The IronWorks Blogger

BMW Lo-Rider Concept Bike

Snakebit Sam — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:33:06 +0000

It seems the folks at BMW have taken Dain Gingerelli’s idea of a “Bare Bones Bike” from the December issue of IronWorks magazine to heart. They have unveiled their Lo-Rider concept bike with the idea of selling the customer just a motorcycle. That way the customer can add whatever parts he wants to individualize his machine. The bike is designed to share common components with other BMW motorcycle models. The cruiser type looking Lo-Rider concept bike was introduced at the Milan, Italy show. There has been no word yet on whether or not the Lo-Rider project will go into production for sale to the public.

Didn’t this used to be the way it was before the marketing craze of “Factory Custom” motorcycles began? You’d buy a stock bike and then go through the parts catalog or fabricate your own parts, instead of getting a fully equipped ready-to-ride bike from the factory. Like the old saying goes, “If you wait long enough just about anything will come back into style”. You can check out this concept bike at YouTube if the shots here aren’t enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSNm0oqt0So

source: Motorcycle News, BMW

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2009 H.O.G. Dates

Snakebit Sam — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:30:19 +0000

The Haley Owners Group has announced that it’s 2009 National Rally will be held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma June 26 -27 2009. The H.O.G. membership will meet at the Oklahoma State Fair Park in Oklahoma City for rally activities. There will be 2 stages for musical performances, plus attendees will be able to take demo rides on the 2009 models plus watch motorcycle stunt and drill teams perform.

The 2009 American Muscle Tour will be held July 14 - 19th. The ride will wind from the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There is a 1000 participant capacity for this ride.

The 2009 Pony Express Ride will be leaving St. Joseph, Missouri on September 15th heading westward over the original Pony Exprees route. The ride will end September 24th in Sacramento, California. The capacity for this ride is 750.

For more information about these rides got to www.hog.com

resource: Harley-Davidson

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Zien Nearing Million Mile Mark

Snakebit Sam — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:00:42 +0000

Famous long distance rider Dave Zien continues to pound out the miles on his 1991 FXRT. Zien routinely racks up 1000 mile a day rides on his motorcycle like we do trips to the grocery store. So far Zien has put over 992,000 miles on the bike. When he was leaving the west coast heading back to Wisconsin he planned to put the bike in storage for the winter. Plans are to bring the bike back out in the spring and turn the 1,000,000 mile mark on the odometer at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

Besides being well known as a long distance rider, Zien also is known as an outspoken advocate for motorcycling causes, for being a free spirit and for a somewhat controversial tenure as a state senator in Wisconsin.

resource: Hupy and Abrahamn S.C.

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Nationwide Charity Poker Run?

Snakebit Sam — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:23:28 +0000

Okay people I’m looking for a lot of help on a project I’m starting. I’m planning a nationwide charity poker run. We’ll decide on a good day to have it, April 1st sounds good to me, and then we’ll have simultaneous rides across the country. Maybe at the end of each ride we’ll have a bake sale too because we need to raise all the cash we can. So what charity is this going to benefit you ask? Well that would be despondent financial CEOs of course. I mean one company CEO has agreed to live on a paltry $600,000 salary this year. He only made $68 million last year but now the government has to bail out his company. Some other execs in that company also made 8 figure salaries.

It looks like we might have to make this a yearly event because the big three American automakers are on Capitol Hill pleading poverty and looking for a hand out too. Can you imagine how much the top brass of those companies haul down a year? And don’t look now but oil is selling for less than $55 a barrel this morning and the price of gas is near $2 a gallon. So it won’t be long before Mobil/Exxon and the rest say, “Hey we’re not making as big of profits as we used to so we need some help too”, beyond the tax breaks they already get.

Maybe this is the reverse of “Trickle Down” economics, sort of trickle up. When are those high priced CEOs and their politicians buddies in our country going to realize that the foreign workers that get jobs when American companies outsource jobs overseas won’t be borrowing money from them to buy American products.

Anyway if you want to make a contribution send it made out to me and I’ll pass it along to my main financial advisor Boyer Udumm, just like the government.

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NHRA Championships

Snakebit Sam — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:42:35 +0000

Chris Rivas of the G2 Motorsports/Drag Specialties/S&S Cycle Team won his 4th race of the season at the season ending race at the Pomona, California track. Rivas and fellow independent rider Matt Smith placed their S&S powered bikes second and third in the season’s final standings.

Rivas won the race but Harley factory team rider Eddie Krawiec won the overall season championship on his Screamin’ Eagle/Vance and Hines machine. Krawiec became the second rider in the history of the class to win the championship without winning a finals race the entire season.

The 2009 race schedule will be posted soon at www.NHRA.com

resources: S&S Cycle, Harley-Davidson

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IMS Ladies Night Out

Snakebit Sam — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:39:55 +0000

The International Motorcycle Shows (IMS) is giving women discounts on admissions to their shows on Friday nights. Women get 50% off the regular price of admission by presenting a downloadable coupon at the box office when purchasing their event ticket. The coupon is not good for admission, you still have to buy the ticket. Don’t worry guys, this “Ladies Night Out” doesn’t mean ladies only. This discount should help entice more lady riders and women interested in motorcycling to attend the shows.

Ladies or you cheapo guys trying to save a couple bucks on your date, you can get your discount coupon by visiting Genevieve Schmitt’s site Women Riders Now and downloading it there. To check out WRN and get your discount coupon go to www.womenridersnow.com. To get a schedule of International Motorcycle Shows got to www.motorcyleshows.com

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New Web Motorcycle and Music Site

Snakebit Sam — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:18:52 +0000

It seems that the new generation of riders has discovered something that we old timers have known for a long time (the November 3rd IWBlogger post “Tuning The Bike“), that motorcycles and music go together like peanut butter and jelly. On December 5th a new web site will be launched combining today’s music and motorcycles. Rockmoto wants to introduce more young people into the joys of motorcycling the right way. The site will feature riding rock stars, information for new riders and the introduction of Rockmoto Radio through Pandora.

Pandora is one of the giants of internet radio and Rockmoto Radio will have two motorcyling inspired stations streaming through the Pandora player. The site will feature interactive music playlists, information about safety courses and personal stories and videos from the sites registered visitors. You can register for the site at www.rockmoto.com and find more information at www.myspace.com/rockmoto

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Biker Safety Signs

Snakebit Sam — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:30:57 +0000

An attorney in Wisconsin wants that state to require highway construction contractors to place warning signs for motorcyclists near their construction sites. These signs would be to inform the riders that there may be loose gravel on the road or uneven pavement due to roadway construction, both highly hazardous to riders. These would be in addition to the construction warning signs already mandated. Of course riders should slow down and use caution in any construction zone.

As of now the Federal highway Administration, which regulates the signage requirements, doesn’t mandate specific warning signs for motorcyclists. It is considering signs with the silhouette of a motorcycle and warnings for grooved pavement and open grate bridges. I would have liked to have more warning for the sign I saw going down a mountain in a New England state that said “Bikers Beware, Pavement Ends”. The pavement ended about ten feet past the sign.

resource: Pierce County Herald

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Sportster Financing Deal

Snakebit Sam — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:18:36 +0000

Have you always had that urge to own a Harley-Davidson but in these tough economic times you don’t think you could swing it? Well here’s a deal for you on some entry level Harleys. If you buy any previously untitled 2007, 08, 09 Sportster 883L, 1200XL or 2007 XL50 and finance it through Eaglemark Savings Bank (ESB) you can get a special rate. If you finance the bike over 72 months, you only pay $99 a month during the first 24 months. Payments do increase over the last 48 months.

This offer could let you get that Harley you’ve always dreamed of without breaking the budget. By the end of the first 24 months you should know whether you want to sell, trade up or keep the bike.

resource: Harley-Davidson

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More Safety Technology

Snakebit Sam — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:46:07 +0000

Recently the Nationwide Insurance Company saluted some developing technologies that might help make the highways safer for motorcyclists. One of two factors have been found to be the cause of most accidents between cars and motorcycles; lack of experience/training of motorcycle riders and awareness of car drivers about motorcycles. These are some new technologies that might make drivers more aware of motorcycles.

Blind Spot Warning Systems; this system triggers an alarm if a vehicle operator starts to make a turn while another vehicle is in the turning vehicle operators “blind spot”.

Lane Departure Warning System; an alarm is activated if a vehicle inadvertently starts to drift out of its lane due to an inattentive driver due to cell phone usage, reading the paper, tuning the radio, applying make-up, eating or rubber necking.

Forward Collision Warning System, this system monitors the distance between vehicles and activates a warning if the trailing vehicle is following another vehicle too closely hopefully preventing rear-end collisions.

Adaptive Headlight/Night Vision Systems, the use of infra-red headlamps or thermal imaging systems would give operators clearer recognition of objects at greater distances in front of the vehicle such as animals, people and motorcycles.

Hopefully these technologies can be further developed and adapted to a cost efficient state so that automakers will install them. But the HUMAN operator will always be the greatest factor whether an accident happens or not.

source: Motorcyle News

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