Posts Tagged ‘Honda’

Motorcycle Charity Ride: 9/11 Rattle the Runway 2014

Posted: September 11, 2014 in custom motorcycle, Motorcycle, Motorcycle news, Motorcycle racing, Motorcycle Rides, Rally
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ijustwant2ride.com

Debbie and I rode our “Army” motorcycle in the 2014 Rattle the Runway ride to support the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Fund.  This commemorative ride is an attempt to honor the memory of the people killed in the attack on the Pentagon.  The ride loosely follows the path of Flight #77 from Dulles International Airport to the Pentagon

The weather for the event was great; I rode in a t-shirt and leather vest (yea I know ATGATT…) while Debbie started in a light jacket and switched to her vest at the staging area.  We left the house a little late this year and missed the opening ceremonies but arrived in plenty of time to make the start.

As always the ride starts behind the National Air and Space Museum – Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.  In the past the museum had opened its doors for the riders to stroll through and view the exhibits before the ride starts, not sure if it happened this year as we arrived a bit late.  The staging for the event has riders park their bikes six abreast in an area about three to four hundred years long.  Almost every major and minor brand of motorcycle is represented in this ride, this year I saw:

 

Harley Davidson Honda Iron Horse
Yamaha Star (I know) Suzuki
BMW Motor Guzzi Cam-Am
Victory Triumph Ducati
Stallion MVAgusta

But I must say the turn out this year was about half of what it was last year.  More often than not the bikes fill the staging area, this year my guess would be that the bikes numbered at about 1000.  Maybe that this was the first day of the NFL season reduced the number in attendance.

To reduce the traffic congestion that a ride of 1000+ motorcycles would bring around Dulles airport the ride is broken in serials of about 100-150 bikes.  We were in one of the last serials to pull out and the ride to and past the main terminal of Dulles were smooth and quick.  The ride to the Pentagon was also uneventful with only 2 cars merging through the line of bikes to enter or exit the highway.

When we reached the Pentagon the mood of the group became more somber as we visited the Memorial site.  If you have never been to the Memorial site you should consider adding it to your list of places to visit, at a minimum look at it on line, it is quite well done.  After paying our respects we mounted up and headed for home.

PS…. On the way home we saw the BING version of a Google Street View car. It was pulling onto Route 267 near Reston, VA. I will be keeping a look out on Bing for the updated street view as it should show me flipping the driver the bird because he nearly ran us off the road!!!!

 

 

 

Top 10 Motorcycles that women ride

Posted: August 19, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, Motorcycle news
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I just read an interesting motorcycle list from Womenridersnow.com. They took their reader’s input and surveys from the last six years and came up with the list of most popular motorcycle with women riders.Ijustwant2ride.com

10. Star V Star 250

9. Kawasaki Vulcan 900

8. Harley Davidson Street Glide

7. Kawasaki Ninja 250/300

6. Honda Shadow Spirit 750 C2

5. Star V Star 950

4. Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe

3. Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 Custom

2. Star V Star Custom / Classic 650

1. Harley Davidson Sportster 883 SuperLow

 

Debbie owned an 883 SuperLow…she is #1 too!

You can read the entire article here!

ijustwant2ride.com

HD Softail Deluxe

Ariel Motrcycles Coming Back

Posted: June 27, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle news
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Ijustwant2ride.com

The British motorcycle Ariel Ace is returning to the street. If you watch the BBC version of Top Gear very often you have most likely seen a segment on or heard a discussion around the Ariel track day cars, the host are very keen on the Ariel car.

Ariel is an old name in motorcycling. When they started in 1870 with bicycles they produced their first motorcycle in 1902. They held on until 1951 when BSA bought the brand which continued under BSA until 1967. Like Indian Motorcycles the Ariel name has come and gone a few time until it has reached the current car building company of today. The most famous of the Ariel motorcycles is their “Square 4”, one of which was recently restored on the History Channel’s American Restoration show.

But, until I ran across the fact that they are going to produce motorcycles, I had never connected that the Ariel car company was the namesake of the old Ariel motorcycle manufacturer. According to what I have read this new Ariel bike should pretty hot, it is using the Honda VFR1200 engine. It is not a great surprise because they use Honda engines in their cars as well. With the use of the VFR engine we should expect some nice number once the production machines come out in 2015.

Those production numbers for 2015 look a bit slim, based on reports. It appears that they will be only producing 100-150 bikes each year with prices starting at $36,000. If you want one of these new Ariel motorcycles you had better call them up and get on a list.

As far as appearance goes…. MEH…. Looks like another “naked” bike to me!

Motorcycle Ride: The Some Gave All Memorial Rally

Posted: May 19, 2014 in Motorcycle Rides, Rally
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The lead vehicle…no really!! A Marine LAV
Waiting for our turn to roll
Only the 3rd Indian I have seen out and about!
Kinda of like bed liner!
Da Bomb!
Smurf Radio
Papa Smurf
Best in Class – Pro Street
All the bike show winners
Best In Class
Me

We only found out about this motorcycle event a few weeks ago and it was a last minute decision to attend. I am glad we did decide to ride.

The Mission of the Some Gave All Foundation “ensures the memories of Sergeant Joshua J. Frazier and Sergeant Nicholas C. Mason are not forgotten through service to local wounded veterans and an annual motorcycle rally.” This ride/rally was the 8th event and according to speaker has raised over $168,000. Check out the website to learn more about this organization.

Debbie and I left the house at 7:30 for the two hour trip to ride’s start point. After a quick Mickey D’s and gas pit stop (insert joke her) we head south on Route 15. The ride there was very nice, with cool crisp air and limited traffic, if it were not for the fact that we hit 98% of available red lights it would have been an awesome morning scoot.

The ride begins at Spotsylvania High School (Spotsylvania, VA) and ends at a rally at King George High School (King George, VA). When we pulled in to the High Schools parking lot I was blown away by the number of motorcycles attending the ride! I was expecting, for no real reason, about 200-300 bikes, there was at least 1000+ bikes in the lot. In listening to some of the conversations of folks who have attended before I gathered the impression that this was the largest turn out to date.

As you will see in the pictures bikes of all types were in attendance. Harley Davidson, of course, had the most bikes in attendance but, I saw more Spyders and Boss Hoss bikes in this one location than I have ever seen outside a dealership. At one part of the parking area there were 12 Spyders in a row (I am sure Miss Muffet would have passed out from fear).

Even with such a large number of attendees the organizers had everything down, from my point of view the start point was well run and superbly organized! The actual ride to the rally started on time and the police had everything well managed, we had the road to ourselves with plenty of well-wishers waving from the sides of the road. But, as with all groups of this size, there was the expected “accordion affect” which may have caused an accident. We passed a point where EMTs were dealing with two bikes off the road and over a small embankment. I did not look (I am a safe rider you know ) but Debbie told me that there appeared to be little damage to the bikes but that someone was laying in the grass while the EMTs were looking them over.

We arrived at the end point about noon and it was as well organized as the start point. The bikes were all lined up in a manner that, when ever wanted to leave, there would be no issues about getting your bike out. For the rally part of the event there were a good number of vendors, the small business type, in attendance along with a sport bike stunt team (the 540 Boyz), a half dozen “moon bounce” type of things for the kids and a local bomb squad and their robots. The event was anchored by an area setup for a pretty good band (Bad Monkey) and a bike show.

Debbie and I decided to put our bike in the show and we won “Best In Class”, not too bad for a last minute decision. Right after the bike show awards we decided to head back home, we pulled into the garage at 5:30. We both agreed that this was a very nice event and there is a very good chance that we will do it again next year!

P.S. 251 miles round trip.

Servicing your Motorcycle: DIY or Dealership

Posted: April 10, 2014 in Motorcycle
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I see a lot of this type of question on many of the other blogs, websites and forms.  Most typically they start off congenial but spin down to the “the dealership sucks and charges too much” and “if you don’t do it yourself you are a wimp”.

My POV on this subject originates in 2000 at a Ford dealership in Fayetteville, NC.  I was there buying a new vehicle, the first Ford Sport Trac sold in Fayetteville, when I overheard a heated and loud argument at the service desk.

Ostensibly a man had, what he considered, warranty work performed on his transmission (it was older F250 with a couple 100K of what looked like hard miles).  As I was waiting for my vehicle to be taken off the truck (I said it was the first) I listened to the conversion between the service representative and the owner of the truck.  Just like all these type of conversations it started politely but got heated in a hurry.

The dealership wanted to charge him over $1500 dollars for the work while he insisted it should be covered by warranty.  What it boiled down to was that the dealership stated with that many miles the transmission should have been serviced, if I remember correctly, five times.  The owner was stating that it had been serviced, he did it himself.  She responded that for the warranty to be honored the service had to be performed by a “certified” mechanic, that they would not honor the warranty. 

Now I do not know how the situation was resolved, my brand new Sport Trac came off the truck and I was checking it out. But that argument left an imprint on me that have lasted to this day.  If my vehicles are under warranty the dealership gets all service work, with the occasional exception for the standard oil change (and I keep records of that).  I also attempt to be very prompt in getting the services performed at the appropriate mileage points, give or take a few thousand miles.

I do know how to do a lot of the work myself.  I can do a lot of the basic things (that do not require a computer and there is less and less of that every year) like all the fluid changes, spark plugs and wires, batteries, lights, etc.. I have worked with friends to change transmissions and I have helped work on the pumpkins of four wheel drives.  I even use to know how to use the tire changing machines and wheel balancers and I think I could figure out how to use the modern equipment to do that job too.

So where does that leave me?  I have the knowledge to do some of my own work, but I do not want to jeopardize my warranty just in case I have a major problem down the road.  All my vehicles get their service at the dealership at least through the end of the warranty, and I do typically get the extended warranty.  To some folks I will be a stupid wimp but I think I fit in there with the majority of the population. 

 

Why am I not into motorcycle racing?

Posted: March 26, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle news
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I like to listen to the DawgHouse 2 Wheel Radio show .  It is a motorcycle podcast which the hosts call “A completely irreverent, totally biased, intellectually challenged and scornful study of the twisted life of the motorcycling world & those who inhabit our planet, all wrapped up in a disturbing weekly show!” and I can’t completely disagree with that description to much  😉  The show use to be on Saturday mornings on a local Washington, DC radio station but was dropped when the station changed formats. It is now broadcast on the internet Tuesday nights.  I typically listen to the podcasts during my commute.morehead1

The last couple weeks they have been discussing and lamenting the fact that motorcycle racing does not have much of a following in the US. So after listening to those shows I sat back and thought about why I am not a follower of motorcycle racing. I do caveat the following this with the fact that I have watched some bike racing on TV, both road and super-cross.

While I am a lifelong rider I have never really followed the road racing scene (in fact I have only once attempted to attend a bike race at BSR/Summit Point but the $30 entrance fee was too much to watch just a small portion of the track). I do follow, loosely, NASCAR and I have even been to a couple races (in the 80s).

Long story short I came to the following conclusions (right or wrong just my thoughts):

1. I want to see more of the race. I can, for the most part, see the entire track at NASCAR and super cross, not so with road racing, car or bike. When I can’t see all the action I do not feel I am getting my money’s worth, I don’t really know what is going on, and unless I am near the start/finish line I have no idea who won. Motorcycle road racing on TV just is not as well coved as a NASCAR (which only has a couple of road races) or as well as the auto grand prix style races which also has attendance issues.

This maybe an American predilection for this type of racing.  Like our version of football and fondness of baseball, it is neither right nor wrong  it just is.  With the NASCAR tracks folks can see the action, depending on how thick the beer googles are!  And the same applies for our other major American sports, I can see the entire playing field from my seat. I can see the entire track at Supercross and when I see it on TV it looks better attended than any other version of motorcycle racing I have seen.

2. Harley is not road racing. Yeah, I know, but the fact is that the folks you want to watch are the folks who watch NASCAR and ride Harley. My two favorite manufactures are Harley and Honda (Royal Enfield is #3) but there is a large gap between #1 and the rest. So unless I am really enamored with a Honda sport bike (I am not) I have no emotional draw to the sport.

Without that emotional pull do I want to pay $30 dollars to see part of race then walk or ride around the track to see different parts of the action?   No not really.

tamagawa_nov6_49So what would get me into motorcycle racing? What could be done to fix this situation?

I only have one idea which might be used pull people into the sport.  First, it will not be road racing.  Second it will have to be a V-Twin bike. So what I am thinking is that we have a V-Twin series (NASCAR has car and truck) for those of us not into the sport bike world.

It would also have to be an oval (turn left) track.  The NASCAR super speedways would be too large for bikes like this but not the short tracks like Bristol could be a lot of fun.

Would Harley, Indian, Victory Star and others compete, would it be a privateer series? I do not know but I do know that I would be more interested in seeing a race of this nature then I would a normal superbike road race.

Combine a V-twin race to an oval and I start to think WOW! And when I think back to the old pictures of motorcycle racing in the early 1900’s I think of oval board tracks and large crowds. Would I go to the speedway during Daytona Bike Week to watch guys race Harley and Indians, yes I would!

Just saying…..

Motorcycle Product: Now have I seen everything?

Posted: March 10, 2014 in Motorcycle news
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from 2x2cycles.com

I can now say if I have not seen it all, I must be getting close.  These products are produced by 2×2 Cycles out of North Carolina.  Their motto of “Who says you can’t take it with you?” explains their reason for being.

They look safe and secure and if I could still golf I might consider this for my bike.  They make products for: Honda, BMW, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, Yamaha, Triumph, Aprilla and Ducati motorcycles.

Check out their website here!image from 2x2cycles.com

Pro Motorcycle Advocacy: End of motorcycle only checkpoints?

Posted: March 6, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, motorcycle safety
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photo from motorcycle.com

Good news but your support is needed to ensure success. 

Senators from New Hampshire, West Virginia and Wisconsin have put forward a bill to prohibit the federal government from funding motorcycle only checkpoints!  As it stands today the federal government provides a majority of states funds to setup motorcycle only “safety” checkpoints.

As an example Georgia received a $70,000 grant to hold two checkpoints on two major interstates highways that connected with Florida.  Does not sound like a big deal until you notice that the checkpoints coincided with the opening and closing of Daytona Bike Week!  Wonder how much money Georgia raised in fines and tickets?

So why is this a big deal?  From my POV I register by bike with my state annually, I have to pass an annual safety inspection both of which I have to pay money to the state just like cars.  But, unlike cars, I am possibly subject to additional investigation and inspection just because I ride a bike.  That is not right on many levels.

If you agree that this is an area in which the Federal Government need to stay out of contact your state’s Senators.  You can contact them by calling the capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.

For more information you can review the Motorcycle Rider Foundation press release here and a news article from the Washington Times here.

2014 Timonium Motorcycle Show

Posted: February 9, 2014 in Motorcycle, Rally
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tsThis past weekend I attended the Timonium Motorcycle Show.  This is one of it not the largest motorcycle event held in the mid-Atlantic region during the winter season.  This was the first time I have attended and not knowing if the crowd was good or not I asked a few of the vendors.  Almost all the vendors stated that it was average compared to the 2013 event. The show is split between two buildings, which is why I never felt that overly crowded but I did, occasionally, have to wait to get a picture.

The show is held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, which is about an hour from my home.  Traffic was light, by the Washington DC metro area standard, and I made it to and from the show with no issues.  Unfortunately, I dove the truck, the temperature was 24F when I left the house, which is not a great excuse for not riding but the best I have.

In addition to the bike show and standard vendors the sponsors brought in several celebrities including the International Bikini Team, Michele Smith, David Uhl and Paul Senior of OCC.  Mr. Uhl was a no show do to WP_20140208_10_53_11_Procanceled flight but the others were in attendance.  The line for the grip and great with Paul Sr was quite long and I just viewed from afar.

Michele, on the other hand was busy in her booth. She has quite the selection of female themed biker gear. Including the blinged out helmets in my pictures as well as a great variety of thongs.  Watching her handling the sheer thongs was….tantalizing!  LOL

The bike show itself was neat.  With over 40 classes there was something for everyone’s tastes.  I was very surprised by the way some of the folks laid out there display areas.  Turns out that there was also an award for best display and some entrants were going all out.

The show is a professionally judged event, not a peoples vote type of competition. The judging would not be completed until Sunday afternoon so I will have to wait to see who won from the website.  The biggest take away for me was that my customized Heritage would have a good chance at competing in the show, maybe next year.  And as for the display….anyone got a cheap camouflage net for sell?!?!

46,000 Motorcycles were stolen in 2012

Posted: December 16, 2013 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, motorcycle safety
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Undercover-Brazilian-police-shoots-armed-motorcycle-thief-GTA-style-VIDEO\

The National Insurance Crime Bureau reports, that in 2012, there was  a small drop in motorcycle thefts….only 46,000 bikes were stolen.

California, Florida and Texas led in thefts per state but New York City, Las Vegas and San Diego were the worst overall.  Honda was the most stolen bike followed by Suzuki.  So if you ride a Honda in New York City….lock it up!  😉

Another item of good news is that if your Honda in NYC is stolen the chance for recovery has increased.  In 2011 only 37% of stolen motorcycles were recovered, in 2012 that increased to 39%!  See the full article here

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