There I was in Tucson, Arizona, alone in a Mexican restaurant eating dry beef and beans, and she walked in. Suddenly I forgot that I had left L.A. without a jacket, the temps had dropped to 40 degrees and it had begun to hail. I looked at my margarita then at the bike with its solo seat and wondered. She didn’t hesitate and we rode into the night like banshees screaming into the wind.
The week has been high stress. Not enough minutes to make all the dreams come true. The projector room is finally up. The touring chopper took an electrical shit, the Pan is in pieces waiting for my ass to finish the heads and start returning it to running form. The Street Stalker is for sale so I can publish Orwell. Orwell is almost finished; I’ll see a book cover next week. Three outlines will also fly out of here for New York next week, and Arizona Bike Week starts tomorrow. If anyone’s interested in the tight, reliable Street Stalker, drop me a line; the price is $18,000.
What else can I tell you, oh the next Jesse James chopper tech will be flying onto the Web sometime next week. Damn, I know there’s more, but she’s waiting, the road beacons and it’s time to wind ’em up for the weekend. Let’s hit the news:
Big Twin This in from Siebenthaler Creative Services: Just as we thought it was gone forever, we’ve discovered that Big Twin will now move to an annual schedule, to the disappointment, even dismay, of those who wallowed in the clean, contemporary design and wonderful reproduction values, not to mention the astute writing of editors Paul Dean and Beau Pacheco.
GAS PRICES UPDATE–Oil ministers from Venezuela, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia announced today that oil producing countries should boost crude oil production to bring the price down again, which are the highest prices in nine years! They have come to an agreement to boost output but the details of their meeting will be kept secret until March 27th… The three day “Gas-Out” dates have been changed to March 24th, 25th, and 26th! Please don’t buy any gasoline on these days! Please forward this message to everyone that has the old dates in April!!!!!
Willie C. Lebeau III Garnishment Specialist Ext 3842 Norrell Service Corporation
Do today what others won’t so you can live tomorrow how others can’t!
TAIWAN CORRESPONDENT REPORT– In Taiwan they have some weird laws concerning weapons. You can buy a double bladed knife like a boot knife or small dagger, but you can only sharpen one side of it! You can purchase a Samurai sword, but you can’t sharpen it at all! I was told that the Samurai sword is a two handed sword, and they’re powerful enough to take someone’s head off!
What if someone has a gun? Knives and swords by the way are sold in little stores that also sell plastic imitations of real guns. Walk in, and you see M-16s, AK-47s, SIG-SAUER, and the list goes on. They’re almost perfect replicas, with many of the same actions as the real thing. But personally I wouldn’t try firing a round from one, as they’re made to fire little plastic BBs. Some idiots buy them then convert them to fire real bullets!
–Sun, Reporting for Bikernet in the Far East
FROM THE QUOTE BANK– If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there is a man on base.
-Dave Barry
What do people mean when they say the computer went down on them?
-Marilyn Pittman
When you look at Prince Charles, don’t you think that someone in the Royal family knew someone in the Royal family?
-Robin Williams
TREV DEELEY MOTORCYCLES IS HAPPY– to appoint Dave Wallace as the new assistant manager. Dave will start officially in his new position May, 1st, 2000. Many of you know Dave as the assistant director of the Vancouver, BC, CANADA Chapter of HOG, a position he has held for many years. HOG will miss ya Dave but I’m sure you’ll still be riding with us after the job starts.
Congrats, Dave. Your pal, Dan
REMEMBERING RIP I just learned that Rip died and I’d like to send my sympathy to those of you who knew him personally. I’ve read his column for many years. He seemed like a real down-to-earth guy and I’ll miss him.
Tom Giesen
JOHN SIEBENTHALER GOES TO DAYTONA– John is a marketing genius who has launched successful marketing campaigns for TP Engineering, Confederate Cycles and more. He stumbled through Daytona for bike week and this is his bits and pieces report.
Looks like I might be putting something together for Battery Tender.
Battery Tender builds those compact bike battery chargers that know when to turn themselves on and off. Best thing that ever happened to bike batteries, Bandit
Then down to Melbourne to talk with your Chopper East guy Billy at Choppers Inc. A six-speed suicide shift?? What tha’? You’ll be busier than a one-armed paper hanger. Has an engineering degree!! from Florida State. Says he uses his calculus and geometry all the time. Would explain his wild head work.
Daytona Bike Week 2000: leave out one somber fact, that 12 riders were killed. Immediately the reports were that they were all inexperienced yuppies … make that thirteen. Four deaths due to two separate HEAD-ONS! Go figure. One was somebody going UP the I-95 OFF ramp to 92. Ouch! Most of rest due to cages pulling out in front. Seen it before, see it again.
We were guests of Cycle World in their corp. tent at Sunday’s 200. That was really a lot of fun, Sue and I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Race is 20 feet away, most watch on TV. Damn those guys are fast. Part of me says wouldn’t that be cool if, the other part says not even if you held a gun to my head.
-John
Court Rules Against Search A violation of rights was the catalyst for a recent precedent-setting decision by an Ontario court judge. The decision came following the arrest of Paradice Riders Motorcycle Club member Wayne Hayes, who refused to remove his helmet during a safety inspection earlier this year at the club’s summer vacation property in the hamlet of Cessarea. A provincial court judge found that Hayes’ rights had been violated by being subjected to an illegal search. The ruling has set a precedent in Canada against unreasonable searches without a warrant. The police must now have a warrant to search a motocyclist’s person on the roadside or requesting riders to remove their helmets.
CORPORATE LESSON NUMBER ONE
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?”
The crow answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story is: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
WANTED, OPTIC TIMING LIGHT– Hey, ever hear of an optic timing light for sale? Found it once on the Internet. It’s an optic tube stuck on a clear timing plug, don’t know if it’s flexible. Then the tube goes in a rubber funnel of some kind and sticks over your timing light. It’s supposed to direct the light inside the hole instead of flashing all over the place. Let me know if someone knows.
–Doug, Ohio
WHITE HOUSE HUMOR– The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, announced today the president has proven that you CAN get sex from aides!
Jennifer Flowers was asked if her relationship with Bill Clinton was anything like the Monica Lewinski affair. She supposedly replied, “Close-but no cigar.”
The FBI has coined a technical term for the stains found on Monica’s dress: “Presidue”
President Clinton now only recruits interns from four colleges: Moorhead, Oral Roberts, Ball State, and Brigham Young.
BURNIN’ DAYLIGHT UPDATE–Through the mud the blood and the beer, two high-profile bikers, Bandit and Zebra come into big money from a nude photo shoot involving their bikes. They decide to blow the entire wad on a bash for their bros. They only have 24 hours to get to the shoot, get the cash, arrange the party and of course nail the models. They put word into the biker grapevine of the party and ride. But when things start to go wrong, they find their money dwindling fast, as well as their supply of motorcycles, whiskey, women, blood and time.
Burnin Daylight, L.A. is the initial foray into the world of motion pictures by the folks at Bikernet.com and if the opening week of filming is any indication of things to come, then the end result should be something to be remembered and censored.
Check the new projector room for more reports from our film correspondent
Site Compliment (You’re kidding!) I’m not one to lay on big sloppy compliments, but up here in Michigan the winters are long, dark and cold and the rides are few and far between until the ice melts away and the sun returns. I’m telling you, I don’t know how I made it before this Web site. It really is the next best thing to getting in the wind. Well it might get up to 40 today and the sun is out. Riding weather is back so I got to go, but keep up the good work.
Kevin Effa
HARLEY-DAVIDSON DAYTONA 200 RESULTS–Picotte Takes 9th at Daytona 200 for H-D Superbike Team. Harley-Davidson VR 1000 Crew Looks Forward to Sears Point
With the satisfaction of seeing its newly developed swingarm improve handling – plus a top-10 finish by Pascal Picotte – the Harley-Davidson VR 1000 Superbike Race Team left the Daytona 200 on Sunday with results that bode well for the rest of the season.
Picotte finished in ninth place, while teammate Scott Russell ran hard until stopping due to a vibration problem. On tracks such as Daytona, Picotte said it’s clear where the team will need to improve. “I know our team will be working hard to increase horsepower,” he said. “At the same time, not every track is like Daytona.” Indeed, the Harley-Davidson Superbike Race Team will soon be heading into a schedule more favorable to the sharp-handling VR 1000. The next stop on the AMA Superbike circuit will be held May 5-7 at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., where Picotte took third in 1999. “We had a great setup at Sears Point last year, and that should help us be well-prepared this season,” Picotte said. “It’s always exciting to go back to a track where you’ve had success.”
THE AIM/NCOM E-NEWS SERVICE —is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester.
Don’t miss this year’s NCOM (National Coalition of Motorcyclists) and AIM Conference at the Airport Clarion Hotel, in SAN FRANCISCO! May 11-13. The host hotel is already booked up. Call BILL BISH at NCOM, at 1-800-ON-A-BIKE, for information on the spillover hotel.
We’re expecting well over 1,000 bikers from ABATE’s and confederations all over the world! THIS FEBRUARY, Sam Hochberg, our Oregon Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (AIM) attorney and I attended the Eugene Free Souls MC anniversary party, I think their 31st. The police “protection” was awesome. Here is a sound club that does good in the community and the Eugene authorities jump all over the chance to harass and intimidate club members and their guests the whole evening. Now, Eugene is supposed to be a liberal town! Not to bikers.
I personally saw a visitor from another club stopped and surrounded by FOUR cruisers not 50 feet from the club property. Cops of every description surrounded this guy because he didn’t signal a right turn. He was riding a restored old Panhead that didn’t have signals from The Factory and it was a dark, moonless night. The only other traffic was bikes coming in and police cars from at least FOUR different jurisdictions. The guy I saw had his little girl with him.
Sam had his adventures too, riding with ABATE member Dave Morgan, along with a cameraman from a local “Cop Watch,” who was videotaping the abomination that was taking place. They watched two bikes in front of them get stopped. Sam was in a car that was between the bikes and the police when the stop was made because one of the bikes supposedly didn’t signal the turn. The camera in the car shot video showing the signals were indeed made. Sam said he was the attorney for the bikers, but the cops made him stay 12 feet away, in the “SAFETY” zone, whatever that was.
The stop was videotaped, while police photographed Sam, the cameraman, and the bikers. After careful thought, I suppose, the cops let it go without a ticket. After that, the next time Sam and friends went out in the car, they were tailed by unmarked cars. Sam says he’s never seen so many police outside of a riot.
How much longer do we have to put up with this kind of treatment? We ride motorcycles and don’t harass anybody. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time we stopped turning the other cheek.
ZEBRA FAN (THE ONE AND ONLY)– Special Agent Zebra, Excellent story. Glad you’re not dead.
–Pablo
MORE DAYTONA BUZZ FROM JOHN SIENBENTHALER– A lot of buzz was generated by L.A.’s newest cutting edge builder, Mike Berg. New to the ranks of fabricators, Mike’s no beginner when it comes to matching performance to beauty.
His background began in karting, was honed as a TransAm driver, and seems to have consolidated around one of the most radical riding concepts seen – his Minx and Onyx bike lines.
Dual halogen mini-headlights mount beneath the front engine mount. Single front disc but no brake lever means a proportioning valve actuated with the brake pedal. Clutch? Twist backwards on the grip, and slip it in gear. Yes it runs. (Oh baby!) No it’s not subtle.
Whisper is Mike’s headed to Europe for a little show and tell after hitting the mark at the Rat’s Hole show.
EXCELSIOR-HENDERSON COMMON STOCK MAY BE TRADING AGAIN– Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycle Manufacturing Company (the “Company”) was notified on March 13, 2000 that the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel (the “Panel”) determined to delist the company’s securities from the Nasdaq Stock Market effective with the open of business on March 14, 2000. At this time, the Company does not intend to appeal the Panel’s decision.
The Company has been informed that since the Panel’s decision, trading in the company’s stock may occur in the “pink sheets” published by National Quotation Bureau LLC. The Company strongly encourages anyone contemplating investing in its securities to proceed cautiously and only after a careful review of publicly available information. The Company has filed an 8-K with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, dated March 10, 2000, which includes certain financial information filed with the Bankruptcy Court. At this time, the Company expects it will not file its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999, because of its limited court approved operating budget and the unduly burdensome time and expense involved given its limited operations.
KENYAN WOMEN PROTEST AT DRINKING DENS, DEMAND SEX– A group of women stormed a Kenyan police station to demand officers either make love to them or close illegal drinking dens they said made their husbands impotent, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The People newspaper said the women, from Kandara, north of Nairobi, brought business in the town to a halt with their day-long protest against excessive drinking by their men folk.
“Our men have turned to vegetables. They leave home early and come back intoxicated. There is nobody to meet the sexual needs of wives,” the newspaper quoted one woman as saying.
The women, drawn from 24 Catholic church groups, demanded that the officer in charge of the police station either order his men to make love to them or find them new husbands because they were sexually frustrated. The paper did not say how police reacted to their demands.
The women said the population of the district was falling as a result of the poor sexual performance of the men.
CALIFORNIA VOTERS REJECT ANTI-MOTORCYCLIST CANDIDATE– California Assemblyman Richard “Dick” Floyd, who hoped to earn a state Senate seat by portraying motorcyclists as thugs, was soundly defeated in the primary election, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports.
As part of his Senate campaign, Floyd distributed fliers that pictured motorcyclists and read: “We need someone who will stand up to their threats.” Floyd called California motorcyclists who lobbied their legislators on helmet laws “Hell’s Angels types” who threatened and intimidated lawmakers. Floyd, the father of California’s mandatory helmet use law, claimed he was the only one who “stood up” to the motorcyclists. His campaign flier, mailed to voters, also made unsubstantiated claims that Floyd is saving taxpayers millions of dollars every year in health care and hospital costs because of his support of a state mandatory helmet use law. “Floyd obviously had no record of achievement to present to the voters so he tried to create a fear of motorcyclists to win votes,” said Robert Rasor, AMA vice president for government relations. “The ploy didn’t work. The voters are much smarter than Floyd gives them credit for.”
Assemblyman Edward Vincent, who was supported by ABATE of California and other motorcyclists, easily defeated Floyd in the Democratic primary election in the 25th Senate District (Compton-Inglewood). Vincent will face Republican Cliff McClain for the seat in November’s general election.
STRANGE AND UNUSUAL CUSTOMS In Cali, Colombia, a woman may only have sex with her husband, and the first time this happens, her mother must be in the room to witness the act. (Makes one shudder at the thought.)
In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, it is illegal for a man to have sex with a woman and her daughter at the same time. (I presume this was a big enough problem that they had to pass this law?)
In Maryland, it is illegal to sell condoms from vending machines with one exception: prophylactics may be dispensed from a vending machine only “in places where alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises.” (Is this a great country or what?) (Not as great as Guam!)
OUT THE BACK DOOR–I sneak, before she awakes. I’m gone again. The desk is piled high, the phone’s ringing, life is on the edge, just where I want it.
Before I go there’s a new fiction up, written by a brother in federal prison in Texas. He can’t see the piece, ’cause they don’t have access to a computer where he’s at. More fiction is being tweaked. Just around the corner we will start to feature bikes. The brother convinced me that you would like to see some of my old beaters so we’re kicking it off with a gallery of my old sleds. As that comes together another tech is on the horizon on painting and how to pick and what to pay for a paint job from Al Martinez. There’s more, but I’ve got one leg out the back window, and it’s time to roll.
If I survive the weekend, I’ll report back. Time to ride… -Bandit
