Motorcycle enthusiasts will be saying goodbye to some long-time events this year and the future of some other big events is still hanging in the balance.

The end of an era

Last month American Honda announced that the 2008 Honda Hoot was the last one. This brings to a close 15 years of what has been arguably one of the most successful motorcycle rallies in history. Honda attributed the move to current economic conditions and said “based on the current economic crunch which may have significant impact on our customers during 2009, American Honda will take this time to seek out new and innovative ways to engage with our customers so that we can continue to ride together”.

Other events having difficulty or announcing cancellations include:

- Tampa Bay Motorcycle Rally. Earlier this year CC Productions issued a release stating that the event was “cancelled due to lack of community support”.

- Lone Star Rally. As of this writing, the organizers of Lone Star Rally in Galveston, Texas are still negotiating with Galveston officials. They have not been able to release even a tentative date for their rally and are threatening to leave if progress is not made.

- Concours d’Elegance. While taking a softer approach in breaking the bad news, the Legend of the Motorcycle has nevertheless cancelled the 2009 “Concours d’Elegance.” The Concours d’Elegance, which takes place the first weekend each May, will be not be held in 2009 but is scheduled to resume in 2010. The decision is attributed to “the effect the world economy has had on many sponsors”. Said co-founder Jared Zaugg: “We’d rather suspend the event than see it done halfway”. The good news is that plans are already underway for May 2010.

- Hollister Independence Day Rally. The event, which was tentatively scheduled for July 10-12, 2009, remains “officially” cancelled. This is the second time in three years city council members cancelled the Rally. The Horse Power Promotions website announcement states; “The city council has decided not to sanction the 2009 Hollister Motorcycle Rally. There will be no motorcycle activity in 2009.”

Lawmakers set their sights on bikers

Other potentially significant news for motorcyclists is pending legislation intended, in part, to limit motorcycle rallies. Back in September of 2008, the Myrtle Beach City Council passed 15 ordinances aimed at motorcycles and motorcycle events (See article). These ordinances include a curfew for underage individuals, administrative processes to address parking issues, new rules for checking into a hotel or motel, and a mandatory citywide helmet law. While these ordinances will not become law unless they are passed in a second reading, the potential is significant and Motorcycle Rally supporters have fired back with lawsuits (see article).

The communities and the many businesses that have relied on these events over the years will no doubt find they must reinvent themselves and will certainly face significant challenges ahead. Far away from these communities, some see the cancellation of these major events as a chance for other competing events to maintain their base or even provide a window of opportunity for smaller regional events to grow as a result. Others, still, view this as a sign of things to come and predict more events to pull back or cancel.

Manufacturers respond to the issues

The painful truth is that in addition to the current economic uncertainty, we are also seeing a convergence of issues, which have bubbled up to the surface at exactly the wrong time.

Issues and concerns such as “loud pipes”, “wheelies and stoppies” being performed on city streets, and resort communities being overwhelmed by non-stop summer-time motorcycling events have caused a backlash.

These seemingly unrelated concerns have created quite a complicated if not volatile situation for the motorcycling industry. Manufacturers, who absolutely recognize that motorcycling has always been based on freedom and the philosophy of “live and let live”, are being forced to divert resources. They find themselves in a position of having to take sides on the issues and to stave off criticism, they run campaigns on issues like “loud pipes” when they would rather be focusing on R&D, sales and marketing.

Motorcycling has been dealt somewhat of a cruel blow

Where high gas prices were recently driving up sales and expectations were high, we now see events being canceled and motorcycle sales plummeting due to economic conditions as well as communities actively pursuing new laws aimed squarely at motorcyclists.

Ultimately, just like riding the bikes they make, the motorcycling industry must keep going forward in order to keep its balance. This industry has seen its share of hard times and with the economy showing no signs of easing up any time soon certainly, more big changes are on the way. However, when the dust finally settles, though focused efforts and diligent planning, motorcycling and motorcycling events can no doubt emerge stronger and better.

Related Links:

Visit the Motorcycle Cruiser Links – 2009 Events Directory

Zumbro River

Reader submitted article

I wanna ride b…. – on the back!

My buddy was confused as I shouted my blasphemous confession over the bass duet of our v-twins. My quirky follow-up was the result of my nearly running off the pavement several times.

I stand 6’3” and weigh in at 250 pounds (without riding gear), so the vision my startling declaration conjured in his befuddled head must have defied all “man laws” not to mention the laws of physics. No matter, my mind is set.

We had just come off a spectacular newly discovered road feeling like the Europeans who “discovered” America, when in fact it was already someone else’s backyard. Nevertheless, we bikers gush when we unexpectedly stumble upon a road that’s new to us. Never mind that it’s already on a map.

Although this particular “secret” road was clearly labeled Minnesota Highway 60, I almost missed it. After crossing a major highway to make a u-turn back into the small Mississippi River town of Wabasha, Minnesota, I saw a road winding up through the bluffs. I made a mental note to check it out on a later run and turned into a gas station to refuel. My buddy, a more sociable type, learned from another motorcyclist that the road was in fact a phenomenal run.

Initial climb to scenic overlook

So we did another about face and joined up with Highway 60. It does a quick and twisted climb of 1,100 ft in just over a mile; quite a peppy start. Most bikers can’t help themselves and pull off the road at the top of the river bluffs.

The “Scenic Overlook” treats the stupefied biker to a 30 mile panorama of the grand Mississippi River, its yellow chalky bluffs, and the hilly shires of Wisconsin. The view is staggering for most Midwestern flatlanders, who are conditioned to a horizon so straight that it would make a master stone mason proud. I was surprised that my reaction was reminiscent of some I had while stumbling upon vistas in the Rocky Mountains.

Highway 60 then does a curlicue descent from the bluffs west and shoots along the backside of the river bluffs. This ancient lake bed is surrounded by what can only be described as stubby mountains; again, an astonishing view for flatlanders. There aren’t many straight sections of Highway 60 as it winds its way through the lime green fields of a series of scenic farming hamlets. It’s a good place to wear some rubber off the sides of your tires.

View from scenic overlook

County Road 81, a tributary of Highway 60, roughly parallels the shaded Zumbro River. This is my favorite kind of road; back-country, single-lane, multiple curvy-road signs, no-shoulder (nature severely encroaching over the edges of the pavement and barely held at bay by the periodic motorist). Stretches of the surrounding forest are so dense that a rider could imagine that they are motoring through the Black Forest. The Zumbro affected me like an old-timer who is in no hurry to get to his destination but wants to sit a spell to tell a story or two. It persuades the biker to slow the pace and abandon the temptation for a mach-speed blast through these potentially challenging twisties.

But … even my newly-adopted geriatric pace didn’t help me much. My eyes were constantly drawn to this unexpected garden of visual temptations like a sailor to the sirens’ song. Unfortunately, so was my %#$^@* bike! My riding buddy must have thought I’d developed a sudden case of ADD or a terminal set of cataracts the way I was almost sticking to the road.

Surely you sense my dilemma! I wanted to drink in the full scope of the scenery without wrapping myself or my motorcycle around a fence post, becoming a piece of mangled sculpture to serve as a warning to other hypnotized bikers. Potential solutions and their corollary embarrassments whizzed through my mind like miles on the road to Sturgis. Then it struck me like a bug between the eyes while riding at full throttle. I want to ride bitch!

Like my childhood days when I logged countless miles on the back of my dad’s bike, gawking at the scenery, I want to ride on the back again. Clearly, a special woman would be needed for this job! But who could handle this task?

After making this loony pitch to my buddy, and discussing potential candidates like Xena, the Princess Warrior, or a reincarnated Viking Valkyrie, we began to notice women on motorcycles who looked like they could handle my gravity and biker-norm defying experiment.

So my mind is set and I’ve decided to find applicants in the biker personal ads!

XLMB (Extra Large Male Biker) seeks XSFB (Extra Strong Female Biker) who will let him ride bitch. Enjoys watching scenery on long rides … and staying alive.

If you take my advice and ride Highway 60, you might see a big guy on the back of a bike in a happy trance with a mindless grin on his face. If you do, you know that my ad was answered!

——————————————————————————-

Author name withheld by request.

I am not getting divorced. I wasn’t 100 percent sure until yesterday. Prior to that, the closest I dared get to the house was a block.

All I said to my wife was, “I am going to buy a motorcycle.” We were in bed with the lights out when I said it. This actually worked to my advantage because her long-standing argument against me having a motorcycle is that I have the natural reflexes of paint.

But I sensed something there in the dark. I rolled to the right just as it struck the pillow where my head had been. It was her way of reminding me that we have a contract.

It’s actually more of a post-nuptial agreement. Shortly after we got married, some friends and I did something that landed me in the emergency room. My wife had to leave work to bring over some insurance papers.

Thirty stitches, five hours and a spectacular fight later we entered into an agreement whereby we each conceded certain behaviors in order for our marriage to continue. I have a copy right here.

My wife’s requirements take up most of the page. I won’t bore you with the details except to say that she missed her calling as a loan shark.

Among her demands are no more blowing up stuff, testing reloads in the house, jumping out of airplanes, pet snakes, drinking chip dip with a straw, road trips longer than four days, crossbows, spear guns, and – absolutely no motorcycles.

My entire list of demands reads, “Hunka-Hunka Burning Love.”

It seemed a fair bargain at the time. But then I was young and believed testosterone was an inexhaustible resource. And there’s my signature at the bottom of the page.

I love my wife and want her to be happy. I’m also smart enough to know that a big reason I have a marriage, a home, grandkids and all my arms and legs today is because of our post-nup agreement.

But last week I was with some friends who stopped at Timpanogos Harley Davidson in Lindon. While they were doing whatever, I threw my leg over a 2008 Nightster 1200N. I haven’t had a motorcycle since a 1971 accident on Wasatch Boulevard so spectacular that I still have leftover Sky Miles. Everything came back in a rush – the open road, freedom and the feeling of power under me.

Back home, I explained to my wife that I was still too young to be old. My head needed to go 90 mph again before I was ready for a walker. Ever the practical one, she said she could make my head do that with a baseball bat and save us $12,000.

“You’re expensive enough alive,” she said. “We can’t afford you dead. And I still like waking up next to you.”

Cool. If that isn’t hunka-hunka burning love, I don’t know what is.

Article Source: The Salt Lake Tribune – Salt Lake City, Utah
Email the author: Robert Kirby

By: Pete Crusoe

Think those rubber tires on your bike are going to protect you from a lightning strike? Better think again!

The common belief that motorcycle tires will keep you safe from lightning is just not true. This misconception isn’t confined to bikers. Automobile drivers often believe it’s their rubber tires protecting them from lightning strikes. In fact, automobile drivers are kept safe by the steel cage that encompasses them. The vehicle’s metal frame allows the lightning to find a path to ground around the car. Here’s the facts:

While rubber is a good insulator, there’s just not enough of it there to provide resistance to the voltage and current produced by lightning, which can exceed 300 million volts and 30,000 amps.

This is an incredible amount of current! To put this into perspective, the average household circuit breaker is 15 amps and less than 100 milliamps (1/10 amp) can push a human heart into fibrillation.

The incredible energy contained in lightning is equivalent to a 1-kiloton explosion. The damage created by the heat and energy contained is often substantial. In 2006, a Colorado motorcyclist was killed by lightning and the resulting strike left a crater in the asphalt about 18 inches long, eight inches wide, and four inches deep.

Still, the notion of being struck by lightning seems so remote that most motorcyclists don’t give it much thought unless the storm they are in produces lightning strikes that are close by. In fact, it’s not uncommon for lightning to strike 10 miles away, and sometimes up to 30 miles away from the electrical storm.

The odds of you being hit by lightning in your lifetime are better than you might think. According to new data, if you live to be 80 years old, your lifetime odds of being hit by lightning are 1 in 3000.

Above: Data from space-based optical sensors reveal the uneven distribution of worldwide lightning strikes. Units: flashes/km²/yr. Image credit: NSSTC Lightning Team.

Obviously, your individual odds will vary significantly depending on the area you live and level of risk you take. However, during any electrical storm, precautions must be taken or you will certainly increase your odds of being hit.

So, when storms pop up and the decision has to be made whether to trudge on or seek shelter keep the 30-30 rule in mind:

* If the time between lightning and thunder is 30 seconds or less, seek shelter.
* Wait at least 30 minutes after hearing the last thunder before leaving the shelter.

Of course, your best shelter is a hard covered and grounded structure and you should know by now that trees are a poor choice and, in fact, account for one in four lightning causalities. In addition, open fields are the number one risk an account for about ½ of the deaths caused by lightning.

No matter what – if you get caught outdoors during an electrical storm, and there is no shelter close by, you should follow these tips National Weather Service – Lightning Safety

Oh, and by the way – lightning can, and often does, strike the same place twice!

Want to see where lightning has struck during the last 2 hours? Visit Vaisala’s Lightning Map

Article Sources:

Lightning Facts From The National Weather Service (PDF)
National Lightning Safety Institute
NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory
ESD Journal