I have a lot more than 25,000 miles on my bikes. Heck, Debbie and I put on nearly 6500 miles on the bikes this year. But I just got around to submitting the paper work for the 25K award to the Harley Owners Group a few weeks ago.
This is the patch that you receive for this milestone. There is a matching pin that you can use as well. So now I have to update my biker/pirate vest! 😉
HOG 25,000 Mile Patch
Motorcycle.com has a list of the most expensive motorcycles to ensure. You can see their list here, it has all the details on the following ratings.
10. Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide
8. Tie Ducati 848 EVO and Ducati Streetfighter 848
7. Ducati Diavel
6. Ducati Panigale
5. KTM RC8R
4. Honda CBR1000RR
3. Suzuki GSX-R1000
2. Kawasaki ZX-14R
1. Suzuki Hayabusa
Of Couse I have one of those, the Electra Glide.
But to help you out Motorcycle.com also provides a TOP TEN WAYS TO SAVE ON MOTORCYCLE INSURANCE article!
Looks like others are taken aback by the CDC and “its helmet study” I mentioned in my last post. Congressman Tim Walberg (Michigan) wrote a letter to the CDC asking several pointed question about the study and its “findings”. A quick web search finds that the AMA, ABATE and others are taking the CDC to task on this issue as well.
If you have not yet dropped a note to your congressman or women now is the time. It is not about helmet laws it is about labeling our activity as a health risk just like cigarettes, soda and Trans fats! If they can label motorcycles as a health risk then higher taxes and heavy restrictions will soon follow.
The first shot to eliminate motorcycling has been fired! Maybe that was a bit of hyperbole, maybe it was not.
Following in the footsteps of “protecting your health” and “saving medical care money” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a study/report calling for a federal law mandating helmet use.
Now, do not get me wrong, I am all for helmets, I rarely ride without one even in those areas that do not require them. The first thing I thought as I read this was… when did wearing a helmet or an injury from a crash become a disease and why is this coming from the CDC and not the Department of Transportation? The more I read the more I realized that by wrapping it in terms of health care costs, they are attempting an end around their opponents.
With chapter titles like “People who ride, People who die”, “Paying the Bill” and tear jerking vignettes, this study is all about attention grabbing. The true focus of the study is on negatives costs to society and “lost tax revenue” more than it does on “health issues”. That is why I view this as the first step to eliminate motorcycling, in a few years someone will say that motorcycles are costing the health care industry and the tax payers to much money let’s ban them. It is happening with cigarettes, soda and trans fats, why not motorcycles?
Now as far as the study itself goes, if you have ever produced real “college” grade products for nitpicking professors you will be surprised at the quality of this product. While it is heavy with endnotes (and I did not look up the papers and studies cited) I believe that several of my professors would have graded this effort a “C” at best. Some of the things that irritated me were:
The study is more about saving money and increasing tax revenue vice saving lives couched within a health related construct.
The use of emotional language and stories vice logical reasoning.The authors spend a lot of time attempting to explain the savings but avoid really discussing the costs.
Why is the CDC spending tax dollars on this vice true disease?
They often cite the growing number of injuries and deaths but without the context of the growing numbers of riders.
Reading between the lines…. if you can’t get your way call it a health care crisis.
I am going to write my congressman (yes it will be a waste of time and electrons), are you?
Motorcycle.com put together a “Top 10 Harley Davidsons” list by asking people in the industry what they thought were the best bikes. The bikes on their list covered a large swath of Harley history.
Although they did not ask me I will give you my #1 Harley. For me, it is the Heritage Softail Classic. With this bike Harley has encapsulated their historic look with current technology. Styling from the 1940’s, softail replacing ridged, fuel injection, saddlebags and lots of chrome; this is a bike that blends it all together. This bike has been around for a while too, starting production in 1986.
Plus I own one!
I have had a couple posts lately regarding the Star Bolt and the customization of that bike, so I thought I should post something about how people are customizing the original. I looked at several custom “Sporties” but I settled on this one.
The “Lumberjack” by French builder Comete Motorcycles is a mean looking Sportster. Setup for off-road use, the bike has multiple custom parts, all of which you can buy from Comete Motorcycles, to build your own Lumberjack but it looks like you will need to supply the chainsaw!
To help promote its new Bolt Star put together a contest between custom bike shops and used social media to find a winner. They sent bikes to 10 shops for the competition which was won by Doc’s Chops.
I readily admit that the custom bikes that the shops put out are very cool. Take a look at results of the competition here.
The latest version of Paul Teutul Senior’s television career premiers tonight on CMT. Orange County Choppers will, based on what I have read and seen, will follow the same route as the previous incarnations of his shows.
From the CMT website about tonights show: “GAF, the largest manufacturer of roofing in North America, approaches Paul Senior about building a bike for them. The only issue is they want it built in time to give it away to a veteran at Sturgis, which is only two and-a-half weeks away”
Royal Enfield Continental GT
As I mentioned in an earlier post I have always liked Royal Enfield motorcycles. I ran across a short, interest article on the DealerNews.com website that covers where Royal Enfield came from and where it is now.
Check it out HERE.
According to several other websites Yamaha will be displaying a café styled motorcycle built from their Bolt platform. Yamaha is rolling out this concept bike to show off what owners can do via “garage modifications”.
I like the look of this bike, as much as I like the look at the Harley Sportster (imitation is flattery, right). I have seen many Sportster café bikes and they look cool as well. The big thing I get from this is that the café scene is going; maybe it will get as big as it did in the 40 years ago.
The bike is going to rolled out at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, maybe it will come to some US shows afterwards.
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 