Salt Torpedo Action Update Chapter 16
By Bandit |
The last few weeks have been interesting and challenging. We are actually getting close to watching the Salt Torpedo sit on its own three wheels with the help of Yelvington Shocks.
A set of 9.5-inch rear Yelvington shocks could reach us this week, but I made two sets of struts to hold us over. We ran into a couple of issues with the front steering system and needed to order some extra pieces. They should arrive this week.
Last year in at Daytona Bike Week I discussed carb-driven Twin Cam ignition systems. I wanted to keep it simple. I spoke to Bill Dodge of Bling’s Cycles and her recommended Altman Cycle in Germany, for a simple plug and play system.
Micah and I were forced to discuss the carburetion system for this beast and ultimately reached out to Keith Ruxton who was the crew chief on Easyriders Streamliner. He sent us a S&S G carb with the correct intake manifold. Amazing. I spoke to Lee Clemens at Departure Bike Works and he recommended a S&S D, but we were on a path and need to respect our contributors. We traded Keith the G for an E carb and manifold.
Which reminds me, originally, we were going to run a Carl’s Typhoon carb, but we ran into fitment issues. The most supreme rule behind this puppy is to make it as sleek and smooth as possible. Every appendage and bump or hump will slow us down.
Which brings up another challenging topic. We need sponsors to be able to afford to get to the salt. I reached out to Jesse James and ask him to speak on our behalf to John Paul DeJoria, the rider behind Patron Tequila. Of course, Jesse turned me down. He mentioned that his hot rod costs $30,000 in fuel at every race. I told him we are purely blue collar and will spend less than $10 on a tank of gas.
Speaking of tanks, I discussed a 1.7-gallon Sporty tank with Steve from Paughco. Unfortunately, events got in the way and he was delayed, but it should reach us this week. This could be a big week. I reached out to Tyler at LowBrow to order some tank bungs.
This week we could finish the steering system. We could link the steering with the wheels. We could have a gas tank mounted. We are getting damn close to making a battery mount, and then hooking up the drive line for a run around the block. I received the battery dimensions from James Simonelli at Twin Power this week: 6.54 long, 5.12 wide and 6.89 tall. We discovered that this battery is too wide. About 4.5 inches wide will do the trick.
We ran into an issue with foot controls. BDL was kind enough to send me a set, and I spent an entire weekend making a very cool mounting system. I machined the unit pieces to make each control as narrow as possible.
Unfortunately, when Monday rolled around the bros weren’t respectful of my efforts, but I held my mud and helped fab two additional systems to the outside. We are still using the BDL shifter system for the jockey shift system and we designed the mounting and linkage.
We also set up a GMA 5/8-inch bore master cylinder and I machined the linkage. This program adjustment delayed us for a couple of days. When I discussed respecting our sponsors, we lost our tube bending welder, Kevin Kahl. He will be sorely missed.
Speaking of respect, I try to respect all of our contributors and if we don’t use a part, we send it back. We received a high capacity oil pan and an intake manifold from JIMS, which we didn’t use and will return. Hell, I appreciate the time and effort it takes to ship us something.
We also ran into an issue with the rear wheel bearings. Our MetalSport, Chip Foose designed Nitrous wheel was ordered with a 1-inch axle, but Paughco doesn’t make 1-inch axles or swingarms. Terry from MetalSport hooked us up with new bearings and they arrived this week with a new spacer. Micah put the wheel back together.
We also printed out the new FIM rule book and discovered trikes must have fenders. We were recommended to reach out to Kent Riches at Air Tech, who makes fiberglass streamlining bodies for all sorts of motorcycles and fenders. Another project on our plate.
Micah is reading through the new FIM book. We are also working with Bob Stroud, or Stroud Safety and decided to roll with a dragster parachute over a tube used by most streamlined motorcycles. Kevin could not visualize the tube concept and fought it constantly. Made him smile when we shifted to a drag chute.
Strouds sent the pricey chute without any mounting instructions other than my conversation with him and he kindly sent me a drawing of how the chute should mount low and near the axle. We will need to make a roll-styled bar off the swingarm for the parachute to anchor. I need to go to the Strouds web site for release cable instructions.
I’ve already reached out to Chris at Barnett regarding cables. We will need a push-pull cable like old internal throttles and distributor cables. I hope to hear from them shortly.
This is getting damn exciting. I need to read about the battery box construction rules, quick. I’m okay on that one.
We ordered a U-joint coupling for our steering column, but when it arrived from Summit Racing, it was too large. I got on the phone with them and was coached on which one to order. I ordered it, but when it arrived, it was too small.
In the meantime, I spoke to Gary Maur of Kustoms, Inc. in Detroit. He sent me another unit, but I was concerned. He’s run hundreds of these on cars he’s built, so we went to work. The Steering and front end is all coming together.
I don’t know much about the car industry. Sure, I’ve worked on and repaired cars, but I’ve never built something like this. It’s interesting. Some of the components seem very cheesy compared to motorcycle parts and especially aftermarket components. But I need to compliment Summit. They have an amazing customer service business model. Their parts are shipped with postage free return info. No sweat, if it doesn’t fit put it back in the box, attach the label and ship it back—amazing.
I also spoke to Gary about the trailing arms. I notice some dragsters without them. “Generally, if you have front suspension you run them,” Gary said and I asked about mounting them, because Micah recommended the rear level with the center of the axle. Gary suggested about the center of the front axle travel. Without the shocks in place we guessed. “But it really isn’t a big deal,” Gary said.
I hoisted the Torpedo into the air and took the bottom belly off it. Micah started to mount the pipes and I think they will do the trick. He slipped the MetalSport wheel back into place with a new Paughco ¾-inch axle. Today I will finish machining the steering wheel quick release piece and start on the battery tray.
We’re scrambling.
Hot Rod Underground
Paughco
BDL
Strictly Hawgs
MetalSport Wheels
Custom Cycle Engineering
LowBrow
S&S
Bassini Exhausts
Twin Power
Lucky Devil Metal Works
VISION ZERO–OR ZERO FREEDOM
By Bandit |
In three years, all new cars and light-trucks purchased in EU countries will be required to include standard price-increasing features that will change how motorists drive. Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection voted in February to approve a range of new vehicle safety standards initially proposed by the European Commission a year ago.
According to the EU website, even though European roads are the safest in the world, the number of traffic deaths are still too high. This is why the EU has adopted Vision Zero and this “safe system” approach. Supporter and Member of Parliament Róza Thun of Poland said that the safety of road users, especially unprotected ones, has been the focus in making the new vehicle features mandatory.
The other focus according to a written statement from the committee: ”Making advanced safety features mandatory for vehicles should help drivers to get accustomed to the new features gradually and should enhance public trust and acceptance in the transition toward autonomous driving.”
Vision Zero began in Sweden in 1997; getting us out of our cars under the guise of safety seems to have always been the goal. Mandatory devices that limit the freedom and choices of motorists are the next step in swaddling drivers and passengers.
Many of the proposed features are close to becoming standard on new cars already. In the US, however, these devices are NOT mandatory and can either be ordered as options when purchasing a vehicle and/or the features can be turned off.
These types of features include advanced emergency braking systems (AEBS), advanced driver distraction warning (cameras inside the car) lane-departure warning systems, reversing detection, tire pressure monitoring systems, and Event Data Recorders (EDRs or Black box crash recorders). Many drivers like these add-ons while others do not.
What’s not so Good
The EU is also mandating intelligent speed assistance devices (ISA) or speed limiters that are connected to both GPS-linked navigation and camera inputs to detect posted speeds. With ISA, cars could not exceed the speed limit under any circumstances.
The other mandatory element that is problematic: Every new car would include an alcohol interlock installation facilitation. The driver’s blood alcohol content could potentially be checked by breathalyzer or by tactile sensors. The mandate would mean no driver could start a car without passing the electronic testing.
US safety advocates are already pushing mandatory Interlock installation for new cars. On March 14, 2019, former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator Joan Claybrook testified before the US House Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee urging passage of a law that would require automakers to include passive ignition-interlock systems in all new motor vehicles within as little as three years. She also urged Congress to follow the EU’s example and mandate a host of “safety” devices for new US vehicles.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association Secretary General Erik Jonnaert said that his group supports the broad range of safety measures, but just not immediately. He added, “Auto manufacturers are concerned about the proposed time between the entry into force of the regulation and the moment it applies…this should be aligned with product-development time in a pragmatic way, allowing at least 36 months before application.”
Volvo has gone so far as stating that it will place a governor in all new cars beginning with the 2021 model year that will cap top speeds at 112 mph or 180 km/hr. On March 20, 2019, Volvo announced the company will install cameras inside new cars to monitor driver behavior and intervene if the driver appears to be drunk or distracted. TheVerge.com called this a risky move for an automaker, even one with a reputation for safety such as Volvo, because it raises privacy concerns. Several years ago, the company enacted a plan called Vision 2020 with the idea no one would be killed or seriously injured by a Volvo by that year.
Make no mistake about the motives here. When the news broke about the EU vote, US safety advocates were beyond excited, and Streetsblog USA pondered the question in a post why these kinds of mandates are not yet required in the US.
Vision Zero proponents want to rein in irresponsible, that is, all (in their minds) motorists by literally limiting speed, choice, privacy and personal responsibility. The war on cars and on drivers is heating up.
Join a freedom fighting organization before it’s too late!–Bandit
Hells Angels Spectacular Wedding
By Bandit |
A senior Hells Angels member married the daughter of a notorious drug dealer this weekend in Montreal and everyone, including the Mafia, showed up.
The vibe at Montreal’s Windsor Ballrooms was somewhere between glitzy film premiere and rowdy biker party on Saturday evening.
Adjacent Peel Street was lined with a small group of journalists and unmarked police vans with cameras peering out the windows, eager to document the presence of what local media was calling “the cream of organized crime” in Quebec.
The swanky mixing of bikers and mafiosos took place in Montreal, harkening back to the golden days of organized crime this weekend. The recently wedded power couple were Martin Robert, 44, a full-patch Hells Angels who was once on Quebec’s 10 most-wanted list and Annie Arbic, 32, the daughter of one of Quebec’s most notorious drug traffickers—she’s in the family business herself.
The arrival of the bride and groom was preceded by a procession of buses filled with guests including known Hells Angels members François Vachon and Stéphane Plouffe. Antonio Pietrantonio and Giuseppe Focarazzo, both linked to Montreal’s Mafia, were both present, suggesting a continued partnership between Quebec’s juggernaut crime organizations. Unsurprisingly, this was an event watched not just by curious passer-byers and cold journalists, but by cops and intelligence officers attempting to learn all they could from the event.
As each bus pulled up, photojournalists and police across the street would position themselves to take pictures of guests, presumably to draw inferences about the criminal network before them and eventually post them upon cork boards. At one point, a smaller bus pulled up as photographers and police anticipated the exit of notorious criminals, only to erupt in laughter when a group of bewildered Chinese tourists unwittingly poured onto the sidewalk and into the spotlight of the underworld wedding of the year.
Other guests, including Salvatore Cazzetta, reputed to be the current leader of the Hells Angels in Quebec, arrived in stretch limousines. The bridal party descended from their stretch limo wearing ornate gowns and black leather jackets with “Ride or Die” written on the back. Some guests covered their faces while others jokingly posed for cameras. For the couple, well, it seems they are the physical embodiment of the concept of “ride or die”.
Arbic’s mother Sharon Simon was dubbed the Queen of Kanesatake after her and Arbic were busted for running a major drug smuggling operation. Simon was said to be the leader of one of the largest rings smuggling Quebec weed into the United States—her daughter was a part of the operation. Simon was sent to the hoosegow for 50 months in 2007 after being found guilty of several charges related to the ring. Arbic, for her dealings with her mother’s operations, was sentenced to 28 months in 2008.
Robert has been a member of the Hells Angels since the 90s. His latest convictions and arrests stem from being arrested as a part of Operation SharQc in connection to the bloody turf war the Quebec Hells Angels waged against rival biker gangs in the province as part. For those unfamiliar with the matter, SharQc saw almost every member of the Hells Angels in Quebec get arrested and charged in connection to the war over Quebec’s prime drug dealing real estate that is said to have claimed over 160 lives. But the SharQc mega-trial eventually became so bloated that it lead to a stay of proceedings and the eventual release of many of the Hells Angels who were accused, leading to a major shift in Quebec’s criminal landscape.
Throughout all this turmoil the lovebirds stuck it out. The relationship between Arbic and Roberts is a long one, going back to before either were charged—the Gazette reported in 2010 that the couple had been together since 2006. Not jail time, nor going on the run, nor, what seems to be, a myriad of criminal activity could break apart this couple. Hell, Arbic was denied parole twice because she refused to dump Robert who was facing murder and drug dealing charges at the time, even writing love letters to him from prison, it was reported.
When Arbic and Robert finally did arrive at their wedding, they did so in style, pulling up in the back seat of a baby blue early-70s Cadillac Eldorado, top down and beer cans in tow. As a valet approached the car to open the passenger-side door for Mrs. Martin Robert, the driver of the Cadillac shouted loudly but playfully, “What do you think you’re doing?” insisting on opening her door himself. Again, laughter erupted among the small crowd of journalists and police, relieved that the power couple had finally arrived after nearly three hours of waiting in the cold.
Arbic promptly beelined it for inside of the Windsor, bouquet in hand, as a visibly irritated Robert followed behind her. On the back of their Cadillac was a handwritten sign saying, somewhat cryptically, “Going to get married again!”
Much like the funeral for full patch member Kenny Bédard in Montreal two years ago, there was an unmistakable PR tinge to the wedding. Back then, many Hells Angels were being released from prison because of the botched prosecution surrounding Opération SharQc and the Hells did not miss the opportunity to flaunt their patches. The presence of hundreds of patch-clad members from across North America was widely interpreted as a show of force by police and organized crime experts.
The same could be said about this downtown wedding, according to André Cédilot, a journalist who’s been covering organized crime in Quebec for four decades.
“It’s clearly an arrogant move, but that’s their trademark,” Cédilot told VICE. “Nobody is surprised by this. Historically, after each big police operation targeting the Hells Angels or when members get out of prison, they always have some kind of show of force. Intimidation is the trademark of the Hells Angels.”
As for the presence of high-ranking Mafia members at the wedding, a lot of inferences can be drawn, both historical and current. “The Mafia and the Hells Angels have always been close in Quebec. The Mafia in the 80s, used the Hells as a sub-organization, but as they re-structured and became more businesslike and powerful in the drug trade, the Mafia had to reckon with the Hells Angels.”
That golden era of organized crime, during Vito Rizzuto’s heyday, was defined by a consortium between the Hells Angels, the Irish West End Gang, South American drug cartels, and the Sicilian Mafia at the helm. Those days are long gone.
“The Hells Angels right now, in terms of crime and drug trafficking, have a much bigger influence than the Mafia, because of the lack of leadership in the Mafia,” says Cédilot, pointing to the rash of arrests, trials, and murders plaguing Montreal’s Mafia for the last decade. “There is a lot of paranoia between members of the Mafia right now.”
At the wedding, the paranoia didn’t translate into real-world violence this time but that can’t be said about the bikers and the cops at the wedding though. One Hells Angels member, who goes by the nickname “Race,” was tasered by members of Montreal’s anti-organized crime Eclipse squad after drunkenly insulting them and then charging them, according to the Journal de Montréal.
Every wedding has that one guest.
IT’S THE PITS:
By Bandit |
Three years ago in Sturgis, South Dakota, a chance meeting of two Florida residents (who actually live 15 miles apart), Stephen “Hot Shot” Aretz and Freddie Bollwage, paved the way to Daytona Bike Week and Billy Lane’s 2019 Sons of Speed Vintage Motorcycle Race.
Freddie invited Hot Shot to the 2018 Biketoberfest Sons of Speed Race and Godspeed Racing’s Pit Crew. Hot Shot apprenticed for the race where Freddie’s Bike won the J-model race in a nose to nose finish. Hot Shot got bit by the Sons of Speed Vintage racing bug. Grateful for the opportunity and experience learned from Freddie, when an opportunity arose to obtain racing wheels through some good friends, Hot Shot jumped on it! A 1953 H-D 45 Flathead (with shark tooth paint) became available 6 weeks before the 2019 Daytona Beach Sons of Speed race. Hot Shot was all in – and on the road to racing!
A road trip to South Carolina and a fellow welder hooked up Hot Shot, with a stock length front end.
Steven Broyles from Michigan helped with the gear math/ratio set up changing the 22 gear sprocket to a 32 gear sprocket on the crank side for more top end speed, and lowered the sprocket on the rear tire for additional speed.
Kamikaze killer, or also known as “K.K.” was in for a 6-week make-over: Head and tail lights were stripped off, and racing number plates were made using aircraft brass rivets. Racing tires were mounted.
One week before the March 10th race, Hot Shot took the bike out of the shop for a test run. First time out, the brakes failed on Starkey Road in 5pm traffic. Sliding into the grass, and avoiding being creamed by the rush hour cage cluster fuck, Hot Shot managed to keep the bike vertical.
Between his regular welding job, and working on “K.K.” time flew by, and Hot Shot finished up just hours before heading to the east coast and Daytona.
Camping at Cackleberry Campground gave the team close access to the track. Hot Shot, Carwash Rob, Rob the estimator/Right hand Pit Man, and the Hot Shot Team Mascot – Meaty Jane were on a tight budget for the week, but also had a mission to beat out Freddie to get to the track for 5:00 a.m. check-in, on Friday, the day before the race. Little did they know, Freddie had parked his truck and trailer inline overnight and beat them to the it!
Friday’s practice proved trying for Team Hot Shot, but “K.K. ran 15 laps. The bike wouldn’t go into 3rd gear – but that was operator error forgetting to tighten the fuel tank bolt that fell out – or to quote Hot Shot, “an amateur mistake.” On the last lap, her throttle was stuck wide open on the fuel hose clamp. Hot Shot made turns 3 and 4 with the motor revved up high. The kill switch wouldn’t work, so panic set in and Hot Shot ripped the throttle cable out instead of pulling the spark plug wire (amateur mistake #2).
Tear down began, and a hole was blown in the head ¼-inch wide by 1-inch long around the sparkplug. The actual sparkplug melted. The saving grace was Carwash Rob scavenging through a local swap meet, finding two new aluminum heads, which he donated to “the cause.”
Local Bike Shop, Black Gold, hooked up Team Hot Shot with Copper gaskets and miscellaneous parts. Their steering dampener resolved “K.K.’s” front end shimmy.
Fellow racers jumped on board at a local service station, turned motorcycle shop and the racing trailer was parked. The engine was torn down and gaskets were replaced. Daniel and Justin with TOCE Performance were instrumental in the assist. Donny from Strokerz hooked up Team Hot Shot with Jets for the S&S Carb. Working till midnight, the engine was finally back together but not running. They ended up heading back with the trailer and bike in tow to the endless party at the Cackleberry. Sleep – What Sleep?
Race Day, March 10th – began with 9:00 a.m. breakfast and the race meeting. Team Hot Shot was in the 3rd Heat Race. It was back to the pits and attempts to get “K.K.” fired up!. It just so happened that two other fellow racers needed welding to race – so hand wrenching skills were bartered for TIG Welding skills. The dream was becoming a reality. ……..until……”K.K.” would not start!
After exploratory surgery, it was discovered that molten aluminum was stuck to the exhaust valve. Once removed, Matt and the Wheels thru Time Team contributed their electric wheel starter and after three tries “K.K.” FIRED UP! Hot Shot almost had a hot shit!!! The bike was finally ready – with 5 minutes left to spare for the Heat Race. “K.K.” and Hot Shot finished 4th out of 5 – but completed the race!
Speed was lost in the turns due to a dragging floor board during the lean in. Unfortunately, Team Hot Shot didn’t qualify for the next heat race, but Hot Shot did admit to having the time of his life!
Hot Shot sends out thanx to the afore mentioned people and Billy Lane, for the opportunity to race in this historical event. A Hot Shot shout out to Ron Berman for creating a kick ass logo with minimal notice! Looking forward to the next race and “K.K.” and Team Hot Shot kicking some ass!
“PIT SHOTS”
[photo 94025]
Ocasio-Cortez Joins Effort to Pressure Banks into Adopting the Far Left’s Anti-gun Agenda
By Bandit |
At stake for gun owners is whether the industries that provide firearms, ammunition, and related accessories to the civilian market will be able to participate in the 21st Century economy.
It’s becoming increasingly clear what the world would look like if the most dedicated opponents of the NRA and pro-gun politicians had free reign to implement their vengeful and discriminatory agenda against their political enemies.
They do not want a fair and open policy debate. They do not want to have to defend their own objectives.
There is, in their minds, no legitimate opposition to them, so any tactic is on the table to get what they want.
This includes the thinly-veiled extortion of wielding government influence and the virtual outrage mob against anyone who will not bow to their demands.
If you don’t believe us, just ask “Socialist Democrat” and media darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
The freshman congresswoman is proving a quick study when it comes to the extra-legal use of her official position and considerable celebrity to promote political goals that have failed to advance through the lawmaking process.
We recently reported on how Ocasio-Cortez’s fellow gun control advocate Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) used a congressional oversight hearing to berate a bank executive, not for actually breaking the law, but simply for refusing to follow the example of other banks in refusing business with law-abiding gun sellers. Maloney insinuated the bank was somehow complicit in mass murder and explicitly accused it of “putting profits over people.”
Never one to avoid the media spotlight, Ocasio-Cortez took up that refrain last week by taking several national banks to task on Twitter for helping to finance lawful projects or industries that she finds distasteful, including “fossil fuel pipelines,” “private prisons,” and businesses involved with “assault rifles.”
Ocasio-Cortez, like Maloney, sits on the House Financial Services Committee, which is involved in banking oversight. Perhaps just as relevant, in what passes for the modern marketplace of ideas, she has nearly 4 million Twitter followers, many with seemingly endless time and energy to execute whatever happens to be the social justice directive of the moment.
Ocasio-Cortez elaborated on what she was hoping to accomplish in statements to Politico. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and not everything has to be done through legislation explicitly,” she said. “We can also use the tools that we have here to pressure change in other ways as well.”
That includes the implicit threat of telling regulated entities they are now on the Official Naughty List for not toeing the political line and unleashing activist hordes to bombard their social media feeds with defamatory accusations or to perhaps take more drastic action in the real world.
Fortunately, not everyone on Capitol Hill has adopted the scorched earth outlook of Maloney and Ocasio-Cortez, and some are actively trying to ensure that America’s business and banking sectors are not completely subsumed into Washington, D.C.’s increasingly toxic political battles.
As we reported last week, Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced S. 821 the Freedom Financing Act, a bill to prohibit discrimination against the firearms industry in the provision of financial services.
This week, Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, sent a series of letters this week to the presidents and chief executive officers of America’s biggest national banks. Those letters expressed concern with the increasing politicization of banking services.
“Large banks, which receive significant forms of government support and benefits, should continue to provide credit and services to customers and companies that comply with federal and state law and should not seek to replace legislators and policymakers,” Chairman Crapo wrote. “Business lending decisions should be based on creditworthiness, rather than politics and political pressure.”
Chairman Crapo’s letter also referenced the Politico article quoting Ocasio-Cortez on “pressur[ing] change” outside the lawmaking process as an example of this disturbing trend.
The Obama administration pursued similar tactics under Operation Choke Point (OCP), with federal regulators leaning on banks to drop relationships with gun sellers and other lawful but disfavored businesses who were portrayed as a “reputational risk” to the institutions’ financial soundness.
But those objectives were hotly denied by the administration and dismissed as a “conspiracy theory” by its media surrogates.
Yet now they are being openly promoted and celebrated by those on the far left, which pursues the same style of government corruption, but without the self-awareness to engage in any pretense of hiding it.
Ocasio-Cortez would apparently be only too happy to tell you that OCP was A-OK.
For now, fortunately, these anti-gunners’ worst ambitions are still kept somewhat in check by the division of political power in Washington, D.C.
Should that situation change, lawful firearms businesses and other targets of the far left’s wrath won’t just be fighting overreaching legislation and bad publicity from a complicit press.
They’ll be facing their exclusion from modern society altogether.
Tracking Legislative Activity the NMA Way
By Bandit |
Today we complete the first full calendar quarter of reporting motorist-related activity that is passing through state and federal legislatures. The NMA Bill/Regulation Tracker (Bill Tracker) was introduced in the Winter 2019 issue of Driving Freedoms and went live on Motorists.org in early January when most states began new legislative sessions.
Only three months in and it has already been an interesting experience. We want to share a few takeaways. We also encourage you to provide feedback on any specific legislative activity you think should be covered in the Bill Tracker but isn’t.
Legislators are paying attention to motorist issues. That’s the good news. That’s also the bad news.
The large number of bills that met our screening criteria from Day 1 surprised us. At the time of this writing, there are 89 pieces of legislation posted in Bill Tracker. Over 300 more were reviewed and set aside as being too minor, too broad, or too far afield such as New Jersey’s Senate Bill 131 which would require transportation authorities to make advance notification of certain projects or operations expected to impede traffic, or West Virginia’s Senate Bill 54 which would allow the operation of small-engine mopeds without driver’s licenses. If only there were enough time in the day . . .
The Bill Tracker table can be sorted by any column and can be filtered by state or motorist issue to make searching efficient. Just as important, click on a row in the table to go to a legislative information page for that particular bill.
An example is the following screen capture of the NMA page for New York’s Senate Bill 40. SB 40, if enacted, would place restrictions on the use of data collected by automated license plate readers:
While it may come as no surprise that the NMA opposes more of the posted bills than it supports─a fact that can be attributed largely to the concerted effort in several quarters to unconditionally lower speed limits and greatly expand the presence of automated enforcement cameras─there are many 2019 bills that we support. The count as of March 27th is 53 bills opposed and 36 supported in the Bill Tracker.
Only a few have been resolved, either passed or failed/withdrawn, in these early months of the 2019 legislative sessions. Here is a rundown of them. Embedded links lead to the respective NMA landing pages.
Bills Supported by the NMA that Passed
Utah House Bill 149
Traffic code amendments referring to lane splitting by motorcyclists
Bills Opposed by the NMA that Failed or were Withdrawn
Mississippi Senate Bill 2580 Authorizes sheriffs and deputies to use radar speed detection equipment
Utah Senate Bill 80
Forces drivers in the queue to turn left at traffic signals to stay out of the intersection until each turning vehicle ahead of them has made the turn
Virginia Senate Bill 1555
Allows counties to double fines for speed limit violations on non-limited access highways having four or more lanes
Bills Supported by the NMA that Failed or were Withdrawn
Maryland House Bill 32 Would prohibit the Motor Vehicle Administration from basing a suspension or revocation of the registration of a vehicle on the vehicle owner’s failure to have the vehicle inspected and tested as required under the Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program
Maryland House Bill 984
A lane courtesy bill
North Dakota House Bill 1264
Would allow 75 mph speed limits on paved, divided multi-lane highways (unless otherwise restricted) and 80 mph on access-controlled, paved, divided multi-lane highways under the same provisions
North Dakota House Bill 1442
Would prohibit police from setting up DUI roadblocks to detain and question motorists without any reason to believe they are engaged in wrongdoing
Bills Opposed by the NMA that Passed
Check out the NMA’s Bill Tracker and let us know what you think. If you’d like to help search for and analyze legislative activity in your state, we’d like to know that too. It would be valuable to have more resources to broaden our coverage, although moped licensing will probably still fall outside of our bailiwick.
APRIL 2019 THREESOME REPORT: Trike News, Autocycle Adventures and Sidecar Views
By Bandit |
Super bikes have nothing on this twin-turbo V8 trike
This wonder trike-thing with three wheels or less is unusual and it just needs to be shared.
Enter the latest project from ProBoost, a Finnish company that has specialised in modifying motorbikes and snowmobiles since ’94.
With their motto “power is everything”, it’s only fitting that a custom trike powered by a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 is currently being built by the garage.
The engine, gearbox, wheels, differential and subframe are all taken from an BMW E38 740i.
The V8 made 210kW/400Nm, but with forced induction, numbers should be over 270kW/520Nm.
Previosuly, ProBoost made a bike called the M1, which runs the same twin-turbo BMW V8 and is somehow road legal.
ProBoost even sells the frame, so people can make their own BMW-powered monster trike.
ProBoost website https://www.proboost.fi/
Love Bug project turned into a wedding car
Cape Town – Corrie started working on the dream car he wanted to drive to his wedding before he even had a partner to propose to.
Parow resident Corrie Oosthuizen started his love project after returning from Thailand, where he had been living for six years.
“I had dated a Thai lady while living abroad and it was there that I was given the nickname ‘khn thì mì hawc thì dì’. It was only after about two years that I asked my then girlfriend what this nickname meant, and was told ‘the man with a good heart’.
“This stuck in my head and I decided I had to live up to this name and live out its meaning,” he said.
While living in Thailand, Oosthuizen said he had a good relationship but missed home and his language very much.
“So I prayed about it and asked God to give me my soulmate and was specific about what I wanted.
‘‘I always say be careful what you wish for because you just might get it,” Oosthuizen said.
Shortly after returning to South Africa, he said he started work on his customised “car trike” through the help of good friend Jan Botha, owner of Insane Customs.
“Jan called me one day and said he saw a Volkswagen Beetle rear end for sale. I bought it and that’s where my five-year journey with the Love Bug started. Jan’s work is just insane,” he said.
Oosthuizen said he wanted his car trike to reflect his nickname and shared his vision for the vehicle with Botha, who worked tirelessly on creating the perfect car.
Botha, a plumber by day, said he created custom vehicles as a hobby.
Oosthuizen said: “While working on the Love Bug, I had told all my friends that this was my wedding car, and they would laugh and mock me because I had no partner or love interest at the time.
“But I kept at it and told them this car was going to drive me to my wedding.”
Nearly three years ago, Oosthuizen met his now-wife Sonja.
“Sonja is my son’s mother-in-law and we got to know each other better when I moved back to South Africa.”
Oosthuizen and Botha, who were determined to drive the custom car on the wedding day, worked on it until 3o’clock on the morning of the Oosthuizens’ wedding.
“The gear lever broke but we fixed it and I got to drive my dream car with the woman of my dreams,” said Oosthuizen.
The Love Bug, with its custom-built steel body, is available for rentals for any occasion. “Even divorces,” Oosthuizen laughed.
Ten-race World Sidecar calendar announced for 2019
World Sidecar bosses have this morning announced a six-round, ten race calendar for 2019.
The season will kick off at Le Mans in April and finish at Navarra in Spain at the end of October.
– 20 April FFM Le Mans France
– 29-30 June MAMS Pannonia Ring Hungary (2 races)
– 20-21 July DMSB Oschersleben Germany (2 races)
– 18 August KNMV Assen The Netherlands
– 23-25 August HMS Grobnik-Rijeka Croatia (2 races)
– 19-20 October RFME Navarra Spain (2 races)
8 Cool Things About the Can-Am Ryker
In the ten years since that first Spyder, these unique Can-Am three-wheelers have become a legitimate, even popular alternative to motorcycles.
The base model starts at $16,000, and goes to over $25,000 for a loaded Touring model. The new Ryker is Can-Am’s entry-level trike, starting at $8,499 and built to give the same fun and stability on twisty roads as its bigger models. Here’s what to know about it.
You Can Get Two or Three Cylinders – The standard 600cc twin-cylinder develops 47 horsepower and 35 lb-ft of torque. Plunk down another $1,500 and you get a 900cc triple with 77 horsepower and 56 lb-ft of torque. The Ryker 600 is 22 pounds lighter (594 pounds) than the 900 (616 pounds).
It’s Really Easy to Ride -Ryker is accessible to new riders ruling out a manual transmission, and a semi-automatic dual clutch would’ve been too expensive to keep the base price under $9,000. So Can-Am used a twist-and-go transmission that it’s had experience building: a CVT.
“You worry less about shifting and spend more time enjoying the drift,” says engineering product manager Vincent Varaldi. And no one likes a manual transmission in traffic.
It Fits Just About Anyone – Sitting on the Ryker is not a problem – the handlebars and foot pegs can be adjusted fore and aft without any tools in just a few seconds, which can be helpful if you change road conditions.
Good Cornering – The Ryker sits lower, with the seat only 23.5 inches above the road. When you hit a set of switchbacks, it feels planted. And the steering is manual, but it gives you that connected-to-the-road feedback. The downside: that precise steering can be too sensitive at freeway speed and can follow undulations in the pavement.
Rally Edition – This costs $10,999 and includes adjustable KYB dampers, an inch more wheel travel, and tires developed for enhanced off-highway traction. The seat also has more foam, to soften some of the rough road bumps.
You Can Adjust the Stability Control – Ryker 900’s instrument cluster has a rubberized button for you to toggle through Eco and Sport modes. Engaging Sport loosens up the stability-control program and allows for smoky burnouts.
Swing Arm Is a Work of Art – The Ryker uses a shaft drive to get the power from the engine to the rear wheel, and without a belt drive or chain, the single-sided aluminum swing arm looks clean and beautiful. Varaldi says a chain would have been too long and a belt would have required the seat to be raised, which would raise the center of gravity. Shaft drive on some motorcycles can produce a clunky, jacking effect in the driveline, but the Ryker was easy.
Color customization – Ryker is fitted with flat black body panels and wheels and looks especially futuristic, like something created by Batman’s Wayne Enterprises. But if you wanted to go orange, the panels can be swapped in about five minutes.
TruNorth Global™ Launches MyTruckWarranty.com With Custom Trike by Paul Jr. Designs Featured on American Chopper
CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — A second custom bike designed for TruNorth Global™ by Paul Teutul, Jr. of Paul Jr. Designs was featured last night on the Discovery Channel’s American Chopper. TruNorth Global™, the leader in medium and heavy-duty truck protection, commissioned the custom build in conjunction with the launch of its new offering for Class 3-7 commercial work trucks, MyTruckWarranty.com, powered by TruNorth.
The MyTruckWarranty.com “dually-trike” was unveiled at an exclusive, invitation-only event for TruNorth Warranty customers and dealers held at the Daytona Beach Brewery Company in February 2019, and taped for last night’s Season 12, Episodes 7 and 8 of American Chopper
It Features an oversized, dual rear wheels, a trailer hitch, and custom crash bars and floorboards aligns with the new brand’s focus on medium-duty commercial work trucks.
“Knowing TruNorth and understanding their brands, customers, and position as an innovative force in their industry, I had a good idea of what I wanted to do for the MyTruckWarranty.com bike,” Teutul said. “It probably helps that I have a long history with work trucks. In my family’s steel business, we would get trucks without the beds on them and build rack bodies for our welders to accommodate their torches and everything else you need to do steel fabrication. I practically lived in work trucks early in my career.”
Teutul wanted to take a futurist approach to the type of trucks he grew up with, but still “maintain that work truck vibe” with the hitch on the back and bigger wheels to give it a ‘beefy’ look. To carry out his vision, Teutul designed a trike with dual rear wheels. “It’s six feet two inches wide in the rear but only nine feet long. We wanted to make it feel really stout, so we shortened it up in the back and put a shorter front end on it with a fatter front tire,” he said.
“The MyTruckWarranty.com bike made quite an impression in Daytona. I don’t think anyone was expecting a trike—let alone one capable of pulling a race truck,” said Tru North Global™ CEO, William Eskridge. “Paul nailed it once again.”
“It was really a ‘prefect storm’ scenario,” said TruNorth Global™ CMO, Barry Wilson. “We had engaged Paul with our NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series program, and he designed the paint scheme for the race truck, which also debuted the same day as the dually-trike reveal, in the NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway. So, using the dually-trike to tow the #45 race truck — during race week in Daytona — was a huge hit with our dealers, many of whom are longtime fans of Paul’s work.”
One of the challenges Teutul and his team faced during the MyTruckWarranty.com build was how to make the dual rear tires appear proportional. “When we built the trike, I liked it, but I wasn’t completely satisfied. I knew I had to do something about the width,” he said. “I decided to do crash bars and built-in floorboards to transition the eye from the front of the bike to those fat back tires, creating a triangular shape, which also resulted in a higher-functioning bike.”
Towing capacity presented another challenge. “That’s not something we ever had to consider in our previous builds,” Teutul said. “To make it work, we put a very tall sprocket on the rear and a small sprocket on the front in order to gear the bike low enough to pull the truck and, at the same time, overcome the height of the rear wheels.”
“When you have very tall wheels you have to gear the bike low to get it started,” he added. “Once you’re going it’s fine, but it’s got to get out of the hole, or it tends to stall. With those modifications, the trike pulled the race truck like it wasn’t even there.”
“I have to say the MyTruckWarranty.com trike is unquestionably one of my favorite projects of all time,” Teutul added. “There’s not another trike out there like it—period. It’s one of one; the Trü North folks actually call it a dually-trike.”
The custom trike represents the third collaboration to-date in the TrüNorth/Paul Jr. Designs relationship. Episode 2 of this season’s American Chopper, which aired on February 19, featured the TrüNorth Warranty™ custom chopper build.
TruNorth plans to take both bikes on tour to client dealerships throughout the year.
About MyTruckWarranty.com – MyTruckWarranty.com offers the most comprehensive coverage available for protecting commercial work trucks with the highest limits and lowest cost, making it easy and economical for owner-operators, fleet owners, lessees, and used truck dealers to protect their valuable work truck assets. Our standard program Class 3-7 commercial work truck warranties cover five major components: engine, transmission, differential, turbo, and after-treatment. And there’s no waiting period. All warranties offer day-one coverage and real-time claims tracking through the industry’s only mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
· 10 years old and newer vehicle coverage
· Multi-year options for Engine, Transmission, and/or Differentials, as well as Turbo and Emissions packages
· 24/7 live claims service
· Multilingual call center assistance
· Experienced claims and warranty support associates
· Mobile claims app and GPS location technology
About TruNorth Global™ – At TruNorth Global™, our commitment to keeping our customers on the road drives everything we do, from providing the most comprehensive aftermarket coverage in the industry through our TruNorth and OEM2 warranties, to our TruTow roadside assistance service, MyTruckWarranty.com programs for Class 3-7 commercial work trucks, and flexible private-label programs based on the needs of our dealer partners and their hard-working customers. Our real-time GPS tracking technology and 24/7 direct access to claims representatives via phone, web, mobile App and text are just a few examples of our ongoing resolve to continue paving the way for the future of our industry.
By employing the finest professionals in transportation, finance, actuary and customer service, and offering outstanding program value, we have solidified our position as the global industry leader in transportation-related warranty programs and services. More importantly, we continue to earn the trust and confidence of the fleets, finance companies, drivers, dealers and communities in which we operate through a reputation built on honesty, integrity and financial strength. For more information visit www.trunorthwarranty.com.
Contact: Barry R. Wilson, CMO TruNorth Global, barry@trunorthwarranty.com 704-875-9028
SOURCE TruNorth Global
http://www.trunorthwarranty.com
Boss Hoss Lamborghini, Party At The Front And At The Back
This is the work of German shop Boss Hoss Cycles Germany. The concept, commissioned by a client—who might or might not be sporting a mullet and gold chains—was to combine the front-end of a Boss Hoss, famed V8 motorcycles maker, with the backend of a Lamborghini Aventador.
The Tike—is a 445-hp, 6.2L V8 engine. It offers the 445 hp, 445 lb-ft torque LS 445 mill which is the power inside this transformation. The Chevy six-liter block produces higher hp and torque.
The powerplant is the weapon of choice since the founder Monte Warne created the first Boss Hoss in 1990.
The American Boss Hoss who built it, that’s actually half right because it was actually put together by their branch in Germany.
THAT’S THE TRIKE TRIVIA AND NEWS FOR NOW – Write to us at Wayfarer@Bikernet.com for sharing your adventures, experience, reviews and feedback.
Let us know if you are a Dealer or Custom Builder and we will give you a global platform to share your work and accomplishments.
RIDE ON!!! – Wayfarer
TROPICAL TATTOO CHOPPER TIME
By Bandit |
On Thursday of Bike Week, in Daytona Beach, Florida the place to be is the Old School Bike Show at Tropical Tattoo on US 1 (Ormond).
The show is scheduled from 11– 4 But it gets crowded way before as the event continues to grow every year because it is a combination of a bike show and party.
There are 20 Classes and some good judges who go through all of them, to come up with the winners. I did request a winners’ list but have not received it at the time of this article and due to not feeling well did not stay for the awards ceremony, so no photos of that. Look through the filled parking lot photos and see what you like.
Bands like Big Rick and the Trouble Makers kept the sounds going, while the food and drink vendors are busy taking care of everyone. Some of the Best Entertainment is when Roadside Marty takes the microphone to announce the winners and have a little fun with them and the audience.
People watching sometimes is interesting as well.
The proceeds from the show go to Veterans Support Group
Gloria Struck was there signing her book and I suggest you get a copy if you can.
The Twisted Tea Motorcycle built by Cycle Source was on display.
Sponsors included: Bikernet, Cycle Source, Blings Cycle, Biker’s Choice, Dave Perewitz, Speedking Racing, Led Sled, Bare Bones, A1 Cycles, B&D Customs, Self Made Customs, Boomer’s Bike Shop, Lowbrow Customs, Anvil Customs, National Companies like S&S, Custom Chrome, local Attorney RUE & Ziffra and all the people who donate their time to make this the Great Event It Is.
Enjoy the photos and consider being there for future shows during Bike Week and Biketoberfest.
The David Mann Chopper
By Bandit |
I’ve known Micah for maybe 45 years. He still rides daily and looks like a man who was made for his motorcycle. He fits like a glove and rides like the wind in a desert, after a storm instigates a low-pressure zone whipping the loose sand across the highway.
He owned Micah McCloskey’s Custom Motorcycles on Sherman Way in the San Fernando Valley for 34 years, from ’79-‘13. Before that he worked at the same shop for Joe Scarber and before that for Gary Bang, before Gary became a major distributor of custom motorcycle parts. He’s an active member of the Ugly MC and the pilot for our 5-Ball Racing Team Salt Torpedo effort for Bonneville this year.
When I met Micah he rode a ’40 Indian Chief. It was his daily rider from ’72-’91 and he still has it. I featured it in Easyriders Magazine in ‘76. He rode it during his wild times, when he peeled through the San Fernando Valley leaving a trail of empty Tequila bottles, sparks and burnt rubber. They were wild, simple times, when most of us could care less about most possessions aside from one chopper and a $100 car to use to get parts.
Micah sold his shop in 2013 and went into semi-retirement, but soon after the new owner killed the shop the landlord called, “Come and get this shit.” Micah was able to score most of his old equipment including an old hydraulic floor lift. It had been around the shop for 30 years and he finally installed it in his home garage.
So, for the first time in decades Micah could build a bike comfortably in his home garage, while working with his brother (the nicest guy you could ever meet, who passed not long ago) building spec homes. The home business slipped and a brother, Tony Dee called. He rode Knuckleheads and had a friend who had a car and motorcycle collection. Tony, Tom Whiting and Micah had lunch. Tom Whiting wanted to augment his collection with some classic choppers, a Captain America Panhead, a David Mann styled classic Panhead and a Shovelhead. “Micah is your man, “ Tony said.
Micah worked extensively with Ron Paugh at Paughco to build an accurate Captain America reproduction, then he turned to this classic David Mann styled stretched Panhead. Micah grew up in the era of the Panheads. They are his favorites. “You need to be rich to mess with Knuckleheads now,” Micah said. Next he will build a ’66 Shovelhead for Tom. “This is the perfect pace to build bikes without the pressure of a shop,” Micah said, “and Tom is excellent to work with.”
He got the engine, frame and transmission together. The stock front frame section had a stock Knucklehead rear section attached. He worked closely with Dr. John to have the frame stretched to fit Sugar Bear’s classic, 18-over springer.
Micah has several codes, when it comes to building bikes, “I wanted to build a very original, classic chopper for Tom,” Micah said. “I would require a genuine H-D motor, frame and transmission. One of my Ugly brothers, Leroy Dwight, had passed from Parkinson’s Disease a couple of years back. He had a ’65 Panhead motor with mostly original frame, rigid oil tank and transmission sitting on an open-air bench since 1978, in the Gold country, off highway 49 below Sacramento, CA. As far as I was concerned this was gold!”
The code requirements continued. “I made a deal with Leroy’s son and drove to the Gold Country,” Micah said. “The icing on the cake was a solid California pink slip registered as a ’65 H-D, no Special Construction. These elements are required to build the foundation or a pure original chopper.”
Micah is rebuilding a couple more Panhead engines now.
“Building bikes is a lot easier today,” Micah said. In the early days only Paughco and Flanders made parts. “Our equipment was lousy and resources were seriously limited. Choices are now endless.” Everything was stick welded or brazed in the ‘60s. The workmanship is still the same, but the tools are much improved. Hell, he won the David Mann Memorial Award with this hot-looking Panhead at the recent Ventura Chopper Fest.
Micah will continue to build engines and bikes into the future, after we’ve finished the 5-Ball Racing streamlined trike called the Salt Torpedo, which he will pilot this year on the Bonneville Salt Flats. We pour over the project three times a week. He rides to the Bikernet headquarters on his blacked-out and flamed, FLH, 50 miles from home through LA traffic to give us a hand. We’ll keep you posted on his and our progress as the year screams along.
–Bandit
Bike Name: the David Mann Chopper
Owner: Tom Whiting
City/State: Reseda, California
Builder: Micah McCloskey
Year: 1965
Model: Panhead
Value: Priceless
Time: 1.25 years
Engine
Year: 1965
Model: FL
Builder: Micah McCloskey
Ignition: Points
Displacement: 74 cubic inches
Pistons: Wiseco 9.5:1
Heads: Stock
Carb: Dellorto dual throat
(It has the Dellorto for show and the S&S Shorty for go)
Cam: Andrews A
Air Cleaner: Stacks
Exhaust: Paughco/Fabtech
Primary: Open belt drive (BDL)
Transmission
Year: 1960
Make: H-D 4-speed
Shifting Hand/jockey
Frame
Year: 1965 Front H-D
Type: Rigid rear section (Knuck)
Rake: 45 degrees
Stretch: 1-inch out, 5 inches up
Mods: Dr. John
Forks
Builder: Sugar Bear
Type: Springer
Triple Trees: Mr. Bear
Extension: 18 inches over
Wheels
Front Wheel: Spoke
Size: 21-inch
Tire: Avon Speedmaster
Front brake: none
Rear Wheel: Spoke
Size: 16-inch
Tire: Avon MKII
Rear Brake: ’63-‘66 drum juice
Paint
Painter: Vince, Conejo Valley Auto Body
Color: Red
Type: Metalflake
Graphics: Gold Leaf
Chroming: Supreme Plating
Accessories
Bars: Fabtech
Risers: 4-inch Paughco
Hand Controls: Throttle only
Foot controls: Fabtech
Gas Tank: Paughco
Oil Tank: H-D
Front Fender: none
Rear Fender: ribbed
Seat: JP Seats
Headlight: Paughco
Taillight: MC Style
Speedo: none
Sissybar: Fabtech
Photographer: Peter Linney
S&S
Sugarbear
Paughco
Mayans MC Television Show Review
By Bandit |
Sons Of Anarchy TV show was celebrated as a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The main reason it connected with 21st century audiences included the MC presented as a family. The MC was not just a club but had a brotherhood thick as blood.
Mayans MC is a spinoff from the epic Sons of Anarchy and tries to capitalize on One Percenter Motorcycle Club curiosity. The Mayans TV show this time does not focus on the apex of the Club. Instead we are introduced to a prospective member of Mayans MC and how his life story unfolds, while being lured into a life of crime.
Creator Kurt Sutter presents us with a young outlook on Hispanic lifestyle near the Mexico border presented from the story of Southern California motorcycle club. Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes is the Prospect, whose American dream is hijacked by a chance murder of a cop by his hands in his young life. He is blackmailed by Feds and his loyalty is torn between Mayans and his father’s safety.
Drug cartel is clichéd Mexican storyline used by everyone at Hollywood but in Mayans MC the focus is not hardcore, like the brilliant first two seasons of Netflix’s Narcos TV series. Also introduced into the mix are Rebels – a vigilante group of poor Mexican immigrants who murder and maim the Galindo Drug Cartel.
The Hispanic community is showcased in beautiful depictions of festivals and culture focused on family first, which is unique to many immigrant groups.
Mayans MC theme song is not at all catchy, and the soundtrack lacks the popularity of great music, which served well for Sons of Anarchy. The Sons show had wonderful soundtrack throughout all its seasons.
Mayans MC is not as gritty as Narcos, nor as charming as Sons’ presentation of a club enduring everything with loyalty to the club over family ties. However the first season of Mayans MC is still watchable, if only to understand the way poorer sections of society fall into the spiraling doom of crime and illegal activities.
The first season has 10 episodes of almost an hour each. They tell an unfolding plot of an individual losing his grip on his individuality – the club, society, cartel, DEA, all elements encroaching on a man’s desire to be free. We see a father trying to save his son, the son a Prospect trying to earn his patch, the cops corrupt morally and financially, the redneck white supremacists preying on the expanding colored community, the community fighting back with vigilante justice and the drug cartel influencing local life and economy.
The Mayans TV show presents these varying factors blended into the life story of the new Prospect. There are guest stars from Sons of Anarchy as well. The fictional border town of Santo Padre has everything in a giant melting pot of American Dream cooked crisp into fatal dose of ‘survival’. Every factor aspiring to survive while always in conflict with the other factors that dot the daily life for the characters.
The series is set 4 years after the last season of Sons of Anarchy. The Galindo cartel head and members have no fearful personality, which we can compare to Narcos or Sons TV shows. The Mayans MC is not shown to be as intense as the Sons MC and lacks the premise it wants to present – brotherhood among bikers. The Rebels however are very well presented – ordinary orphans fighting back to take Mexico back from drug cartels and corrupt cops and seedy opportunistic politicians.
A blonde girl-love-interest thrown into the mix adds soap opera drama to the Cartel Family vs. the Mayans MC Family.
FX has renewed the Mayans MC for a second season. For promoting the first season, Co-creators Kurt Sutter and Elgin James, executive producer/director Norberto Barba, and cast members took part in the Republic of Texas Motorcycle Rally in downtown Austin in June 2018. They were also present for the San Diego Comic-Con of July 2018. The Mayans TV show generally has mixed reviews, though it holds 71% approval on Rotten Tomatoes website.
All-in-all, I felt the primary characters of Mayans MC were not even as solid as the minor characters of Sons of Anarchy. There is clichéd conflict in all its primary characters, failing to prove itself above the prejudiced views of Hispanic community as a whole. Very Hollywood presentation with focus on pro-grade cinematography and well known third-grade stereotypes.
But Hey, the motorcycles are cool and the petty fighting is still entertaining.