steveb says a long “hello” to the fans of IronWorks
15. Dec, 2009 
5 Comments
I have wanted to share some personal content with the fans of IronWorks for the past month. Finally, after a fine meal on a Saturday night, the moment has presented itself. Honestly, since jumping on board the IronWorks freight train as Editor-In-Chief, it’s been go-go-go and I really haven’t had the opportunity to take care of online business as much as I would have hoped.
But first, I want to clue everyone in to what is going on at IronWorks mission control.
The way we see it, Job #1, is to engage our readers, subscribers and fans in both Print and Online media… and to do that we need to produce unique and excellent content in both places. The web provides a great platform to share pictures, video, text, PDF files, downloads – all kinds of stuff, and broadcast it more frequently and in greater depth than we can in our precious print pages. Look at it this way, we publish a print magazine 9 times a year, but we publish online at IWBlogger multiple times a day. These two media work together to give you the whole IronWorks enchilada. Our hope is that if you are a web consumer and a fan of the IWBlogger, you go pick up the print magazine at the newsstand, or subscribe and that if you are a newsstand reader, you check out the IWBlogger site.
One of my personal goals is to work with Snakebit Sam and ratchet up the volume of our online presence, but do it in a manner that is true to the core of what IronWorks is about - a celebration of the VTwin culture, the machines we adore and of motorcycling. That’s the bar we have set, and it is a high one. 20 years of continuous publication is a testament to those enduring, heartfelt values and I don’t see that changing one little bit… if anything we want to dig in even deeper in those core areas and really find out what our shared passion has to offer us…. stories, experiences, laughs, shared good times and challenges. In a word, the kind of stories a rider can appreciate and truly understand. We will bring you not only great bikes to ogle and dream about (just like we do), but great stories to read too.
There are so many forums, boards, newsgroups and communities sprouting up on a daily basis, that unless IronWorks readers express the need for us to provide them, we will probably not put a lot of energy in that direction. If folks have feelings one way or another – let’s have at it. I’d really like to know how you feel and you can comment here or send me an email. Count on a response, if nothing else I am accessible and responsive.
So, you’ve seen I’ve been crowding and cluttering up the IWBlogger site with all sorts of images of the thing that is my nearest and dearest passion – the VTwin engine. To tell you the truth, I’d really rather be posting your pictures – so I will say it here folks – send on your digital images – use the Submit button and send them on. I promise we will look and make it a point to run them online if they are G-rated (please). Really, if you leave it to me, you will be looking at flywheels, pistons and all kinds of engine carnage, and what kind of fun would that be? C’mon, crack open the photo album and scan some oldies for us.
OK – if you’ve read this far – you deserve the payoff….here’s a personal story you won’t find in IronWorks Magazine.
Since 1991 or maybe even before, my very best and oldest friends, Pupkin & Freddy and I have made the annual pilgrimage to the Annual Toys for Tots Charity Bike Ride held in our hometown of Queens, NYC. Some years ago we bailed on the City and moved a bit North, so getting to town takes about an hour. The run was scheduled for the first weekend of December, and so some years the ride down to NYC was tough (read: cold, and i mean stupid cold). In the days before we were smart enough to ride baggers, wear electric gear and could appreciate the idea of windshields, there were years where I had so many layers on I couldn’t bend enough to get a leg over the back of my lowered FXR. I mean really, 30 degrees is just about manageable putting around town, but honk 50 miles on the highway in an hour and the smile has been wiped off your face, guaranteed – windchill takes on a whole new meaning at that point. I know you hard riders are here are with me on this…if you ride you’ve been there …in a word it is brutal. But there was no way we’d miss it, it is a tradition and dealing with it is the way we earn our bones.
Fast forward 15 years and for some reason the date of this ride changes to late October – moved from December. Hmmm, what is going on, who is messing with tradition? Then we thought on it and realized the brilliance of it – the weather is manageable in October. You see friends, all of the folks that had attended this event for all of these years were getting older and began bitching about the cold to the Organizers (who were themselves getting older too).
And so the date was moved – and now attending the Toys For Tots run is a really a pleasurable event. Everyone in my old hometown turns out and it is great fun if the weather is nice – and it was beautiful this year.
So take a spin with me and my two pals….Pupkin & Freddy while we ride down from Connecticut to Queens NYC , down I95, over the Throgs Neck Bridge and have the best Souvlaki NYC has to offer for lunch and then pick up our buddy Sure-low. Take a look, see some great NYC bikes and get a taste of what is happening in my little part of the big world.
Please – send in some News from your corner of the world!! IronWorks is your publication, lets see what you’ve got!
Steve,
It’s been a very long time (not since Bandit when he moved to Hot Bike for a short time,) that I’ve felt the presence of a “friend” sitting in the driver’s seat of a publication such as Iron Works.
Many times in publications, the Editor in Chief is some demigod…a guy who writes the editorial, but seldom responds to the public.
I like what you’ve done with the IW bloger. I’m anxious to see how you (Iron Works) grow through the use of on-line tools such as the blog. I think its forward and upward…print is not dead, it just needs a little help from all the available media sources to stay viable!
Your fresh blood and ideas were needed, and I’m glad your at the helm of this ship…I think Ms. Stemp made a great business decision when she brought you aboard.
SB,
What a classic fall day you had for your ride to the city! All that fun and you did some good for kids, too. Nice bike-to-bike shooting, too.
MS
PS: I am so jealous of your lunch stop. Trust me, it’s tough to find authentic souvlaki here in the south, especially outside of the one week in May of Greek festival.
Thanks for the kind words Chessie, mucho appreciated. I couldn’t imagine anything else i’d rather be doing, to tell the truth – and working with Marilyn is a treat (but don’t tell her i said that).
AFA food goes, that is one of the great things about being near NYC…the selection of food is great. I’ve gotten spoiled – for sure. Being someone who just simply doesn’t eat corporate fare, this is the place to be if you are a foodie, or a fan of good food.
I’ve travelled through so many towns in our great country, I cant count them, that have forsaken good local food for the Corporate Feeding Stations. I really can’t believe folks would rather eat soylent green than some fresh vittlings served up at a local diner or restaurant.
C’mon people – support your local eateries!
IronWorks is a good magazine. Glad to see it in the hands of someone who seems genuine. Anthony’s Pizzeria knows me by name. Not even sure I’ve been to a Pizza Hut or Domino’s.
Ant-knees Pizzeria? Hmm, sounds like the real deal to me and yep, you can count on me being genuine…being a faker takes ten times more work to pull off, and I am just not that “ambitious”……