launch they advertised this new Enfield Interceptor as “California Cool”. I mean half of America already did not consider California as anything to be branded cool.

The above URL link even shows a surf-board attached to the Interceptor to resemble the famous Deus Ex Machina custom design.

Chief Enfield Investigator
Bikernet.com™

THIS JUST IN FROM CHOPPERS MAGAZINE–

Josh builds bikes out of his home garage in Minden, Nevada. This particular Panhead was built over the last two years and put together for the Born Free Show.

“I really tried to put my all into this one,” Josh tells us. “There are so many cool details on it.”

We’d have to agree.

–Choppers Magazine Staff

HYDRAULIC SPRINGER FRONT BRAKE—Here’s a wild one from Lowbrow.

You can have even more stopping power than with the Duplex brake with this hydraulic version of the factory Springer fork brake.

Behind the stock looking backing plate hides a master cylinder which activates the brake shoes and significantly improves the brake’s performance to a level unknown to date.

This hydraulic drum brake kit by Cannonball fits Harley Davidson Big Twins 1936-1948, WLC, Servi-car 1941-1958, or any motorcycle with a Cannonball I-Beam Inline Springer Front Fork installed. Made in Europe.

Features:

12 mm master cylinders
Banjo bolt thread: M10 x 1.00
Black powder-coated finish
Chrome-plated small parts
Includes a complete, pre-installed backing plate, new brake drum, and brake shoes

NOTE: Handlebar brake controls, brake line and fittings are not included and must be ordered separately.

REPLICA OF PETER FONDA BIKE AT MECUM—

Replica of Peter Fonda’s Dragon Bike from ‘Wild Angels’ Offered at Las Vegas 2023.

1956 HARLEY-DAVIDSON FLE PANHEAD
74 CI, Dragon Bike Replica

–Mecum auctions

BUELL Motorcycles Aligns with FreedomRoad Financial—
Names Director of Consumer and Service Center Relations

Buell Motorcycles, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based manufacturer of high-performance motorcycles, has forged a new alliance with FreedomRoad Financial, a division of Evergreen Bank Group, Member FDIC. By announcing this relationship, Buell is pleased to answer fans’ calls for consumer financing options.

“We couldn’t be more excited to offer enthusiasts this resource. Bottom line, it means we can put more Buell bikes under more riders,” said Bill Melvin, CEO of Buell Motorcycles. “We’re already known for offering a unique motorcycling experience – helping customers get their dream bike. Now they can also get a great financing option.”

FreedomRoad Financial is one of the largest U.S. powersports lending companies, taking great pride in maintaining the highest customer service and dealer satisfaction. But above all, they understand the rider lifestyle and work hard to help customers optimize it.

These are qualities Buell takes very seriously, and that is why Buell is equally pleased to introduce and welcome Chris Pobanz, the company’s first Director of Consumer and Service Center Relations. With decades of experience in powersports, Pobanz is perfect for this new consumer relations position. He walks clients step-by-step through ordering their new, custom-made Buell, helping them navigate the numerous design decision along the way. These include appearance preferences, accessories, and more.

In the production phase, Pobanz works closely with buyers to monitor the manufacturing schedule, keeping them informed of their place in the queue and tracking their bike’s delivery via specialized carriers when it’s ready to ship.

As important as building the perfect motorcycle for every client, Pobanz specializes in two areas. One is setting up each buyer’s Buell service center – as the purchase of every made-to-order Buell comes with its own client-located Approved Service Center. The other is acting as the point person for clients who wish to finance through FreedomRoad Financial.

Buell is back and delivering performance and excitement at every turn.

Website: www.BuellMotorcycle.com Email for Information: Info@BuellMotorcycle.com

Come visit us January 28-29 at the Colorado Motorcycle Expo while you’re checking out its enormous swap meet, bike show, and all the fun live entertainment that goes along with it.

Get your tickets now!

–Buffalo Chip

QUICK, OPEN THE BANDIT’S CANTINA HOLIDAY BAD JOKE FILES—

Four old-timers were playing their weekly game of golf, and one remarked how nice it would be to wake up on Christmas morning, roll out of bed and without an argument, go directly to the golf course, meet your buddies, and play a round.

His buddies all chimed in and said, “Let’s do it! We’ll make it a priority, figure out a way, and meet here early Christmas morning.

A week later, Christmas morning arrived, and they were all on the golf course. The first guy says, “Boy, this game cost me a fortune! I bought my wife such a big diamond ring that she can’t take her eyes off it.”

Number 2 guy says, “My wife is at home planning the cruise I gave her. She was up to her eyeballs in brochures.

Number 3 guy says, “Well, my wife is at home admiring her new car, reading the manual.”

They all turned to the last guy in the group who was staring at them like they all had lost their minds.

“I can’t believe you all went to such an expense for this golf game. I woke up, slapped my wife on the butt and said, “Babe, Merry Christmas! It’s a great morning for either sex or golf, and she said, ‘”Take a sweater.'”

–From Nancy C., Gary Stibal and Micah McCloskey

DIRECT FOR THE ENFIELD LIBRARY—

Got hold of three Enfield books from Royal Enfield online store season sales.

 Enfield motorcycles were the basis for largest OHV Twin Engines sold in America under the Indian Motorcycle Co brand name back in 1956.

Yes, your current (Polaris) Indian was once upon a time, previously, based on Enfield motorcycles. Not just one model, but a whole range of Indian Motorcycle models were issued using Enfield technology and instrumentation. This technology included not just the engine, yet the badge clearly mentioned “Indian.”

You can see the full color advertisement for the 1956 Indian Trailblazer here which was a “powerhouse” indeed in that era. The other models using Enfield base were Indian Woodsman, Indian Tomahawk, Indian Fire Arrow.

I guess such names can’t be revived as they would be “politically incorrect” and “discriminatory”. Little do these “correct” people know what’s right because the image seen on the logo is of a real Indian Chieftain who gave permission to use his likeness for the first motorcycle production company in USA. The Chieftain considered it an honor and not an insult.

Honor is what it is to name a vehicle that traverses the ancient American land with the sights, smell and sounds coming alive, an experience only a motorcycle can give to a modern human.

Remembering them and their legacy by continuing to use the brand name and various associated model names is also therefore honoring their many concepts. It even invokes curiosity to learn about their culture and their ancient civilization spread across diverse tribes and traditions.

So apart from this Enfield book titled
“Royal Enfield: By Miles the Best by Gordon G May”

https://store.royalenfield.com/royal-enfield-by-miles-the-best-multi-color

….. if you are interested about ancient American tribes, I would suggest two books:

1. “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask” by Anton Treuer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0873518616

2. Atlas of Indian Nations by Anton Treuer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426211600/

–Ujjwal Dey
Indian but from India (LOL)
Research Specialist
Bikernet.com™

HOLIDAYS FROM DAMON MOTORCYCLE KINGDOM—

While the team has been hard at work putting the prototypes to the test, we’ve also managed to fit in some fun times on one wheel.

Because many of you have requested to see the HyperSport wheelie, enjoy a little gift from Santa Kurt, Director of Vehicle Integration & Testing!

It was an honor to showcase HyperFighter with hlins at EICMA last month.

Widely regarded as the best motorcycle suspension producer on the market, their commitment to excellence made this Swedish company the obvious choice as partners for our premium motorcycles.

A special thanks to all of our European fans – and even a few from North America – who travelled to Milan just to see us.

For those who weren’t able to make it, we’d like to introduce you to Noemi, HyperFighter’s designer.

Want to learn more about Noemi and meet the rest of the team at EICMA? Head to the Damon Lab!

ONGOING INVESTIGATION–This photo was sent to me with a message that Harley is trying to ‘Buy All These Motorcycles’.

I am trying to confirm if it is true or not.

Appears someone and / or group thinks the Confederate Flag is Racial.

–Rogue
Senior Editor Bikernet
Bikernet.com
PO Box 184

Built by Takashi Matsuura out of Quartermile Wheelshop it is a fluffy pink dream of an alternator Shovel and it will be coming to the pages of DicE very soon.

–Dice magazine editor

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BIKERNET CLAN—

I want to wish everyone the best of Holidays. I know times are tough and challenging, but I have serious hopes for 2023. Just a few years ago we were living in the best of times. That notion will return next year, I swear and I’ll take you along for the ride of a lifetime.

–Bandit

LAWMAKERS LOVE FORMULA DRIFT COMPETITIONS—

When the average person thinks of racing, they usually picture an oval speedway, road course circuit or a dragstrip. While it’s true that these types of racetracks dominate the hobby, motorsports today encompasses so much more.

From off-road racing to land speed racing, rock crawling, drifting, and even donk racing (big wheel vehicles), it’s clear that motorsports today is a big tent with something for everyone.

SEMA and Performance Racing Industry (PRI) are committed to shining a light on all the exciting things taking place on four wheels, recently hosting two key members of Congress, U.S. Representatives Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the Chairman of the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee (E&C), and Darren Soto (D-FL), an E&C Committee member and RPM Act cosponsor, at Formula Drift events in New Jersey and Florida.

–SEMA

EPOCH QUOTE OF THE DAY—

“I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”
— Frederick Douglass

NEWS FROM WORLD RIDING TRAVELERS—

Spring 2020. Borders are closed. The whole team is stuck at home, all over the world. François and Sophie in Cape Town, Ravi in his village in Bihar, Josh between Egypt and the United States, Johann in Delhi, Reshad in Lyon, Thomas in Marseille…

Like everyone else, we are faced with uncertainty. We tell ourselves that it will not last and we imagine that long trips will resume in the summer of 2020. As it turns out, we will all have our patience tested and there is a long wait until the spring of 2022 for a complete restart of our activity.

During this period, we are on the lookout. As soon as a break in the restrictions opens, we seize our chance. Despite the covid tests, despite the uncertainties, the call of the road is stronger. Many of you have joined us in Rwanda, Sardinia, then in Morocco & Peru.

This forced interlude gave us the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of our job.

Why organize motorcycle trips? What drives us when we get on our bikes? Why do we prefer to take the trails less travelled, drink chai by the side of the road, tackle high altitude river crossings?

We think of Marius, a cardiologist from Orléans, who leaves everything behind after riding with us in Mongolia to head off around the world on a motorcycle. We think of David who is blind, he experienced our trip to Sri Lanka from Johann’s pillion seat. An intriguing dialogue takes place between one who describes what he sees, and one who describes what he feels.

It is your stories and your adventures that give meaning every day to our profession and keeps us going.

We are driven by adventure.

It pushes us past our comfort zone, to reach out to others and to question our prejudices. At Vintage Rides, we believe that every adventure makes us a little better. So, we’ve made it our mission: to make everyone an adventurer.

Our friend James Hagger, producer from the TroubleMakers agency, fell in love with the Vintage Rides concept.

You, the Vintage Riders, inspired him to make this film….. Let’s Ride.

Thank you, James, and thank you all.

–Vintage Rides
53 Rue président Kruger
69008 LYON
teamvr@vintagerides.com
04 87 91 31 96

WOW—Never a dull moment, even at Xmas. Life is moving fast and folks are taking advantage of it.

We needed License plate frames for the Redhead’s Suburu. What a strange story, but here’s what we came up with.

Since it’s 21 Below and warnings flash on phones, “Don’t travel,” I’m working in the shop and hanging more art.

I need to take a shot of the shop sink. With the help of Wolf’s Plumbing it’s cool and operational. Maybe next week.

Saw Charlie last week and scored another front springer brake. Black Bike has shipped my wheels. They will be here next week. Can’t wait.

I found this HA leather shirt I had custom painted with out 5-Ball Racing Logo. It was stashed in a box with artwork.

Cabana Dan came over to test some vintage brake parts I had. He’s still looking for a ’13 race engine for his speedway project. Let us know if you have a single or twin laying around.

Have a merry Xmas and let’s have a better New Year. I’ll be back next week for a final year-end report.

In the meantime, keep riding free!

–Bandit

by Bandit, Wayfarer, Bob T., Berry Green, Rogue, Sam Burns, the Redhead, Jim Waggaman, Laura, RFR and the rest of the gang.

Click Here to read the latest weekly news only on Bikernet.com

I want to wish everyone the best of Holidays. I know times are tough and challenging, but I have serious hopes for 2023. Just a few years ago we were living in the best of times. That notion will return next year, I swear and I’ll take you along for the ride of a lifetime.

Have a merry Xmas and let’s have a better New Year. I’ll be back next week for a final year-end report.

In the meantime, keep riding free!

–Bandit

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Celebrate your New Year from within Bandit’s Cantina; click here to see Membership Options

Want some goodies to gift to your friends and family? Visit 5-Ball Racing Garage Shop at:
https://5-ballgarage.com/

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced that roadway deaths in the U.S. are at crisis levels, on pace to exceed the 42,915 fatalities in 2021, the greatest number in 16 years, as Americans returned to the road following pandemic stay-at-home orders.

With alcohol-related crashes being a leading cause of highway deaths in the U.S., the National Transportation Safety Board is now recommending that all new vehicles in the U.S. be required to have blood alcohol monitoring systems that can stop an intoxicated person from driving.

The NTSB’s recommendation also calls for systems to monitor a driver’s behavior, making sure they’re alert.

Under President Biden’s infrastructure law, Congress required NHTSA to make automakers install alcohol monitoring systems within three years.  The legislation doesn’t specify the technology, only that it must “passively monitor” a driver to determine if they are impaired.

NHTSA and a group of 16 automakers have been jointly funding research on alcohol monitoring since 2008, and has hired a Swedish company to research technology that would automatically test a driver’s breath for alcohol and stop a vehicle from moving if the driver is impaired.  Another company is working on light technology that could test for blood alcohol in a person’s finger by touch.  Many cars now have cameras pointed at the driver, which have the potential to limit impaired driving.

In 2020, the most recent figures available, 11,654 people died in alcohol-related crashes, according to NHTSA data.  That’s about 30% of all U.S. traffic deaths, and a 14% increase over 2019 figures, the last full year before the coronavirus pandemic, the NTSB said.

BEST/WORST DRIVERS IN THE U.S.
Everyone seems to think their state has the best (or worst) drivers in America, but quotewizard.com dove into the data to determine, based on their criteria, which states actually do have the Best and the Worst Drivers traveling their roadways.

Drivers were evaluated on four factors to determine overall driving quality: accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs, and citations.  States that are considered the worst had the highest numbers of driving incidents, while states with the lowest numbers of incidents are considered the best.

After analyzing over 10 million insurance quotes to find out where the best and worst drivers reside, it was determined that the Five Best States were 1) Connecticut, 2) Michigan, 3) West Virginia, 4) Delaware and 5) Arkansas, while the Five Worst States were 50) Utah, 49) California, 48) Iowa, 47) Wisconsin and 46) Ohio.

Among those in the top five, Connecticut ranks best in citations and DUIs, while among the bottom five, Utah ranked worst in speeding, second worst in citations, fifth in accidents and 8th in DUIs.  For more rankings in each category, visit www.quotewizard.com.

UNVACCINATED AT HIGHER RISK OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS
If you passed on getting the COVID vaccine, you might be more likely to get into a car crash. Or at least those are the findings of a new study published in The American Journal of Medicine.  During the summer of 2021, Canadian researchers examined the encrypted government-held records of more than 11 million adults, 16% of whom hadn’t received the COVID vaccine.

They found that the unvaccinated people were 72% more likely to be involved in a severe traffic crash — in which at least one person was transported to the hospital — than those who were vaccinated.  That’s similar to the increased risk of car crashes for people with sleep apnea, though only about half that of people who abuse alcohol, researchers found.

Of course, skipping a COVID vaccine does not mean that someone will get into a car crash.  Instead, the authors theorize that people who resist public health recommendations might also “neglect basic road safety guidelines.”

The findings are significant enough that primary care doctors should consider counseling unvaccinated patients on traffic safety — and insurance companies might base changes to insurance policies on vaccination data — the authors suggest.

THE ROAD TO DECARBONIZATION
Decarbonization Is The Goal, But What’s The Best Way To Get There?  The European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) wants to take multiple approaches.

On December 6, 2022, the ACEM hosted a panel discussion about its vision for decarbonization.  Although the discussion’s stated intention was to talk about how the industry plans to address a multitude of sustainability issues as we all progress toward the year 2030, what it evolved into was a spirited debate about the comparative merits of the evolution of combustion engines (such as with so-called e-fuels and hydrogen) and electrification.

While all panelists of course had their own points of view, the general consensus seemed to be that lowering emissions is a goal we must all work toward, but that putting all the industry’s technological eggs into one metaphorical basket isn’t a good idea, for a number of reasons.

From a technological perspective, electric motorbikes currently work best for low-voltage urban mobility, not high-speed, long-distance leisure pursuits.  That’s where the debate about e-fuels (or synthetic fuels) and hydrogen come into play, because both those means of fueling mobility can potentially offer the benefits of long-distance, high-speed travel on motorbikes.  

Infrastructure is also a major concern — fast-charging and swappable batteries require additional infrastructure investments that are both extensive and expensive, while e-fuels can theoretically make use of existing traditional fuel infrastructure.

When discussing decarbonization, the tendency is to think about emissions in terms of tailpipes, but considerations about how the raw materials to build either combustion or electric vehicles are sourced, assembled, and delivered to customers should also be part of the conversation.

Additionally, concerns about diversifying the industry’s approach to decarbonization were strongly expressed, with the global pandemic shining a bright light on the pitfalls of overly concentrating parts of supply chains in a given geographical area.  The current European energy crisis and ongoing Russian war make calls to diversify energy sources (and resources) all too clear.

EUROPEAN MOTORCYCLE GROUP CALLS TO MAKE MOTORCYCLING AFFORDABLE
With inflation worries and cost of living increases, the Federation of European Motorcycle Associations (FEMA) sees bikes as valuable transport tools and has issued an impassioned plea for motorcycle affordability.  In particular, FEMA spelled out their position on keeping motorcycle taxes reasonable, as well as taking other measures to encourage motorbike ridership as a viable form of everyday transport.

FEMA believes that motorcycles can be a strong tool in the fight against transport poverty.  As the name suggests, that’s when the cost of transportation to simply live your life (get to and from work and/or school) is prohibitively expensive.

Moto commuting is a way of life for all kinds of everyday people in many countries, and is highly valued for its practicality, and that’s why FEMA encourages governmental and legislative bodies to do what they can to encourage ridership.  For example, taxes on motorbikes should be lower than those found on cars, because they’re smaller and lighter in weight, and they cause less wear and tear on public roadways.

Similarly, FEMA also discourages restrictions on motorbikes in urban city centers when they’re ideal vehicles for getting around congested city streets, and can help reduce traffic if more people are encouraged to choose bikes over cars.

FIRST HONDA ‘ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE’ ON PARADE
Art imitates life, and sometimes, life imitates art, which may be the case with Honda’s latest parade float, which they designed to lead the 134th annual Rose Parade in 2023, featuring electric vehicles including “a Honda electric motorcycle.”

The overall float design, which Honda has titled “Forever Determined,” represents Honda’s current (pun intended) emissions-lowering initiative, across all of its many and various vehicular segments; Honda’s first all-electric SUV, the electrified Acura ARX-06 race machine, a HondaJet Elite II aircraft, the Honda eVTOL concept vehicle, and an unspecified ‘motorcycle’.

Remember, Honda aims to achieve total carbon neutrality across the company by 2050, as well as get 100 percent of its new vehicle sales in North America to be all electric by 2040.

YAMAHA GOES ‘GREEN’ WITH PLANT-BASED MATERIALS FOR FUTURE BIKE DESIGNS
On November 17, 2022, Yamaha Marine announced that it will begin using certain parts in some 2024 personal watercraft and sport boat engines that are made from a new material.  It’s a plant-derived, cellulose nanofiber-reinforced resin product, and in Yamaha’s own words; “Yamaha Motor is examining the utilization of CNF reinforced resin not only in marine products but also in motorcycles and a wide range of other products in the future.”

Cellulose nanofiber “is made from wood-derived fiber (pulp) that has been micro-refined to the nano level of several hundredths of a micron and smaller, cellulose nanofiber is the world’s most advanced biomass material.”

ROMANIAN MOTORCYCLISTS OBLIGATED TO CARRY FIRE EXTINGUISHERS
And here’s why we need Motorcyclists Rights Organizations (MROs) at every level, from local to international; In the European country of Romania the highway code does not distinguish between cars and motorcycles, so as a result, a motorcycle must carry a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit and two reflective triangles, just like a car.

Romanian motorcyclists’ organization MotoADN played a significant role in the political process to end this obligation by launching a petition requesting the Romanian Parliament, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of the Interior to exclude motorcycles and mopeds.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: