Hey,
We’re about to launch a new free department on Bikernet, called the Bikernet 2006 Bonneville Effort. We’ll post all our tech features, updates, info about the Bubs event in September and our ride out to the flats. Everybody is welcome. I can feel a strong surge of interest. I believe there will be more activity at the salt flats than ever before.
Did you know that the movie, “The World’s Fastest Indian, starring Anthony Hopkins didn’t make general release. We hope to sell the DVD in our Black Market when it comes available. Watch for it on cable.
Here’s the squirrelly side of the business. A handicapped bike went up for auction yesterday. It was an original 1916 Harley twin electric, with a side car. The controls ran to the car for handicapped rideability. It was discovered in a barn with the original tires in place. The estate sale was listed on Yahoo and in a couple of obscure web sites. Don Whalen sent a guy with a briefcase full of cashier’s checks to grab the find.
As it turned out every major hitter in the antique world got the word and blasted to the site. The bid went to $87,000. Incredible.
BIKERNET RADIO BOOMING WITH NEW INTERVIEWS–Dennis Gage of My Classic Car:My Classic Car appears on Speed TV and Branscombe caught up with the star of the show, Dennis Gage. You know Dennis, the mustache and his interviews with Jay Leno. A real good guy.Listen to Mr. Mustache right here.
Russia on the March with Bike Freak Magazine:Bike Freak Magazine started reporting on our lifestyle in 2002. Dmitry Khitrov stopped in to talk with Bandit and Branscombe grabbed him for an interview.Listen to Dmitry of Bike Freak Magazine.
BLACK EXHAUST WRAP AVAILABLE FROM LONE STAR CHOPPERS– Check it out, black exhaust wrap is now in stock at http://www.lonestarchoppers.com/store , best price on the internet!
Check the tech tip in the Bikernet Garage.
–Larry
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE 1902 IS SELECTED TO BUILD THEHOOTERS CASINO HOTEL “OL SCHOOL BOBBER”- – – – -GRAND PRIZE FOR THIS YEARS LAS VEGAS BIKEFEST–American Motorcycle Co. 1902 is excited to announce that it has been selected by the new Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, NV to create a custom “Ol School Bobber” to be used in the promotion of this years 2006 Las Vegas BikeFest. Registration to win this exciting motorcycle will take place at the Casino during the month prior to the event.
The custom Hooters “Ol School Bobber” will be on tour leading up to Las Vegas BikeFest with the American Motorcycle Co. 1902 exhibit at events and rally’s around the country. “It was a real honor for us when we were selected by Hooters Casino Hotel to build a custom Bobber for them to give away at Las Vegas BikeFest, stated Robert Page and Branscombe Richmond, partners of American Motorcycle Co. 1902. Page continued, “We are dedicated to build a bike that Hooters Casino Hotel can be proud of, and that the lucky winner will be proud to own. Of course we hope they will enjoy showing it off on their frequent stops at all the local Hooters locations they frequent”.
The Las Vegas BikeFest Partnership announced that the new Hooters Casino Hotel will sponsor a Grand Prize Giveaway at Las Vegas BikeFest scheduled for September 14-17, 2006. Hooters Casino Hotel has contracted with American Motorcycle Co. 1902 to build a custom “Hooters Ol School Bobber” for this Grand Prize Giveaway. The motorcycle will be called “The Original” featuring a custom paint job honoring the very first Hooters girl “Lynn Austin”.
All Las Vegas BikeFest registrants will have the opportunity to win the Grand Prize Giveaway by dropping off their entry forms at the Hooters Casino Hotel.
Hooters Casino Hotel information is available at www.hooterscasinohotel.com or call866-584-6687.
HARLEY-ORIENTED MAGAZINES:THE LATEST & MOST CURRENT SALES– Curious how the actual sales compare for the leading Harley-oriented magazines? Here is the most complete and up to date sales averages available.
PLEASE NOTE: We have identified the magazines with ABC audited sales claims, but cannot vouch for the accuracy of the non-audited magazines’ circulation claims.
TOTAL AVERAGE PAID CIRCULATION
1 American Iron Magazine 154,954 (ABC)
2 Easyriders (excluding V-Twin) 141,596 (ABC)
3 Hot Bike 132,920 (ABC)
4 The Horse 88,596 (NOT AUDITED)
5 V-Twin 85,046 (ABC)
6 BikeWorks 78,280 (NOT AUDITED)
7 American Rider 59,692 (NOT AUDITED)
8 IronWorks 59,272 (NOT AUDITED)
9 Street Chopper 59,023 (NOT AUDITED)
Assuming all circulation claims are accurate (which might not be a smart assumption for the non-audited magazines) the 3 best selling magazines, American Iron Magazine, Easyriders and Hot Bike combined represent 33% of the total magazines AND 50% of the total paid circulation of the category.
Another point to keep in mind when comparing the relative value of each magazine’s claimed circulation, is the mix of single copy vs subscription circulation.
Some magazines sell subscriptions through deep discounting, others through aggressive techniques (such as on eBay) or a combination of the two.
If you are considering working with or advertising in any of these magazines, it is recommended that you ask your contact at the magazine for an analysis of circulation. This should include the mix of single copy vs subscription, and what is the cheapest subscription rate available.
This information is brought to you by HarleySmart and the staff of American Iron Magazine.
–from Geno at the HORSE
P.S. Check Bikernet numbers list below.
BIKERNET NUMBERS (monitored by Web Trends): Last month 270,000 readers came to Bikernet.com for 540,000 visits, with 913,000 impressions and 8.7 million hits. The average stay on Bikernet is over 8 minutes. Not bad.
THE VIPER CHALLENGE– On May 27th, in New Mexico, we will compete head-to-head in a quarter mile drag race with the Air Force F-16 Viper Fighter aircraft and the Dodge Viper automobile in what the Air Force is calling a contest to determine the fastest Viper on the planet.
We are very grateful to the U.S. Air Force for inviting us to be a part of this fun and competitive event.
I’m sure everyone is familiar with the Dodge Viper; 550 hp and 200 mph. The F-16 Viper is a multi-mission fighter capable of speeds in excess of 1500 mph and 350 mph in a half mile. It produces 27,000 pounds of thrust and can fly at an altitude of more than 50,000 ft. It carries a 20 mm multibarrel cannon with 500 rounds and 6air-to-air missiles and 6 air-to-surface missiles. Each craft cost over 19 million dollars. It is currently deployed in the Persian Gulf and flies more sorties than any other aircraft.
I am attaching photos of the F-16 Viper and will take a camera crew to film the event live.
–Terry Nesbitt
President
Viper Motorcycle Company
TEXAS NATIONAL BIKE SHOW POSTER CONTEST VOTING– O.K. here is the skinny on voting for the Texas National Bike Show poster bike. Thanks to Bikernet for all of their highly skilled technical support, we now have about 13 or 14 very choice custom bikes posted for all of your viewing and voting pleasure.Here’s the lowdown
We will start the voting today, Thursday April 6th and give everyone a 2 week period to vote in. So all you have to do is take a long hard look at all of the bikes and decide which one you would like to see grace our bike show poster, along with the lovely Miss Texas National Bike Show.
Once you have made your incredibly hard decision please send your vote to my personal e-mail Hollyand we will make sure it gets to the right place. Voting will end on Thursday April 20th and hopefully all of you will have sent me a flood of e-mails,and it will take me a week to sort through all of them! Since Bikernet has been so helpful to us we will ask them to do us one more favor and that is to post the winner of the contest on Thursday April 27th in the Thursday news.
Now if we are really good and say all of our prayers perhaps we can persuade the Golden God of Motorcycles (Bandit) to do some follow ups on the news from the photo shoot so you can all see your voting in action!! Don’t forget VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! Holly.
Thanks,
Mrs.L Devil
Flyrite Choppers Introduces the NeveRust Transmission Mounting Plate–Flyrite Choppers has developed the finest transmission mounting plate available for adapting a Softail? style transmission case to a rigid frame. Designed specifically to mount later style transmissions to Flyrite Choppers frames, but should work on any zero offset rigid frame. If additional drilling or cutting is required, not to worry the NeveRust transmission mounting plate is made of polished 420 stainless steel. No more flaking chrome.
All NeveRust parts are made of polished stainless with the home builder in mind. Cut, drill, tig and repolish, paint, or powdercoat and never fear rust popping back through again. Look for more new products coming soon from Flyrite Choppers at www.flyritechoppers.com.
FLASHBACK TO THE ’70s–My levis are so greasy they look like chaps,
–Bob T.
BIKERNET DRINKIN STUDY–An Italian is drinking in a New York bar when he gets a call on hiscell phone. He hangs up, grinning from ear to ear, and orders a round ofdrinks for everybody in the bar announcing his wife had produced atypical Italian baby boy weighing 25 pounds.
Nobody can believe that any new baby can weigh in at 25 pounds, but theItalian guy just shrugs, “That’s about average back home,folks……like I said, my boy’s a typical Italian bambino”
Congratulations showered him from all around, and many exclamations of”WOW”….one woman actually fainted due to sympathy pains.
Two weeks later he returns to the bar. The bartender says, “Say you’rethe father of that typical Italian baby that weighed 25 pounds atbirth. Everybody’s been making bets about how big he’d be in two weeks. Sohow much does he weigh now?
The proud father answers, “Seventeen pounds.”
The bartender is puzzled, concerned, and a little suspicious.”What happened? He already weighed 25 pounds the day he was born!”
The Italian father takes a long swig of Sambuca, wipes his lips on hisshirt sleeve, leans into the bartender and proudly says…..
“We had him circumcised”………
–from Geno
BIG BONED SPRINGERS RELEASED–Parks Custom Springers is eager tointroduce the Big Boned Springer, the newest addition to our increasinglypopular springer line. The Big Boned front and rear legs are constructed of1.5-INCH tubing to achieve a stout look that compliments Bobbers as well as wide-tire bikes. This model will be debut on bike builds by Cole Foster of SalinasBoys Custom and Johnny Goodson (formally of Exile Cycles) later this year.
The entire Parks Custom Springer line includes standard, narrow, wishbonenarrow, big boned and all-tubing models.
Contact Information:
Brian Parks
Parks Custom Springers
brian@parkscustomspringers.com
520-568-5224
www.parkscustomspringers.com
KIDS AND CHROME FANTASTIC UPDATE–1- Billy Lane is going to do a fund raiser for Kids and Chrome during Sturgis week.
2- Scott Jacobs renowned artist has been commissioned by Harley Davidson Motor Company to paint a picture of one of the greatest racers of all time, Jay Springsteen. Scott will unveil this picture at the Kids & Chrome banquet at which time Jay will sign the original and the first and only (same size) print which will also be signed on stage and given to Kids & Chrome for the auction.
3- Redneck Engineering signed on this week with one of their fantastic rolling chassis, value $10,000. Custom Chrome (Europe) signed on with a 110″ Revtec Motor, matching Transmission and Starter value $10,000. Fred Kodlin (Germany) signed on with one of his to die for Front End Assemblies, Exhaust Systems and a host of other Billet parts, value $10,000, Tim Remus is in with 80 of his fantastic hardcover books featuring the most comprehensive pictorial of the beloved Triumph Motorcycle Marque ever, value $2500, Jeff Nicklus of Desperado Motorcycles stepped up with one of his “Good Time Bobbers” which will be signed by the best in the world Custom Bike Builders. value $20,000, And S&S Cycle rolled in with one of their newest motors, a 93-inch shovelhead, value $10,000
Needless to say…WOW, I’ll keep you informed.
–Bob
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