COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
NEW MOTORCYCLE AND SCOOTER SALES SET
Despite the economy, U.S. sales of new motorcycles in 2008 still topped the one-million mark, and did so for the sixth straight year. That beats the longest run of million-plus sales ever recorded by the Motorcycle Industry Council, during the five years from 1970 to 1974. Also, scooter sales last year reached their highest annual level ever.
The MIC?s preliminary estimate for all motorcycles and scooters sold nationwide in 2008 is 1,087,000, down just 3.3 percent compared to 2007. The MIC is currently estimating 2008 scooter sales at 222,000, a new record. Back in 1992, total motorcycle and scooter sales combined were just 278,000.
?All in all, our industry has not declined as precipitously as many others,? said MIC President Tim Buche. ?Many Americans certainly want motorcycles, both for recreation and transportation. When they aren?t buying now, it?s down to personal economics, not desire.?
While total sales have declined slightly during the past two years, they are following in the tracks of some very big years. There were 1,124,000 new bikes sold in 2007. In 2006, that number was 1,190,000, the biggest year for motorcycle sales in more than three decades. The record for most new bikes sold in a year is 1.5 million, back in 1973.
CONGRESS CONSIDERS MOTORCYCLE SAFETY MONTH
A Congressional committee has passed a bill encouraging all road users to be more aware of motorcyclists and their safety, and encourages motorcyclists to take rider training and practice safe riding skills. House Resolution 269, a bill entitled “Supporting the goals of a motorcycle safety month”, received unanimous approval from members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
The resolution is co-sponsored by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), an avid rider who is co-chair of the Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus, and caucus co-chair Rep. Michael Burgess M.D. (R-TX).
The measure now goes to the House floor for a full vote.
INTERNATIONAL FEMALE RIDE DAY — MAY 1st
Women riders are hitting the road in record numbers, with the latest statistics showing that 12.6% of motorcyclists and scooterists are now women, a 29% increase from 2003. Now, the ladies even have their own day to kickstart the riding season!
Flagged for the first Friday of May each year, International Female Ride Day has become the globally synchronized day for women to — just ride!
Supported by the motorcycle industry around the world, it now encompasses a range of international cultures and locations including Canada, United States, South Africa, Australia, Greece and the UK to name but a few, with Poland joining in this year.
In conjunction with International Female Ride Day, Harley-Davidson Motor Co. has declared May as the first-ever Women Riders Month and has planned a series of events around the world to celebrate the ever-growing numbers of female riders hitting the highway and to encourage more ladies to take life by the handlebars.
Harley-Davidson is also encouraging women to learn to ride via either the Harley-Davidson Rider’s Edge New Rider Course or the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic RiderCourse training program, and is backing a Guinness World Record attempt for the number of women motorcycle riders trained in one weekend during the first weekend of May.
CALIFORNIA SMOG CHECK BILL PASSES COMMITTEE
Most motorcycles would have to pass the same smog inspections as cars and trucks under legislation approved by a California legislative committee. SB 435, introduced by Senator Fran Pavley, passed the Senate Transportation Committee on April 14 and has been referred next to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The measure seeks to include motorcycles in the state?s Smog Check Program beginning in 2012 and would cover about 72%of all motorcycles in the state — year 2000 and newer models with large, class-three engines.
No state currently requires motorcycles to undergo regular emissions testing, since motorcyclists in Arizona and Kentucky successfully lobbied to end such test procedures.
MILITARY REQUESTS MANDATORY TRAINING FOR CIVILIANS
Combat injury or death are always possibilities in a war, but last year more U.S. Marines were killed here at home while off-duty riding motorcycles than from enemy fire in Iraq, prompting all military branches to require completion of rider training courses and mandatory personal safety equipment on and off base.
Now, in a move encouraged by military leaders at different Armed Forces bases, a bill is making its way through the North Carolina legislature that would extend the mandatory training requirement to civilians, making it tougher and more expensive to get a motorcycle license.
The legislation, Senate Bill 64, passed the State Senate on March 11. It would take effect July 1, 2010 and require would-be motorcyclists to pass a safety class before they can get a motorcycle endorsement on their licenses. The bill, which is currently pending in the state House, would also prevent riders from taking advantage of the ?perpetual? learners permit by making it valid for just 6 months with a rider having one year to get a full motorcycle endorsement or quit riding.
It’s estimated there are 48,000 motorcycle riders in the Department of the Navy, many of them choosing sport bikes which are designed for speed. Nationwide, the military lost 41 people to motorcycle crashes in fiscal 2001. That tripled to 124 in 2008.
WASHINGTON STATE BIKERS PROTEST WSP SURVEILLANCE
A motorcycle rights group is demanding answers from the Washington State Patrol. During an annual rally at the Capitol this year in Olympia, a state trooper was seen on video as he recorded the license plates of those visiting their elected officials. The sergeant was seen wandering through the parking lot and using a voice recorder to take down the license plate numbers from motorcycles as their owners were inside the statehouse advocating for issues important to them.
Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) Attorney Martin D. Fox, a Seattle lawyer representing several local motorcycle groups, is spearheading an inquiry into the incident and wrote an angry letter to Governor Chris Gregoire protesting the WSP’s January 22nd surveillance activity, noting; “I may be old school, but I always thought that the Capitol was supposed to be a sanctuary for free speech and assembly, and not an opportunity for clandestine intelligence gathering on citizens trying to be involved in the political process.”
Fox, an attorney for ABATE of Washington and legal counsel for the Washington Confederation of Clubs, distributed his letter to numerous Washington media outlets, along with a DVD with images of a trooper “crawling around the bushes of the Capitol to record license plate numbers of motorcycles into his tape machine,” the letter reads.
“My concern is anyone going to the Legislature to have their views heard are being put on a list and it’s not what we do in America,” said Fox.
ABATE and the COC are awaiting a written reply. “They want to know why it was being done and where this information was going,” said Fox.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTS BAN BIKIE ?GANGS?
banned and their members arrested for associating with one another under new anti-bikie laws passed in response to escalating violence between rival clubs.
The New South Wales government has drawn up emergency legislation that it claims will dismantle the biker gangs and bring the violence to an end. Under the proposals, the police would be able to apply to the courts to have a motorcycle group declared a “criminal organization” and outlawed on the basis of intelligence about its alleged activities.
“The new legislation was about declaring a particular organization a criminal group, and I would say that this is a path that we will now be able to go down,” NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Catherine Burn told reporters.
The Rebels and the Comanchero, clubs that were involved in a widely reported fatal brawl at Sydney airport, are likely to be the first gangs so proscribed. Police could then arrest any member wearing gang colors or associating with other known gang members.
In the meantime, gang legislation enacted in South Australia last June to dismantle the clubs has had the reverse effect – serving to unite rival clubs. Gypsy Jokers, Hells Angels, Rebels, Finks and Descendents bike club members have, for the first time, joined together in protest against the Serious and Organised Crime Control Act, described by the government as being the toughest anti-gang law of its kind in the world.
The alliance, known as the FREE Australia Party, is only a few application process steps away from forming a legitimate political party. The party’s leader, Paul Kuhn – a committee member of the Motorcycle Riders Association of SA and a Justice of the Peace – said the group was formed because of deep concern anyone associated with a member of a club would be found guilty under the law. “The Government is now controlling and dictating relationships,” he said.
WEIRD NEWS: MUSICAL HELMETS
A European recycle program could turn music and movie disks into motorcycle helmets. A recycling plan proposed by the Swiss supermarket chain Migros aims to reduce the number of old CDs and DVDs landing in the regular trash by collecting and using them for an unrelated end product.
The recycling program aims to reduce the number of old CDs and DVDs destined for the dumpster. Collection points will be available across Switzerland, and they plan to shred the disks, using the resulting granular remains to make new products such as motorcycle helmets.
According to a store spokesperson, the discs contain the valuable petroleum product polycarbonate, and far too many of them end up in the normal trash. If the program is successful, an old Madonna CD or Brad Pitt movie could be made into head gear.
MILLION MILE MAN
Congratulations to Dave Zien, former Wisconsin State Senator and longtime champion of bikers? rights, for his unprecedented ride into history on April 4 as the odometer on his 1991 FXRT Harley-Davidson turned 00000 for the tenth time! Zien became the first person to ride the same Harley-Davidson motorcycle 1 million miles, which may be the most mileage on any motorcycle ever!
The feat earned him a world record from the Iron Butt Association, the international organization that oversees and governs safe, long-distance motorcycle riding challenges, which was present at Hal?s Harley-Davidson in New Berlin, WI to witness the achievement.
During his time in the saddle, Zien has collected numerous riding records, including logging 1,616 miles in 24 hours and riding 3,032 miles in 48 hours, and through 48 states in eight days. He also has gone through three engines, a couple of transmissions and too many tires to count.
The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. recognized Dave?s accomplishment by presenting him with a 2009 FLHXR in exchange for his Million Mile Bike, which is reportedly headed to the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame. The long-serving legislator is already inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame for not only his riding achievements but for his motorcycle rights advocacy during his 18-year tenure in the state legislature.
During his years as a lawmaker, Zien was known for becoming the state?s first motorcycle-riding legislator. Bikers? rights got Zien involved in politics, as he founded the Wisconsin Better Bikers Association after returning from Vietnam and helped repeal the state?s mandatory helmet law. He has also served for many years on the Legislative Task Force for the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM-LTF), and has lobbied against adult helmet laws in numerous states and on the federal level. In addition to his staunch support of bikers? rights issues, as a Marine combat veteran he dedicated much of his public service to advocating for veteran?s affairs.
At last report, Dave was reluctant to leave his trusty stead behind, but as the first digits roll across his new odometer, a journey of a million miles begins anew.
QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Government can do something for the people only in proportion as it can do something to the people.”Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
