Hitting Neutral – Orange County Chopper is closing shop in the state of New York and moving to St. Petersburg, Florida. The following came from their Facebook page:
“And so, it begins, the next chapter in the Orange County Choppers story. Ground has been broken at the all-new OCC Roadhouse, Museum and Entertainment Complex in St. Petersburg, Florida.”
During a radio interview with WKRG, Paul Senior added some more commentary on the reason for the move:
“There’s more of a sense of freedom down there. I think I have more of a fan base down there in Florida and the riding season is nine months maybe even ten. In New York, you have a short season, maybe only three months or so. The whole thing makes sense.”
He added politics and taxes played a major role in his decision.
“Sometimes it’s just time for change, you know? Where I’m at in my life, it’s time for change and you feel the freedom in Florida, you don’t feel it so much in New York anymore,”
My Take – The last several years have been extremely hard on the motorcycle industry. I bet Orange County Choppers have been hurt more than the big guys. This move will reduce the tax burden and possible other costs.
This is a hard time which requires hard decision. Good for them for making that hard decision. I hope it works out.
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Up Shift – Josh Herrin (racer with MotoAmerica) recently set a world record for the fastest motorcycle elbow drag. He drug is elbow for about 100 feet (30 Meters) at 100.9 MPH (162.4 KPH) establishing the record!
The idea for this world record attempt came from a brain storming session with his sponsor “Fresh n Lean”.
My Take – Very cool! It is also great to see a sponsor step up to do things like this in the motorcycle world!
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Down Shift – Armed FBI raid on Ducati North America. The FBI finical crimes division raided the headquarters of Ducati North America as well as the homes of some of their corporate leaders. To date, there has been no official statement as what warranted the raid or what is going on. Ducati released a statement that confirmed that the raid occurred, and that Ducati was fully complying with the government.
My Take – Something that make you go hummmmm. Is Ducati in trouble or are they the collateral damage from some other party. Stay tuned.
Ride on, Ride Safe
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 