Jose Takes Over–So Bandit’s back in town. Glad he made it in one piece. The girlsleft PR in a hurry and there’s been at least a week to “catch up” on thingsthat were missing. So things will get back to “normal?? Sorry to burst thebubble, Se?or Bandido, but the ladies and crew did an excellent job whileyou were rolling the seas and they even managed to have lots of fun whiletaking time off on your coin….I don’t know if this is happening to youbut after a long time at sea, everything looks different. The world becomesnoisier and you tend to miss those moments of peace while in the middle ofnowhere. I guess that is why people go back to the sea time and time again.
Yep I’m going editorial once more (sorry Bandit). While reading somearticles and a message at Your Shot, my busy mind started buzzing once moreand this is stuff we deal with everyday. “Oh but it’s a rigid, that’smurder to the back, and with these roads…”Let me tell ya people, have you ever ridden one? I can’t say that yourwife?s cooking is bad unless I’ve been invited for dinner.
Sure we need a degree of politeness at the shop, so I can’t tell them tofuck off, but here it’s a bit different. I ride rigids and so do a lot ofour friends. Our backs are fine and the doctors and chiropractors don’tmake a red cent on us. Sure I have ridden old rigids and they are rough,they bang and bounce you around and sometimes you feel like pissing blood,but all these new choppers are as smooth as the latest Softail with loweredshocks, wide tires and long wheelbase. I have been able toride lots of bikes during this lifetime and if I were going to choose themost comfortable one, that would be an old FL with the pogo-style policeseat.
Those Harleys beat any new dyna or softail hands down, even the older rigidFL bikes are amazing to ride. The balance, the seating position and thatpogo seat kick ass!
Nowdays we are selling and building a lot more rigids. We have customerswho have never ridden one and come back after 900 miles or so praisingthe rigid, and not on a stretcher. More so, they look better (style wise) andare cheaper than any other bike, plus they are fun. Like I always say, ?If Iwant extreme comfort I will take my car.? I will always admire those guyswho took their Old School choppers and rode them all around Frisco like itwas nothing. Try riding up to Potrero Hills on a suicide clutch, rigid,slap shift chopper with no front brake. That’s tough! Besides, I knowwhat I know today thanks to a kick-only old chopper. You learn about thebike and how to keep it running, flipping a switch and pressing a button tostart is the easy way, sometimes we gotta pay our dues.
So before dissin’any rigid, first ride one. Something might be learned.
OK, and now to the news:
This a photo of our friend Carlos on a ’70s FL. A friendly cop inMexico City allowed him to pose for this photo. We are receiving some morephotos from the Caribbean and South America and will post them soon, waitfor the ones from Cuba.
One more time……..NO! Jesse James is not in jail. It was all arumor by people who have nothing better to do, and yes, he saw a marketingopportunity and took it. “Free Jesse James” stickers and shirts areavailable at our shop. Want one?
We heard that Bandit was captured by a tribe of nympho,Japanese, midget,Amazon chopper chicks…He’s actually still missing and all of his arrivalstories are a smoke screen. The Bikernet crew is sending the Costa Ricanarmy to rescue him, since he refuses to be rescued……. We will have anupdate, if I can find him, and beg to be kidnapped also. Do you believethis one too?
Things have been pretty quiet on the bike scene here in Puerto Rico. I’mguessing everyone is locked up getting their tax forms ready and hoping forthe best.
The Storm Riders MC had a small ?just friends? ride to the Caribbean Seaside this Sunday. Twenty or so guys on choppers and rigids. They crossed the mountain range and ended up in the southern town of Guayama fora bike meet. My guess is they were having too much fun in those mountaintwisties since they never made it to the meet. Wish I had a photo of a 10″ up 45 degree chopper rigid carving the mountain roads, with a passenger,for those “know it all” rubbies….
Next Sunday the Dia del Motociclista at the local race track in Salinaswill take place. This event welcomes all kinds of bikes and will featuredrag races and a “custom” show. We are trying to make a Harley day, so theboys in cruisers can go and have fun without the Yamasaki riders creatinghavoc. I think it would be cool to have an all V-twin drag challenge.
Laughlin is near and we received news that Big Mike is tying the knotpretty soon. Also, our friend Noel from CrazyRigids.com shirts willbe there showing his wares. That’s one event that we have never done and Iknow it will be fun, well maybe next year….
For those of you lucky enough to score The Horse No. 23, Wow, those Japanesechoppers are cool! They certainly have a style of their own and createbikes with what they have available. If you have not seen the mag, try tocheck it out. That was a cool article by our globe-trotting reporter friendThe Sheriff…..We are guessing when he will make it to Puerto Rico…..
I’m outta here, the chopper that I mentioned a couple weeks ago (builtfrom takeoffs) is done and we are doing the shakedown run this weekend. Wemanaged to stay within budget and it looks cool to me. Maybe next week Iwill post some photos of the extremely cheap chopper. By the way, with thisreport I’m not trying to put anyone down or sound like I’m venting myanger…..Some readers will think I’m right, some will think I?m insane……But I sayit like I see it…..See you next week.
Jose – Bikernet rigid chopper ridin’ report.
New Babes In The Cantina- Check ’em out!
Jose said it all in his Caribbean Report— As Sir Francis Chichester mentioned so articulately in his novel “Gypsy Moth” about sailing around the world: “Hope always persists beyond reason.” So I return from the glorious open seas that lure men into a false swaying sense of reality. Once out to sea I couldn’t wait to return to the coast and motorcycles. Only I discovered after we scrapped the corroding gray hull of the Leon against the Houston docks that myriad bills awaited, disputes were stacked under the good news, unfinished projects lingered, and lackluster profits and missing parts met me in the driveway. But goddamn the sex was fine.
So, to answer Jose’s all-time question about the sailor who returns from the adventures that greet him from port to port to the mundane bill-paying humdrum life at home, will the sea lure me back? Fuck no, is the razor-sharp answer to that question.
It was the experience of a lifetime, but there are more hidden behind the next book project and plans for annual book-research travels to some of my favorite sites within the wonderful continental United States. Let’s get to the news and to work on Nuttboy’s Pro Street.
HOT OFF THE PRESS–I was at the printer last night doing a press check on my latestprint “Chopper Heaven” (see attached), that we are debuting at Laughlin. Likethe previous prints, they are lithographs printed on a premium 80-poundacid-free cover stock.
The prints measure 18-by-27 inches (image size is 10 1/2-by-20 inches)and are available as a signed limited edition of 300 ($39.95) and an unsignededition ($19.95). For more info, call Chris Kallas (310) 316-2790.
Come by ourbooth at the Colorado Belle and say hello.
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