With over $110,000 in payout—including the $62,000 BB Racing Bracket Shootout on Saturday—and two full races on tap, NHDRO’s Big Show brings the Midwest’s biggest motorcycle action to drag racing’s best track—Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Indiana.   The four-days of non-stop, two wheel action hits the track on July 30-August 2, with testing on Thursday, the rain-delayed June race on Friday, followed by qualifying and eliminations for the July race on Saturday and Sunday.   The biggest race of the weekend—maybe the biggest ever in motorcycle drag racing history—is Saturday’s BB Racing Bracket Shootout. 128 bikes are locked in for this one-of-a-kind event. Two ladders—one box, one no-box—comprised of 64 bikes each, run off to put a finalist from each ladder in one big final round. A $50,000 NHDRO Big Check goes to the winner, but don’t feel too bad for the runner-up, who walks away with $12,000.   Needless to say, the absolute best motorcycle bracket racers on the planet will all be in this one, and one of the best walked away with last year’s Big Money Shootout. But Tom Klemme walked away with the fat end of only a 11K/5K split in that one—numbers which seem quaint by comparison with this coming weekend’s take.   Klemme will be one of the favorites to win again, along with last year’s runner-up Chad Isley and, well, just about every racer that’s put a leg over a motorcycle and aimed for a number on a board.   APE, BB Racing, and other vendors are offering gift certificates, parts and swag to participants—even an “NHDRO Perfect Light” Scentsy warmer and wax from Kjersty Shellhaas and Shellhaas Racing.   When it comes to money, NHDRO’s pro classes will have to take a back seat this weekend, but not when it comes to action.   Gabe Frederick’s 6.74 at 213 miles per hour on his turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa leads Pro Street qualifying with one session to go for the postponed Mid-Season Sizzle.   With bullhorns spraying a strong nitrous flame the whole 1320, Gaige Herrera sits qualified number two with a 6.90 at 206. Quicktime Racing’s Rudy Sanzottera, Brad Christian, Brett Ware, Kieth Bobo, and Matt Moen round out the June field.   Other riders, such as Honda stud Frankie Stotz, are expected to join in for this weekend. And when the Sizzle is done, there’s another race to be run.   Dan McCarten’s 4.614 is so far, so good in Pro Ultra 4.60—the world’s quickest eighth mile, two wheel index class, presented with the I-65 series. Jason Buus, Jimmy Petway, Jeff “No-Bar” Dalton and Jeff Jones round out the top 5, with champion Smokin’ Joe Rodney sitting at the bottom end of the order in 12th, unable to slow his new Kawasaki down to stay within the index.   Kounselor Kenny Schwartz currently leads Hardcore Cycles Top Gas 8.20 index—also presented with I-65—with an 8.211. Fellow St. Louis racer Mike Wagner sits .001 back, with Garreth Shepheard .001 behind Wags in a characteristically large TG field.   Dustin “Biscuits” Lee currently sits as the first-ever M2.Shocks 8.70 Quick Street number one qualifier—a feat since no one has had to run to this index before. Dave Page sits second, followed by Colton Gordon, Mitch Pennington, and the rest of the field.   Bob “The” Mann leads 8.90 index BB Racing Super Comp with an 8.909 after two sessions that saw many superstars running too quick, including Crazy Comp champ David Beshara, Ron “Ju-Jitsu” Arnold, former Top Gas champ Greg Mallett, Bruce Damewood, and Wes Brown and his GSXR of Renown.   When NHDRO dropped the Street Fighter index from 9.50 to 9.30 and allowed wheelie bars, dragbike veteran Joseph Klemme stepped in ready to take full advantage. Klemme locked in as the the first-ever Dirty 30 9.30 index number one qualifier, as his first round 9.300 can’t be beat. Street Fighter champion Ron Arnold sits sixth with a 9.334.   Dustin “Naked Boy” Clark sits number one in HTP Super Stock. Patrick Cooper led Q1 on his Suzuki GSXR1000, but wasn’t as clean in Q2 and Clark was able to knock him off with an 8.852 at 159.61 mph on a Kawasaki ZX14.   Kevin Dennis Insurance Street ET, MPS Pro ET, Hard Times Parts and Service Jr. Dragster, and VooDoo Grudge will all get their chance on the hallowed Indy 1320 this weekend.   NHDRO’s Brian and Niki Welch look forward to welcoming the NHDRO family back to Indy for The Big Show. “We consider everybody at the track as family,” said Niki Welch. “We just really appreciate the racers that stuck it out with us last month, and the registered racers from June will get a $10 discount at the gate this weekend. We welcome I-65 Series and SDBA racers, and can’t wait to see everyone here for The Big Show!”   Find out more about NHDRO at http://www.nhdroracing.com/  

I have 2019 Street Glide Special, I love the look of stock OEM short windshield but it was not functional for my ride height. I did a test with a 7-inch Wave windshield, and it still was not doing the trick. It was time to quit screwing around and go the source of the original flare windshield.

 

 

Sizing for the windshield is easy, but sizes are different for all riders based on their seat, their height and how they sit on their bike. Klock Werks offer 4 to11.5-inch windshields for Street Glides and 6 to 15-inch for Road Glides.

 

Streetglide Windshield Heights

 

 

Roadglide Windshield Heights

 

I initially picked the dark smoke 10.5 windshield for looks but the Klock Werks team got back to me. They do not recommend dark smoke at the height. They were willing to let me have it but suggested clear or tint. As long as you are a solid rider and know your bike, it would probably be okay, but night time the dark smoke sounds like it will be just a too dark, when needing to glance through at times. I went with their recommendation as they are a solid crew. They go out of their way to help customers.

 

Removal

 

 

2.            Raise and remove the windshield.

Installation

1.            Place the windshield into position between the inner and outer fairings engaging the slotted holes in the windshield with the threaded bosses on the inner fairing.

2.            Tighten three screws (1) to 2.8–3.4 N·m (25–30 in-lbs).

 

 

 

Now ride, and enjoy with the best windshield you will ever experience.

 

 

It was night and day difference for me riding with Klock Werks, I also noticed a little more stability and smoother ride at higher speeds. I was also able to listen to my Boom GTS at highway speeds as the bonus as hoped for. I’m 5’11″ and the air stream seemed to slide over me just at the top of my helmet or slightly above it.

“The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally brings hundreds of bikers through Mitchell, and we want to welcome them with open arms,” said Mitchell Convention and Visitors Bureau Director, Sonya Moller. “Mitchell is home to several well-known and respected custom bike entities. Many riders have made a tradition of stopping in Mitchell on their way to Sturgis. We want to continue to build on Mitchell’s reputation for being a biker-friendly city.”

Community members and motorcyclists from across the nation are invited to a night fun with food vendors and live music. North Main Street from 4th Ave to 7th Ave. will be closed for the evening’s events. Bike only parking will be available at the south end of 4th Ave and Main. Food vendors and a beverage garden will be available 5-10 p.m.

Brian Klock, Klock Werks President & Visionary adds, “Mitchell is looking forward to welcoming the riders to our community and showcasing our unique specialty shops, museums, and the pride of over 15,000 residents who believe in hard work, growth, community and family. This is an event for all-ages, so bring the family and enjoy local food vendors, live music, and more!”

If you are going to Sturgis, Klock Werks will be at Black Hills H-D in Rapid City. Stop by and try out one of their windshields

-Misled

by Kyle Hyatt from https://www.cnet.com

Now it’s not just the Apple fans having all the fun.

Honda was among the first motorcycle manufacturers in the world to offer Apple CarPlay on its bikes. While that may not sound like a big deal to someone who’s used to seeing it everywhere in cars, CarPlay on the Honda Gold Wing was pretty monumental. After the Gold Wing, it went to the Africa Twin, and it’s likely to continue rolling out to other models.

That’s all well and good if you happen to be an Apple user, but what about all the die-hard Android fans out there? Well, you were basically out of luck until now. See, Honda announced a while ago that the Gold Wing would be the first bike to get Android Auto too, and now that update is available free for Gold Wing owners.

Generally, motorcycles are — by necessity — fairly bare-bones. The danger of distracting a rider is real, but Honda found a way to integrate four-wheeled infotainment into a two-wheel package that makes sense and is relatively easy to use without pulling a rider’s eyes or attention from the task at hand.

As with the CarPlay setup, with Android Auto on the Gold Wing, you do have to have a third-party Bluetooth communication device in addition to your phone. For example, I own and love a Cardo Packtalk Bold system (with JBL speakers, natch) and found it worked well with the Gold Wing’s CarPlay system. Sena users will be just fine too, but if you don’t have a communicator at all, you’re out of luck.

The other catch is that it’s compatible only with Android 5.0 or later phones, but if you’re still living that pre-Lollipop life, then as Flava Flav once said, “I can’t do nuttin’ for ya, man.”

You can store a dozen in the space of a single Cadillac

You hang around folks who love vintage cars enough and you’ll inevitably meet vintage motorcycle guy or gal. They mean well, love all things with oil pumps (and some without) but will take every opportunity to espouse the virtues of the under-appreciated vintage motorcycle world.

“You can store a dozen in the space of a single Cadillac!” he or she will exclaim before shifting to extolling the virtues of the fun-per-dollar that few four-wheel contraptions can rival. Allow them to ramble. Contemplate their points. Come to your own conclusions. You now want to buy a motorcycle. I thought so. Good for you. Now what do you buy?

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Di Meglio looking forward to strong battle in Jerez

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Mike di Meglio is expecting a hectic and exciting battle from the fifth row of the grid when round two of the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup kicks off in Jerez tomorrow morning.

Record track temperatures that peaked at over 60 degrees meant conditions during the E-Pole session could not have been more demanding for man and machine at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto this afternoon.

Di Meglio quickly regained his confidence and consistent rhythm in FP3 this morning after a crash denied him crucial track time yesterday afternoon.

The Frenchman’s priority in FP3 was finding the optimum front and rear set-up to launch a strong attack in E-Pole.

Rather than chasing a fast lap time this morning he also decided to concentrate on adapting to a more aggressive riding style.

E-Pole started with ambient temperature nudging close to a scorching 40 degrees and di Meglio was able to post a best lap time of 1:49.525.

 

Paughco Shovehead Straight Cut Drag Pipes for 70 thru 84 FL Models

Paughco 1-3/4″ 40″ Long Straight Cut Shovelhead Drag Pipes Fits 70 thru 84 FL models with a 4 speed transmission • Works with kick or electric start • Was designed to clear factory fiberglass saddlebags or rear highway bars • The rear pipe is an under-the transmission style • Smooth, even mandrel bends • Fully polished high-quality chrome-plating • Give that custom handbuilt look to any Big Twin • Each set includes a chrome mounting bracket

264.95

5-BALL LEATHERS’ FLAT OUT VEST

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Alerts and News that Will Blow Your Mind!

Hey,

This coming week is going to be a strange one. I know the whole world is trying to grapple with this Covid mess, while I hide out in the Badlands surrounded by peace and nirvana, deer and pine trees.

We are still two weeks from the rally, but tourist and bikers are everywhere. This morning five of our bikes are being delivered to the Bikernet Covid Hide-Out in the Badlands by Haul Bikes. I’ve got the shop set up and ready for minor repairs and already have a brazing project on the bench, maybe two.

Every day is exciting when it involves motorcycles. My grandson is trying to coerce a couple of buddies to ride from LA to Sturgis to escape the madness and mayhem. It’s interesting. When we need fresh air, fresh outlooks, or new adventures, just mount up and ride. Let’s hit the news.

The Bikernet Weekly News is sponsored in part by companies who also dig Freedom including: Cycle Source Magazine, the MRF, Las Vegas Bikefest, Iron Trader News, ChopperTown, BorntoRide.com and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. Most recently Quick Throttle Magazine came on board.

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By Mathieu Day-Gillett from https://www.driven.co.nz

Who on earth expected that it would be Harley-Davidson that would become the first major motorcycle manufacturer to bring to market a fully electric bike?

Okay, all cards on the table, I’ve really been looking forward to riding Harley’s Livewire on behalf of DRIVEN and www.onthrottle.co.nz. In fact, I was lucky enough to have ridden the Livewire’s precursor – 2014’s Project Livewire – and I was so blown away by the bike that I gave it my Bike Of The Year gong for that year.

For the production model, all the rough edges have vanished and Harley has given the bike a charging port in the traditional fuel filler location.

The lightweight alloy frame no longer has a rough finish to it, and while I was at first sad to see the cool textured finish of the concept bike make way for the smooth new frame, I can appreciate that owners of the Livewire would struggle to clean such a thing. Imagine the damage to your trusty old sponge if you had to wipe it over the sandpaper-like finish of Project Livewire?

Other minor changes come in the form of a small fairing around the LED headlight unit, a new sub-frame with space for a pillion, a variety of colour options (our pick is the Yellow Fuse colour scheme), and rather importantly the addition of a numberplate carrier which integrates the rear tail light and indicators also.

Most importantly, however, the Livewire now has functioning rear-view mirrors. Yup, as cool looking as the mirrors on Project Livewire were, in terms of function all they gave you a good view of was your kneecaps.
But what we really want to know is how it rides. Thankfully, Harley-Davidson sorted us out with a guided ride around Portland, with some wicked twisty back roads thrown in for good measure to help us see what it is like to ride the Livewire in the real world.

While it was only a taste of what the ownership experience will be like, riding the Livewire was easily a highlight of my year in motorcycling.

The bike has four pre-loaded rider modes (Road, Sport, Rain and Range) which can be toggled on the fly and each gives the bike a noticeably different throttle response.

Make no mistake, this bike is FAST. With all its power and torque (78kW/105hp and 116Nm) available from 0rpm this thing accelerates like nothing else. Just twist the throttle and the bike shoots off at warp speed.

Linked into the Livewire’s systems is Harley’s first traction control system, which is connected with a six-axis IMU and the ABS brakes. The result is a system that offers the necessary safety net for a bike that has its full power capability from the touch of the throttle.

Our ride route took us from the stop-go of central Portland, out into the hills through some incredibly twisty roads before looping back at the end of the day.

I’ll admit that I was slightly worried about setting off immediately into traffic at the start of the day.

My biggest memory of Project Livewire was nearly dropping the bike in low speed conditions, but Harley has really dialled in the throttle response of Livewire to the point that you can roll along as slow as you like without feeling like you need to slip the non-existent clutch.

In fact, the Livewire is actually an incredibly easy bike to ride in general. It’s well set up with fully adjustable Showa suspension, Brembo brakes and that host of adaptable nanny aids which alter their settings depending on which rider mode you have selected.

Rain is the most constrained with the slowest throttle response, while sport is an absolute riot and actually lets the real wheel slip a bit.

I did feel adjusting the settings on the suspension would have been helpful when really pushing it, as the bike wasn’t quite happy with my fat ass and some of the rougher road surfaces (contrary to popular belief, the roads in the US have their fair share of potholes).

The bike never instilled any sense of being out of my control though and was incredibly confidence inspiring.

Can it wheelie? Probably, I’ll admit I didn’t really try. I will say I’m pretty sure you can do burnouts and annihilate the rear tyre with the traction control off (I will neither confirm or deny trying). Either way having full power from the touch of the throttle is a sensation that quickly becomes addictive.

I did find myself only really using two of the rider modes, Sport (for obvious reasons) and when the riding mellowed out I would switch to Range mode which allows the most battery regeneration when either braking or coasting.

Riding like a loon will obviously drastically reduce your battery range, and I arrived back at base with 32 per cent left, while a much more sensible Australian rider arrived back with nearly 50 per cent!

On merit alone I feel the bike will certainly attract its fair share of buyers. New Zealand pricing is $53,995, which may lock out much of the younger market Harley-Davidson is working hard to attract to its brand.

However, the Livewire is not a bike which Harley expects to sell like hotcakes. It is, instead, the halo product of a much wider range of electric motorcycles from the iconic brand.

In theory, there are another four bikes scheduled to debut below the Livewire in terms of spec and price point in the next two years or so and that is a really exciting prospect.

Is the Livewire another orphan from Harley? Hell no! This is the shock the motorcycling market needs.

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com

Take a good long look at any custom motorcycle made in the U.S. No matter in what state they were made, or when, they tend to have that certain unique feel about them. And a big reason for that is the custom frame that underpin them.

You see, Americans love to make one-offd, and that is why the garages there usually don’t make a frame and then turn series production on it. This results in truly unique two-wheelers, each with its story to tell.

Not the same can be said about Europe though. First off, there are far fewer custom motorcycle garages there. Secondly, the ones that do exist have been forced to turn to mass production, including of custom frames, and that takes its toll on the originality of this build.

Take the bike in the gallery above. It comes from Europe, and is the work of a very busy garage there called Thunderbike. It looks very much like all the other custom-framed Thunderbikes we’ve discussed over the past few months, regardless of when they were made.

This one comes from 2008, and it is the result of pairing a custom Thunderbike frame by the name Freestyle with the usual Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle engine. It appears to be exactly what you would expect from a custom European bike, with nothing particularly exciting about it. And the blue color sprayed on it, the work of Thunderbike’s usual partner in this area, Kruse Design, does not seem to help either.

The fact the bike will probably not be remembered down the ages (we uncovered it while digging for machines worthy of our Custom Builds Month coverage) does not diminish the merits of the frame tough.

Made from large diameter cold-rolled ST52 steel tubing, it comes complete with struts, tank, oil tank, CNC machined aluminum swingarm, rear fender, rear wheel axle, bracket for engine, bracket for battery, and seat plate.