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RENO, NEVADA: From the Reno Gazette-Journal, Mary Thompson says: TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Nevada has offered to help northern NevadaAIM attorney Kevin Karp and a group of Reno motorcycle club members withthe Northern Nevada Confederation of Clubs, who are contesting Carson citycourthouse rules that ban them from wearing their colors in the publicbuilding. The judge said that their swastika-decorated vests coulddisrupt his courtroom.
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA: Bikers are riding without helmets, but bike-relatedfatalities have dropped after the helmet law was repealed! The numbers fromDaytona’s Bike Week are a real vindication to all the Florida bikers whofought so hard to undo their helmet law. Bike Week was under particularscrutiny to gauge the impact of repealing the lid law last July 1. The fearwas that more motorcyclists would die, but instead deaths actually droppedsharply.
From PA NEWS comes this nice little worry for ya. AIRBAG VEST FORMOTORCYCLISTS TO GO ON SALE! A motorcycle clothing manufacturer in Italy hasdreamed up this device that supposedly instantly inflates all three of its”PROTECTIVE” bags in the event of a crash and envelopes the rider in acocoon of safety, thereby saving the life about to be lost.
–GUNNY
LAUGHLIN DRAGS–If you see this bike racing at the Avi drag races, come upand say hi. I should be racing there Saturday. With low tirepressure, it pulls up the front wheel in first, second and third.
I like the Cantina!
Stan
NATIONWIDE MOTORCYCLE FATALITIES ON THE RISE– After nearly a decade-longdecline, motorcycle fatalities are on the rise again – and statistics showthat aging baby boomers may be behind the increase, according to a LosAngeles Times analysis of federal statistics.
Motorcycle fatalities among riders 35 and older rose 59 percent between1994 and 1999, while federal statistics show that deaths for those 34 andyounger fell 22 percent during the same period. For the first time, in 1999,older riders accounted for a majority of those killed. That was also theyear the trailing edge of the baby boom generation turned 35.
“These trends fly in the face of the conventional wisdom about who’sgetting killed on motorcycles,” said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Motorcyclists accounted for 2,472 of the 41,611 people killed onAmerica’s roads in 1999–about 6 percent of the total. During the past 10years, the average age of motorcyclists killed rose from 29.3 in 1990 to 36.5in 1999, according to NHTSA statistics.
–Bill Bish NCOM
MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY BOOMING — “Money generated by new motorcycle sales in1999 might rival the gross national product of some small countries – thetotal came to an estimated $4.4 billion,” reports Motorcycle Industry magazine.That figure is up almost $1 billion from 1998, and it’s more than doublewhat it was in 1994. Talk about a booming industry.
Motorcycles themselves accounted for less than half of the $9.9 billionin sales generated by motorcycle retailers across the country. The rest ofthe money came from sales of used motorcycles, parts and accessories, andservice labor.
In 1999, a typical franchised motorcycle dealer averaged $840,000 in newunit sales, $294,800 in parts and accessories, $281,600 in used sales,$82,100 in service and $23,800 from other related sales. On average, amotorcycle dealer has 11.2 full-time employees and 2.0 part-time workers,with an average payroll of $351,000.
–Bill Bish, NCOM
IT’S YOUR HIDE– Leathers are the only way to go, as most of us learnafter we’ve been sandpapered and cheese-grated by doing the blacktop bebop afew times.
So dig this disintegration comparison study of scooter-thickness leathervs. other materials hitting the pavement at 50 mph:Heavy denim–a measly 4 feetKevlar (the same material used in bulletproof vests)–18 feetYuppie leather (the cheap, thin, Wayne Newton-style crap)–29 feetHonest-to-God motorcycle-quality leather–86 feet
Simply put, when it comes to body armor, don’t be a skinflint–unless youwant to someday end up tweezing pieces of gravel outta your skin.
–SAVAGE, BIKER MAGAZINE
QUOTE OF THE DAY– “Everything that I did in life that was worthwhile Icaught hell for.”FORMER U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE EARL WARREN
CYRIL HUZE BEGINS CUSTOM PROJECT ON BIKERNET–Here’s a sketch of a brand new custom build to be followed to thefinish right here on Bikernet. We’ll have the first segment up in the next couple days. Watch for it.
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