October 02, 2008 Part 1

Hey,

I just returned from the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, Meeting of the Minds. Damn, there’s a lot going on from both ends of the spectrum. I learned a lot and specifically from Elaine from FEMA, the Federation of European Motorcycle Association. She made a presentation in Scandinavia that may have prevented motorcycling from being banned due to their Vision 1 goal–No highways deaths for a year.

One country, I believe Holland decided to try anything to come up with a year of highway use without one fatality. They found that as long as motorcycles shared the roads, the objective was not attainable. Consequently the answer became banning motorcycles. Elaine broke down accident avoidance into several sectors and basically pointed out that if you segmented these elements into percentage figures you would come to the conclusion that 25 percent involves motorcycle training, 65 percent community training and 10 percent equipment (motorcycles and gear). In other words, if we want to prevent accidents 65 percent is on the community. We need to train the community to share the roads, respect motorcycling, enhance awareness, build safer roads, move obstructions, keep people focused while driving and I probably missed an item or two. I’ll post her full report shortly.

Let’s hit the news, then I’ll blither about something else:

THUNDERMAX 50 ECM with Auto-Tune ARB-Legal Closed Loop System– We now have an ARB-Legal TMax for our customers in the State of California! The ThunderMax 50 is a self-tuning closed-loop engine management system for 2001-2006 88? Twin Cam? bikes originally equipped with Delphi? open-loop EFI. The ThunderMax 50 installs easily and optimizes your engines? tune as you ride. Because the ThunderMax 50 is a closed-loop system, the ThunderMax 50 ECM uses feedback data from the wide-band oxygen sensors and AutoTune module to ensure that the engine constantly maintains the optimum air/fuel ratio to maintain excellent throttle response, power and economyARB Executive Order # D-644 – Requires addition of oxygen sensor bungs or an exhaust system with bungs. Click here to check out Zipper’s products.

MARYLAND MAKES A MOVE TO SAVE MOTORCYCLISTS– Here’s a press release from the Maryland State Highway Administration. MD. SHA officials say lawmakers passed three laws this summer to make highways safer for motorcycles. An SHA statement said drivers who fail to yield the right of way and cause a serious crash could pay $1000.00 in fines and have their license suspended. The previous penalty was $150.00 for failure to yield and no specific penalty for causing injury or even death. Also passed in June were laws making L.E.D.’s legal to make motorcycles more visible and a law classifying three wheelers as motorcycles.

The SHA said more than half the motorcycle crashes in the state are not the motorcyclists fault. From The Carroll County Times 9/26/08. Keep the great information flowing. Bikernet is the best source of info out there. Keep up the good work.

–Dave
Hampstead. MD.

LENGTHLY LEATHER STUDY SHOWS THAT BIKERNET WORKS–I just wanted to thank you for all of the support that you have shown Duane. Thanks for putting his works on BIKERNET, it has helped us out GREATLY.

My whole family appreciates it.

–Lisa
Duane Ballard Custom Leather
603-781-7505
www.dbcustomleather.com

WWII TRIVIA FROM THE BIKERNET HISTORIC FOUNDATION–I’m reading a series of Winston Churchill books documenting WWII from 1935 through the war to 1945. At one point before U.S. involvement, England was surrounded by Nazis and fighting on several fronts for Europe’s life. They experienced some solid wins along the north coast of Africa against Mussolini’s troops. One campaign was headed by Australian troops. “They sang at that time a song they had brought with them from Australia,” said Churchill, “which soon spread to Britian.”

That was 1941. The funny thing is, The Wizard of Oz movie came out in 1939.
–Bandit

MYRTLE BEACH AT WAR WITH MOTORCYCLISTS, THE INSIDE STORY–I imagine you are already hooked up with every sort of news service, miningfor data on the Myrtle Beach situation If you don’t already know, you might also be interested in some tidbitsabout recent past battles with Myrtle Beach regarding bikers. I believe itwas some seven or eight years back when there was a push to keep us out.Truthfully at that time the “worst” part of the two weeks was the Atlantic Sport Bike Week (commonly andregretfully referred to here in the South as Black Bike Week – by bothblacks and whites).

Numerous individuals, including myself, set up acampaign via the now-defunct Sons of Liberty Riders email list, andcontacted every hotel, restaurant, rental agency, bar, gambling cruise shipline, etc. owner regarding the loss of income should we be stopped fromvisiting their city and asking them where they stood on the matter.

Thisstimulated some good conversation but what happened in the end was that theNAACP came in and threatened to sue based on how law enforcement and trafficcontrol measures were different during Black Bike Week than during the NorthCarolina/South Carolina Harley Davidson Bike Week. The result was that nowboth weeks are equally treated to the same “welcome” to Myrtle Beach.

There was also a mayor there a few years back who made a public comment tothe effect that when he sees a biker with a tee-shirt that proclaimssomething indecent, his first instinct is to just run the biker over andkill him.

My mother owns property in North Myrtle Beach and is on the condoassociation board and I have been very proud of her for standing up over 20+years to repeated attempts to make that 20-unit building enact a “nomotorcycles” policy. And it is hard.

I quite understand why people wish todo this. Individuals who own a property and their yearly maintenance duesare designed according to expenses of upkeep. When you have people peeingin the elevators and ice machines, asking young non-black families why theyare here because it is “OUR” week, blocking traffic by using the streetsliterally as a place to hang out for hours (I have experienced this formyself – taking over 1.5 hours to go one block) it is very hard to stand upagainst such a ban. But she did and now my father continues the battle!I’m so proud of them.

Internally, the black community has struggled with some success to policethemselves. It is a different culture from my own yet I am working todevelop more relationships there. I really have to hand it to them for whatthey have achieved and working to achieve.

On the other hand, the predominantly white HD-based rally has grownexponentially. There are so many of “us” who are either young andinexperienced, or recently riding after a 20-year hiatus – who feel theyhave something to prove. They trailer their bikes for sometimes less than300 miles of travel and proceed to enter the drunk trick riding events. None of this helps us and is exactly what has brought us to this situation.Just like in the motorcyclists’ rights movement – – it will be a few whochampion the many.

–Cindy “Fre” Hodges
CBA/ABATE of NC
ABATE of SC member also
Motorcycle Riders Foundation

CYCLE SOURCE MAGAZINE THANKS YOU–The November 2008 Issue of the Cycle Source Magazine goes on sale in a week and we just want to say thank you to everyone in the motorcycle industry that have helped us make our 12th year in publication a great one. This issue marks our third annual Bonneville offering where readers can find a full report from the Bub Ent. Land Speed Trials. Everything from the Bonneville Belles, the land speed girls club to the names and faces of average cats who make the trek to that flats each year, fulfilling the dream of running what they brung.

Also in the November issue, and one of our personal favorites, the George the Painter interview. Interviewing George was a lot like putting an article together for the old Rolling Stone Magazine. Covering the life of a man who is by self definition a white trash icon comes with content that can’t be tamed by social boundaries. I guess you’ll have to see what I mean but suffice it to say that George is a one of a kind, a regular contributor to the Horse Magazine and like no other you will meet in the art or motorcycle worlds.

There is so much more to tell you about, Rico’s ride to Sturgis, Billy Lane’s Flatty, The first CB750 feature in the Source, it’s a great issue and you don’t want to miss it so subscribe today!

THE 5 BALL SPECIAL -As a thank you for everything BikerNet.com has done for us. We would like to give your readers a special subscription price. Save $5.00 off a year subscription by including this code BKRNT5 when you subscribe through our site or through the mail. Offer good through October 2008.

ROLLIN’ SIXES AND BIKERNET CHRISTMAS T-SHIRT DRIVE FOR OUR TROOPS–“We already have shirts in, OUTSTANDING,” said Jerry from Rollin’ Sixers. “Looks like this year might be bigger then the last.” Keep it up.

Wow, Check this out. We just had Ron Gaston and Dewayne Meek call and say that they are going to send us 300 T’s for the T-shirt drive for the Troops from his Big Dog, Suckerpunch Sallys dealership in New Orleans. That city is still rebuilding down there from Katrina and they still did this. I’m just blown away, Ron and his family have heart bro. They arent doing it to be popular, I’m sure Ron would rather me not write and tell you but I’m going to anyways. Spread the word, if anyone is down there. Stop in and tell them thanks. And if you’re not around there, pick up the phone and tell them thanks. They deserve it.

Later
— Jerry
Send T-shirts to:
Rollin Sixes Choppers n Rods
2164 West First Street
Suite A, Fort Myers, FL
33901

MYRTLE BEACH RALLY LAWSUITS BEING FILED–Related Content Listof new ordinances Complete coverage of biker rallies Attorney Suzanne Coe ofGreenville said she will fire the opening salvo against the city of MyrtleBeach on Monday by filing a lawsuit to try and stop the city from enforcingthe three anti-motorcycle-rally ordinances that took effect this week.

Coe said she’ll file suit on behalf of several businesses, including The DogHouse, the Masters’ Club and MyrtleBeachBikeWeek.com in federal court inFlorence first thing Monday morning, and ask a judge to issue a temporaryrestraining order to prevent enforcement of the noise-ordinance amendment,the nuisance-law amendment and the new ordinance that restricts people fromusing Myrtle Beach as the focus when advertising unpermitted events such asthe bike rallies.

“It’s a First Amendment issue,” Coe said Friday afternoon. “People areafraid to speak, to advertise or hold events for fear they will be chargedwith crimes.”

Coe contends the newly adopted ordinances and amendments interfere withinterstate commerce, because many of the businesses that participate in themotorcycle rallies in Horry County are from out of state. She also said thenew laws are vague, especially when it comes to defining nuisances.

“How do you draw the line between what’s a rally and what’s just an event?”she said. “This is basically just a hammer on businesses.”

City Manager Tom Leath had not heard about Coe’s intended suit Fridayafternoon, and said the city doesn’t usually discuss pending legal matters.

But challenges to the 15 ordinances the city passed last week to curb theMay motorcycle rallies are not unexpected, he said.

“If we are sued on any grounds, we will vigorously defend ourselves,” Leathsaid.

Coe said this suit targets only the three ordinances and amendments thattook effect this week, immediately after the city council gave them finalapproval Tuesday. Twelve other ordinances go into effect in 90 days, and Coesaid she will challenge those, as well.

–By Lorena Anderson

DAYTONA TWIN TUNER EX FI CONTROLLER GETS EXEMPTION ORDER D-641 BY ARB– DAYTONA Twin Tec has gained an Executive Order from CARB allowing its Twin Tuner EX fuel controller for 2001-2008 Twin-Cam models to be used on bikes in California.

According to details on the Exemption Order, it will only remain valid: “?provided the installation instructions for the Twin Tuner EX will not recommend tuning the motorcycle to specifications different from those of the Daytona Twin Tec LLC.”

Daytona Twin Tec claims the Twin Tuner provides users with the easy ability to adjust the bike’s fuel injection system to optimize the use of other performance modifications such as camshafts, free flowing exhausts and low restriction air filters. Fitment of the Twin Tuner is done by the removal of five wires from the Delphi ECM connector, insertion of those wires into the mating connector of the controller, then inserting five new wires from the Twin Tuner into the ECM connector, and connecting one ground wire.

Adjustments to the bike’s fueling are made using the mode and up/down push button switches on the Twin Tuner in the RPM and throttle position ranges required by most applications. The fuel trim value is displayed on a LED display. The Twin Tuner also has an advanced mode, where users can access the optional USB interface and PC Link Tuner software to make precise fuel adjustments. The PC Link Tuner software uses the same RPM rows and throttle position columns as the Dynojet Power Commander, allowing user-created Dynojet Power Commander files to be re-used.

DAYTONA TWIN TEC
Daytona, Florida, USA
Tel: 386 304 0700
Fax: 386 304 9502
E-mail: allen@daytona-twintec.com
www.daytona-twintec.com

BIKERNET BROUHAHA WINNER REACHES OUT–Roadside Marty took a bike of mine to the Bikernet show at the Thunderdome this year, and I won a few prizes.

First of all, let me say thank you for the great trophies. I usually don’t give a damn about a trophy, but these are cool and are still sitting on our counter.

Second, let me apologize for not being there to accept the trophies. We had planned all week on riding that particular day, and it was our last chance. We were set up as part of the Limp Nickie Lot at the County Line Saloon, and we didn’t have many chances to ride the whole time we were out there.

Apparently I won a few prizes from your sponsors too. I have spoken with Ray from W8less and gotten squared away with him. I am actually amped to use his new rotors. I guess I also won a set of pipes, but I really was not told from whom. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

If I could ever contribute to Bikernet, or possibly sponsor a show in the future, please let me know. I have been plugged in to Bikernet since about 2001, when I first learned how to turn on the computer.

–Paul
Bare Knuckle Choppers

We are also looking for a Canadian contestant. His bike was unfortunately overlooked by the judges, and we believe it was worthy of a feature. Killer billet work and design. Hope he reads this and gets in touch.–Bandit

KRAWIEC RACES V-ROD TO FINAL ROUND AT MEMPHIS NHRA DRAGS–Screamin? Eagle Rider Gains on Smith in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Title Chase

MEMPHIS, TENN. (Sept. 28, 2008) – Screamin? Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Eddie Krawiec raced a Harley-Davidson V-Rod to the final round of NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations at the O?Reilly Midsouth Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park. Krawiec retained his second-place position in the Countdown to One championship points standings, and gained 17 points on the series leader, NitroFish Buell rider Matt Smith. Krawiec is now 42 points behind Smith with two events left on the schedule.

Krawiec defeated Smith in the third round at Memphis when Smith fouled by just 0.005 seconds. In the final round, Krawiec beat Schumacher Electric Suzuki rider Craig Treble off the line but lost when his motorcycle shut down just after the start.

?We had an electrical gremlin that popped up in the final qualifying round on Saturday, and we thought we had it fixed,? said Krawiec, who made the fourth final-round appearance of his career at Memphis. ?My Harley-Davidson was flawless in the first two rounds on Sunday, but the problem reappeared in round three and the bike shut off at the top of first gear. Luckily Smith fouled so we won that round. We thought we had it solved for the final, but the bike just shut off a half-second after I launched. I had him by .040 on the tree, and I think the race is over if we can get down the track.?

Krawiec qualified in seventh position for the event with a run of 7.002 seconds, and made two runs under seven seconds to defeat Hector Arana and Chris Rivas in the first two rounds at Memphis.

?We made up some ground on the leader this weekend,? said Krawiec. ?With two races left we?ve just got to stay consistent. We?ve got a month off to go to the shop and get the bike sorted out and ready for Las Vegas.?

Screamin? Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines qualified fourth at Memphis with a 6.992 ET. Hines defeated Joe DeSantis in the first round, but fouled by 0.010 seconds to hand a second-round win to Indicom Electric Buell rider Angie McBride.

After three rounds of the five-round NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Countdown to One series for the championship, Smith leads with 2319 points. Krawiec holds down second place with 2277 points. Rivas is third with 2240 points, followed by Angelle Sampey 2217, Steve Johnson with 2200, and Hines in sixth with 2187 points.

NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles will race next Oct. 30-Nov. 2 at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nev.

The Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines Pro Stock Motorcycle team is sponsored by Ford Truck, Dunlop, Matco Tools and S100.

VERTICLE LICENSE PLATES ILLEGAL IN FLORIDA– It appears that some of the law enforcement agencies around the State of Florida are trying to get a jump on issuing tickets for Vertical License Plates on Motorcycles.The law does Not Go Into Affect Until October 1, 2008.

I did hear from a rider in Palm Bay that a friend of his has received one and now reports from Panama City Beach during the Thunder Beach Rally.

Here is a sample, “We went to Thunderbeach this weekend, which is held here in Panama City Beach. Some friends of mine were pulled over for vertical license plates, even though their bikes were registered in Alabama. The cops are already using this just to pull people over. It is expected that this will be a issue at Biketoberfest as well!”

Forewarned is Fairwarned.

–Rogue
www.bikerrogue.com

Continued On Page 2

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