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May 13
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Monster Energy Team of the World’s Best Competing Athletes in Japan

By General Posts

Monster Energy Is Bringing the Heat to Japan with Its Team of the World’s Best Competing Athletes

Monster Energy, The Official Energy Drink Partner of X Games Chiba 2023, Is Bringing the Heat to Japan with Its Team of the World’s Best Competing Athletes

Three-Day Action Sports Spectacle Features more than 110 of the World’s Best Athletes in BMX, Motocross, and Skateboarding at ZOZO Marine Stadium on Tokyo Bay from May 12–14, 2023

CHIBA, Japan – May 11, 2023 – X Games is back in Japan! The world’s premier showcase in action sports competition will return to Japan for the second consecutive year. Monster Energy, the official energy drink partner of X Games, is proud to bring some of the world’s biggest names in competitive BMX, motocross, and skateboarding to X Games Chiba 2023 from May 12–14.

Following the success of last year’s event in Japan, X Games Chiba 2023 marks the 67th edition of X Games since the event’s inception in 1995. For three action-packed days, the action sports world will focus on ZOZO Marine Stadium on Tokyo Bay with a total capacity for 30,000 spectators.

The Japan edition of X Games is bigger than ever: More than 110 athletes from 20 countries will compete for a total of 33 medals in 11 events across three sports. This year, Moto X Best Trick will be contested as a medal event for the first time in Chiba.

All competitions will stream live globally across XGames.com, YouTube, and Twitch, supplemented by behind-the-scenes, athlete-curated, and complementary content on @XGames social media accounts.

Fans can look forward to an elite display of the best in action sports: X Games Chiba is an invite-only event reserved for multiple-time X Games medalists and highly competitive newcomers to keep the level of riding at premium levels. As the official drink sponsor of X Games Chiba 2023, Monster Energy is ready to raise the bar with a stacked team of riders, including action sports icons, defending gold medalists, and upcoming rookies.

Heading into X Games Chiba 2023, look out for the following key Monster Energy athletes and competitions:

The big spectacle in the Land of the Rising Sun kicks off on Friday, May 12, with eliminations in key BMX and skateboarding events at ZOZO Marine Stadium.

Athletes will then compete for the first set of X Games medals on Saturday in the BMX Street final. Be on the lookout for 24-year-old German team rider Felix Prangenberg ready to level up his silver medal in the discipline from X Games 2022 and expand his current count of four X Games medals. Also gunning for podium spots, Scotland’s own Alex Donnachie already owns gold from X Games Sydney 2018 and bronze from X Games 2021. And with three-time gold medal winner Kevin Peraza in the session, the first medal event of X Games Chiba 2023 is bound to be a battle for the history books. Let’s go!

For the Women’s Skateboard Park final, our squad consists of bona fide legends and rising stars: Stoking the hometown crowd, 21-year-old Mami Tezuka from Hikone, Japan, is a podium favorite with X Games silver and bronze under her belt. She will face off against her teammate and mentor, 30-year-old Lizzie Armanto, known as a legend in women’s skateboarding since winning Skateboard Park gold at X Games Barcelona in 2013. Also don’t count out Brazilian Olympic skateboarder Isadora Pacheco with some big tricks up her sleeve. Monster Army rider Grace Marhoefer from Cocoa Beach, Florida, on a mission for her first X Games podium after recently winning the women’s street contest at Phoenix Am. Last but not least, the upcoming American rider Ruby Lilley is ready for the world stage. Don’t miss it!

Skateboarding remains the focus in the Women’s Skateboard Street final, where last year’s X Games Chiba gold medalist Rayssa Leal will be the rider to beat. The 15-year-old from Imperatriz, Brazil, is the reigning SLS Super Crown World Champion and has won the last five consecutive SLS competitions. Plus, she has a score to settle after finishing closely off the podium at X Games 2022 last summer. Leal is facing off with a hometown favorite, three-time X Games gold medalist Aori Nishimura. Also, watch out for young Monster Army rippers Grace Marhoefer and Haylie Powell looking for their first podium at X Games. Let’s get it!

Next, Monster Energy rolls into the BMX Park with a squad of heavy hitters: Last year, young rider Justin Dowell made his X Games debut in Chiba by claiming silver, then followed up with another silver medal at the summer games. Will the 23-year-old clinch his first X Games gold this year? Or will 2022’s bronze medal winner Kevin Peraza go all the way up for his third gold in the discipline? Expect the unexpected because the competition is intense: 26-year-old Canadian Mike Varga has bronze in the discipline, plus three gold in Best Trick (more about that later), while Corona, California local Daniel Sandoval owns one gold and three bronze.

Another California rider, Pat Casey from Riverside, earned three of his five X Games medals in Park and clinched silver in Mega Park at X Games 2022 – making him a ‘mega’ contender this year! Never rule out Jeremy Malott from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, on a quest to expand on two bronze medals from Park Best Trick. Last but not least, the squad includes 22-year-old Bryce Tryon, already boasting an X Games silver medal, plus a recent win at the Monster Energy BMX Triple Challenge in Glendale. Also, keep an eye on reigning European champ Anthony Jeanjean and Argentinian young gun Jose Torres. Tune in for this epic battle!

All eyes will remain on the concrete bowl course for the BMX Park Best Trick final, where Monster Energy team riders will unleash their most technical trick creations. The biggest story: At X Games 2022, Canadian rider Mike Varga made history as the first athlete to win three consecutive gold medals in the discipline. Will he raise the bar to four gold? Don’t miss it!

Closing out an epic first day at X Games Chiba 2023, the Skateboard Vert event will bring the heat with technical halfpipe riding at its finest. Last year’s silver medalist, style sensation Moto Shibata from Osaka, has already shown the style and technique to claim gold – will he repeat the win from X Games 2017 this year? Heavy competition will come from New York City’s Elliot Sloan, owner of 15(!) X Games medals, including six gold, and last summer’s silver medalist in Skateboard MegaPark. Also heading to Chiba as a favorite, eight-time X Games medalist Tom Schaar just returned from injury by claiming a second-place finish in the Tampa Pro concrete jam. An explosive mix!

Sunday at X Games Chiba 2023 kicks off on a high note in the Men’s Skateboard Park final. All eyes will be on the golden boy, 19-year-old Australian ripper Kieran Woolley, after clutching gold at summer X Games 2022 and silver at X Games Chiba last year. The first-ever Australian park champ faces competition from 2021 X Games gold medalist Liam Pace from Tucson, Arizona. What’s more, previous X Games gold medalists in the Big Air event, Tom Schaar and Trey Wood, are looking for the top spot in Park. And making his X Games debut in Chiba, Australian Monster Army rider Keefer Wilson is bringing big tricks to the battle. All bets are off for this one!

At X Games Chiba 2022, the time-honored BMX Flatland contest returned after a 19-year hiatus. The fan favorite is back by popular demand this year, the roster including 38-year-old style legend and current Flatland World Champion Moto Sasaki from Chiba. Having claimed bronze in the previous year’s event, the hometown hero faces a field of upstarts and rookies. Will Sasaki once again prove that timeless style can still win podium spots?

As the action continues, technical halfpipe skateboarding takes center stage in Skateboard Vert Best Trick. Ready to push the limits, Elliot Sloan took gold in the discipline at X Games 2022 and joins the progression session along with teammates Shibata and Schaar. Get ready to see the full evolution of the sport on full display!

Speaking of evolution, the upcoming rider to watch in the Men’s Skateboard Street Final is a young prodigy: 16-year-old Daiki Ikeda earned a surprise silver medal in his X Games debut at X Games Chiba 2022 and has also won the 2022 edition of Tampa Am. But not so fast! The winningest street skater of all time, Nyjah Huston, just returned to competition earning a podium spot at SLS Chicago and commands the biggest stack of X Games medals of them all: Huston owns 20 X Games Medals (13 gold, five silver, and two bronze). Nyjah will go against 30-year-old Kelvin Hoefler from São Paulo, Brazil, a two-time X Games gold medalist who just put the field on notice by winning SLS Chicago 2023. The Olympic silver medalist will be joined by three-time X Games medalist Ishod Wair from New Jersey as well as Canada’s Matt Berger looking to level up from his bronze medal from X Games Real Street 2022.

But wait! A slew of young guns is ready to shake up the Skateboard Street event, including 26-year-old Jhancarlos Gonzalez from Columbia, who is ready to claim his first X Games medal after winning the 2022 Vans Showdown. Also, witness the X Games debut of 21-year-old Braden Hoban from Encinitas, California, who disrupted the status quo by finishing second in the 2022 SLS Super Crown finals. Not to be missed!

As the worthy finale of X Games Chiba 2023, Moto X Best Trick was featured as a demonstration event the previous year. Now contested as a medal event in Japan for the first time, the showcase for freestyle motocross is headlined by the most dominant rider in the discipline: Australia’s Jackson Strong holds eight medals in Best Trick (six gold, two silver) and brings some new moves to the battle. He’s facing fellow Aussie and 14-time X Games medalist Josh Sheehan, who most recently took Best Trick silver at X Games 2022.

The final battle of Chiba 2023 gets even hotter with the return to Japan of Julien Vanstippen from Belgium. Last year, the 25-year-old claimed bronze in Moto X Best Whip as his first medal. He’s now flexing his freestyle skills alongside decorated ripper Harry Bink from Australia, owner of bronze in Best Trick, and 38-year-old FMX icon Taka Higashino showcasing his mastery of the sport on home turf. A true classic in the making!

Visit www.monsterenergy.com for exclusive updates from X Games Chiba 2023, including photos, videos, and contest results as they happen. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

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May 02
Love0

Jam and Vibe: Vehemence Of Evil

By General Posts

NEW FICTION: Featuring Jammer and Vibe, in rival gangs, with nothing in common except motorcycles!

One of their most lucrative businesses was drug trafficking. America had never been so addicted to substances galore and now it seemed pharmaceutical pills could be replaced by marijuana as well. Hey, there were breakfast brownies made of weed in cafes!

Why eat a cow-burger when you can eat “grass?”

You didn’t quit this club. The club just fired you with a Viking funeral. Exploding motorcycles was their retribution. An innovative death sentence, ahead of its time or earlier than exploding electric motorcycles.

Their conditioning and witnessing of daily violence was such that eventual loss of limb or life seemed like a dream—a fairy tale told by enemies.

Power does not exist if it’s not enforced and thus the immaterial comes into tangible existence. Then you “see” power, feel it and know it. Their fearsome reputation was not from use of firearms but bizarre deaths that would shock and traumatize the best of ER regulars.

Click Here to read this new and latest fiction only on Bikernet.com

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Apr 02
Love0

Daytona Edition of the Flying Piston Benefit

By General Posts

Revving up for a Good Cause: 2023 Flying Piston Benefit Charity Breakfast and Auction

by Prince Jeffrey Najar

Each year, I produce the Daytona edition of the Flying Piston Benefit Builder Breakfast and online silent auction with industry maven, Marilyn Stemp.

This year it was a tale of 2 rides, the cold one and the hot one. The cold ride is where all the trouble happened and, well, I’m still thawing out.

Click here to read this photo feature event coverage only on Bikernet.com

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Mar 12
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Bikers Meet The Old West In New Adventure Fiction

By General Posts

by K. Randall “Bandit” Ball

The city from Laguna to Irvine and El Toro closed in on Trabuco Canyon like a concrete plaque. But Cook’s still resided in the last remaining unencumbered scrub hills. Bruno tied off his helmet to his TT bars and kicked up dust in the ground-shale parking lot to the door. It was wide, thick planks and swung open with a rusting creak. Dark inside the Four Tops played Only the Lonely from the neon jute box.

But something foreboding filled the air. Straight ahead was the bar and a number of club members scrambling around something or someone on the floor.

Click here to read the latest biker fiction from the master of the genre only at Bikernet.com

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Feb 05
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Triumph Thunderbird Custom by Von Dutch

By General Posts

1958 Triumph Thunderbird Custom by Von Dutch

PLAN A VISIT to NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM

https://nationalmcmuseum.org

WINTER HOURS: Thru March
OPEN: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm
CLOSED: Sunday and Monday
Closing permanently Sept. 5, 2023

A young man in Los Angeles named Ken Howard began tinkering with his Indian Scout around 1946. Removing the shapely Indian fuel and oil tanks, he installed a smaller gas tank, a simple oil tank. He added upswept exhausts and taller handlebars atop risers. Employing one of his best skills, he painted and pin-striped the fuel tank. The story goes that he street raced it, crashed it, reworked it over and over, making it his own.

Liking what they saw, Von Dutch did similar types of custom modifications to his friends’ bikes as well. There may have been others detailing what came to be known as bob-jobs that way in 1946. Some car builders were likely an influence, but evidence points to Howard, aka Von Dutch, as a spark for a revolution in motorcycle style. And we are still living with the impact and inspiration of his work. Luckily, many machines he painted decades ago retain his paint work and fabrications.

This 1958 Triumph Thunderbird is typical of Von Dutch’s work for customers in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It was created when he worked with the famed Bud Ekins to build modified motorcycles in the Los Angeles area. The leather Bates saddle with pillion pad is typical as are the small tank and narrow rear fender with sculpted custom tail light. The fork is stripped of most lugs, chrome plated and a perch style headlight bracket is used letting the headlight float. Where some would go to a spool hub, Von Dutch ran with racers who knew the value of a front brake so the stock unit, polished, remains. Upswept pipes make the bike light, sleek in appearance as do the low bars. The polished engine cases with a few custom bits is on full display beneath the small tank. A few parts are drilled for lightness.

Some refer to this paint job as “scalloped,” others call it a “seaweed” design. The paint is likely nitro cellulose lacquer and has therefore dulled a bit over the decades. Either way it’s quite understated and nothing like many typical red, orange and yellow flame jobs on black that soon followed. The reversing green/blue metallic scheme is timeless.

While Von Dutch focused more on customs and bobbers than choppers, his style influenced generations of customizers of all types, still does today. And you could say he’s one who opened the door to the style that evolved into the less functional, more outrageous chopper in the 1960s.

This Von Dutch Triumph is largely original, never restored and is part of the Jill & John Parham Collection. You can enjoy the Von Dutch Triumph, other Von Dutch creations and many other custom bikes from all eras when you visit the National Motorcycle Museum before it closes its doors in early September.

Specifications:

  • Engine: OHV Parallel Twin, Non-Unit
  • Bore & Stroke: 71mm x 82mm
  • Displacement: 649cc / 30.5 Cubic Inches
  • Induction: Amal Monobloc Carburetor
  • Compression Ratio: 8.5:1
  • Clutch: Multi-Plate
  • Starting: Kick Only
  • Horsepower: 34HP, Stock
  • Transmission: 4-Speed, Foot Shift
  • Primary: Roller Chain
  • Final Drive: Roller Chain
  • Frame: Lugged Steel, Single Down Tube
  • Suspension: Hydraulic Fork / Twin Shocks, Swingarm
  • Wheels: 19” Front, 19” Rear
  • Brakes: Drum, Front & Rear
  • Wheelbase: 56 Inches
  • Top Speed: Approximately 95
  • Weight: 310 Pounds

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Feb 01
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Highly Anticipated 2023 Mecum Auction Report

By General Posts

by Bandit with photos from Mecum and Micah McCloskey

Are We Doomed or Kickin’ Ass?

Some feel the Las Vegas Mecum Motorcycle Auction is the Devil Incarnate. The money-making desire to flood the market with almost 2000 Vintage motorcycles in an unpredictable inflationary period could destroy the motorcycle industry and return us to where we started—grubby bikers.

Others were excited to find bits and pieces to complete vintage projects. Some wanted to sniff the action for clues to future sales. The Bikernet investigative team, which we can’t name included builders, brokers, collectors, racers and celebrities.

Click to Read the full photo feature report only on Bikernet.com

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Jan 31
Love0

1951 Jacobsen Power Cycle Prototype Discovered

By General Posts

by Bandit, Cabana Dan and the National Motorcycle Museum

A brother, Cabana Dan owns this bike. There were only ten built as prototypes to compete with the Whizzer kit motorbikes. Dan only knows of two and this is one of them. It’s been housed in the National Motorcycle Museum for years.

In the early years, the American motorcycle industry served riders with a broad range of machines including lightweight singles. But post-Depression most American motorcycles were at least 500cc’s and had a considerable weight and price tag. The price of a new Indian or Harley-Davidson could buy most of a new Ford or Chevy.

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Jan 26
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The Punishment Bikernet Weekly News for January 26, 2023

By General Posts

Riding Free since 1996

Click Here to Read the Weekly News only on Bikernet.com

We sold out of my second book “OUTLAW JUSTICE.” I’m in the process of having it set up on Kindle, so I can print more. But I do have some posters of the cover art by Eric Herrmann. The next two-year Cantina Member gets a poster as part of his or hers bling package.

The poster is signed by me and Eric.

In the meantime, keep building oily motorcycles and riding free.

–Bandit

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.

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Jan 18
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Cabana Dan’s ’13-’14 Builds

By General Posts

by Bandit, with photos by Wrench

From the Hidden Black Hills of Sturgis, SD

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Moving to Sturgis is like moving to motorcycle nirvana in the Black Hills Region of South Dakota. It’s either Western or Two-Wheeled in this area. The wildlife runs from Moose to Elk, to Knucklehead, Flathead and 4-valve heads.

There are long distance riders, artists like Scott Jacobs and his entire family, to Antique Motorcycle Club guys, custom builders like Irish Rich and a master of all Cabana Dan. A Hamster and union retiree Dan builds drag bikes, customs, choppers, bobbers, long bikes and is now building, by chance three stock antiques in the 1913-1914 range.

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