Jon Shipley’s “Whiskey Bent,” which sports a copper oil tank fed by some hilland-holler country copper tubing, an antique brass headlight and a wooden bar stool for a seat, took the FreeStyle Class Ultimate Builder winner prize.

“Whiskey Bent,” created by Hoosier Daddy Customs out of Louisville, KY, moves down the road courtesy of a 1000cc 1977 Ironhead V-Twin engine. With a jockey shifter and a wooden handle topped by a shot glass, “Whiskey Bent” is built around a custom frame and the swingarm was stretched to match the lines of the frame, all details which cap off the vintage look.

Shipley put it all together and his stylish effort earned him the three-grand top prize.

Now it’s off to Minneapolis as The Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Shows move north this weekend.

Think your bike has what it takes to compete with the masters of motorcycle customs? You’ve got time to enter your bike in the next round of the show, and you can do it by signing on at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show website here…

Photos by Sam Kanish of Iron Works

Tips for Buying Custom Motorcycle Insurance

Custom motorcycles require the correct insurance coverage package to protect what is, after all, a significant investment on your part .

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance for your custom bike…

Tips for buying motorcycle insurance for your custom:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.
• Additional coverage to replace or repair accessories specific to your bike.

Related posts:

1. Progressive International Motorcycle Shows Are Heading Your Way And Bringing the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show
2. The Teutels Vs Jesse James – Bike Builder Cultures Clash
3. Celebrity Chopper Builder Shows Have Officially Jumped the Shark

So how did Kawasaki, a little fish in the shark tank of motorcycle builders, carve out a respectable niche among those titans of industry?

Back in 1960, Kawasaki signed an agreement to take over Meguro motorcycles, at the time a major player in the burgeoning Japanese motorcycle manufacturing business. Meguro was one of the only Japanese companies making a 500cc motorcycle at that point, and in England and the UK, Meguro’s 500 (a direct knockoff of the BSA A7) was universally hammered for being a cheap copy of that classic British machine. It was, in fact, not a bad motorcycle and it was the genesis of the Kawasaki brand. A year later, Kawasaki had produced its first motorcycle, the B8 125cc two-stroke, and in the following year, the company rolled out a series of the two-stroke models ranging from 50-250cc. It was the 250cc disc-valve ‘Samurai’ model that first caught the eye of US buyers, and by 1966, Kawasaki  had developed the 650W1 which took its inspiration from the much-loved BSA A10.

So much for the history, but how did Kawasaki manage to remain competitive against larger rivals in the motorcycle game. The KZ 900 superbike kept them on the map, but according to one theory, though I’m more inclined to think it’s simply because they managed to build a better mousetrap, they did it with their social media prowess.

In this episode of Behind the Brand, Kawasaki’s chief marketing stud, Chris Brull, gives you some insight on how Kawasaki take on the challenge of getting the word out to customers.

According to Brull, his team uses social media to monitor their brand, the industry in general and to take the pulse of digital media and how it affects the business world overall.

Brull says Kawasaki uses social media to revitalize traditional marketing techniques like in-person product demos and they use mobile technology to be accessible to customers twenty-four-seven.

Related posts:

1. MRF Pushing Our Biker Agenda – The Latest In Motorcycle Legislation
2. Tim Rhotig Burns A Strip Down the Middle of the Nurburgring on a Kawasaki ZX-10R
3. Aussie Rules – Chris Hunter of BikeEXIF Video Interview

Starting out life as a humble and decidedly unattractive Honda GL1000, this machine is a testament to what an ingenious custom motorcycle builder can do with the most humble of raw materials.

El Vaquero keeps racking up the accolades, and this time around it took both the Retro Mod Class and People’s Choice award at the Cleveland Progressive International Motorcycle Show.

Honda sold an entire battalion of the venerable Honda GL1000′s, mostly to old guys who appreciated the homely machine for it’s tame, predictable handling and a motor which ran all day with a quiet, buttery smoothness on long hauls.

The one thing the Gold Wing never had was, well, any semblance of sex appeal or danger.

It does now, thanks to a handful of builders who’ve taken the old boy out for a makeover.

This version, the Blacksmith Motoring ‘El Vaquero,’ started out looking like this:

…and ended up, after the application of style, BS&T and some beautiful paint and metal work, like this:

Seeing something this magnificent made from one of the ugliest bikes ever to run down the road should give hope to every mullion on God’s Grey Earth that beauty really does reside within. The guys at Blacksmith even managed to make the World’s Most Ungainly Motorcycle Tank look fine.

Though if I have any beefs with this machine, and truth be told I have only one, it would be with the seat. A ride this slick deserves a little more glory applied to the place one drops one’s ass – particularly given the comfy-as-a-sofa legacy of the original donor bike.

Other than that, I think El Vaquero sets the standard by which all Gold Wing customs ought to be judged going forward…

Blacksmith Motoring
Round Lake, IL
Phone: (888)740-2077 ext. 12
By Appointment Only
sales@blacksmithmotoring.com

Leatherwork Service
Phone: 888.740.2077 ext. 11
leatherwork@blacksmithmotoring.com

Blacksmith Motoring NV
Minden, NV
Phone: (888) 740.2077
Mon-Friday 8:30am to 5:30pm
info@blacksmithmotoring.com

Related posts:

1. Riding Ten Up On A Custom Harley To Sturgis
2. Two Wrenches Of Cool – The Wooler Flat Four
3. What Money And Carbon Fiber Can Do The Mansory Zapico Custom Motorcycle

Al Crocker built such machines.

The Legendary Crocker Motorcycle was the king of the road.

A Crocker was built with a heavy duty cycle  – and maximum performance – in mind. Each bike, like a Hong Kong suit, was custom-tailored to the individual rider’s specs and built entirely in Al Crocker’s own facility. Riders could choose color, the level of chrome trim attached, and had a choice of which gear ratio and displacement setup would work best for his or her needs.

Al Crocker founded Crocker Motorcycles in 1936 after spending more than 20 years honing his skills engineering and designing bikes for Indian. Crocker and his former foreman at Indian, Paul Bigsby knew from their experience in the industry that they had the know-how to compete in the market.

And they had something more important than experience. They had a vision of what a motorcycle should be…

Starting with hand-wrought speedway race bikes, Crocker and company gutted the competition of the day by setting new high-water marks for performance and quality. That new standard outpaced the efforts of  Harley-Davidson, Indian and damn near everyone else a long stretch of  years. Crocker was the standard by which motorcycles would be judged until 1942 when the company folded in the face of material shortages brought on by the war and an attendant economic slowdown.

But for their efforts (and only around 100 bikes came out of the factory in the company’s heyday) the Crocker’s that did exit the factory floor are now among the rarest and most coveted motorcycles on the planet.

During a MidAmerica Auctions motorcycle sale back in 2007, a 1941 Crocker big tank brought $230,000 and in 2006 a 1931 Crocker 61 sold for $236,500. A 1937 Crocker “Hemi-head” V-Twin sold for $276,500 and a 1939 Crocker 61 cubic-inch side valve model brought $200,000 during roughly that same time period.

So what made Crocker motorcycles such an object of desire among motorcycle aficionados?

A Crocker transmission was built to handle the massive amounts of torque his unique proprietary engine design could crank out, and a meticulously engineered three speed transmission moved the bike to unheard of speeds. Crocker was confident enough in his engineering prowess and manufacturing skills that he offered to refund the entire purchase price to any buyer who was beaten by a rider on a factory stock Harley or Indian, and he never had to make good on that promise.

A Crocker would do zero to sixty – in first gear – and in times that left the competition in its wake. The stock hemi-head bikes cranked out 60hp and were capable of a top speed of 110 mph, and no other machine on the market at the time came close to that kind of performance.

Utilizing a  3.25″ bore and 3.625 stroke, the 61 cubic inch Crocker engines looked like a beautiful cube. The cylinders were set 45 degrees apart and the compression ratio was 7:1 on most machines (and 11:1 certain custom bikes), and Crocker’s were designed to be customized. Massive cylinder walls 3/8-inch thick were made to be over-bored and some customizers managed to create Crockers boasting 90 cu. in. of pure, unadulterated horsepower unparalleled for the times.

Crocker Motorcycles has, in a sense, reemerged in back 1997 and began by producing parts for one an American restorer. The re-invented company officially incorporated Crocker Motorcycle Company in January 1999 and has been producing reproduction bikes. They’ve also, back in 2007, created a modern homage to founder Al Crocker, the C4 Concept.

Designer Daryl R. Tearne came up with the fourth model in the history of the Crocker marque (following the Speedway, the Small Tank and the last of the original breed, the Big Tank) and says the C4 was an attempt to build a modern Crocker the way Al Crocker would have done it today. Tearne says using Penske suspension, this new Crocker will make the company -like its forefather – capable of offering a custom fit for any customer. A single-sided rear swing arm, alloy accents taken from the Big and Small Tank originals and other touches complete the picture for the built-to-order offering by this latest incarnation from the Crocker Motorcycle Company.

Related posts:

1. Du Pont Family Motorcycle Collection Being Offered at Auction
2. How Can A Small Motorcycle Company Crack the US Market? Make Bigger Engines
3. Triumph Motorcycles Bucking the Downward Trend In Big Bike Sales

And for a motorcyclist, speed, the alluring curvature of a winding road, a killer bike, and some choice leather are likely more important than all the money in the world. For those with the fire of the road within them, taking a long lusted after road trip brings about a certain, specific liberation and the wind in their hair.

Whether you’ve surrendered your life to the call of the pavement, or you’re just a newbie trying to be a badass, these 10 road trips will help you decide where to grip the road on those ever-enticing steel-cut death machines.

1. Rocky Ramblers Ride
   Best for novice riders, or for those in pursuit of an unparalleled view, Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is the true highlight of this road trip. Begin your journey in Estes Park, Colorado. Stop for breakfast in Steamboat Springs, and make your way through Durango and Aspen, soaking in the beauty of a mountain pass. If you’re there for more than the mountains, be sure to take in some of the local culture in Denver, one of the cooler (and colder!) cities in America.
2. Rocky Ramblers Ride Redux
   If you have a penchant for cold weather and wide open spaces, try the Rocky Ride Redux. This road trip builds on the previous, but extends through the Northwestern United States and into Canada, and then on to Alaska. Although you’ll probably be freezing this spring, you’ll experience the engrossing solitude of riding through primarily undeveloped areas, as well as some travel outside of the lower 48. Be honest: you know you’re planning to spook some professional sled dogs while popping a wheelie on a glacier. Better hurry before they melt! Just make sure that when in Alaska, you avoid the Bridge to Nowhere. You might find yourself in Narnia or something — and they don’t have the right gas stations.
3. The Motorcycle Diaries
   Here’s how this one works: Buy a beret that’s too small for your head to be considered in any way French. Start in Buenos Aires. Spout Marxist revolutionary epithets. Take a friend. Write a book. Change the world. Become a hipster T-shirt icon of the future.
4. Dessert Sessions
   Avoid the summer’s Burning Man crowd, and speed your Bonneville elsewhere than Black Rock City in the spring. While flowers are budding everywhere else in the U.S., find yourself in the desert of the American West. New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada all have great expanses for avid bikers, and the heart of the motorcyclist’s spirit rests in the playa dust. A great road trip for the beatnik biker, have your own Fear and Loathing moment when you pack up a saddlebag full of your drugs of choice (legal ones, of course). Make sure to bring a journal, so you seem a teensy bit more legit.
5. Davvero, Ducati?
   Challenge yourself to new heights! Well, maybe not heights, but you will have to deal with a different language, crazy road signs, and an unfamiliar set of laws. For a medium difficulty road trip, hop on a Ducati and bid Italy a bawdy buongiorno. Whether a speed demon or a languid traveler, Italy has it all. For a weekend (or longer) stop-off, enjoy the astounding arts scene in Florence. Tour through the rest of Tuscany in the spring for the beginning of the sunflower season. Ride in Lake Como (a little-known stop for avid motorcyclists) and elect to skip Rome. Because all roads lead to there, it’s a bit difficult to ride on ‘em.
6. Botswana by BMW
   A great place to take a BMW bike, start out your African tour in Botswana. Africa has long been a haven for bikers on a pilgrimage, wanting to see big game and big sights. You won’t want to miss Victoria Falls (best accessed on the Zimbabwe side), one of the seven wonders of the world and arguably the most beautiful place on the planet. Try a tour along the entire South Coast of Africa, and be sure to log some time in Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Zambia — all historically life-changing destinations for big, bad bikers.
7. The Lewis and Clark
   It’s totally possible to recreate the Lewis and Clark Expedition in its entirety. And it’s even cooler to do it with motorcycles instead of coon-skin caps and a secret order from Thomas Jefferson to explore the American West. (OK, maybe not.) More for the history buff than the buff biker, this is a great road trip for either a beginning motorcyclist or beginning professor.
8. Moto Guzzi Euro Sex Tour 5000
   If you’re a true bike fan, you love the Italian cafe cycles. The Moto Guzzi is first of these in design, handling, and structural efficiency. When taking a road trip on this little number, you’ll definitely want to dress really metro and enjoy some spring fever in Europe. Your best bet here is a tour through anywhere in Western Europe, as long as it involves some little cities and a lot of romance.
9. Royal Enfield Asia
   You’ve got to be careful about motorcycle laws in China, India, Bhutan, and Nepal — but if you do your homework, you’ll be in for the time of your life. The best bike to ride around these countries is the Royal Enfield Classic, and, while tours are fairly common, you’d be better off learning how to get along and navigate these countries on your own. Not only will you have a sweet bike to glide through exotic and beautiful places both urban and rural, but you’re also in for the treat of your life when mingling with the amazing locals and learning to gratefully (and gracefully) inhale other cultures.
10. The Lizard of Oz
    It’s a land of barbecues, bushpeople, and bikers. A favorite destination of traveling Westerners, Australia and New Zealand are also a magnet for the advanced motorcyclist. Kilometers upon kilometers of sharp turns and motorcycle-specific warnings, there’s nothing more dangerous and electrifying than the thought of a few days in the outback, then a relaxed few days on the coast. Where else can you see whales while you wheel? With a genuinely sweet populace, and an even sweeter pub scene, there’s really no place like Oz.

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1. Music for Motorcycle Road Trips – The MP3 Player Edition
2. The Top Fifteen Motorcycle Riding Trips in the USA – And Our List of Hidden Gems
3. Women Hit the Road In the Harley-Davidson My Time To Ride Video Series

While I don’t have a problem with folks riding a stock machine, there’s just something about seeing a bike someone has lovingly mangled and managed with their own two hands that pulls me in to the story line.

It’s one thing to see that kind of stuff happening in the home of the custom motorcycle culture – the Good Ole US of A – it’s another entirely to read about someone who’s done the custom deed to their bike in a society where such “antisocial” activity is a little more rare.

Case in point, this machine, The Firestarter from “Mountain Ram” in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

When Ram sent me the photos of what was once a bone-stock Harley XL883 Sporty, I was digging it, but when I looked at the background of the photos, I saw something I found more interesting – some native plants and architecture that didn’t look California, Texas or Florida to me.

And I was right on that score, so I asked a few questions to get to the heart of the matter.

First, I wanted to know if there were more in “production,” and the answer was “there are no more like it on the lift, because there was never a lift to begin with. This is a humble ‘garden garage’ build just at the entrance of our building.”

And Ram offered some other details about his build as well.
“‘Firestarter’ is my first custom project, based on a brand new 2008 HD Sportster XL883R,” he wrote. “I – along with my brother – make up a visionary joint more than a full-fledged garage and workshop. The way it all started was through an article featured in another custom-enthusiast magazine (Hot Bike) on a $1,000 budget built custom. Visions in my mind toggled back and forth between bobber, chopper, or cafe racer. This ‘virtual’ designing and scheming in my mind took quite a while, before it finally reached the vision of the finished bike. That vision kept flashing back in my mind, until it was anchored there; unchanged, unaltered. That’s when I knew that this is the design I was set on, and that I had to start implementing it.”

So there you have it. Why build a custom bike? Because if you have the Jones, there’s no other option.

What got Ram going on the idea of a custom bike build? The same set of parameters that got most of us hooked.

“I was infatuated with the hot rod and rat rod cultures, and wanted (this bike) to be the opposite of everything the Nightster was,” he said. “If the latter had dragbars and was slammed down low front and rear, I wanted the R to have a taller front end with high apes. The Nightster was clean and refined, and I wanted the Firestarter to be ratty, raw, and unfinished. Rock’n'Roll played an important part in influencing – let’s say – the attitude of the bike. To me, nothing spelled in-your-face rebel recklessness more than The Prodigy’s Firestarter song. Frontman Keith Flint’s punky attitude in that video was what I wanted my ride to be.”

So there you have it, the classic formula. Outlaw feel, rock and roll attitude; something bordering on pure anarchy in the UAR.

So how did Ram select the details which went into creating his vision of a Sporty where the factory look was left far, far behind?

“I refused the fairing made specifically for the Sportster and some Dyna models offered by Harley Davidson, and I was obstinate in wanting a Nightrod fairing, due to its slimmer, more streamlined profile,” Ram says. “For the paint scheme, I wanted a scheme that came from Black Label Society guitarist and vocalist Zakk Wylde’s infamous guitar with the swirl, so that’s where I went with the colors.”

Some of the other selections, like customizing a dropdown bracket to lower the ChopperShox mini shocks and seatpan about 1″, fabricating a bracket to hold the Nightrod’s headlight fairing; chopping, modifying, reshaping and louvering the rear fender and cranking out a custom made sissy bar which completes the chunky look, were pure Ram. Some bits, like a No School Choppers 40X taillight, required custom modification to fit properly without hitting the Biltwell 10″ rigid struts, ignition hop-ups, one-off custom modified mufflers and a custom Chopper Dave x66 air cleaner and SE neck assembly put the icing on the cake.

The shifting is handled jockey-style using a pistol grip Hurst and a LaBriola foot clutch. Does it get any hot rodder than that?

So what’s up next to take a slot on the lawn in front of Ram’s house in Jeddah?

“A cafe racer project is simmering in my mind; the final installment to my Sportster trilogy, and then maybe I move to what will probably be my first ground-up build, hopefully to be entered in the AMD custom bike world championship of…. 2015, to be realistic,” he said.

Related posts:

1. Riding Ten Up On A Custom Harley To Sturgis
2. Winners of the 2011 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building
3. What Money And Carbon Fiber Can Do The Mansory Zapico Custom Motorcycle

Well, we are, and we’ve gone and done the deed. The winner of the Free Motorcycle Cover Contest is…drumroll please, Doctor:

Nick Barrett!

And there it was, something for nothing, my friends. My lovely wife selected the winner via her own secret methodology (which, without giving away all the secrets, involved her finger and a  hastily-fashioned blindfold).

So Nick, enjoy the cover…and do the right thing and send us a photo of your bike under the cover once it’s delivered.

So even though you didn’t win, you might want to go to our Facebook page, our Twitter thingy (@ToddHalterman) and give us a little likey-or-RT-love. I mean, after all, it’s surely not our last awesome giveaway and you might prevail in the next contest.

So why did we do this thing we do? Because if you dig motorcycles, we dig you…

Related posts:

1. Weather Suck In Your Neck of the Woods? Win A Free Cover for Your Motorcycle
2. Motorcycle Haiku Contest Entries and Winner
3. Rider Magazine Motorcycle Haiku Poetry Contest – Get Your Basho On

1. Brothers on wheels, Rumble Fish (1983)

   Based on the novel by S.E. Hinton, Francis Ford Coppola’s black-and-white film Rumble Fish stars a young Matt Dillon as gang leader Rusty James and an almost unrecognizable Mickey Rourke as his older, smarter, and weirder brother, The Motorcycle Boy. The motorcycle is a recurring symbol throughout the film, signifying violence, temporality, and transcendence. When, close to the tragic conclusion of the film, The Motorcycle Boy takes Rusty for an impromptu ride on a stolen bike through the dark, quiet streets of Tulsa, their mode of transportation solidifies their bond as blood brothers. Drummer Stewart Copelandof the rock band The Police composed the score.

2. Brando’s gang arrives, The Wild One (1953)

   This film may seem dated and kind of tame, but Marlon Brando’s iconic performance as biker Johnny Strabler defined the visual image of the ’50s-era rebel, influencing fellow actor James Dean and even Elvis Presley in his look for the movie Jailhouse Rock. At the start of the film Brando, riding 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T, leads the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club into a small town to check out their motorcycle competition. Soon, all hell breaks loose. When someone asks the leather-jacketed Strabler what he’s rebelling against, he coolly responds, “Whad’ya got?”

3. Bike crash, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

   Like The Wild One, this too is the story of a rebel and his bike. The rebel in this case is a man-child named Pee-Wee Herman, played by comedian Paul Reubens. While on a road trip to recover his beloved stolen bicycle, Pee-Wee wanders into a biker bar — the private club for a gang called The Satan’s Helpers — and, after inadvertently knocking over all of the gangs’ motorcycles, saves his butt by dancing on the bar to the song “Tequila”. The bikers give Pee-Wee a motorcycle which he promptly crashes into a billboard.

4. “Born to be Wild,” Easy Rider (1969)

   The quintessential ’60s road movie. The film begins with Peter Fonda, dressed in stars and stripes, and Dennis Hopper, dressed in Native American fringe, hitting the road on two loud-as-hell choppers to find America. Both bikes were designed and built specifically for the film by chopper builders Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy, following ideas of Peter Fonda. Steppenwolf’s snarling, heavy metal anthem “Born to be Wild” is the soundtrack for this opening scene, and it will forever rock.

5. Che’s life-changing journey, The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

   January 4, 1952, a young medical student named Ernesto Guevara de la Serna hopped on a beat-up motorcycle with his buddy Alberto Granada and began an eight-month road trip through South America. This humble and unreliable mode of transportation brings Guevara, played in the film by Gael García Bernal, in close contact with poverty and suffering throughout a country he had yet to discover.

6. Steve McQueen motorcycle jump, The Great Escape (1963)

   Steve McQueen’s character in the World War II prisoner-of-war drama The Great Escape spends most of the film causing headaches for and attempting to escape from his captors. In the final climatic break-out, McQueen nearly rides a motorcycle to freedom. The final pat he gives to the wrecked bike while hopelessly tangled in barbed wire is one of those gestures that made McQueen a star.

   

7. Every single scene in which Marianne Faithfull rides a motorcycle, The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)

   “It’s only people who allow themselves to be treated as machines!” In this psychedelic French flick, Marianne Faithfull’s character leaves her newlywed husband, takes off on a Harley-Davidson dressed only in a leather jumpsuit, and goes on a reckless trip in search of love. The movie’s poster image of that suit’s half undone zipper may have inspired Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying. In 1968, with the women’s liberation movement just beginning to gather its momentum, Faithfull’s performance shows that there was definitely something in the air.

8. Jimmy’s cliffside ride, Quadrophenia (1979)

   This powerful film is loosely based on The Who’s classic rock opera Quadrophenia. Phil Daniels plays Jimmy, a teenaged Mod experiencing a serious personality crisis while gangs of Mods and Rockers mindlessly beat each other senseless on the beaches of Brighton. Fancy, Italian-made scooters are all the rage among Jimmy’s Mod brethren, and in the final stages of an emotional breakdown, Jimmy rides a particularly fancy one along the cliffs of Beachy Head. The clue as to whether or not he has sailed over the cliff with the scooter appears in the very beginning of the film, when we see Jimmy at sunset, turning and walking away from the edge of the very same cliff.

9. Buster Keaton’s motorcycle ride, Sherlock Jr. (1924)

   Okay, so there are a few camera tricks here and there, but for most of this crazy montage, it’s just Buster Keaton riding, block after block, street after street, on the front handle bars of a policeman’s motorcycle with nobody in the driver’s seat. Keaton’s stunts prove that today’s CGI is for sissies. The final crash through the wall of the hideout probably put Keaton in the hospital. That said, it’s still incredibly funny. The soundtrack you hear in this clip is a new one created by The Clubfoot Orchestra.

10. Zed’s dead, baby!, Pulp Fiction (1994)

    “It’s not a motorcycle, baby. It’s a chopper.” There’s nothing more stressful, after you’ve just escaped the dungeon of two sadists and narrowly avoided getting killed by the local crime boss, than trying to hurry up your wife so you both don’t miss a train. It’s enough to tear a couple apart and tears are inevitable. But a gentle word with a big hug goes a long way when two people love each other. Having a tricked out chopper ready to go doesn’t hurt either. No doubt these two will make that train. But what will they do with the chopper?

Related posts:

1. The Good,the Bad and the Ugly: The Best and Worst Motorcyle Moments from Film and Television
2. Rossi, Spies, Hayden and More Star in FASTEST Motorcycle Racing Documentary Movie
3. You Can Buy the Steve McQueen Great Escape Bike And Help Out A Charity

Brutus Electric Motorcycle

Well, as long as we’re on the subject of electrics, here’s a new one from Brutus Electric Motorcycles. This one has a lot less of the enviro-geek look we see too much of and instead appears to be a massaged and somewhat portly Ducati Monster.

Read more…

The Kneeslider

Light and Elemental Zaeta

One of the most exciting limited production bikes is the Zaeta 530 DT from Italy. So far, it’s been confined to the dirt track—but it will soon be available in road-legal scrambler and café racer configurations. Powered by a DOHC single built by TM, the Zaeta is nimble and fast, weighing around 250lbs…
Read more…

Bike EXIF

Verona Motorcycle Show A Monster Hit

The Italy Verona’s Motor Bike Expo (January 20-22) is always showcasing a very large contingent of some of the best custom motorcycles in the world. Usually, brand new creations coming from all over Europe and the rest of the world that later you will be able to admire in other US bike shows and print magazines. But this year, in terms of attendance  by the public (120,000 visitors during the weekend) and participation of builders (50 builders received awards), the Expo was even bigger…
Read more…

Cyril Huze Post

Italian Biker Hero Takes Charge

Nice to know, when motorcyclists tend to be stereotyped as trouble-causers by the ‘popular’ press that the tables have been officially turned.

Italy’s new hero, said by some to be the savior of Italian National pride, rides a motorbike.

Coastguard Gregorio de Falco shot to fame last Friday when he ordered the captain of the stricken liner Costa Concordia to get back on board to oversee evacuation rather than escaping in a lifeboat…

Read more…

Visor Down

Motorcycle Daredevils of India

Stunning images from their annual event. These army motorcycle stuntmen sure put up an interesting parade…
Read more…

Photo by Associated Press

Bikes in the Fast Lane

Buying Your First Bike? The Women’s Guide to Motorcycle Insurance

Whether you ride a sport bike or an American cruiser, your insurance needs can get complicated.

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance, whatever you ride…

Tips for buying your motorcycle insurance, coverage you need:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.

Related posts:

1. Monday Motorcycle Chain Links – Our Favorite Motorcycle Stories From Around the Internet
2. Friday Motorcycle Chain Links – The Best of the Motorcycling Internet
3. The 2011 Year End Motorcycle Chain Links – Happy New Year Bikers

Now, I know a few guys who have the skills and the experience to take one look at a bike part and tell you, not only what it came off of, but what year it fits. My father in law is that guy, and he and other guys, like Jim Wolf at Allbrands Cycles here in Muskegon, have my complete admiration and I sure like to lean on what they know.

But if I’m going to do it myself (and even if I completely screw things up, I like to do things myself), I head straight for the manual and get the lay of the land before I start hacking on something.

So where do you go when you need to get your hands on a roadmap to guide you through the intricacies of your bike?

You check out a volume from the Motorcycle Library at Alexandria, Clymer Manuals.

Their YouTube channel is a killer, and if you broke it – or it was broken by that ubiquitous jackass, the Previous Owner – James Grooms and his team can find you the book to make things right again if you’re willing to get your hands dirty.

And by the way, thanks James, for finding that manual for my 1999 Kawasaki Vulcan Drifter. That’s my daily rider and it just wouldn’t do for me to mess it up and not have it ready for spring riding season.

If you ride them right, insure them right

As for insurance for your collectible motorcycle? You should be able to get Agreed Value coverage on a classic 1959 BSA Gold Star Catalina valued at $15,000 for somewhere around $25 a month, and that gives you the whole shootin’ match package of coverage.

You can spend a lot less, but if you plan to ride the bikes in your collection, the above pricing is a reasonable approximation of what you can expect to pay.

Bear in mind that some companies don’t provide storage insurance, but they will knock down the annual premium to compete with companies that do offer storage…

Related posts:

1. Digging This Board Track Racing Homage
2. Video of A Very Young John Travolta Pimping Honda Motorcycles
3. The Genial-Lucifer – Bike Find of the Day

January 22, 2012.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Muskegon Motorcycle Club is one of  the oldest continuously operating clubs in the United States, and every year they sponsor a hillclimb event which has gained national renown. The first event, held at Mt. Garfield way back in 1921, drew only a handful of participants and spectators, but by 1951, thanks to local legend Dan Raymond (Muskegon Motorcycle Club founder and president) the event went over the top in more ways than one.

At that event Pete Uebelacker, a vet of National Championship Hill Climbs at Mt. Garfield, took the National Championship. Riding out of Rochester, N.Y., the 39-year-old Uebelacker edged out the field to take the championship trophy.

The hillclimb event ultimately grew to the point where crowds reached an estimated 30,000 spectators during the Golden Era of hillclimbing back in the 1950′s and early 1960′s but was nearly derailed when outlaw biker gangs from Chicago and Milwaukee stormed the area back in 1966. Since then, the National Championship has alternated between Muskegon and York, Pa. and is set to return to Muskegon in 2012.

Since those early days, the MMC has branched out to sponsor a full list of motorcycle events throughout the course of the year, and the lineup now includes a number of ice races.

If you’ve never been to an ice race, you owe yourself the pleasure. It might be cold, but it’s one way to keep the bikes from gathering dust during the long cold winter up north…

Muskegon Motorcycle Club 2012 Event Schedule

• JAN 22 DIRT CC ICE SCRAMBLE – JIM ENGLUND
• JAN 29 DIRT CC ICE FUN DAY – NO PTS
• FEB 19 DIRT CC SNOW SCRAMBLE
• APR 29 DIRT CC MX
• MAY 6 ROAD OPEN SPRING RUN – CARL MURAT
• MAY 12 DIRT CC POKER RUN – JERRYME ENGLUND
• MAY 20 ROAD CC BLESSING OF BIKES – RANDY BUTER
• JUN 2 ROAD CC MYSTERY MILEAGE
• JUN 22 DIRT OPEN DIRT DRAGS
• JUN 23 DIRT OPEN FIELD MEET
• JUN 23 DIRT OPEN NIGHT HILL CLIMB – JERRYME ENGLUND
• JUN 24 DIRT OPEN HILL CLIMB
• JUL 13 DIRT OPEN DIRT DRAGS
• JUL 14 DIRT OPEN TT
• JUL 14 DIRT OPEN DIRT DRAGS
• JUL 15 DIRT OPEN HILL CLIMB
• JUL 20-22 ALL OPEN BIKE TIME BOOTH
• JUL 20-22 ROAD CC BRIDGE RUN-DOUG INGERSOLL
• AUG 5 DIRT OPEN PRO HILL CLIMB-BRIAN DOANE
• AUG 12 DIRT CC MT G. HILL CLIMB & CLOSING
• AUG 18 DIRT CC TT
• AUG 19 DIRT CC DIRT DRAGS
• AUG 25 ROAD CC HOBO RUN
• SEP 14 DIRT OPEN DIRT DRAGS
• SEP 15 DIRT OPEN HILL CLIMB
• SEP 15 DIRT OPEN DIRT DRAGS
• SEP 16 DIRT OPEN STATE CHAMP HILL CLIMB
• SEP 22 DIRT CC HARE ’N’ HOUND
• OCT 6 ROAD CC COLOR TOUR-NO PTS-RICK PERREAULT
• OCT 6 DIRT CC FIELD MEET – JERRYME ENGLUND
• OCT 7 DIRT CC TRIALS
• OCT 18 OPEN EVENTS MEETING
• OCT 25 CLUB ELECTIONS
• NOV 3 WORKERS PARTY & AWARDS BNQT
• NOV 8 CLUB EVENTS AND RULES MEETING

Whether you ride a sport bike or an American cruiser, your insurance needs can get complicated.

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance, whatever you ride…

Tips for buying your motorcycle insurance, coverage you need:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.

Related posts:

1. Antique Motorcycle Racing Video
2. When Board Track Racers Were the Kings of Hollywood – Motorcycle Racing Video
3. Skinny Tires and Whackin Cool Handlebars – Japanese Motorcycle Racing Video

Riders will climb the highest mountain, ride across the top of a stadium, make bone-jarring jumps over impossibly long gaps, rip across the desert with nary a soul within a hundred miles of them and take their sport bikes out on the public roads at blinding speeds.

It takes guts and skill and the intestinal fortitude to try something that’s right on the edge of your capabilities. You have to know your machine, and to know your machine is to know your self.

Taking outrageous risks on the back of a two-wheeled machine just seems to be part of the pact you sign when you buy your first bike, and it stays with you until the time you come to the end your last ride. It’s surely about adrenaline and the feeling you get when you’re fully aware that this life we live is finite. There are precious few times you feel that more comprehensively than those you spend on the back of a motorcycle.

From the quest to conquer the Dakar Rally to the rush of track day on the back of your FZR, the need for speed knows no bounds, and with the advent of small digital video cameras, we all share the thrills with anyone willing to take a couple of minutes to watch as the drama unfolds.

So why am I going on about all this? Well, today, it’s because I took the time to watch this awesome little GoPro gem of a rider tearing along a snowy hogsback at the top of what can only be described as a mountain ridge.

Buying Your First Bike? The Guide to Motorcycle Insurance

You’re going to take it to the limit when you head out to ride. Across deserts, up the sides of mountains and down the highway to feel the thrill of the open road as it stretches out in front of you. When you do, you need to make sure that both you and your machine are covered by the right insurance protection.
We’re here to help you that correct motorcycle insurance package, whatever, and however, you ride…

Tips for buying your motorcycle insurance, coverage you need:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.
• Towing / Pickup

Related posts:

1. Ridiculous Motorcycle Mountain Stunt Riding – Video
2. Knowledge Is Power – It Will Get Increasingly More Dangerous to Ride Your Bike So Know the Score
3. The Trailer Queen Question – Ride It, Or Tow It And Then Ride It

Okay, six years old might be a little young to be riding a motorcycle, even by our rather liberal standards, but what if that little shaver was riding a toy motorcycle – and crashed into a parked SUV?

That’s a touch over the top, and maybe it is sometimes too early to start learning to ride.

Authorities in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez are keeping an eye out for miniature ruffians in training and to that end, ticketed a 6-year-old boy for reckless driving, driving without a license and not having his toy motorcycle registered.

Karla Noriega, the tiny hellion’s mother, said police took the additional step of impounded the baby-sized motorcycle that her son received as a Christmas after he “went over the high side” and ran into an SUV at a park a couple of days after Christmas.

Noriega took her case to the media when she learned that authorities were planning to charge her what she said was a “ridiculous” $183 in fines to get the tiny motorcycle back for her son.

Did that work?

You bet it did. It seems the pen is mightier than the sword and the Powers That Be dropped the fines and released the motorcycle to her son, Gael, after local newspapers published her story and applied some pressure.

Buying Your First Bike? The Guide to Motorcycle Insurance

Whether you ride a sport bike or an American cruiser, your insurance needs can get complicated.
We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance, whatever you ride…

Tips for buying your motorcycle insurance, coverage you need:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.

Related posts:

1. Please Explain To Me How This Guy Walks Away From A Head On Motorcycle Crash
2. Why You Need More Than Just Basic Motorcycle Insurance Coverage
3. Knowledge Is Power – It Will Get Increasingly More Dangerous to Ride Your Bike So Know the Score

Back in the days before the American motorcycle industry was on its way out, Honda also pulled in Steve McQueen to make a pitch for them as well…

Insuring your collectible or vintage motorcycle

As for insurance for your collectible motorcycle? You should be able to get Agreed Value coverage on a classic 1959 BSA Gold Star Catalina valued at $15,000 for somewhere around $25 a month, and that gives you the whole shooting match of coverage.

You can spend a lot less, but if you plan to ride the bikes in your collection, the above pricing is a reasonable approximation of what you can expect to pay.

Related posts:

1. Triumph Motorcycles Bucking the Downward Trend In Big Bike Sales
2. From The Ad Game To Motorcycles and Lamps – Classified Moto
3. Aussie Rules – Chris Hunter of BikeEXIF Video Interview

If you’re into auctions, and strange but excellent motorcycles, then this might just be the ticket.

Mid America Auctions is offered a 1948 Lincoln Zephyr-driven V12 custom motorcycle, one of two made by Olson’s V8 in Illinois.

Featuring a flathead motor derived from the classic Ford Flathead V8 – only with the addition of four extra cylinders – Dale Olson created this monster bike.

Probably a little problematic in a lot of ways and surely boasting the turning radius of a cruise ship, it’s still cool as an exercise in what a man can do if he has a dream and a lot of time on his hands.

It may not be the most practical motorcycle in the world, but man, that engine would make all the issues seem trivial once you got it out on the road and heard the sound.

Buying Your First Bike? The Guide to Motorcycle Insurance

Whether you ride a sport bike or an American cruiser, your insurance needs can get complicated.
We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance, whatever you ride…

Tips for buying your motorcycle insurance, coverage you need:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.

Related posts:

1. Win Your Dream Motorcycle Fabrication Shop From Lincoln
2. Ladies Doin It For Themselves – Standing Up A Heavy Motorcycle
3. A Quarter Million Plus Seems Like A Lot Of Money For A Bike to Haul Firewood