Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,National Coalition of Motorcyclists
THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE 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. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at
CONGRESS CONSIDERS CONSUMERS’ “RIGHT TO REPAIR” Congress recently held hearings regarding the right of American consumers to have access to information regarding the repair and maintenance of their cars, trucks and motorcycles from the manufacturer. Currently, motor vehicle manufacturers are only required by the EPA to provide information about emissions on board diagnostics systems, but nothing pertaining to other repairs or services. This effectively prohibits owners from taking their vehicles to non-dealer repair facilities or from performing repairs or maintenance themselves.
The Motor Vehicle Right to Repair Act of 2005 (HR 2048) was introduced in May by Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Edolphus Towns (D-NY), and was heard November 10 by the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. The bill would penalize manufacturers for withholding information necessary to diagnose, service or repair their motor vehicles.
If you feel that consumers should have the right to choose how and where their vehicles can be serviced and repaired, then please weigh in on this important issue by contacting your Congressional Representative in Washington, D.C. by calling 202-224-8601 and ask them to support or co-sponsor HR 2048.
GAS HIKES FUEL BIKE SALES If you think you’re seeing more bikes on the road these days, you’re right! As gasoline prices escalate, so have sales of motorcycles, as consumers opt for a more economic mode of transportation, and more fun too!
Motorcycles get 50.1 mpg on average, while passenger cars get 22.3 mpg and light trucks and SUVs get only 17.7 mpg.
A motorcycle with a 5-gallon tank can go 200-250 miles between fill-ups, which cost less than $15, while a luxury car or light truck/SUV can cost $40-$50 to travel the same distance.
It’s numbers like these that have cost-conscious motorists driving less, trading in their gas-guzzling SUVs for compact cars or hybrids, or going whole hog and buying a motorcycle.
Motorcycle dealers nationwide have reported double-digit increases in sales since Hurricane Katrina drove gas prices over $3.00 a gallon, and even now that the price at the pump has come down slightly, motorcycle sales are still brisk. And most new buyers are citing gas prices and fuel economy as a major factor in their decision to start riding, or to ride again.
Sales of on-highway motorcycles are up 16% compared to the same period last year (July through September), according to the Motorcycle Industry Council, and the purchase of new motorcycles is on track to exceed the one-million mark for the third straight year, marking the 13th consecutive year of record sales.
And while cooler weather typically signals the end of motorcycling in many regions of the country, the high cost of fuel has many motorcyclists considering a longer riding season.
WORLD MOTORCYCLE DEMAND EXPECTED TO EXCEED 41 MILLION Worldwide demand for motorcycles is forecast to advance 4.9 percent annually through 2009 to 41.6 million units, valued at almost $40 billion. Demand for all categories of motorcycles is expected to remain healthy, despite the slowdown in growth in key markets such as China, which is rapidly transitioning away from motorcycles and toward cars for its transportation needs. Increased growth in all categories will also be seen in developed markets, where rising fuel prices and (in some markets) continued restrictions on car use are stoking interest in the exceptional fuel economy and cost effectiveness of motorcycles. While the market for large and expensive high displacement motorcycles will also remain strong (at least through 2009), concerns regarding demand have emerged due to the aging of the customer base, especially in the United States and Western Europe. These and other trends are presented in “World Motorcycles,” a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm.
In essence, according to their November market analysis, there are two separate motorcycle markets. One is centered in the industrialized Triad (i.e., the US, Japan and Western Europe), where motorcycles are seen as pleasure vehicles by consumers who already have one or more automobiles. The other, much larger market in unit terms is found in the emerging economies of Asia, where motorcycles are seen as primary family and work vehicles. These vehicles are cheaper, smaller and less powerful than Triad motorcycles.
Unlike the light vehicle industry, which has consolidated down to a handful of key global players, numerous motorcycle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) exist, especially in Asia, which represents the heart of global light motorcycle demand. However, competitive intensity is increasing, evidenced by the ongoing price wars in China, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian markets. Furthermore, restrictions on motorcycle use in large metropolitan areas of China and some other Asian countries will likely cause a shift in demand away from urban areas to more rural markets. While Asia is dominant in terms of unit volume, most key players derive far higher revenues per unit from sales in developed markets such as North America. The clear profitability implications of this difference reveal why so many manufacturers compete so hard to sell machines in North America.
REGENT PAYS HALF MILLION FOR LENO’S HARLEY It wasn’t for the prestige of owning a motorcycle once owned by late-night TV host Jay Leno, or the 78 celebrity autographs inscribed on the bike, but for charitable convictions. Southeast Missouri State University regents president John Tlapek said he submitted the highest bid on E-Bay for Jay Leno’s Harley-Davidson – a half million dollars — because he wanted to help people. All of the proceeds went to the American Red Cross hurricane relief fund.
“I thought it would be a good thing to do what I could do to help those who were negatively affected by the tragedy in the Gulf region,” said Tlapek, who already owns two Harleys.
Tlapek, a private equities investor, appeared on “The Tonight Show” on October 5 and talked with Leno for a few minutes. “He seemed like a real nice guy,” Tlapek said.
Tlapek, who regularly donates to charities, said it took him a while to figure out the celebrity signatures. Luckily, the show sent him an instructional video.
Bill Cosby and Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote their names on the gas tanks. Geena Davis, Shaggy and Jessica Alba scribbled their names on the saddlebags. Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Love Hewitt autographed the front fender.
As far as the motorcycle, Tlapek said he doesn’t have any plans for it right now. For him, that’s almost beside the point.
“I just have always felt like it was important to give back to the community,” he said. “That doesn’t have to mean a donation of dollars. It can be a donation of a person’s time or talents. It’s just important to give back.”
RIDE AGAINST MCBRIDE More than 80 motorcyclists turned Myrtle Beach’s City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 25th, into ?The Ride Against McBride?, an event to criticize Mayor Mark McBride’s earlier statements that he would like to “nudge” bikers with his car. McBride?s inflammatory remarks came during a council meeting as he was explaining that he wanted to ban explicit T-shirts from sale and from being worn in public because his children shouldn’t be exposed to the sort of T-shirt he saw being worn at the fall rally by a biker; “It was very tempting to kind of nudge the guy on the bike (with my car),” McBride told council members.
Some of the outraged bikers attending the City Council meeting to protest McBride’s comments wore T-shirts that read; “Warning: ‘Nudge’ at your own risk” on the back. Other bikers wore T-shirts that said, “Bump me, I will bump you back” and “Nudge McBride off the ballot.” Most felt that McBride’s statements were more offensive than anything they’d ever seen on a T-shirt.
But don’t bother calling or writing McBride to complain, as he has since been defeated in his bid for a third term as Mayor of Myrtle Beach by 576 votes to a political newcomer, John Rhodes.
“Mayor McBride’s reckless comments set off a firestorm of Anti-McBride activity within the biker community,” said Fred Ruddock, state coordinator of ABATE of South Carolina. “McBride lost virtually every motorcyclist vote.”
Joining McBride in the unemployment line is blatant biker basher Cynthia Powell, losing her bid for Town Council after centering her campaign on her desire to eliminate the two motorcycle rallies held in May each year in Myrtle Beach.
JANKLOW CONVICTION UPHELD South Dakota’s highest court has upheld Bill Janklow’s conviction for a 2003 crash that killed a motorcyclist, rejecting the former congressman’s argument that there wasn’t enough evidence for a guilty verdict.
Ruling unanimously, the state Supreme Court also found that Janklow had received a fair trial.
Janklow, 65, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and reckless driving for killing 55-year-old motorcyclist Randy Scott in August 2003 on a rural highway near Trent.
Authorities said Janklow sped through a stop sign. Janklow has said he was in a diabetic stupor and remembers nothing about the crash.
Janklow, a political power in South Dakota who also served four terms as governor, resigned from the House in January 2004, a month after his conviction. He completed a 100-day jail sentence but had hoped to use the appeal to clear the felony from his record. He is attempting to regain his license to practice law in the state.
BIKERS SHIELD MOURNERS One side rides motorcycles to fight what they believe is an abuse of free speech. The other side uses words and posters that, for some, seem to stretch the boundaries of First Amendment freedoms, but to them are their God-given right.
In August, a group of bikers became outraged when they heard that Fred Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., were planning to picket and protest U.S. soldiers’ funerals, claiming that God is killing soldiers because He hates America, so the bikers formed the Patriot Guard, a grassroots organization that’s quickly gaining momentum.
Composed of veterans’ motorcycles groups, motorcycle enthusiasts, Christian motorcycle groups and people who simply consider themselves patriots, the group provides a human barrier at funerals to protect mourners from hearing and seeing the protesters.
So far, the riders have attended three funerals. The first was Staff Sgt. John Dole’s funeral in Chelsea, Okla., on Oct. 11; 40 riders from Kansas participated. The second funeral was for Army Spc. Lucas Frantz in Tonganoxie, Kan., on Oct. 17; 120 riders attended that one. In early November, more than 150 cyclists participated at the funeral for Sgt. Evan Parker in South Haven, Kan.
For the Oklahoma funeral, the group revved their cycles’ engines; in Tonganoxie, they recited the Pledge of Allegiance; and in South Haven, they recited the pledge and revved their engines to drown out the protestors’ chants.
The Patriot Guard would like to see laws changed either prohibiting people from protesting funerals or restricting the area or hours where protesters can be heard.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD: “DIEING TO RIDE” Tijuana police discovered a passenger aboard a motorcycle involved in an accident was in fact a corpse which the driver had been carrying through the rough border city strapped to his back.
The motorcycle driver lost control and skidded in the downtown area; when a policeman approached to investigate the mishap, the driver fled on foot. The police officer checked the passenger, who had been seated behind the driver and found it was the corpse of a man who had died at least six hours earlier.
The corpse was wearing a helmet and beneath it his head had been wrapped in a towel and bound with tape, apparently to keep blood from dripping from a head wound. The corpse was also wearing a lifejacket the straps of which had apparently been used to tie him to the driver.
Police said the dead man had wraps of methamphetamine in his pocket and an unkempt appearance, which led investigators to believe the killing was drug related.
“We think the killer was trying to take the body to a more deserted area to dispose of it,” said Francisco Castro, a spokesman for the Baja California state police’s homicide division.
QUOTABLE QUOTES: “The strongest human instinct is to impart information, thesecond is to resist it.”
Kenneth Grahame, (1859-1932) Scottish Author & Essayist
