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BIKERNET CARIBBEAN REPORT–I turned in my news a little early this week cause there’s lots of stuff to be done. I’m flying to Las Vegas for the Artistry in Iron show, and then taking a red eye to New York and Indian Larry’s memorial.
Frances is history, I hope that our readers from Florida, even Bahamas and the near islands are in good shape. If you have endured a hurricane, you only know what it is, there’s no comparison. In reality Florida was lucky, Eleuthera, Turks and Caicos, Providenciales and the Bahama islands took the bitch full force. The worst part in Florida was the length of time, but then again that is the price we pay for living in the tropics.By the time this is published we will be watching our asses, Ivan is on the way, as it looks now like I will be getting some primo surf, but someone is going to get the rage.
I had a thought last week about what my report was going to be about, as we all know, destiny changed my plans, but when I really thought about it, it did had a lot to do with the event that unfolded last week.
So here I go again.
This happens to be a close knit community, the bike industry. I mean, people from all walks of life, different places, different continents, most people that are outcasts, the freaks, but there’s a strong bond that has united many of us. We do the same thing, we can relate to each other?s hardship, we respect each other and admire each other?s work. So what do I have in common with some guys from Long Beach, or Brooklyn, fuck even Tokyo, Stockholm, or Helsinki? Lot?s, fucking lots. First of all, I believe we are all dreamers, we all are hands on people, we have a common bond, which starts with a simple but miraculous invention called the motorcycle, and not being able to leave it alone.
I can’t say since I’m not a painter, nor a sculptor, I don’t build cars and I’m certainly not a musician, but what I know is building bikes, and there is a very strong friendship bond amongst those of us who do it. Sure there are separate cliques, but the one I belong to is very strong and it’s the only one I can talk about. We are the outcasts in an outcast society, the punks, the kids, (even though we all are in our late 30’s and more) the rebels, the ones to shake the establishment, have no bosses and no one tells us what to do.We are lucky and stubborn enough to hold on, wait ’till some become the toast of the town, wait till the masses take what we do as cool. We do what we please, we live like there’s no tomorrow (and sadly, sometimes there is not) and we laugh our asses at life while giving it the finger. Sure some are rolling in dough and some are still busting their knuckles, but at the end, it makes no difference. We can all sit down and shoot the shit, no matter if you have a million, or a mere buck to your name. Money is not relevant. We get to travel, have so many good friends every place we go and some are treated like true rock stars, then again, when the spotlight is gone, everyone goes back to what we really are, friends.
Of the things I have done in my life I have never seen such as strong bond as the one I’m talking about, and many of you know of whom, I’m talking about. Not all is a rose garden, there’s assholes lurking around, and ego is a strong flaw. But those are weeded, sooner or later, and become extinct. It’s amazing how a whole world can get together and share stories, steaks or suds, anyplace, anytime.For those of you who think we go to bike events for the chicks, bikes and mayhem, yep you might be right, but we go to see friends and spend time with them. In a morbid way, we live on a very narrow ledge, and some of us, don’t come back.
Many of us will go out of their ways to lend a helping hand to others, no matter for what, and that is the way it should be. People from all walks of life, cultures, vocations, religions and whatever else you might want to add, have formed a common bond, nothing expected as reward, not done to gain. Just done because we are the same. Some will never belong, no matter how hard they try.
None of this is done for fame, nor glory. Most of us met way before it was cool to build bikes and TV showed up. I believe this is done because it can be done; it’s a big fuck you to society and ill wishers. Some of us feed out of those, it just makes us prosper and do better, be better.We are no saints, not even close, then again when your soul is uncluttered you don’t need to prove it. And when you know things, you don’t have to prove not one nothing.
Again, there’s no news, just my normal rants. It?s cool to be able to say what you please without receiving menaces of being banned, or edited. Those who know me know who I am, those who don’t can come up with their own conclusions. Those who hate me and are trying to censor me are wasting their time.
See you next week, from Las Vegas….Sin City baby…How appropriate.
Jose, Bikernet reporter
BUELL DEALER TEAMS COME UP SHORT AT ROAD ATLANTA–Early Incident Foils Promising Formula Xtreme Weekend for Hal’s and Kosco EffortsBRASELTON, Ga. (Sept. 4, 2004) – Kosco Buell/Innovative Motorcycle Research rider Michael Barnes and Hal’s Performance Advantage rider Mike Ciccotto each put in top-ten qualifying efforts aboard Buell Firebolt motorcycles at the Road Atlanta round of the AMA Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme series. They were running a strong third and fourth during the first laps of the race, but both saw their race end early on the second lap of the event.
Ciccotto, who qualified seventh, highsided his bike while running fourth and crashed on the second lap, which brought out the red flag to halt the race. Ciccotto did not restart the race due to some swelling in his left hand. Barnes, who had jumped from eighth on the grid to third on the start, experienced an electrical charging system failure during the red flag period and could not restart the race. The race was won by American Honda rider Miguel Duhamel, who clinched the Formula Xtreme season championship with the victory.
“It was a tough weekend for both of these dealer teams,” said Erik Buell, chairman and chief technical officer at Buell Motorcycle Company. “But it was great to see the Buell Firebolts running up front as Hal’s and Kosco learn more and continue developing the bikes.”
AMA Formula Xtreme is a class open to highly modified motorcycles with 600cc four-cylinder engines or larger-displacement V-Twin engines. The final stop on the 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship schedule is Sept. 17-19 at Virginia International Raceway near Alton, Va.
To learn more about Buell Motorcycles, visit your local Buell dealer today and experience the pure streetfighter attitude, style, and performance only found on board a Buell. For the Buell dealer nearest you, pull into www.buell.com.
WIDE FUCKING OPEN FOR CARL & ROBIN–It is with a profound sense of loss that I write to you today and tell you what a wonderful tribute we had for our fallen friends Carl Pethybridge and Robin Raulerson. After a good breakfast with friends, I rode to meet the four eastern county biker families at the designated spot and found that the park was full of soccer moms in SUV?s who couldn?t or wouldn?t grant us space to park. So we took over the side of the road and the pack grew larger as the time to leave got closer. Over one hundred bikes comprised the pack pf plenty that travailed west on SR 76 to the Port Mayaca cemetery where they now rest in peace; locked in our road laden minds, our beloved fallen friends.
Looking in my mirror, I saw a breath taking double strand of headlights, like a yellow diamond necklace reaching for the throat of heaven. The Treasure Coast Chapter of the US Military Vets MC road captained us safely, proudly and we ensnarled the small ceremonial grounds with the thunder of rolling iron and wondrous steel.The Tuckahoes MC captained an additional one hundred bikes in from the West. As a sad, but loyal band of brothers and sisters, we listened, the winds were weak, the August Florida sun too strong. Alan Schroder, who spoke last year at the funeral, took up the mantle again this year and address the mass huddled under the shade of a scrubby oak tree. Both Bill Houston, shop owner and USMV President Bronco saluted the veteran down and his lady down, as the bronze plaques screamed closure and words of being in the wind. Great spirits circled and comforted us.
Together we rode, hundreds strong, through Indiantown Florida, through the slum to blind the crack heads and down trodden, showing them how good life can be. We arrived to the waiting arms of the local VFW Hall and the fabulous food finds of Suzie Raymond, Canteen manager. She produced for us, pork steaks and baked beans, fresh salads and corn bread, all proceeds going to benefit the small welcoming facility. The acoustical fun filled sounds and strings from Ben and Dave lead friends to dance as the free keg beer outside went down way too fast. A local man suggested a pickup truck ride to see an alligator. An old alligator! Now that?s southern fried fun and off they went to see a gator the size of a small car in his small captivity of a tiny swamp pit!
As the sun remained merciless, everyone sweaty, I said my good byes and rode home alone. It gave me all the time in the world to think, to remember, and to send them my love. You see Carl and Robin were very dear friends to so many of us here on the Treasure Coast. They lived and loved Harleys. Carl was big, a father of many, and at 60, a grandfather to all of us. Robin, tall, sharp wit and tongue, she was biker woman personified at 49. She rode behind Carl for over twelve years. They had gone to dinner on that fateful night last year, on a Friday, after work for both of them. Riding his rigid frame ?79 Shovel, Carl felt the need to remain sober while Robin had a few cocktails to enrich her ride home. At the same time, a younger man, only 31, was drinking heavily with friends around a campground out by Lake Okeechobee. His day had not gone very well. He was known to be an angry man, he got into his Ford 250 pickup and headed out onto the road. He needed to be somewhere and be there fast.
Carl and Robin said good by to their friends at the restaurant and headed out on the two lane highway, leaning for home to enjoy each other?s company and get ready for the weekend, a ride they had done a thousand times before. The Shovel was loping in front of a cage, the riding was easy. The bike knew the way home.The pick up truck was reported to have been going over eighty miles an hour when he passed that car and didn?t see the motorcycle as he pulled back into the eastbound lane. The impact killed Robin immediately but the Shovel got wrenched up under the front fender and Carl was dragged several hundred feet before the heap of twisted metal came to a halt. He was cut in half and quickly bled to death as the viscous driver put it in reverse and left my brother to die. He pulled over approximately two miles down the road, his truck over heating, his cell phone in hand, he was over heard to say at ?something bad? had just happened.
Almost one year to the day, Shannon Vinson was convicted of two counts of DUI manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. Horrific and gristly the authorities reported. Weeks later his sentencing came the Monday before our Memorial Run.Vinson, while showing little emotion or remorse, was given thirty years on the first count and fifteen for the second. There is no gain time here in the Sunshine State, he will have to serve 38 years for killing two bikers.
I rode for home but found myself at the crossroads. I took the turn towards the banyan trees that line SR 714 and their cool canopy eased the heat of the setting sun. A few extra miles in their honor would be worth it. So what I was running on empty. This tragic tale was coming to an end; there would be closure for me and many others who couldn?t attend the funeral last year. Carl and Robin would have been the first one in line for a funeral, or a party for a friend, as long as he didn?t have to work. I?d had to attend a run in Tampa. Brenda was out of town. For others, it was their own family commitments.This run and the Memorial WFO party for us was one of the best participated and well organized that the four counties had seen in a while. The only thing missing was Carl and Robin.
Our friends were important people in our biker family. Death ends a life, not a relationship. As I eased off the interstate, this magnificent late summer riding day gone, I will always believe that Carl & Robin are now frozen solidly, cool within time and forever in our hearts.
Wide Fucking Open!
Katmandu
JOE EDWARDS–, of Custom Cycle Control Systems of Las Vegas, was killed in a motorcycle accident on August 14th, 2004.Adding to the sadness of the occasion was the fact that it was Joe’sbirthday. He was 59.
This sad news was relayed to us by Aaron King, who, with Joe, ran Custom Cycle Control. The business has been established less than a year and was formerly known as Climax Control Systems.
Climax had established a reputation for stylish and innovative engineering solutions in the field of custom motorcycles.
All at AMD send condolences to Joe’s wife, Jana, and to his family and friends.
CUSTOM CYCLE CONTROL SYSTEMS
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Tel: 702 438 2129
Fax: 702 438 4276
E-mail: aaron@customcyclecontrols.com
www.customcyclecontrols.com
MORE FROM THE BROS CLUB–Improved Benefits for BROS Club Members Start in September 2004.
On September 1, 2004, BROS Club announced it had severed ties with its former dispatch service provider, and teamed up with the JD Power & Associates #1 rated motorcycle emergency road service provider.
BROS Club and CycleServices North America members will be pleased with the improvements. In a statement released on September 1, 2004 BROS Club?s National Director, DJ Coates assured members that the organizations future looks very bright. Not only do new members benefit from the changes but also all current members.
The most significant new feature is the program?s new emergency transport mileage guarantee.?Our program now provides up to five disablement calls per year (rather than 4) and a mileage guarantee of 35 (thirty-five) miles per incident, rather than no mileage guarantee.?Coates noted, ?We?d heard reports about tow companies who?d jack up their per mile charge when bikers were stuck in remote locations or when a large rally was in town, making the cost of emergency services prohibitive. A set mileage guarantee ensures that our members will receive the same dependable benefit every time they need to use the service.?Other improved benefits,? Coates continued, ?include better dispatch center standards. Our new policy strives to never hang up until we?ve got a transport service identified and an Estimated Time of Arrival has been provided to our member. This in itself is a huge improvement over the former system.??Although our program is exclusively for BIKERS, most members also have cars or small trucks and though not covered for towing in our program, all members are entitled to discounts at Hertz Car Rental Centers, Jiffy Lube, MAACO, AAMCO and can receive as much as a 30% discount at Clarion Hotels.? The BROS Club and CycleServices coverage territory includes the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.Coates considers this, ?a total revitalization of the organization! New and current members are getting the best possible emergency motorcycle road service available.?
For V-Twin riders you?ll want to check out BROS Club at: If you ride a metric bike, check out CycleServices at: http://www.cycleservices.org
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