GEORGE CHRISTIE RELEASED—That’s right, after one of the biggest cases ever in Ventura County, Calif., courts fell apart, George Christie, his daughter and son were released. Several months ago, the entire Ventura County Chapter of the Hells Angels was arrested and a bunch of other suspects and the clubhouse was confiscated.
In the last couple days, the court cut George loose, returned most of the confiscated money and their clubhouse. George pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy and no contest to one count of tax evasion.
“I had to admit to being the boss,” George told me this morning via satellite phone from the middle of the Pacific.
I’ve known George for over 30 years and recently wrote a story in HORSE magazine about a Yuma Prison Run we went on in 1973. Watch for it.
CANTINA SOAP OPERA HEATS UP–When we kicked off Bandit’s Cantina, we decided that it needed its own soap opera, and so the Bandit’s Cantina Soap Opera was established. Of course it’s wild, racy and full of suspense. We endeavor to put up a new chapter every couple of weeks, after the board of directors fights over whether we’ve gone over the racy line or not.
Bikernet Caribbean Report—Another week is going by, seems like we are heading for the summer atextreme “velocipede,” with all the California rides, The Horse Smoke Out andSturgis. It’s all coming up sooner than we think….
Like I’ve said before, it’s a lot of fun meeting people in this industry. Wehave received lots of e-mails, calls and letters congratulating ourcontributions here and on various magazines, (and some bashing too) but ingeneral the responses have been more than positive. It still amazes me theamount of people who are reached by Bikernet and the magazines. We want tothank all those who took the time to say hi, to drop a message or to justcall on the phone. Thanks a lot guys! It’s not easy to do this stuff weekafter week, monthly in some cases, and juggle our pretty busy schedules inbetween, but, to tell you the truth, it’s all worth it. This is a great wayto say what I want to say every time I feel like it. Maybe in another lifewe could have helped Bandit when Easyriders was worth buying. Look at itthis way, we are 4,000 miles away from San Pedro, but we still manageto communicate every day with all of you. That’s amazing !
We don’tadvertise in magazines so our chances of having bikes featured are slim tonone, but we still manage to do it once in awhile, how come? Sweat, bustedknuckles, lots of work and, most important, very good friends we havemet along the way. The best of all is that this is only the beginning. Sure, we also receive our share of critics. We listen to the ones who make sense and say “fuck off” to the ones who just do it for the hell of it. All in all we are pretty happy with all this, just wish that we had more time,more resources, and more space to show what we’ve got. Oh well…..
I guess “I’m going editorial” like Bandit says, but since he won’t be herefor another couple of weeks…….
We were talking about bikes (so what’s new) and decided to refer to bikesin a different way. We were trying to use a word for a bike that is not achopper. We call them “normal” or “regular” bikes, but we ended up beingasked what normal was. (Good question.)
So we came up with a comparison. A normal bike is a Hot Bike bike, a Rubchopper is a Street Chopper bike and a cool chopper is a ?The Horse bike.?Easyriders and Biker mix them up so we could not use them, so let’s saythat a Ness bike is a Hot Bike, a Choppers Inc. is The Horse, am I makingsense? Jet ski graphics belong to Hot Bike, Flames, The Horse and on andon.
To make a long story short, if someone asks me if I like his bike, I sayit could be a Hot Bike bike. No one gets insulted and we all stay confused,simple! I’m saying this ’cause it seems like there’s more and more gaudy,complex bikes, and less simple ones (duuhh). A bike show will be won by themost colors, gadgets and chrome, not by craftsmanship or sweat. I have seenamazing bikes (in my opinion) that are ignored cause they don’t happen tohave flashy colors or the latest billetry. To those guys who know whatI’m talking about, we salute you! A trophy does not make a cool bike.
Ohwell, enough babbling, let’s hit the news…..
We heard that Frank Kaisler left Hot Rod Bikes magazine to search forgreener pastures. We will miss him and his crew (which seems to have vanishedfrom the mag too). We also miss the chicks in skimpy clothes but we guessthat the powers to be (Hot Bike who bought HRB) have different plans forthe publication…
Our local San Juan HOG chapter will have its first ride of the year thiscoming weekend. They are doing a two-day jaunt to the town of Ponce. It’sincredible that they allow them there after last time’s mayhem.Also the Desertores will have a ride April 7 in Caguas, followed by the big BBQ- presentation from our local H-D dealer. We aregoing to share space at one of our local malls in a Harley exhibition.It’s pretty cool when you can show your choppers at the same space as thefactory products (and invited by them, might I add). The exhibition featuresnew and old models(which, by the way, we provide Laughlin is near, so get ready for some fun in the desert. Also we heardthat 18 or so riders from Puerto Rico are heading over to Laconia, ridingin from Orlando, Fla. Quite a trip, we wish them the best. Also, we heard some rumors, and I MEAN rumors, that the third MotorcycleMania is on the drawing board. We really hope that the huge success ofthose two programs expands into a whole bunch of airplay for bikers ingeneral. Hell, maybe they will give us a call. Chaos in the Caribbean wouldbe a fun thing to watch. Time to get outta here, the wrenches are calling…..Ah! To finish this, weare working on a whole section of our bikes here in Bikernet(if the almighty Bandit gives us the space) as soon a we have the time wewill start sending those photos, hope you like them. See ya’ next week…. Jose — Caribbean (and sometimes World) Bikernet report. Jose, if Bandit doesn?t make room in the site for your bikes, I will. Sin Continued On Page 2
