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WILD WEST RESPONDS, “YOU MISQUOTED– John Covington or John Covington misspoke. Wehave hardly gone under. Actually, we are doing very well. We’ve expandedour dealer base to 14 dealers. We have doubled sales every year since 1998.We are profitable. We have a back log of orders through August. Everythingwe build is pre-sold. We have a waiting list of dealers to get on boardwith us. We’ve chosen a steady growth plan that might not make hugeheadlines, but will keep us around for the long haul. The demand for ourproduct has been unbelievable (especially when you consider we have only hadone paid ad and one press release in the last 4 years).
We will continue topump our resources into R&D and will eventually turn on the marketingfaucet as well (R&D always comes first for a company that is owned and runby a mechanical engineer). We do our best to stay out of the press for now,because the interest it generates overwhelms our small staff. (We don’t haveany dedicated sales people.) When our growth dips below 100 percent per year, we’lldo the marketing/sales thing, but until then the bike sells itself and ourcurrent growth curve is about all we care to handle now.
However, telling people that we are out of business is obviously not goodfor us. We are very much alive and thriving. Please make a correction onyour Web site.”
Thank you!
(Great Web site, by the way.)
–Paul Seiter
Wild West Motor Company
paul@wildwestmc.com
Blame it on me, she always does.
THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE– is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (AIM) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the law offices of Richard M. Lester. For more information, call us at (800) ON-A-BIKE. Visit us on our Web site at < HREF=”http://www.aimncom.com/”>http://www.AIMNCOM.com/>
NCOM CONVENTION REPORT: This was the 16th Annual. As we all know,the National Coalition of Motorcyclists and Aid to Injured Motorcyclistsprograms are supported by AIM attorneys returning a big chunk of their fees earned in injury cases to the motorcycling community, without added costto the client. The money comes out of the attorneys’ own pockets. Our> attorneys all over North America ride. You get to talk to them free at 1-800-ON-A-BIKE or go to www.on-a-bike.com.
This year we were in Orlando, but there was nothing Mickey Mouseabout it. Too much to list it all here, but here’s some: We had seminars forall walks of motorcycle life and even a minority biker caucus and a women’s seminar. My wife attended that one, and told me she would not missanother convention because she learned she is really an important part of thebiker world.
There was a mock legislative session done by the NCOM LegislativeTask Force (Oregon’s Butch Harbaugh Chairs the LTF) that illustrated whathappens in state and federal legislatures and how different bills are handled. By the way, our mock helmet bill lost its mock fight there.
SLIDIN’ DOWN THE ROAD: A biker named Slider Gilmore, an EMT whotrains other EMTs, did a whale of a seminar at NCOM on the “GOLDEN HOUR” afteran accident. We found that what happens in the first 10 minutes after an accident could make the difference of whether or not a victim survivesthe trauma of a wreck. It made me and a lot of others realize how important first aid and CPR training is to riders.
NEXT YEAR, the 17th NCOM Convention will be held in New Orleans,right across from the French Quarter. Don’t miss it if you value the right to ride. I’ll be there if I have to crawl.
CHICAGO: Officer Maurice Burks’ radar gun registered a bike at 160mph. He couldn’t believe it. But the gun was working right. Burks stopped Daemond Rogan, 32, and cited him for speeding in a 40 mph zone. Burkschased Rogan along Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive but couldn’t catch him. A roadblock got him.
The cops contacted a Honda shop to find out if the 1999 CBR 600F4model Rogan was riding was really that fast. Police said they were told the top speed for that bike is 165 mph. Officers in the radar unit over 20years say this is the fastest speed they can recall.
Rogan was also cited for running a red light and weaving. When you’regoing that fast on city streets without running someone down, ya better beweavin. WOW! That’s scootin!
BIKER BOOK SNITCH: Well this fellow Jim Redden here in Portland has written one cracker-jack book about just how far the government will go(and that’s TOO far) in his new paperback, “SNITCH CULTURE: How Citizens are Turned Into the Eyes and Ears of the State.” It’s published by FeralHouse, and you can find it in your bookstore, or online at www.feralhouse.com.
VR 1000 SUPERBIKE TEAM TAKES LEARNINGS FROM ROAD AMERICA TO LOUDON–Picotte Happy with Chassis Changes; Smith Takes Set-Up to Next Level. Home field held no advantage forthe Harley-Davidson VR 1000 team this weekend when the AMA Superbike tourmade a doubleheader appearance at Wisconsin’s Road America, the longestcourse onthe circuit. However, the team is confident the development efforts theytested this weekend will improve their chances going forward.
“On Saturday our results reflected the fact that Road America is ahorsepower track and we need more,” said Harley-Davidson’s Director ofRacing John Baker. “We just experienced some bad luck on Sunday in the rainyconditions.”
Mike Smith and Pascal Picotte finished 14th and 15th respectively in dryconditions on Saturday. Smith finished 17th in the rain on Sunday, whilePicotte did not finish after crashing out of turn 13 on the first lap.
“I was going around Nicky [Hayden] and just high-sided in turn 13,” saidPicotte. “There was just no grip at all.” Picotte was sore from his crash,but said he’d be ready for Loudon. “We’re still down on power, but ourchassis is better. The gap should be closer there.”
Harley-Davidson’s highlight of the weekend was the eighth place finish onSunday by Austin-Bleu Bayou H-D privateer rider Jordan Szoke.
The Harley-Davidson VR 1000 team will compete again June 15-17, when the AMASuperbike tour heads to New Hampshire International Raceway in Loudon.
STICKY REPORT–New Bikernet stickers are being produced as we speak. Here’s a report from Hawaii: “Bandit, stickers are being cut as I write this, will take in for shipping on Friday.”
–Chris
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