Words to Speed

I'm tired of spining my wheels
I need to find a place where my heart can go and heal
I need to get there pretty quick
Hey mister what you got there out on that lot
You can sell me in a pinch
Baby maybe one of them souped up muscle cars
Kind of makes you think you are stronger than you are
Color don't matter, no I don't need leather seats
All that really concerns me is speed

How fast will it go
Can it get me over her quickly
She rode to 60
Then I'll run those memories
Yeah, what I really need is an open road
And a whole lot of speed

I'd like to trade in this old truck
Cause it makes me think of her and then just slows me up
See its' the first place we made love
Where we used to sit and talk
On the tailgate all night long, but now she's gone
And I need to move on.

So give me speed
How fast will it go
Can it get me over her quickly
She rode to 60
Then I'll run her memories
Yeah what I really need is an open road
And a whole lot of speed

Throw me those keys so I can put some miles between us
Tear off that rear view mirror
There is nothing left to see
Let me lean on that gas
It will get me there fast

So give me speed
How fast will it go
Can it get me over her quickly
She rode to 60
Then I'll run her memories
Yeah what I really need is an open road
And a whole lot of speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt9LlxPYdg0...feature=related
.
Speed by Montgomery Gentry

Hint: Its a country song.

From a friend who is convinced that I'm losing my mind after reading this thread and knowing my fondness for country music:

As promised, this is my formal response to your notion of getting involved with the "motorcycle world". NOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAY, NO HOW, NO CHANCE under any circumstances whatsoever are you to learn how to ride, visit any Harley dealerships, or even casually browse the "motorcycles for sale" ads in the Washington Post or any other publication that would promote the sale of said vehicles. That includes dirtbikes and mopeds. JUST SAY NO to all of it and let all of these thoughts exit the portal of your brain from whence they originated. I trust that I have made my point.
PS I forgot one more thing. You may not rent "Easy Rider" until all of these thoughts have passed.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/caple/020809.html

Getting an eyeful in biker heaven

Getting an eyeful in biker heaven
By Jim Caple
Page 2 columnist


Miles: 189 (Sturgis to Murdo); total miles: 1,423; moving violations: 0; hours driving: 3; hours of sleep: 4; women spotted wearing chaps and thongs: two dozen; Most impressive tattoo: Woman with the Twin Towers in flame across her entire back, with an eagle shedding a tear and the words, "9-11: Never Forget"; Diet Pepsi: 5 units; Buffalo Ka-Bobs: 2 units at Tatanka Express; "Grapes of Wrath'' cassettes: 1 (the Joads reach California, but Grandma dies crossing the desert; miles to go: 1,800 (approximate) ...

STURGIS, S.D. -- I was in the Broken Spoke Saloon writing down an observation in my notebook when a buxom blonde woman wearing a zebra-print thong bikini sat down next to me and slapped a wad of money on the table.

"I just made almost enough money to pay for a new Dyno on my motorcycle," Sally Middleton said. "My girlfriend and I were dancing on top of bars downtown. We've never done that before but I thought, 'What the hell, why not?' I danced 10 minutes and made $80."

Eighty dollars in 10 minutes? That's almost $500 an hour. Obviously, Scott Boras is representing the wrong people.

"Yeah, $80 in 10 minutes," Middleton said, sorting out the ones and fives. "I think that's the s---. Don't you think that's the s---?"


Women in zebra-striped bikinis are commonplace on the streets of Sturgis.
After I agreed that, Yes, that is the s---, Middleton informed me that she is a chemist for a power plant in Topeka, Kan., swore again that she and her friend, Brenda Page, had never ever danced on a bar before nor dressed this way in public and insisted that I follow her outside to look at the motorcycle she built in her garage.

The next thing I knew, I was leaving a bar with two women who were wearing thong bikinis. Let me assure you, this was a career first.

Sure enough, her motorcycle was impressive -- a glimmering, powerful beast with a license plate that read 2QK4U and a tail light in the shape of a skull.

I complimented Middleton on her work and said the skull was an especially nice touch. "I think so, too," she said, walking away. "And when it goes on, it looks like flames are shooting out of his mouth."

Like I said, nothing like this has ever happened to me before, but then again, I had never been to the Black Hills Motorcycle Rally before, either.


Around a half-million bikers will roll into Sturgis this week for the Black Hills Rally.
Now in its 62nd year, Sturgis is the most famous motorcycle rally in the country, with this little town of around 5,500 being host to upward of 500,000 bikers over the course of nine days each August. All event publicists are notorious for inflating attendance figures, but I don't doubt the accuracy of the 500,000 estimate, because every single one of them was revving his or her engine outside my hotel window this morning!

In fact, I can still hear several, which is truly remarkable considering that I left Sturgis several hours ago and am writing this from my motel room in Murdo, which is 170 miles and another time zone to the east. All remaining interviews on my 17-day drive across Interstate 90 no doubt will be limited to me asking questions and shouting, "what!?!?" to the answers.

But I'm not complaining. Driving 1,000 miles to the world's most famous motorcycle rally and complaining about the noise is like flying to Paris and complaining that the people speak French.

How big is the Sturgis rally? I can write down 500,000 bikers, but I cannot begin to adequately describe how truly immense this rally is. The Buffalo Chip campground has an estimated 25,000 bikers staying there and is so big that it has its own Taco Bell, A&W and Subway shops, plus a concert stage (Blues Traveler played Thursday night). And that's just one of several surrounding campgrounds overrun by bikers.

All the motels within 70 miles are full as well -- I paid $295 to stay at the Sturgis Best Western, yes the Best Western! -- and local residents not only rent out their homes for as much as $5,000-$6,000, they rent out their lawns for tent sites at up to $30 a space. There are so many motorcycles -- almost all Harleys -- parked one next to each other on Main Street that someone erected a temporary tower so people can fit the entire scene into the camera frame. It costs $5 to go up the tower, and there was a steady stream of bikers with cameras climbing up the stairs when I walked past.

People literally come from around the globe to attend the rally. The rally headquarters has a map of the world with pushpins signifying where all the registered bikers are from. I noticed a man listed Kansk, Siberia, as his hometown, which seemed like a very impressive distance -- imagine, all the way from Siberia! -- but then I saw that someone had pushed a pin into October Revolution Island, which not only is 3,000 miles north of Kansk but 400 miles north of the Russian mainland as well.

And all the bikers -- and I mean all -- wear leather and tattoos (there are more tattoos than at the NBA draft). Just in case the bikers run out, the streets are lined with tattoo parlors and stores selling everything from leather chaps to leather underwear. It's like the Castro District on Gay Pride Day, only with more spit tobacco ads. "A lot of cows died for the cause," said Tyson Higgenbotham, a publisher from Columbus, Ohio.

This is a point that does not elude PETA's Lisa Franzetta, who walked around downtown in a most sensual faux leather halter top and bottom to draw attention to the assortment of simulated leather gear available. She is a very attractive woman with a great figure, and if she wasn't winning converts to her cause, she was at least getting a lot of people to momentarily consider her point of view.


The Sturgis rally is a true slice of Americana.
Unfortunately, not many bikers shared Franzetta's figure but nonetheless aren't shy about showing what they have anyway. Not to say there are a lot of sagging breasts here, but looking at some of these bikers must be like seeing Phil Mickelson in leather and chaps.

How big is the Sturgis rally? Consider the Full Throttle saloon, billed as the world's largest biker bar, and truly the place to go if you think the waitresses at Hooters dress a little too conservatively.

The Full Throttle is a couple of miles out of town, and you know the final scene of "Field of Dreams," when there is a seemingly endless string of headlights approaching the baseball diamond? That's what the road to Full Throttle is like. The bar is so big and so popular that traffic backs up bumper to bumper two miles to its entrance. The dirt parking lot is sufficiently large enough for a football stadium, and when I finally drove in, there were men with little bulldozers clearing mud to make more room for parking.

In other words, it's a big place. Picture the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville, Fla. Then picture all the fans wearing leather instead of Gators shirts. Then put all those fans on the field with a concert stage and full-service bars and women dancing in bikinis and chaps on top of them. (And gosh, one of those women looked an awful lot like Middleton, our chemist from Topeka.)

That doesn't adequately describe the Full Throttle, but it's a start. I mean, there are booths selling knives and actual animal skins (where was PETA's Lisa Franzetta, anyway?).

And the really amazing thing is it's a temporary structure. A crew comes in a couple of weeks before the rally and sets it up, then tears it down the day after the rally ends.


The main street in Sturgis is dominated by an event that lasts for one week a year.
Back downtown, Sturgis has an almost state fair feel to it. There are concession stands selling roasted corn and buffalo burgers (a Sioux organization runs the latter), vendors hawking their wares and various people pushing their causes. There is even a carnival show called the Wall of Death. This is a 16-foot high, 30-foot diameter wood-planked barrel -- or motor drome -- in which motorcyclists ride around on the vertical walls, held up by nothing more than centrifugal force and guts. It's quite a sight. Racing at speeds up to 45 mph, they zoom up and down the walls, first singly and then two riders at the same time.

I was a little skeptical when I bought my ticket, but by the time Sunny Pelaquin slowly edged up to fellow cyclist Jay Lightnin, touched him on the shoulder and then sped past him while both continued driving horizontally on a vertical wall, I became convinced that there could be no wilder or more dangerous act that anyone could perform on a motorcycle.

"They used to put lions in the dromes, and the lions would chase the motorcycles," Pelaquin said.

It's true. Her father performed in such an act, and she has photos of the lion drome to prove it on her website, wallofdeathonline.com. She runs the site to preserve the history of motor dromes, which have all but disappeared from this country. Pelaquin says only three remain in the United States, and two of them are in Sturgis this week.

We live in a sad world when Kevin Costner can receive $10 million for making "Dragonfly,'' but there isn't room on the entertainment menu for an act with lions chasing motorcycles as they drive around on a wall.


Hey, check out the background: A few folks in Sturgis are actually driving cars.
"My father was a diabetic, and he got very sick a couple years ago," Pelaquin said. "He told me the saddest thing in the world for him was the thought that there wouldn't be any more motor dromes to see. I told him that as long as I'm alive, there will be."

How big is the Sturgis rally? "It has grown at least 10 times since I came the first time, which was 1983 or 1984," said Tom Tinker, a retired sheriff from Springfield, Ohio. "It's getting too big, really."

A teenager working the pump at the gas station said Sturgis residents are about split on the rally. They love the money it brings into the area -- an attractive waitress at the Full Throttle saloon can make $1,000 a night in tips -- but by midweek they hate the bikers and wish they would just go home.

The vendors pose another problem. They make so much money during the rally that several wound up buying many of the downtown businesses just to have the storefronts available for this one week. That leaves residents with a downtown that is barren the entire year except for one week, when it is devoted to leather, alcohol and tattoos, and is too crowded to enjoy anyway.

Eventually though, the rally ends and everyone goes home. Within two days, the town looks as if it was hit by a tornado, with street after street littered with the sort of garbage and rotting food seldom seen outside the back seat of my rental car.

(Note to self: Be sure to drive around with the window down for awhile this morning.)

How big is the Sturgis rally? To gain a better idea of the rally's immensity, I took a walk through Buffalo Chip, which is out past the Full Throttle next to a frontage road.


Make sure to remember where you parked your bike.
The camp goes on for acre after acre, with tents and RVs filling every bit of available land. I walked up to one group of bikers who were grilling sausage and enjoying the stars filling the South Dakota sky.

The group eyed me a bit suspiciously when I introduced myself and one of them, Tony Masal, asked me for my credentials. It seemed a little weird but was perfectly reasonable after they told me about the people in the RV one site over. Those people initially claimed they were from CNN, but as it turned out are instead with a website for swingers. That they weren't with CNN became very clear two nights ago when they put on a rather adventurous sex show with several dozen men watching through the windshield. (I'm sure if it was Aaron Brown in the RV, he would have at least lowered the shade.)

And to think I was disappointed when I was too late for Evel Knievel week in Butte, Mont.

Buffalo Chip has a reputation for that sort of thing. It holds a Miss Buffalo Chip contest every night, which is essentially a topless beauty pageant. And occasionally bottomless, too. During a drenching rain Wednesday night, the contest broke up into smaller groups and one woman wound up dancing naked on a bar top. Her boyfriend/husband saw her and angrily dragged her away as she struggled to put her pants back on and muttered something about how, "It's only this one week a year."

I laughed when I heard the guys at Buffalo Chip tell the story, but then I thought about the conversation I had with Pearl Gulbranson, who was working at the Crisis Intervention Center for domestic abuse, which is located in a house across the street from the Broken Spoke. Gather 500,000 people in one spot, feed them a lot of alcohol and there are bound to be some serious problems.

"We average three or four 'contacts' a night," Gulbranson said. "And a lot of women get abandoned here. They get left behind with no way of getting home. So we're here to help."

That's an important thing to bring up, but I guess it isn't a very nice way to end this story.


Bikers flock to the rally from all points of the globe.
And so, I think it's probably time to make a confession. I've never driven a motorcycle. I've only ridden as a passenger on the back once, and that was when there was absolutely no other way for me to get where I needed to go. You see, former Minnesota Viking Karl Kassulke was one of my favorite players when I was a kid, and when he was paralyzed from the neck down in a terrible motorcycle accident, I lost all desire to ever ride one. And I never have.

When I reluctantly admitted this to bikers, they shook their heads in disbelief. Clearly, I'm missing something.

"It's the freedom that I love," Tinker said. "Not here, where it's too crowded, but when you can really get out there on the road and ride. It's just you and the bike and the road. Wherever you go, you're a part of the environment. You're not sitting in an air-conditioned car. You feel the weather. You can feel the temperature change. And if it rains, you get wet. But you dry off as quick as you got wet."

There are other huge motorcycle rallies -- Daytona, Fla., holds two of them -- but what makes Sturgis special, bikers told me, is Sturgis itself and the land surrounding it. "In Daytona, you're in a big city with a lot of cars and there isn't much to see," said John Graham, a ship captain. "Yeah, there's the ocean in Daytona, but I like it here a lot better. You can get out and ride, and it's beautiful. The scenery is the big thing for me."

"It's like that saying, 'If I have to explain it to you, you won't understand,' " said Masal, a lawyer from Mobile, Ala. "That sounds trite, but it's true."

I know it is. Despite having never driven a motorcycle, I understand. The appeal of Sturgis is the appeal of our country itself -- open roads, loud engines, rock music, good food, the frontier, the Black Hills, sex and even capitalism. (I mean, c'mon -- $295 for a Best Western?)

It's like what Diego Sandoval told me. He lives in Costa Rica, where he owns a motorcycle shop. This is his first visit to Sturgis, and he says he'll be back. And next time, he wants to build a motorcycle so he, too, can drive these roads.

"In my country, the roads are too narrow," he said. "Here, it is a great place to ride. Everything is so wide and open."

How big is the Sturgis rally? As big as the country itself.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at cuffscaple@hotmail.com.
ESPN.com: Help | Media Kit | Report a Bug | Contact Us | Tools | Jobs at ESPN.com | Supplier Information | Copyright ©2005 ESPN Internet Ventures. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information/Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to this site.

http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/

67th Annual Sturgis Motorcyle rally
Sturgis Motorcyle Rally Official Website

The 67th Anniversary Sturgis Rally 2007. Schedules, Lodging ... Sturgis Rally 2007, Lodging Information, OnLine Shopping, Official T-Shirts and more. 40000+ pictures from past Rallies.
www.sturgis.com/

Cycle Connections - Online Motorcycle Magazine Take a sneak peek at this year's collection of Sturgis 2006 biker photos, and make sure to check ... 8/1/2004 - 1st Annual Bikers Ball – Pre-Sturgis Party ...
cycleconnections.com/articledetail.asp?TypeID=2&ID=1165 - 94k

Sturgis, USA: Bikers' raunchy rally is closer to the mainstream ... Sturgis, USA: Bikers' raunchy rally is closer to the mainstream than you think ... On the surface, this rude and raucous biker subculture looks as ...
seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/83476_focus25.shtml

http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_gui..._bike_rally.php

Mecca of Motorcyling: Sturgis Bike Rally

http://www.heritagemotorcyclerally.com/

2007 Heritage Motorcycle Rally!!

Welcome to the newest , most organized, and most comprehensive Motorcycle Rally in America.

We Had Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd Last year...

Who's coming this year?

Is it... Alan Jackson?

Is it... The Allman Brothers?

Is it... 38 Special?

Are we bringing Lynyrd Skynyrd back?

Don't know do you?

Check back and See!

Why come to Bike Week Charleston?

Awesome Bands and Music
"wildest bike show in the south"
Great Motorcycle Riding
Beaufort to the South
The National Forest and Myrtle Beach to the North
And all of Charleston's Heritage and History for you to explore.
Death Defying Stunts


Copyright 2005 : Heritage Motorcycle Rally : All Rights Reserved.

For a listing of Rallies, Meets, Rides, and Calandar of Events:


http://www.google.com/Top/Recreation/Motor.../United_States/

United States
Recreation > Motorcycles > Events > Calendars > United States

http://www.dansimmons.com/news/biker.htm

DAN PETERSON'S BIKERS' GUIDE
TO LESS TRAVELED ROADS


WINTER RIDE '06—For all of you who are pacing the floor in anticipation of a new "tip sheet", all I can say is that there will be a year's delay in that I'm recovering from a failed attempt at a winter ride that would have taken me (us) through Death Valley, south-southeast Arizona, part of New Mexico and Nevada. The trip was cut short on the second day into Death Valley when, while avoiding several coyotes, a major collision occurred sending me to several trauma centers and finally surgery. This ended my winter sojourn. However, I did return with a few tips: always wear a helmet and take along a first aid kit.

What follows cannot even be called a "tip sheet" in that it is devoid of tips. Perhaps a "route sheet" would be more appropriate. The following trip cannot be as detailed in terms of mileage, rest stops, taverns etc. as the fall (Canada) trip because it will be drawn entirely from memory and a few notes. Hopefully it will be useful in some way for those looking for a spring adventure via motorcycle.

SPRING RIDE '06—DAY 1
Spearfish SD to Walden, CO

Begin, as usual, from the center of the universe (Spearfish and the Black Hills, S.D.) traveling through Spearfish Canyon on Highway 14, then highway 85 to Newcastle. Continue on #85 south through Lusk Wy., Lingle (there is a good Mexican restaurant just outside Lingle), and finally Cheyenne. Turn west on Interstate 80 just outside of Cheyenne and ride to Laramie. It will be tempting to stop at Laramie for the evening in that you have ridden about 300 miles by then but overcome the temptation and take Highway 230 south out of Laramie headed toward Chowdrey. The highway then turns into Highway 127 and the small berg of Walden, Colorado. This is your destination—Walden. You will want to stay at the Moose Creek Cookhouse and Saloon on Main Street. The Cookhouse also has a newly renovated hotel to one side and above the saloon. To call for reservations dial 970-723-8272.

NEWS
Dan's Bikers' Guide

Previous Bikers' Guides




Dan Simmons Introduces Dan Peterson

Dan Peterson has been a close friend since we met in the long, hot summer of 1977 while traveling and studying in India together on a weird group Fulbright Fellowship trip for educators. It was Dan Peterson I talked into going with me when I wanted to explore the dark back alleys of Calcutta, peer into the Monkey Temple, or swim – fully clothed – between masses of sharks in the Bay of Bengal.
In the decades since we – and our families – became friends, Dan and I have gone on other odd trips together, usually to places our families didn’t want to risk. When I needed to go research Bangkok and its AIDS-infected sex industry in 1992 for a story I wanted to write for PLAYBOY (“Dying in Bangkok”), it was Dan Peterson who suggested we spend weeks wandering all around Japan and Hong Kong on the way there. It was also Dan P. who said “Let’s go for it” when we flew into Bangkok on the last plane allowed in during a shooting revolution. If a place has beer, Dan Peterson will go to it. (And we were only a little non-plussed when we were greeted at the Bangkok airport by our driver from the Oriental Hotel carrying a sign saying – MR. AND MRS. DAN.)

In real life, Peterson was – until 2005 when he retired – a PhD (“Dr. Dan” I like to call him) professor of sociology (and head of the Department) at Black Hills State in Spearfish, South Dakota. In decades of traveling there to hang out with Dan, I’ve discovered that Spearfish – and the nearby Black Hills – are some of the Best Least Known Wonderful Places in America. It’s also near Sturgis, S.D., which every summer – as most of you know – becomes the site for the largest motorcycle (read Harley, read Hawg) rally in the world. Peterson first started studying the biker subculture as a sociologist – producing learned papers and videos on the subject – but very quickly he went over to the Dark Side (as in dark beer). He bought his first motorcyle around age 50, before he knew how to ride one, and his ride home from the store, so local legend in Spearfish goes, was a case of . . . BRRRMMMM . . .FLOP . . .. BRRMMM . . . FLOP . . . . BRMMM FLOP. Now his bikes have grown into Harleys too heavy to lift if he flops.

The retired Dr. Dan Peterson now spends a good part of each year motorcycle-touring America and Canada. His trips are rarely without adventure. In these installments, he’ll share some of his tour tips with those of you who might want to ride hard, see much, eat well, drink deep, sleep cheap, and die young. (Scratch that last part.)

You may wonder why all such tours have to start from Spearfish, South Dakota, but – besides that being the place Peterson lives and has to start from (duh) – he reminds us that the great Sioux prophet and visionary, Black Elk, discovered that Harney Peak, very close to Spearfish, happens to be the center of the universe.

Some of you may also be wondering what a sociologist’s Harley tours are doing on a writer’s web site. To those of you, I say only . . . BRRRMMMM . . . FLOP . . . BRRMMM . .FLOP.
-- Dan Simmons






DAY 2
Walden to Moab

From Walden ride Highway 14 until you reach Highway 40 and go west to Steamboat Springs. Continue on highway 40 through Craig and on to Dinosaur. At Dinosaur turn south on to Highway 64 and then Highway 139 south. You should get on Interstate 70 east somewhere around Loma (Highway 6). It is but a short ride on the interstate (about 30 miles) when you will turn off on exit 212 and Cisco. Highway 128 to Moab will prove to be a memorable ride through a beautiful river valley. There is also a beautiful lodge by the river, about half way to Moab that you might consider for your evening's stop. If you travel on to Moab you will find a number of reasonable motels. Keep your eyes open for a restaurant on a hill (left side of road going into Moab) and try to eat there for dinner. You'll love the place but don't drink too much—the road down can be a little tricky.




DAY 3
Moab to Mexican Hat

Take Highway 191 south out of Moab. You will travel through Monticello and Blanding. A few miles south of Blanding to turn west on Highway 95 and then eventually south again on Highway 261. This will take you into Mexican Hat. I would recommend staying at the San Juan Inn and I would recommend reservations. Their telephone number is 970-749-1164. A double at the Inn will cost you $70.00. They also feature a good restaurant and it is minutes from the Valley of the Gods and some of the most memorable scenery you will experience. You can easily spend the rest of the day touring the area and if photography is your hobby, this will prove to be a bonanza.



DAY 4
Mexican Hat to The Grand Canyon

Today's destination is the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Leave Mexican Hat on Highway 163 to Kayenta and Tuba City. From Tuba City you will shortly run into Highway 89 north. Take it to Jacob Lake. From Jacob Lake you will ride south again on Highway 67 to the Lodge on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The view from the north rim alone is worth the trip. Hopefully you got reservations nine or more months in advance of your trip and booked a rim view western cabin (cost $125.00). You can call for reservations at 928-638-2611 or email them at www.grandcanyonnorthrim.com. The ride from Mexican Hat to the north rim is about 315 miles. If, for some reason, you didn't get reservation to stay at the canyon lodge, Jacob Lake has a motel and a number of cabins. Check them out.



DAY 5
The Grand Canyon to Vernal

Leave the Canyon and Jacob Lake via Highway Alt. 89 to Fredonia. Stay on Highway 89 north through the Brice Canyon area to Hatch, Utah. A few miles north of Hatch, turn east on Highway 12. When you eventually reach Loa,turn north on Highway (sort of) 72. Highway 72 will eventually connect to Highway 10 which will take you through Emery, Castle Dale, Price and Helper. A little north of Helper, turn northeast on Highway 191 to Duchesne and Vernal. This is as far as you will probably want to ride so find a room where you can.



DAY 6
Vernal to Buffalo

Continue through Vernal on Highway 191 to Rock Springs, Eden and Farson. When you reach Farson, turn east on Highway 28 to Lander Wyoming. From Lander take Highway 789 to Riverton. From Riverton take Highway 26 to Shoshoni. From Shoshoni take Highway 20 to Thermopolis and Worland. From Worland take Highway 16 over the Big Horn Mountains to Buffalo. This is a good place to end the day. I recommend that you negotiate for a room at the Occidental Hotel in the old section of the town. You can call for reservations at 307-684-0451 or 307-684-8989.




DAY 7
Buffalo to Spearfish

Out of Buffalo take highway 14 to Ucross, Arvada and Gillette. Stay on highway 14 and it will parallel the interstate until you reach Moorcroft. At Moorcroft take Highway 14 north to Highway 24 and Huellet. Highway 24 will take you past Aladdin, Wy. and into Bel Fourche, S.D. Highway 34 south will then take you back to where it all began—Spearfish S.D.


Dan Simmons - Author's Official Web Site Peterson first started studying the biker subculture as a sociologist ... He bought his first motorcyle around age 50, before he knew how to ride one, ...
www.dansimmons.com/news/biker.htm

Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional "Elm Haven" in 1991's SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002's A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction, journalism and art.

Dan received his Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971. He then worked in elementary education for 18 years -- 2 years in Missouri, 2 years in Buffalo, New York -- one year as a specially trained BOCES "resource teacher" and another as a sixth-grade teacher -- and 14 years in Colorado.


ABOUT DAN
Biographic Sketch



His last four years in teaching were spent creating, coordinating, and teaching in APEX, an extensive gifted/talented program serving 19 elementary schools and some 15,000 potential students. During his years of teaching, he won awards from the Colorado Education Association and was a finalist for the Colorado Teacher of the Year. He also worked as a national language-arts consultant, sharing his own "Writing Well" curriculum which he had created for his own classroom. Eleven and twelve-year-old students in Simmons' regular 6th-grade class averaged junior-year in high school writing ability according to annual standardized and holistic writing assessments. Whenever someone says "writing can't be taught," Dan begs to differ and has the track record to prove it. Since becoming a full-time writer, Dan likes to visit college writing classes, has taught in New Hampshire's Odyssey writing program for adults, and is considering hosting his own Windwalker Writers' Workshop.

Dan's first published story appeared on Feb. 15, 1982, the day his daughter, Jane Kathryn, was born. He's always attributed that coincidence to "helping in keeping things in perspective when it comes to the relative importance of writing and life."

Dan has been a full-time writer since 1987 and lives along the Front Range of Colorado -- in the same town where he taught for 14 years -- with his wife, Karen, his daughter, Jane, (when she's home from Hamilton College) and their Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Fergie. He does much of his writing at Windwalker -- their mountain property and cabin at 8,400 feet of altitude at the base of the Continental Divide, just south of Rocky Mountain National Park. An 8-ft.-tall sculpture of the Shrike -- a thorned and frightening character from the four Hyperion/Endymion novels -- was sculpted by an ex-student and friend, Clee Richeson, and the sculpture now stands guard near the isolated cabin.

Dan is one of the few novelists whose work spans the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, suspense, historical fiction, noir crime fiction, and mainstream literary fiction . His books are published in 27 foreign counties as well as the U.S. and Canada.
Many of Dan's books and stories have been optioned for film, and current discussions include plans for such books as THE CROOK FACTORY, DARWIN'S BLADE, the four Hyperion novels, his story "The River Styx Runs Upstream," and his original screenplay for "THE END OF GRAVITY." He also has written two teleplays which were produced for the low-budget syndicated TV series "MONSTERS" and a screenplay adaptation of "CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT" in collaboration with European film director, Robert Sigl, with whom he hopes to adapt his 2002 novel, A WINTER HAUNTING.

In 1995, Dan's alma mater, Wabash College, awarded him an honorary doctorate for his contributions in education and writing.


http://forum.dansimmons.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

http://www.bikersites.com/motorcycle/Publi...ublications.cfm

Biker Sites
Motorcycle links from around the world
Publications Listing with a searchable motorcycle directory

http://www.galveston.com/calendarofevents/event264/

Lone Star Motorcycle Rally
Thursday thru Sunday, November 2-5, 2006
Thurs. thru Sat. 10am - 10pm; Sun. 10am - 6pm
Calandar of Events

Motorcyles and rivers
April 30th, 2006 in Ramblings
Laughlin, Nevada – Over 75,000 riders attended the annual five day Laughlin River Run rally that began on Wednesday and ends today. As of the fourth day police had made five felony arrests, three gross misdemeanors, 41 misdemeanors, eight arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol and 413 traffic citations. A police spokesman called the event a “relatively mild” run so far.”

http://www.oldguy.us/blog/2006/04/


Five felony arrests is mild? After reading futher, I guess so. Prior runs have included brawls that resulted in deaths.

To learn more about the event I went to Google and discovered that motorcylecs and rivers are soul mates. I started to tally all the river related events but quickly gave up. The starting point—a search for motorcycle +river +event—yielded 3,250,000 hits. I thought (for 3 milliseconds) about refining the search and decided not to. I’ll leave the exploration of the motorcycle and river relationship to some post graduate reseacher who is need of a meaningless topic that is guaranteed to get grant money rolling in.

Here are just a few of the events I skimmed from Google:

Happy Camp River Run Klamath Falls, OR
Mad River Motorcyle Rally Waitsfield, VT
Mulberry River Run & Bike Show Pigtrail, AR
Red River Ralley Red River, NM
MS River Run MN & WI
Spring River Motorcycle Rally Hardy, AR

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn41...15/ai_n14631860

HOGGING THE ROAD Mature bikers will be burning rubber at the Burns
Sunday Herald, The, May 15, 2005 by ANDREW BURNET

Find More Results for: "Motorcyle Rally and bikers "
Trachy comes through...
ON a sunny evening in Glasgow's Pollok Park, a row of motorbikes . . . red, blue, black, orange, brown and silver . . .

is lined up along one side of the car park, chrome gleaming. Their owners . . . a doctor, a computer engineer, a florist, a police officer, a photographer and the like . . .

are clad from top to tail in coal-black leather. Average age? Somewhere around 50.

While many teenage lads will always find motorbikes irresistible, and a fair few will come to grief trying to take corners too fast, the average age of British bikers is steadily creeping up. The most recent figures, from 2003, show that more than half of British motorcycle owners are aged between 30 and 50.

Alarmingly, statistics show that accidents are not restricted to the young and reckless.

In 1996-2003, just over 2-per cent of those killed or seriously injured were in their teens, 22-per cent were in their 20s, but as many as 65-per cent were aged 30 to 49. Police in Scotland are so concerned that earlier this month, they launched a motorcyle safety campaign, involving all eight of the country's forces.

Advertisement

Patrolling on marked and unmarked motorbikes, they'll be taking proactive steps to clamp down on speeding.

Their target is a new, mature breed of two-wheeled menace. In a recent BBC Frontline Scotland documentary, Lothian and Borders chief Inspector Kenneth Buchanan defined the "born-again biker" as usually male, "a bit older, inevitably has a family, a bit more money in his possession; was a previous motorcyclist and has decided to take up motorcycling again".

That description fits many members of the Clyde Valley Harley Owners Group (Hog) pretty closely. Most have owned smaller bikes in their youth, taken time out to raise children and pay mortgages, and returned to biking in their maturity. But they resist being bracketed with the born-agains.

According to the group's leader, Alan Kirk:

"These are people who've maybe bought a Japanese bike at 16, then given up when they got married. Twenty years later they buy a new bike, but in that time the Japanese sports bikes have become far more advanced. They'll do 190 miles an hour, and these guys don't know how to handle them.

People tend to grow into a Harley." And if these riders don't look particularly mean, nor could their bikes reasonably be defined as killing machines. Harley-Davidsons are built for comfort, not speed, despite the huge engines, which range from just under 900 to a whopping 1700cc. The touring models come fitted with stereo surround-sound, CB radio and rider/ passenger intercom system as standard.

They've got cruise control, too.

New bikes begin at around pounds-5000, but the average is pounds- 12,000 to pounds-15,000. And then there's the customising: extra chrome parts, bigger petrol tanks, different saddles, flashing lights, helmets and accessories. One member of the Clyde Valley Hog, an AC/DC fan, recently took delivery of a specially commissioned bike, styled after a Gibson electric guitar and Marshall amplifier. It's said to have set him back a good pounds-40,000.

Owning a Harley also grants you membership of the clan. There's a Hog for every Harley dealership 29 in the UK alone, with 15,000 members; and close to a million members worldwide. Anyone who buys a new bike gets a year's free membership.

So what do Hog members actually do when they get together in the somewhat innocuous surroundings of the Lochinch police recreation club car park? (Who said motorbiking was about rebellion? ) As if in defiance of all those Hell's Angels clichs, Hogs do a lot of charity fundraising.

Recently the Clyde Valley chapter raised over pounds-4000 for Enable, which helps people with learning disabilities.

This year the group is hosting its first rally, The Gathering, at Ayr racecourse. The event includes a biking display to tie in with the annual Burns An' A' That festival.

According to Jim Deas, Hog activities organiser, Burns would certainly have been a biker. "He'd have liked the free spirit of things." Talk of freedom is tempered with caution. Traffic cop Ian Kinning, the group's safety officer, runs a refresher course every March, on the weekend before the first ride of the season.

"There's no need to tear about the countryside to enjoy motorcycling. Slow down and enjoy the scenery. It gives you a great sense of freedom."

Ian Hume (above) Age: 57 Lives: Kilmarnock Bikes: 1450cc Softail Fatboy and 1550cc UltraGlide Day job: Computer shop owner "I've been driving bikes for 40 years. I've had Nortons, Triumphs, a BSA, an Ariel. I never had a Japanese bike. A Harley is a sensible bike. It's a big engine but you're not out to impress with speed. You've got more chance of reaching a ripe old age."

Ian Venart (above) Age: 45 Lives: Glasgow Bike: 1450cc UltraGlide Day job: Photographer "The bike was a present to myself last Christmas, then I put it away. It only came out a month ago and that's when I joined the group. I went on my first ride-out with them on my 45th birthday. I haven't had a bike for 19 years. It's back-to-basics good raw fun. All the stresses of the day go out the window."

Is this a thread dedicated to Indianhead ?

(with the exception of post #5)

Froggman wrote this to me - He's a finance wizard. Little does he know that my late husband rode a bike in graduate school, and I was planning on getting him the mother of all Harleys when he turned 55., especially after we happened to be in Sturgis during the Rally of 1997 - I was taking three youngsters to see Mt. Rushmore, and wound up driving across South Dakota with the motorcade of bikes. He never made it to 55. But I did. Maybe when I'm 60. Otherwise I will be like Dan Peterson - buying one before I know how to ride one - caution suggests I should learn how to ride one first. Froggman has got a point.

Ah, ha ! Snuff is a biker at heart !

I know we have closet bikers on this Forum. This is dedicated to all of them from another biker at heart.

Car Books, Motorcycle Literature, Repair Manuals - Motolit.com IndexCar books & motorcycle literature - motolit.com - a comprehensive selection of over 5500 motor-vehicle book titles covering every aspect of motor-sport.
www.motolit.com/ind.html


http://www.motolit.com/ind.html

Motorcycle Books
A comprehensive selection of motorcycle book titles covering every aspect of motorcycles, motorcycling from touring to rebuilding, classics to racing motorcycles, and military to motocross bikes.
We have available for sale almost every motorcycle book that is published. Our search button is often the best way to find a motorcycle or car book on the motolit site.
Art & Posters
A-Z Motorcycles by Make
Motorcycle Maintenance & Repair
Motorcycle Buyers' Guides
Motorcycle Culture
Design & Technology
General
History
Kids Motorcycle Books
Phantasmagoria
Racing - Motorcycle
Riding Technique
Motorcycle Scale Models
Motorcycle Links
Motorcycle Videos

Touring & Travel Books
Route 66
Travel Guides
Driving Guides
Motorcycle Touring Guides
Maps & Atlases
Travel Stories

http://ijms.nova.edu/July2006/IJMS_Artcl.Alford.html


July 2006

Teaching Motorcycle Travel Literature

Steven Alford

The literature of motorcycle travel can be taught at the university level in a variety of ways. Here are some suggestions.

Unlike other subgenres within travel literature (e.g., travel by women, religious travel, etc.), motorcycle travel literature is circumscribed by the existence of the internal combustion engine. For convenience sake, we can point to 1894 as the potential beginning of motorcycle travel, the year in which the firm of Hildebrand & Wolfmüller in Munich, Germany established the first national patent for a motorcycle and began production and commercial sale of the machines. This gives us an active period of approximately 110 years. By 1903 people were already using motorcycles as tools for extended travel, such as one Dr. Herzog, a German doctor who used the vehicle for his professional travel, logging 8620 kilometers in eight months, colliding with only two horses in the process. Two early adventure travelers were G. Schwarz and W. Glöckler, who traveled 1600 km through the Black Forest and Switzerland, crossing passes of over 2000 meters. Take that, Ewan McGregor!

As well, people began writing about traveling by motorcycle almost as soon as they were able to do so, as evidenced by W. H. L. Watson’s 1915 book, Adventures of a Dispatch Rider, and Lady Warren’s Through Algeria and Tunisia (1922). Every year the shelf of motorcycle travel books grows in both quantity and quality. How is one to go about organizing the literature for pedagogical purposes?

Two general directions suggest themselves. First, one could use historical, geographical, or technological information about the motorcycle itself. Second, one could use theoretical concepts already in play in scholarly discussions of travel literature and apply them to motorcycles. Let’s look at the first option:

A simple approach would be to look at motorcycle travel literature historically. A sample list would include the following currently available texts:

Fulton, Robert Edison, Jr. One Man Caravan. 1937. North Conway, NH: Whitehorse Press, 1996.

Simon, Ted. Jupiter's Travels. Covelo, CA: Jupitalia, 1979.

Culberson, Ed. Obsessions Die Hard: Motorcycling the Pan American Highway's Jungle Gap. North Conway, New Hampshire: Whitehorse Press, 1991.

Noren, Allen. Storm: A Motorcycle Journey of Love, Endurance, and Transformation. San Francisco: Travelers' Tales, 2000.

Haffar, Rif K. Away From My Desk. Seattle: Ameera, 2002.

McGregor, Ewan and Charlie. Boorman, et al. Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World. London: Time Warner Books, 2004.

Note the large gap between Fulton and Simon. Many books during this period are either out of print or otherwise unobtainable. There are, however, books in French, Spanish, Italian and German, for those who could use them.

Another approach would be geographical. For example, one could write about African travel. Among such books would be these:

Bausenhart, Werner. Africa: Against the Clock on a Motorcycle. Toronto: Legas, 2002.

Bealby, Johnny. Running With the Moon. London: Arrow Books, 1995.

Scott, Chris. Desert Travels: Motorbike Journeys in the Sahara & West Africa. London: The Traveler's Bookshop, 1996.

Smith, Jerry. Into the Heart of Africa. Kearney, NE: Morris Publishing, 2002.

Wallach, Theresa. The Rugged Road. London: Panther Publishing, 2001.

These are all fine and entertaining books.

Given the prevalence of certain motorcycle marques used in traveling (e.g., the Yamaha XT; various BMWs, most recently the 1200 GS), one could also organize one’s reading around a specific marque.

A second approach, as noted above, would be to take theoretical concepts from scholarly work on travel and then apply them to motorcycle books. For example, Paul Fussell’s notion of exploration, travel, and tourism (found in Abroad: British Literary Traveling Between the Wars [New York: Oxford University Press, 1980]) provides a way or organizing one’s thoughts around the historically evolving ideas of what modern travel signifies. Or, one could use a concept that is not strictly travel-identified, but quite useful, such as “speed.” Such a general concept would allow one to bring to bear the ideas of writers from Marinetti, the originator of Futurism, to Virilio, a prolific contemporary French author on the significance of speed.

The sociology of travel and tourism might also be a useful approach, although it obviously focuses on the political and social, rather than the literary realms of motorcycle travel, as suggested by the following sources:

Alt, Alan. "Popular Culture and Mass Consumption: The Motorcycle as Cultural Commodity." Journal of Popular Culture 15.4 (Spring 1982): 129-141.

Barrell, John. "Death on the Nile: Fantasy and the Literature of Tourism." Essays in Criticism 41.2 (1991): 97-128.

MacCannell, Dean. The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Schocken Books, 1976.

Olszewska, Anna and K. Roberts. Leisure and Life-Style: A Comparative Analysis of Free Time. London: Sage, 1989.

Pearce, Philip L. The Social Psychology of Tourist Behavior. New York: Pergamon Press, 1982.

Pred, Alan. "Structuration and Place: On the Becoming of Sense of Place and Structure of Feeling." Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior 13 (1983): 45-68.

Rojek, Chris. Capitalism and Leisure Theory. London: Tavistock Publications, 1985.

Urry, John. "The 'Consumption' of Tourism." Sociology 24 (1990): 23-36.

---. The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies. London: Sage Publications, 1990.

Finally, one could also take historical understandings of the meaning of travel and, using them as a contrast, tease out what it means to travel by bike. Here are some texts that describe, in different ways, the relation between history, epistemology, and travel:

Casson, Lionel. Travel in the Ancient World. Toronto: Hakkert, 1974.

Campbell, Mary B. The Witness and the Other World: Exotic European Travel Writing, 400-1600. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988.

Newton, Arthur P. Travel and Travellers of the Middle Ages, 1968.

Brundage, James A. The Crusades: Motives and Achievments, 1964.

Penrose, Boise. Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance: 1420-1620, 1962.
Adams, Percy. Travelers and Travel Liars: 1600-1800. Berkeley: U California Press, 1962.

Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. Chicago: U Chicago Press, 1991.

Todorov, Tzevtan. The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1984.

Batten, Charles. Pleasurable Instruction: Form and Convention in 18th Century Travel Literature. Berkeley: U California Press, 1978.

Van Den Abbeele, George. Travel as Metaphor: From Montaigne to Rousseau. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1992.

Franklin, Wayne. Discoverers, Explorers, Settlers: The Diligent Writers of Early America. Chicago: U Chicago Press, 1990.

Parks, George. "The Turn to the Romantic in Travel Literature of the Eighteenth Century." Modern Language Quarterly 25 (1964): 22-33.

Buzard, James. The Beaten Track. New York: Oxford UP, 1993.

Withey, Lynne. Grand Tours and Cook's Tours: A History of Leisure Travel, 1750-1915. New York: William H. Morrow, Inc., 1997.

Feifer, Maxine. Tourism in History. New York: Stein and Day, 1985.


I hope this brief excursus is sufficiently provocative. I will append a by-no-means exhaustive list of books on motorcycles and travel. Some authors, such as Werner Bausenhart, have multiple works not listed here. You will see many of the titles above duplicated below.

Baker, Christopher. P. Mi Moto Fidel. Washington, D.C.: The National Geographic Society, 2001.

Barr, Dave. Riding the Edge: An 83,000 Mile Motorcycle Adventure Around the World! Bodfish, CA: Dave Barr Publishers, 1999.

Bausenhart, Werner. Around the Americas on a Motorcycle. New York: Legas, 2000.

---. Africa: Against the Clock on a Motorcycle. Toronto: Legas, 2002.

Bealby, Jonny. Running With the Moon. London: Arrow Books, 1995.

Carlstein, Andrés. Odyssey to Ushuaia. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2002.

Carroll, William. Two Wheels to Panama. San Marcos, CA: Auto Book Press, 1995.

Culberson, Ed. Obsessions Die Hard: Motorcycling the Pan American Highway's Jungle Gap. North Conway, NH: Whitehorse Press, 1991, 1996.

Dautheville, Anne-France. Une Demoiselle sur une Moto. Paris: Flammarion, 1973.

de Mandiargues, Andre Pieyre. The Motorcycle. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1965

Drutt, Matthew, ed. The Art of the Motorcycle. New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 1998.

Evans, Paula. Kiwis Might Fly: Around New Zealand on Two Big Wheels. London, Bantam Books, 2004.

Frazier, Gregory. Riding the World: The Biker's Road Map for a Seven-Continent Adventure. Irvine, CA: Bowtie Press, 2005.

Fulton, Robert Edison, Jr. One Man Caravan. 1937. North Conway, NH: Whitehorse Press, 1996.

Haffar, Rif K. Away From My Desk. Seattle: Ameera, 2002.

Heggstad, Glen. Two Wheels Through Terror. Center Conway, NH: Whitehorse Press, 2004.

Holfelder, Moritz. Motorradfahren. Muenchen: Deutscher Tashenbuch Verlag, 2000.

Hollern, Susie. Women and Motorcycling. New York: Hollern, 1992.

Hunt, Christopher. Sparring with Charlie: Motorbiking Down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. New York: Anchor Books, 1996.

John, Erika. Motorrad-Amazone: Strassen bis zum Horizont. Berlin: Erijott-Verlag, 1985.

La Plante, Richard. Detours: Life, Death, and Divorce on the Road to Sturgis. New York: Forge, 2002.

Larsen, Karen. Breaking the Limit: One Woman's Motorcycle Journey Through America. New York, Hyperion, 2004.

Liska, Danny. Two Wheels to Adventure. Niobrara, Nebraska: Bigfoot Publishing, 1989.

McGregor, Ewan and Charlie Boorman, et al. Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World. London: Time Warner Books, 2004.

Miyake, Notch. Purple Mountains: America From a Motorcycle. North Conway, NH: Whitehorse Press, 2001.

Moore, Peter. Vroom With a View. London: Bantam Books, 2003.

Noren, Allen. Storm: A Motorcycle Journey of Love, Endurance, and Transformation. San Francisco: Travelers' Tales, 2000.

Paulsen, Gary. Pilgrimage on a Steel Ride. New York, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997.

Pedersen, Helge. 10 Years on Two Wheels. Elfin Cove Press, 1998.

Perreault, Celine. Partir . . . J'avais peur. Je L'aimais. Je l'ai suivi. Quebec: Libre Expression, 1980.

Philipp, Christine. Motorradreisen durch Americka, Finnland, Sri Lanka and Rumaenien. Muenchen: Sonnentau Verlag, Christine Philipp, 1984.

Pierson, Melissa Holbrook. The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

Pirsig, Robert. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. New York, William Morrow, 1974, 1999.

Reynolds, Tom. Wild Ride: How Outlaw Motorcycle Myth Conquered America. New York, TVBooks, 2001.

Rogers, Jim. Investment Biker: Around the World with Jim Rogers. Holbrook, MA: Adams Media Corporation, 1994.

Scheib, Asta. Schwere Reiter. Muechen: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, 1982.

Scott, Chris. Desert Travels: Motorbike Journeys in the Sahara & West Africa. London: The Traveler's Bookshop, 1996.

Shannon, Alyn. Women of the Road. Minneapolis: Shannon, 1995.

Sheridan, Clare. Across Europe with Satanella. New York: Mead & Company, 1925.

Simon, Ted. Jupiter's Travels. 1979. Covelo, CA: Jupitalia, 1996.

---. Riding High. 1984. Covelo, CA: Jupitalia, 1997.

Sobolev, I. S. K. Nansen Passport: Round the World on a Motor-cycle. N.P.: Bell, 1936.

Steiner, Elfriede. Ein Maedchen sieht Europa. Wein: Weltfahrten-Verlag, 1956.

Symmes, Patrick. Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend. New York: Vintage, 2000.

Thomas, Peggy Iris. A Ride in the Sun. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1954.

Thye, Keith. MotoRaid. Seattle, WA: Elfin Cove Press, 1999.

Tin, Hjalte and Nina Rasmussen. Traumfahrt Sued-Amerika: Auf dem Motorrad mit Kindern von L.A. nach Rio. Muenchen: Frederking und Thaler, 1983.

Wallach, Theresa. The Rugged Road. London: Panther Publishing, 2001.

Warren, Lady. Through Algeria and Tunisia. N.P.: Cape, 1922.

Watson, W. H. L. Adventures of a Dispatch Rider. N.P.: Blackwood, 1915.

Books & Literature
The Motorcycle Diaries: A Journey Around South America (Review) · Motorcycle Handbook · Motorcycle Literature and Video · Motorcycle Memories Literature ...
www.moto-rama.com/html/books___literature.html

Motorcycle News - The New York Times - Narrowed by 'BOOKS AND ...Commentary and archival information about motorcycles and motorcycling from The ... Your search for BOOKS AND LITERATURE in Handlebars returned 9 articles ...
topics.nytimes.com/.../handle_bars/index.html?query=BOOKS%20AND%20LITERATURE&field=des&match=exact - 48k - Sep 25, 2006

Amazon: Listmania! - View List "Motorcycle Literature"Listmania! Motorcycle Literature ... Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend (Vintage ... take a cross country motorcycle trip. ...
www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Literature/lm/FA53PVSLSTJ7 - 66k

IJMS / Katherine Sutherland / Studies in Fiction: Motorcycle ...Studies in Fiction: Motorcycle Literature, Speed and Masculinities. Katherine Sutherland. THOMSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY Department of English & Modern Languages ...
ijms.nova.edu/July2006/IJMS_Syllabus.Sutherland.html

http://users.skynet.be/terrorism/html/bikers.htm
OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE GANGS
HELLS ANGELS; a.k.a. NOMADS; a.k.a. OUTLAWS; a.k.a. BANDIDOS; a.k.a. REBELS

BOOKS, (DOCUMENTS, REPORTS, ETC.)

ALLEN, Offa Tom. High rider: a young couple's trip from the brotherhood of a motorcycle gang to the family of God. Washington, D.C., U.S.A.: Review & Herald Pub. Association, (Banner Books), ©1983. 96 p., 20 cm.
Allen, Offa Tom, 1950-.... - Criminals--United States--Biography - Motorcycle Gangs--United States - Conversion--Christianity.
ISBN 0828001472; LC 82021433.

AUNAPU, Greg.; BILLIG, Susan. Without a trace: the disappearance of Amy Billig: a mother's search for justice. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Avon, 2001. x+352 p., ill., 18 cm.
Billig, Amy--Kidnapping - Kidnapping--United States--Florida--Miami - Motorcycle Gangs--United States.
ISBN 0380814137; LC 2001277793.

BARGER, Ralph "Sonny".; ZIMMERMAN, Keith.; ZIMMERMAN, Kent. Hell's Angel: the life and times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle club. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: William Morrow, ©2000. viii+259 p., ill., 24 cm.
Barger, Ralph - Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--California--Biography - Organized Crime--United States--California--Biography.
ISBN 0688176933; LC 00709103.

__________. Hell's Angel: the life and times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Perennial, 2001. xx+259 p., ill., 21 cm.
Originally published: New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Morrow, 2000.
Barger, Ralph - Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--California--Biography - Organized Crime--United States--California--Biography.
ISBN 0060937548; 0688176933; LC 2001036354.

BOWE, Barry. Born to be wild. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Warner Books, 1994. 280+[16] p., ill., 17 cm.
Nauss, Robert T., 1952-.... - Murder--United States--Pennsylvania--Delaware County--Case Studies - Fugitives from Justice--United States--Pensylvania--Case Studies - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--Pennsylvania.
ISBN 0446364347.

BRASH, Nicholas.; WELDON, Leonie. The Aussie biker culture. McMahon's Point, N.S.W., Australia: Kevin Weldon & Associates, 1984. 96 p., ill. (some col.), ports. (some col.), 28 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Australia - Hells Angels - Rebels - Banditos.
ISBN 0949708267.

COMMISSION DE POLICE DU QUÉBEC. ENQUÊTE SUR LE CRIME ORGANISÉ. [Les bandes de motards au Québec]: Rapport d'enquête sur les activités des groupes de motards de Havre Saint-Pierre, Sept-Iles, Mont-Joli, Saint-Gédéon, Sherbrooke, et Asbestos. [Québec, Canada]: Commission de Police du Québec, [1980]. 136 p., ill., 28 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Canada--Québec (Province).
LC 80118670.

__________. __________. [Motorcycle gangs in Quйbec]: Report on an inquiry into the activities of motorcycle gangs in Havre-Saint-Pierre, Sept-Îles, Mont-Joli, Saint-Gédéon, Sherbrooke, and Asbestos. [Québec, Canada]: Commission de Police du Québec, [1980]. 124 p., 27 cm.
Translation of: Rapport d'enquкte sur les activitйs des groupes de motards... (French-English).
Motorcycle Gangs--Canada--Quйbec (province).
LC 81200355.

DAVIS, James R. The terrorists: youth, biker, and prison violence. San Diego, Calif., U.S.A.: Grossmont Press, ©1978. ix+136+[8] p., ill., bibliography, 18 cm.
Gangs--United States - Terrorism--United States - Motorcycle Gangs--United States - Prison Violence--United States.
ISBN 0895430134; LC 78000354.

__________. Street gangs: youth, biker, and prison groups. Dubuque, Iowa, U.S.A.: Kendall-Hunt Pub. Co., ©1982. x+150 p., ill., bibliography, 23 cm.
Originally published: Grossmont Press, 1978.
Gangs--United States - Violence--United States - Juvenile Delinquency--United States - Crime--United States - Terrorism--United States.
ISBN 0840327501; LC 82082400.

DE CHAMPLAIN, Pierre. Mafia, bandes de motards et trafic de drogue: le crime organisé au Québec dans les années 80. Hull, Québec, Canada: Editions Asticou, 1990. 368 p., ill., ports., bibliogr., index, 22 cm.
Organized Crime--Canada--Québec (Province)--History - Mafia--Canada--Québec (Province)--History - Motorcycle Gangs--Canada--Québec (Province)--History - Administration of Criminal Justice--Canada--Québec (Province)--History.
ISBN 2891981073; BC 900070781.

DENMARK. JUSTITSMINISTERIET. Organiseret kriminalitet: rockerkriminalitet: en handlingsplan fra en arbejdsgruppe under Justitsministeriet. [Copenhagen, Denmark: Justitsministeriet, 1995]. 24, [41] leaves, 30 cm.
Organized Crime--Denmark - Motorcycle Gangs--Denmark - Organized Crime--Denmark--Prevention - Juvenile Delinquency--Denmark--Prevention.
LC 95209728.

DENNEHY, Glennis.; NEWBOLD, Greg. The girls in the gang. (Foreword by Merepeka Raukawa-Tait). Auckland, New Zealand: Reed, 2001. 208 p., ill., bibliography p. 200-205, index, 23 cm.
Based on author's thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2000.
Motorcycle Gangs--New Zealand - Gangs--New Zealand - Family Violence--New Zealand - Female Juvenile Delinquents--New Zealand.
ISBN 0790008033.

DETROIT, Michael. Chain of evidence: a true story of law enforcement and one woman's bravery. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Dutton, ©1994. x+254+[8] p., ill., 24 cm.
Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--California--Orange County - Undercover Operations--United States--California--Orange County.
ISBN 0525936718; LC 93044222.

FAVRE, Chantal. Les motards: le phénomène moto, les jeunes et leur vie communautaire. Toulouse, France: Privat, (Epoque), ©1980. 160 p., bibliography p. [156]-158, 21 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs.
ISBN 2708912399; LC 80111823.

FINLAY, Tom.; MATTHEWS, Catherine J. Motorcycle gangs: a literature search of law enforcement, academic and popular sources: with a chronology of Canadian print news coverage. Toronto, Canada: Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto, ©1996. 62 p., 23 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Canada--Bibliography - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--Bibliography - Organized Crime--Canada--Bibliography - Organized Crime--United States--Bibliography.
ISBN 0919584837.

HARRIS, Maz. Bikers: birth of a modern-day outlaw. London, G.B.; Boston, Mass., U.S.A.: Faber and Faber, 1985. 128 p., illus., bibliogr. p. 126, index, 25 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Great Britain - Subculture--Great Britain.
ISBN 0571135102; LC 85010157.

HARVEY, Sandra.; SIMPSON, Lindsay. Brothers in arms. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1989. xii+267+[16] p., ill., ports., 20 cm.
Bandido Motor Cycle Club - Comanchero Motor Cycle Club - Mass Murder--Australia--New South Wales--Milperra - Trials (Murder)--Australia--New South Wales - Motorcycle Gangs--Australia--New South Wales.
ISBN 0043270980.

__________.; __________. Brothers in arms. St. Leonards, N.S.W., Australia; London, G.B.: Allen & Unwin, 2001. 296 p., ill., 20 cm.
Bandido Motor Cycle Club - Comanchero Motor Cycle Club - Mass Murder--Australia--New South Wales--Milperra - Trials (Murder)--Australia--New South Wales - Motorcycle Gangs--Australia--New South Wales.
ISBN 1865085014.

LAVIGNE, Yves. Hell's Angels: le clan de la terreur. [Montrйal, Quйbec, Canada]: Editions de l'Homme, 1988. 369+[16] p., ill., index, 23 cm.
Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--North America - Organized Crime--North America.
ISBN 2761907469; BC 880961643.

__________. Hell's Angels: "three can keep a secret if two are dead". New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Carol Pub. Group, (A Lyle Stuart Book), 1993. 344 p., ill., index, 23 cm.
Hell's Angels - Hell's Angels--History - Organized Crime--North America - Motorcycle Gangs--North America.
ISBN 0818405147; LC 89017296.

__________. Hells Angels: into the abyss. Toronto, Canada: Harper Collins Publishers, ©1996. 302 p., 24 cm.
Tait, Anthony - Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States - Organized Crime--United States - Undercover Operations--United States.
ISBN 0002552868; LC 96150970.

__________. Hells Angels at war. London, G.B.; Toronto, Ont., Canada: HarperCollins, 1999. 466 p., ill., index, 24 cm.
Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--North America - Organized Crime--North America - Motorcycle Gangs--Scandinavia - Organized Crime--Scandinavia.
ISBN 0002000245.

__________. Hells Angels at war. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: HarperCollins World, 2001. 466+[16] p., ill., index, 17 cm.
Originally published: London, G.B.: HarperCollins, 1999.
Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--North America - Organized Crime--North America - Motorcycle Gangs--Scandinavia - Organized Crime--Scandinavia.
ISBN 0006385648.

McCOY, Duke. How to start and run your own motorcycle gang: a psycho-social primer. Mason, Mich., U.S.A.: Loompanics Unlimited, 1981. 97 p., ill., bibliography p. 89-90, 22 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--United States--Handbooks, Manuals, etc.
OCLC 9143628.

NAKABE, Hiroshi. Bosozoku 100-nin no shisso. Tokyo, Japan: Daisan Shokan, Hatsubai Shinsensha, 1979. 255 p., ill., 22 cm.
Juvenile Delinquents--Japan - Motorcycle Gangs--Japan - Motorcycle Gangs--Japan--Psychology.
OCLC 39440847.

OPITZ, Martin G. Rocker im Spannungsfeld zwischen Clubinteressen und Gesellschaftsnormen. Konstanz, Germany: Hartung-Gorre, 1990. iv+299 p., ill., bibliography p. 261-268, 21 cm.
Originally presented as the author's thesis--Universität Bremen, Germany, 1990.
Motorcycle Gangs--Germany.
ISBN 389191377X; LC 91196667.

REMSBERG, Rich. Riders for God: the story of a Christian motorcycle gang. (Afterword by Colleen McDannell). Urbana, IL., U.S.A.: University of Illinois Press, ©2000. xi+263 p., ill., index, 27 cm.
Unchained Gang - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--Indiana--Case Studies--Pictorial Works - Gang Members--United States--Indiana--Religious Life--Case Studies - Witness Bearing (Christianity)--Case Studies.
ISBN 0252025210; LC 99050473.

SATO, Ikuya. Bosozoku no esunogurafi: modo no hanran to bunka no jubaku. Tokyo, Japan: Shin'yosha, Showa 59, [1984]. viii+293+(24) p., ill., bibliography p. (1)-(12), 19 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Japan.
LC 85159187.

__________. Kamikaze biker: parody and anomy in affluent Japan. (With a foreword by Gerald D. Suttles). Chicago, IL., U.S.A.: University of Chicago Press, 1991. xviii+277 p., ill., maps, bibliography p. 259-267, indexes, 24 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Japan - Juvenile Delinquency--Japan - Subculture--Japan.
ISBN 0226735257; LC 90048610.

SMITH, George Henry. The sex and savagery of Hell's Angels and the one-percenters. San Diego, CA., U.S.A.: Greenleaf Classics, (Greenleaf Classic), 1966. 160 p., 18 cm.
Hell's Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--California.
OCLC 18182231.

STAUB, Sylvia. Ursachen und Erscheinungsformen bei der Bildung jugendlicher Banden. Winterthur, Switzerland: P. G. Keller, 1965. xvi+251 p., bibliography p. viii-xv, 23 cm.
Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universität Zürich, Switzerland, 1965.
Gangs - Gangs--Switzerland - Motorcycle Gangs - Motorcycle Gangs--Switzerland - Juvenile Delinquency - Juvenile delinquency--Switzerland.
LC 85135213.

THOMPSON, Hunter S. Hell's Angels: a strange and terrible saga. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Random House, [1967]. 278 p., 22 cm.
Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--California.
LC 66018327.

__________. Hell's Angels: a strange and terrible saga. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Ballantine Books, 1996. 273 p., 21 cm.
Originally published: New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Random House, 1967.
Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--California.
ISBN 0345410084; LC 96096723.

__________. Hell's Angels: l'étrange et terrible saga des gangs de motards hors la loi. (Traduit de l'anglais par Sylvie Durastanti). Paris, France: Robert Laffont, (Pavillons), 2000. 345 p., 22 cm.
Translation of: Hell's Angels: a strange and terrible saga. (English-French).
French translation originally published: Paris, France: Humanoïdes Associés, 1979.
Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--California.
OCLC 46414603.

UNITED STATES. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. Hell's Angels. General information from the 1960s and 70s about this motorcycle gang's involvement in violent activities in various parts of the country. FOIA, 233 p.
On-line document: PDF version: Adobe Acrobat Reader required.
Hells Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--United States - Federal Bureau of Investigation.
C-2002.

VALDEZ, Al. Gangs: a guide to understanding street gangs. (2nd ed., expanded and updated). San Clemente, CA., U.S.A.: Law Tech Publishing Co., Ltd., 1997. [8]+ix+379+[64] p., ill., 22 cm.
Gangs - American Street Gangs - Motorcycle Gangs.
ISBN 0915905620.

__________. Gangs: a guide to understanding street gangs. (3rd ed.). San Clemente, CA., U.S.A.: Law Tech Publishing Co., Ltd., 2000. xxiii+562 p., ill. (includes over 200 photos), bibliography p. 557-562, index, 22 cm.
Gangs - American Street Gangs - Motorcycle Gangs.
OCLC 46706780.

WILDE, Sam. [ed.]. Barbarians on wheels. London, G.B.: New English Library, [1977]. 160 p., ill., ports., 35 cm.
Hell's Angels - Motorcycle Gangs--Great Britain - Motorcycle Gangs--United States.
ISBN 0450032221. LC 78305400.

WOLF, Daniel R. The Rebels: a brotherhood of outlaw bikers. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1992. 372+[8] p., ill., bibliography p. [365]-366, index, 24 cm.
Rebels Motorcycle Club - Motorcycle Gangs--Canada - Motorcycle Gangs--Canada--Alberta - Deviant Behavior - Subculture.
ISBN 0802073638.

__________. Les Rebels: une fraternité de motards hors-la-loi. (Traduit de l'anglais par Marie-Cécile Brasseur). Montréal, Quebec, Canada: Editions Balzac, (L'Envers du décor), 1995. 406 p., ill., portr., bibliography p. [397]-398, index, 23 cm. Translation of: The Rebels, a brotherhood of outlaw bikers. (English-French).
Rebels Motorcycle Club - Motorcycle Gangs--Canada - Motorcycle Gangs--Canada--Alberta - Deviant Behavior - Subculture.
ISBN 2921425548; BC 949412201.

YAHISA, Takao. Bosozoku. Kyoto-shi, Japan: Dohosha, (Mentaru herusu shirizu), 1989. vi+255 p., ill., bibliogr., 22 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Japan.
ISBN 4810407764; LC 90103596.







THESIS, (DISSERTATIONS, MANUSCRIPTS, ETC.)

ANDERSON, Doreen. Women who ride Harleys. Thesis (Honors)--Hamline University, Saint Paul, Minn., U.S.A., 1994. 30 leaves, bibliography leaf 30, 28 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--United States - Women--United States--Attitudes.
OCLC 362859921.

FUGLSANG, Ross Stuart. Motorcycle menace: media genres and the construction of a deviant culture. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.A., 1997. iv+258 leaves, bibliography leaves 237-258, 28 cm.
Motorcycles in Literature - Motorcycle Gangs in Mass Media - Subculture--United States - Motorcyclists--United States.
OCLC 47116122.

GIUSTO, Betsy. Mi vida loca: an insider ethnography of outlaw bikers in the Houston area. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Houston, Houston, TX., U.S.A., 1997. viii+491 leaves, ill. (some col.), bibliography p. 485-491, 29 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--United States--Texas--Houston Metropolitan Area--Interviews - Ethnology--United States--Texas--Houston Metropolitan Area - Motorcycle Clubs--United States--Texas--Houston Metropolitan Area--Oral History - Houston Metropolitan Area (TX.)--Social Life and Customs.
OCLC 44436164.

KEMP, Melissa Reed. Independent bikers: an ethnography of a biker community. Thesis (M. A.)--Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX., U.S.A., 1989. iv+86 leaves, bibliography leaves 78-86, 28 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Social Life and Customs - Motorcycle Gangs--United States--Texas--Social Life and Customs.
OCLC 23526573.

POSNANSKY, Gary Ross. Communication and the counterculture: an ethnographic analysis of communication use in the motorcycle gang. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL., U.S.A., 1988. iv+162 leaves, bibliography leaves 156-158, 29 cm.
Communication in Small Groups - Motorcycle Gangs.
OCLC 21742564.

RAPIEL, Stephen. The career of an outlaw motorcyclist. Thesis (M. A.)--Adelphi University, Department of Sociology, Garden City, N.Y., U.S.A., 1972. 107 leaves, bibliography leaf [108], 28 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs - Hell's Angels.
OCLC 48252347.

ROGERS, Douglas Lee. Outlaws on two wheels: living the label. Thesis (M. S.)--Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kan., U.S.A., 1997. iv+54 leaves, bibliography leaf 54, 28 cm.
Subculture - Motorcycle Gangs - Social Groups - Social Conflict.
OCLC 39558663.

SATO, Ikuya. Bosozoku and Yankee: anomy and parody in the affluent society. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Sociology, Chicago, IL., U.S.A., 1986. x+491 leaves, bibliography leaves 472-491, 28 cm.
Motorcycle Gangs--Japan - Motorcycles--Societies--Japan - Youth--Japan--Societies and Clubs - Anomy - Japan--Social Conditions, 1945-....
OCLC 40136640.


JOURNAL ARTICLES, (PERIODICALS, NEWSPAPERS, ETC.)

ALAIN, Marc. "Les bandes de motards au Québec: hypothèses du déclin d'une population." Revue Canadienne de Criminologie, 35 (October 1993), pp. 407-435.

__________. "The Rise and Fall of Motorcycle Gangs in Quebec." Federal Probation, 59:2 (June 1, 1995), pp. 54-57.

DAVIS, Roger H. "Outlaw Motorcyclists: A Problem for Police." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 51:10 (October 1982), pp. 12-15; and 51:11 (November 1982), pp. 16-22.

DESJARDINS, Fred. "Hell on Wheels." Canadian Crime and Justice, (November 1989), pp. 14-15.

HILL, Timothy. "Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs: A Look at a New Form of Organized Crime." Canadian Criminology Forum, 3:1 (Fall 1980), pp. 26-35.

HOOPER, Columbus B.; MOORE, Johnny. "Women in Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 18:4 (1990), pp. 363-387.

LAPLANTE, Laurent. "Counteracting Criminal Biker Gangs: A Losing Battle Without Public Support." Justice Report, 11:3 (1996), pp. 9-10.

McGUIRE, Phillip. "Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs: Organized Crime on Wheels." National Sheriff, 37:2 (1986), pp. 68-75.

MONTGOMERY, Randel. "The Outlaw Motorcycle Subculture." Canadian Journal of Criminology and Corrections, 18 (October 1976), pp. 332-342; and 19:4 (1977), pp. 356-361.

ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE. "Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs in Canada." RCMP Gazette, 61 (August 1999), pp. 15-37.

SATO, Ikuya. "Crime As Play and Excitement: A Conceptual Analysis of Japanese Bosozoku." Tohoku Psychologica Folia, 41:1-4 (1982), pp. 64-84.

SCHENK, John. "Born to Raise Hell Inc." Macleans, (August 22, 1977), pp. 30-33.

SCHMIDT-NOTHEN, Berthe C. "Motorcycle Gangs." International Criminal Police Preview, 390 (August-September 1985), pp. 170-179.

THOMPSON, Hunter. "Motorcycle Gangs: Losers and Outsiders." Nation, (May 17, 1965), pp. 522-526.

THOUIN, Andrй. "Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Around the World." RCMP Gazette, 61 (August 1999), pp. 51-57.

TRETHEWY, S.; KATZ, T. "Motorcycle Gangs or Motorcycle Mafia?" Police Chief, 65:4 (April 1998), pp. 53-60.

WILKENS, Russell. "Biker Gangs: Getting Away With Murder." Reader's Digest, 151:907 (November 1997), pp. 54-60.


LINKS, (ORGANIZATIONS, GOVERNMENTAL, EDUCATIONAL, ETC.)

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF GANG INVESTIGATORS ASSOCIATIONS : http://www.nagia.org/Motorcycle_Gangs.htm

CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE CANADA : http://www.cisc.gc.ca/AnnualReport2001/Cis...outlaw2001.html

HELLS ANGELS MC WORLD : http://www.hells-angels.com/

[Home]

STATUS : Complete - Verified - 31/12/2002

Harley Davidson Motorcycle Literature - Manuals, Brochures ...Harley-Davidson manuals, color catalogs and more! Original Motorcycle Literature from AutoLit.com ... the largest source of Automobile Literature anywhere ...

www.autolit.com/Entry/harleydavidson.html

For Indianhead

Literature: Starklite Indian Motorcycles (IMCA)Starklite Indian Motorcycles is your one stop source for Antique Indian Motorcycle Parts & Accessories.

www.starklite.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SLC&Category_Code=LIT

MSM Article: Brochure CollectingRobbie "Dale" Jackson is owner of Motorcycle Memories, a mail-order company specializing in out-of-print and unique motorcycle literature. ...

www.motorcycleshopper.com/articles/brochure.htm

Powell's Books - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An ...2, Burnside, Literature- P. Hide store locations ... the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, ...

www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?isbn=0060839872

http://www.online-literature.com/ralphson/...on-motorcycles/

Boy Scouts on Motorcycles

Traveling 'hard,' on the road

By Joseph Sorrentino

Road-tested: Notch Miyake with motorcycle.
Joseph Sorrentino


Notch Miyake grew up in Hawaii feeling "very enclosed." He wanted to break out and travel. A stint in the Navy temporarily satisfied this wanderlust, but college, a business career, and family obligations put further travel plans on hold.

He worked for Xerox in Rochester, eventually leaving to start his own optical coating business. When he sold that business in 1992, he decided to take his dream trip: a motorcycle ride across the lower 48 states and into Alaska. He covered 13,000 miles in three months.

The journal he used to "keep in touch with what was happening" grew into the book Purple Mountains: America From A Motorcycle, published by White Horse Press. City Newspaper recently talked with Notch about the ride.

City:Many people talk about taking a trip like yours but don't. Why were you able to do it?

Miyake: I was lucky. I'd sold the business, the kids were in college, [my wife] Margaret was supportive. I never felt I wanted more. It wasn't worth it to go through the things I'd have to in order to get more money. I wasn't going to piss away my life just so I could leave an inheritance.... I found myself driving to work without thinking, without noticing things. On a trip like this, it's unfamiliar. You don't know the road, you have to look at things more closely.

What did you learn about yourself?

Probably most of all, I learned that a lot of things I thought were important really weren't. I used what I got from this trip to change. Life became more rewarding. I decided I had enough to live comfortably. I came back from the trip, we sold the house in the suburbs, and moved into the city. I didn't get that new car. I didn't need the newest stereo equipment.

City:Why do you need a trip like this to realize that?

Miyake: I don't know. Anything you do that's an intense personal and solitary experience will probably do. You have to do something that brings you out of your comfortable environment; thrusts you into the world. That's what triggers the change. You need to do something --- maybe not a trip --- but something solitary and long enough to get out of your usual mindset.

City: In your book you write, "The best kind of travel is hard." What do you mean?

Miyake: If you look back on an experience, what you remember are the difficulties; the times you were sick, tired, wet. Those are the times you were called on to overcome something. I tell people to travel like a poor man. If you travel like a poor man, you can't buy your way out of trouble. It opens you up a lot. You learn that you can enjoy something in spite of the misery. Personal challenge is good for you. You shouldn't run from every problem. We spend too much time trying to avoid adversity.

City: Many people try to take the safest, most comfortable route.

Miyake: Ask yourself this: What am I going to do at the end? Play it safe, wait to die, or go out there and travel? A lot of what we do is to be comfortable... our HMO's, IRA's, 401(k)'s, retirement communities in Florida, all of that. We don't ever get close to ourselves. We don't get out and experience the exhilaration, the sensations, the cold, whatever. We don't do that. We're driven to get the most comfort and security.

City: So this trip was about more than riding to Alaska on a motorcycle.

Miyake: There comes a time on a trip like this when you come face-to-face with yourself.

City:And then what happens?

Miyake: Then you really see who you are, what's important.

City:Do you think you had a mid-life crisis?

Miyake: I don't really like that term. Maybe it was. A lot of my contemporaries are dying. These people ask, "What's it mean?" A wallet-full of money at the end of your life is no good whatsoever. Their lives would've had more meaning if they'd gone on that trip or whatever. That realization doesn't come until it's too late. We don't understand how all this comfort and convenience, this desire for luxury is in large part a substitute for living. At some point, people realize that all of those things aren't important.

Miyake: You mention in your book you're a Zen Buddhist. How did that affect the trip?

Miyake: It made me stay in the present, to focus on what was going on in the moment, not worry about anything else.

City: Why a motorcycle and not a car?

Miyake: I love riding motorcycles and I wanted to be out in the elements. I don't like bicycles, walking would take too long. You have to go in a way that makes you vulnerable and as open as possible. If you're in a car you're walled-off from what's happening. You're freer on the motorcycle. To be free really means to be able to take risks. Riding isn't safe. It's dangerous. But is it worth the risk? If you're free, you'll take that risk.

City: Any plans for another trip?

Miyake: I'd like to do the Ruto Maya, ride from the Yucatan to the west coast of Mexico, down into Honduras, Belize....

City: Any advice for someone thinking about a trip like this?

Miyake: Just go.

Notch Miyake holds a discussion-signing for Purple Mountains on Friday, April 23, at Barnes & Noble, 330 Greece Ridge Center Drive, at 7 p.m. Free. 227-4020. Purple Mountains is available at all bookstores and online at www.whitehorsepress.com.

URL for this story: http://rochester-citynews.com/gyrobase/Con...?oid=oid%3A2549

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/autobeat...gan_on_its.html

June 07, 2006
Michigan Lawmakers Want To Repeal Mandatory Motorcycle Helmet Law. Idiots Rejoice.
David Kiley


Just when confidence is falling in elected officials. Just when people think governing has become the shallowest enterprise since Amway, some Michigan legislators have drained a little more water out of the pool.

Michigan lawmakers today (June 7) repealed Michigan's 37-year-old mandatory motorcycle helmet law. Now, only a veto by Governor Jennifer Garnholm, who is running for re-election in a tough contest against former Amway president Dick DeVos, can stop this assinine piece of legislation.

According to AAA Michigan, the bill, sponsored by Sen. Alan L. Cropsey (R-DeWitt), would remove the mandatory helmet requirement for all riders and passengers 21 years of age or older, but does not require motorcycle riders to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance coverage. In 2005, there were 3,605 motorcycle- involved crashes in Michigan in which 122 riders were killed and 2,721 injured.

Under the bill, sponsored by Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, a rider at least 21 years old, who's completed a motorcycle safety course and has been operating a bike for at least two years wouldn't have to wear a helmet.

Thankfully, we here in Michigan expect Granholm to do the right thing, and veto a dumb bill.

I guess what baffles me is the months and months of hard work these legislators have put into this bill. Is this really progress? Is there nothing better for these people to do?

I admit, I do not ride. But there is something about motorcycles I like. However. One thing I have never been able to figure out is this. If my car made as much noise as the typical motorcycle, people would say my car was broken. And in many states, it wouldn't pass inspection. Yet, motorcycles are given a pass on noise pollution.

Let's see here. A repeal of the helmet law will undoubtedly cause more serious injuries and deaths (I wonder how many motorcycle riders in Michigan who would avail themselves of the right not to wear a helmet even have comprehensive health insurance?)Who benefits from a repeal of this law? A bunch of people championing their right to be a wombat. A bill that would force a whole new generation of mufflers on motorcycles, on the other hand? Such a bill would benefit everyone. But we'll probably never see that. That's okay...there ARE more important things for lawmakers to worry about. At least I hope so.


04:26 PM


Transitions


Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4036.1310814641

Comments
I'm tired of people in suits, smoking cigars, have money in the stock market, or what ever bad habits you like to do. Think of it as a extreme sport you can't handle. If you want to be some want-to-be biker, than a dork, that's your choice. There is freedom of choice, freedom of so called speech, freedom of religion, and ect. Just don't say were idiots. I may think of a dozen ways to call you something far more worse than a idiot. I'm sure your more dangerous on a bar-b-que grill than most people, so we should ban idiots like you to have one??. Or idiots like polititions sending our young men and women to war because of cigar smoking Republicans like you?.

Posted by: Sam Prezzato at June 7, 2006 07:04 PM

Now that is really really dumb.

Posted by: Kelly Clarkson at June 8, 2006 03:56 AM

Well Mr. kiley like u said u do not ride so first of all u dont understand the thrill of riding a motor cycle. You ask why bikes are allowed to have loud pipes let me tell you.....how many people say the did not seee the car and they just pulled out. How visible do u think a 2 foot wide bike is......LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES plain and simple. You really want an understanding on it ....get out in city traffic for a week on a bike and see how many times u get pulled out in front of. You seem to be speaking on an issue you have no first hand on knowledge about and that my friend is arragance. All you have is your statistics and check into them deeper if you want most of the deaths from car bike accidents are not helmet related. In other words a helmet didnt make a diference. Its the riders choice not the choice of people who dont ride. If that is the case then people without airbags in there cars should were helmets too seeings how they "have the chance " to bang there head.

Posted by: the jeepers at June 8, 2006 06:45 AM

I remember reading a study from California that showed the cost to the state of uninsured motorcyclists; I presume Michigan, too, is absorbing costs from uninsured motorcyclists that can't pay their way after an accident. People will spout off about "freedom" in the abstract, but we, as a society, are not free to check to see if motorcyclists have insurance once they've been in an accident. We take everyone to the hospital whether they can pay or not. Who pays for this? I do. You do. On a personal note, I have personal experience with a helmet saving my life, twice. The question for state legislators is: will increased revenue from tourism outweigh the costs to the state to care for injured, insurance-less out-of-state bikes.

How 'bout a no seatbelt law, or raising the BAC limit to .3? Just as dumb.

Posted by: Chris Terry at June 8, 2006 08:34 AM

That is asinine. Safety laws are designed to deal with an accident regardless of the driver's skill level AND when their skill wouldn't have saved them anyway. An accident is an accident is an accident. My spouse saw plenty of folks hospitalized permanently because they weren't wearing their helmets when they got hit or slammed due to careless driving.

Posted by: Joel A at June 8, 2006 11:31 AM

I've been riding for 18 years(I'm 34 now),completed an MSF course(when I was 18), and always wear a helmet. Some misconceptions in the article: motorcycles CAN be ticketed for too loud of an exhaust(at least in WI, where I live). WI also has an "eye protection only" requirement; I used to be upset by riders without helmets until I realized that those without helmets must not have anything to protect. (The usual anti-helmet stances are "choice"--b.s., since we have a nationwide seatbeltr law; and some say helmets limit field of vision, which has also been disproven many times.)

Posted by: Dwight at June 8, 2006 12:31 PM

WHAT IS THE BILL # ??

Posted by: N/A at June 8, 2006 03:01 PM

The most appropriate part of David Kiley's piece is his picture directly under the "idiot" quote. Leave it to this scholar to quote AAA in their rhetoric of crash, bang, boom, bleed that NEVER actually happens in the other 31 states where the helmet law has been reasonably modified. YES! Likely there will be more accidents in Michigan because the number of motorcycles will increase (ching for the State @ 6% sales tax)and because the number of miles ridden will increase (ching again for the state and tourism) with the influx of out of state visitors finally coming in unlidded. And the insurance rates in those 31 other states? Hmmmmm...didn't go up anymore than ours. And insurance rates in state that make the lid mandatory after a reprieve? Hmmmm...didn't go down any. Sounds like AAA realizes that their cost will go up if they can't get their car drivers to stop hitting the bikers, regardless of what's on their heads. Educate, don't legislate.

Posted by: Scott Tanner at June 8, 2006 03:52 PM

Talk about idiot.You dont even ride but you have this strong of an opinion.Lets talk about a waste of time in government,I heard there are people out there wasting time trying to change our state bird,rock,flower,ect.How about violent crime,we have all the police we need for seatbelt violators but none for real crime.How does my not wearing a helmet affect you if I have insurance.I think your wasting your own time worring about something that doesnt concern you.You are just as bad as the lawmakers you say have better things to worry about.

Posted by: jon hall at June 8, 2006 05:17 PM

David, how about cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling in the State of Michigan? How much do they collectively contribute to the public good? Does the State move to prohibit these? No, you say. In fact, the State is in the business of proliferating these behaviors, isn't it? I ride, and have a ton of medical insurance. I also am very experienced, and would like to have the right to choose. Further, I would rather have had the bill stipulate a minimum age (25), and proof of a certain level of medical insurance. Also, has anyone ever questionned other states, and surrounding states, pertaining to what drove them to repeal their helmet laws?

Posted by: Bob Heitjan at June 8, 2006 06:28 PM

i am a police officer for a detroit suburb and also a motorcycle enthusiast. i have been riding now for 12yrs. i have seen my share of motorcycle accidents and i am convinced that a helmet is only good for accidents under 35 mph. i feel (and talking from my experiences) that a helmet will not protect you in high speed accidents. take a look at the most common type of helmets that harley riders wear. it is a half helmet, barely covering the top of the head. yet it is still LEGAL !! i feel that the helmet law should be revised. there are times that i just don't want to wear a helmet and shouldn't have to. now back to your article. i found, what i believe to be, a flaw in it. i have heard that riders not wearing a helmet, WILL be required to carry a minimum of $10,000 personal insurance liability. correct me if im wrong??? if you go and look at the other states that don't require helmets, like ohio or indiana; i don't believe the death rate is any higher than michigan for motorcycle accidents. i just wish reporters would report facts and facts only in their stories.....and keep their opinions to themselves. especially if they have no real experiences of the issue at hand.. thanks for your time. signed, no helmet supporter (in blue)

Posted by: khris at June 8, 2006 07:14 PM

motorcycles are loud so drivers will hear us and hopefully not treat us as a transparent insignificant biker trash! Loud pips save life's you are worried about our safety make hands free phones a law and enforce it. I see people eating, smoking,shaving,putting on make up and even watching movies all of these attribute to accidents & deaths of many motorcycle riders. I think all licensed drivers should have to take the written motrocycle endorsement test & pass it this would educate all as to why we ride like we do.

Posted by: G at June 8, 2006 10:44 PM

Respectfully, you're not a rider so you can't be expected to understand.

I'm a young man who rides an extremely loud bike through the crowded streets of Chicago with reckless abandon. I'm also an MBA student with an interest in the insurance regulatory environment and well-developed understanding of the ethical issues at hand.

I never wear a helmet. They're useless (see below).
My bike is tuned-up loud so that you can hear me coming.

For sound research on the topic, including policy implications see:

"The Effect of Motorcycle Helmet Use on the Probability of Fatality and the Severity of Head And Neck Injuries"

Jonathan P. Goldstein, Ph.D.
Department of Economics
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, Maine 04011


I QUOTE GOLDSTEIN'S STUDY:

"From our empirical results we conclude that helmet use has no statistically significant effect on the probability of a motorcycle fatality and that helmet users face a tradeoff between reductions in the severity of head injuries and increases in the severity of neck injuries."


Land of the Free.
Home of the Brave.
God Bless America.

Posted by: Anthony Vagnetti at June 8, 2006 11:27 PM

Idiots Rejoice? Assinine piece of legislation? Mr. Kileys' Comments are worthy of someone with a backround primarily in the automobile industry, who admits he has never ridden a motorcycle.

I have been riding motorcycles on the streets for 25 years. I have ridden in small groups and in very large police escorted groups. We are not idiots or hells angels. Times have changed. Yeah my motorcycle has after market exhaust. Do you know why? The sound of my motorcycle can't be heard over the noise made by some of the booming car stereos out there. Does this noise bother you?

No group of people are more aware of the risk of injury or death on the roads than motorcycle riders. Only 4 states are helmet free. But at least they have a choice. Freedom of choice is the benefit and the money, time, and energy spent to promote or protect it is VERY important. It's the difference between being asked to do something and being told to do it or else.
Unfortunately uninterested non-riders would think motorcyclists and those involved with repealing the mandatory helmet law are a waste of brains, time, and money. ie:'A bunch of people championing their right to be a wombat.'

Posted by: Randle at June 10, 2006 05:03 AM

you are ignorant. have you even studied the subject? im only 24 and know of of the facts than you.granted it has been a major part of my enviorment. please educate your self befor you make a stand agenst somthing

Posted by: john smith at June 11, 2006 12:04 AM

Mr. Kiley,

Just when I was beginning to think that BusinessWeek was a reasonable portal for good reporting they actually had the audacity to publish the kind of rubbish your obviously un-researched and uninformed article of June 7th about the Michigan helmet law. Idiots do rejoice. Count yourself among them.

You in the opposition media always fall back on the worst-case scenarios to demonstrate why the minority should rule the majority. You don’t have the courage to report on the millions upon millions of safely traveled miles of motorcycles just as you don’t have the courage to report on the billions upon billions of safely traveled auto miles. You have to sensationalize the worst to grab the headlines so your publication can make money. Responsible reporting is extinct. That is all to obvious.

Being a admitted non-rider, you have no clue as to the dangers and pressures of riding. You also don’t have a clue about the pleasures of being in the wind. Your ill-informed tact taken by your June 7th article illustrates that in spades.

While the numbers used are AAA numbers (AAA has never been motorcycle friendly), all they illustrate are numbers of accidents and deaths. That’s all they show. They don’t show all the miles traveled safely. They also don’t show numbers of accidents/deaths per registered motorcycle. Because the numbers of motorcycle registrations have been going up, the accidents per registered vehicle has remained fairly constant. The revision (NOT repeal) of the law would ONLY give adults the choice. You act as if nobody will wear a helmet after this is allowed to become law. That assumption (and what your predictions assert) is totally false. Many will continue to wear helmets by choice. Best estimates are 70 – 75% will still wear helmets by choice. Perhaps more. My Significant Other among them.

While your claim of legislators having other things more important than this bill may have some merit, they are responding to constituents concerns. Is that not the task of elected officials? Important by Who’s opinion? Bills of little importance in the grand scheme of things are debated and worked on at length in every legislative house in every state of the union including Washington DC on a daily basis. I consider that argument moot at best.

Your point about the noise some motorcycles make (you would classify mine among them) is a common misconception among non-riders. Over 75% of multi-vehicle accidents involving motorcycles are the fault of the auto driver NOT the motorcycle. These accidents are generally the auto impeding on the right-of-way of the motorcycle – merging or changing lanes into our road space, making left turns into oncoming motorcycles, not realizing a motorcycle is between them and the car in front of the motorcycle, etc., etc.. Loud pipes are another TOOL motorcyclists use to try to make auto drivers AWARE of us. While a small percentage make their bikes loud just to be loud, the purpose is awareness in traffic.

We on motorcycles are vulnerable on the roadways. We are exposed. Anything we can do to increase awareness so we can AVOID the accident – which saves all involved both injury and money. Granted, motorist awareness reduces the headlines and the “see, I told you so” articles, it increases safety and enjoyment for all.

One other thing you seem to not have any concept of is the potential increase in tourism dollars that passage of this bill will either KEEP in Michigan or DRAW INTO Michigan due to the change in this law. An independent research firm states that this change would generate $461 Million in direct new sales within Michigan, an additional $54 Million in direct tourism dollars, an estimated 1,500 directly related new jobs for the state and an astonishing $1.5 Billion (yep, with a total revenue into Michigan coffers. Being a BusinessWeek columnist, while researching this article, it would seem to me researching BOTH SIDES would be a matter of course. Not so in this case it seems.

I know BusinessWeek won’t have the courage to publish this response to your lop-sided, ill-conceived rant, but I felt a response to your rubbish was absolutely necessary. I suggest you really try to get out more and balance your reporting by allowing both sides into your writing. I know that is a pipe dream, but I can still hold out hope that true journalism is out there somewhere.

Respectfully,
One of the Idiots you claim are rejoicing,
Jim Pierson
mystc@bikerheaven.org

Posted by: Jim Pierson at June 11, 2006 09:52 AM

{Please insert Roethlisberger comment/joke here.}

Posted by: Renegade at June 13, 2006 02:07 PM

I don't know why you would doubt that I'd run your comment Mr. Pierson. It's a good and thoughtful comment.

I happen to think that a few nanny laws are correct for our society---seatbelts, mandatory child seats for kids of a certain age and size and motorcycle helmets.

I have to say, though, that your assertion that very loud exhaust notes is a TOOL for motorcyclists to let cars know they are around sounds like a nutty reach. And even if it IS true, it is a terrible trade-off. Why should I, in my yard 500 yeards away from a street, be forced to hear a motorcycle exhaust as if it was in my own driveway. Ever hear of noise pollution?

And as far as accidents being caused by motorists...that's tough to take seriously when I have, over the course of my life, seen countless motorcycle riders weaving in and out of cars in a traffic jam or within slow moving traffic rather than taking their rightful place in line.

Truthfully, I would love to ride sometime. It is a romantic past-time, I imagine. Just ask Ben Rothlesberger.

Posted by: Kiley at June 13, 2006 02:41 PM

I find it comical that the same people who are so fearful of getting creamed by a car that they defend an after-market exhaust I can hear a half-mile away are also the people defending not wearing a helmet.

If you have nothing to fear without a helmet, why worry if a car creams you?

Why a helmet law? Because some people just need to be protected from their own stupidity. Just ask Ben Rothlesberger.

Posted by: kiley at June 13, 2006 02:47 PM

David, what were you thinking when you posted such an assinine commentary. Most motorcyclist ride motorcycles which are valued in excess of $20,000.00 and have more that enough insurance coverage. Small business owners would flourish in and around border towns, tourism would greatly improve, all would benifit from the repeal.

Every state which surrounds Michigan has repealed the helmet law. Of couse, the accident/injury/death rate has increased but the number of riders and vistors has also increased three fold. Have you looked at the price of gas lately? ALot more people are riding motorcycles as a primary mode of transportation.

As far as the Ben Rothlesberger comment...He broke his jaw not his head. A helmet would not have protected his jaw, but more than likely would have broken his neck.

Posted by: Mac McCracken at June 13, 2006 04:49 PM

It seems that the loud pipe exception applies only to Harley Davidson and other fat bikes. Riders of Japanese bikes i.e pocket rocket don't get this pass by the police.

BTW I used to ride until I ran over a small dog at 20mph. Fortunately I was wearing my full gear (helmet, jacket and gloves in 100 Phoenix, AZ weather) and came out almost unscathe after fish tailing and sliding a few feet. At any speed the asphalt will eat your skin and anything else griding on it. The helmet saved my face from a nasty, likely disfiguring wounds. It was uncomfortable wearing all that safety gear under the hot desert sun, but it was definitely worth it.

In short, just do the right thing so you don't have to say "I shoulda" later.


Posted by: lolite at June 13, 2006 07:26 PM

After reading some of the comments by people who support riding without a helmet, and realizing that their comments were rife with grammatical errors and misspellings, it seems that if they damage their brains, it won't be a great loss...

Posted by: Steve at June 13, 2006 08:15 PM

Open Letter To Michigan Governor Setting Forth Motorcyclist Safety Position of Motorcyclists Against Dumb Drivers In Support of Helmet Law Repeal.

Dear Governor Granholm,

I am writing on behalf of Motorcyclists Against Dumb Drivers which does not have as its mission the repeal of helmet laws. We are an organization the mission of which is solely to improve motorcyclist safety. Unfortunately, in our safety mission we find that politicians claiming to be concerned about motorcyclist safety seize upon helmet laws as a way to appear to be doing something for motorcyclists when in fact, any contribution to the reduction of motorcyclist injury and death is so minimal as to be essentially unproductive, indeed it is counterproductive as it deflects attention from the real motorcycle safety issues. The political tradition of pretending to solve what is certainly a very important public health issue, this obscene incidence motorcycle accidents and the consequent panoply of catastrophic motorcyclist injuries, by myopically and paternalistically focusing on what motorcyclists wear is nothing more than political contrivance. And what we are concerned about is that while politicians continue to so dishonestly focus on what is not the problem, the real solutions to the real problems are ignored, with the effect that motorcyclists continue to be maimed and killed on our streets and highways indeed in obscene numbers.

The first thing you need to understand is that this public health crisis faced by your state and every other state is much broader than very limited number of deaths which arguably might be avoided by the use of helmets. It is purely political that those who seek helmet laws or resist the repeal of helmet laws focus solely on death statistics. The fact is that motorcyclists suffer every kind of catastrophic injury in motorcycle accidents. They suffer catastrophic internal injuries, injuries which both result in death statistics and those which leave the motorcyclist's health impaired for the remainder of his life. They suffer quadriplegia and paraplegia and other spinal cord injuries which ruin their lives, often confined to convalescent centers, or requiring full time or part time professional nursing assistance. Motorcyclists suffer limb injuries often requiring limb amputation or catastrophic orthopedic injuries which render them unable to continue in their professions as productive members of our society. This broad landscape of catastrophic motorcyclist injury is what defines both your state's public health crisis and the state fiscal impact of caring for these men and women whose often substantial life long medical expense is almost universally uncompensated by the underinsured and usually impecunious auto drivers who by their inattention and negligence cause the majority of the accidents and consequent injuries.

These are the real public health and substantial fiscal issues faced by your state. The death statistics relied upon my those who urge helmet laws are misleading first of all because death can occur as the result of motorcycle accidents for many reasons other than head injury, including most obviously, internal injury, or delayed death or the shortening of one's life expectancy as with motorcyclists who are rendered quadriplegic. The death statistics are also often misrepresented. For example, often quoted are the statistics which focus on the number of motorcyclist deaths rising after the repeal of helmet legislation. But those statistics often fail to account for such variables as the recent steep rise in motorcycle registrations, particularly in the last several years, and the likelihood that this implies that there are a greater number of novice or less experienced motorcyclists who are getting into accidents, suffering the panoply of catastrophic injury, and contributing to the death statistics. In addition, those who report these death statistics, which are truly just unanalyzed compilations of selected raw data, apparently have no interest in discovering whether any of these deaths actually resulted from the motorcyclist's failure to wear a helmet. As noted, these deaths can occur from any of a dozen causes unrelated to head injury. Even with those deaths in which the motorcyclist suffered a head injury, none of those who have compiled these data have followed through to obtain the death and autopsy reports to determine, first of all, to what extent the brain damage could have been prevented by a helmet, and second, to determine whether the motorcyclist suffered internal or other catastrophic injury which likely would have resulted in his life long disability, death or foreshortened life expectancy regardless of his helmet use. Even with regard to deaths among motorcyclists who were not wearing helmets, you need to realize that helmets only serve to reduce the incidence of brain injury and death for impacts of less than 15 miles per hour. In almost every accident in which a death is reported, there is also serious or catastrophic injury quite apart from brain injury which are not accounted for by simply listing the selected raw data on deaths in helmeted riders and those who chose not to wear helmets. There are many more deficiencies in these studies which I would be pleased to discuss with you if you would permit me to speak with you or your staff. But suffice it to say that the death statistics which are so commonly cited are not compiled according to the scientific method, nor are they subjected to statistical analysis, and any legitimate scientist would tell you that as the result of their methodologically errors they unfortunately provide no meaningful information even on the narrow issue whether or to what extent helmets may reduce the incidence of motorcyclist death.

The only way to solve your true public health crisis, which can be accurately measure only by examining the full panoply of catastrophic motorcyclist injury, and motorcyclist death from all medical causes, is by reducing the incidence of motorcycle accidents. If we can reduce the incidence of motorcycle accidents then we can reduce the incidence of every category of catastrophic motorcyclist injury, and among helmeted riders and unhelmeted riders alike.

This is not an unattainable goal. Indeed, it is a goal that hasn't been achieved only because politicians have failed to seize the opportunity to provide the obvious solutions, choosing instead to mislead the public that dictating what motorcyclists wear is the solution.

The first thing you need to understand is that fully two-thirds of all multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents are the result of auto driver inattention and negligence, without any fault on the part of the motorcyclist. There is no controversy about this. Every study confirms this. (The remaining one-third are the result of motorcyclist negligence or the combination of motorcyclist and auto driver negligence.)

Most of that overwhelming percentage of motorcycle accidents caused by auto driver negligence, results from motorist inattention while entering intersections or turning left at intersections into the motorcyclist's right of way. Again there is no controversy about this.

These facts, unfortunately, are excluded from the motorcycle safety debate as politicians scream hysterically about the need to dictate what bikers wear. Most politicians are in our opinion shortsighted in concluding that there is no political advantage of actually doing something to reduce the incidence of this largest category of precipitant for motorcycle accidents. If confronted by their failures to address the broader safety issue, some, whose staff's prepare a political response, will say that these intersection accidents are the "unavoidable" consequence of the motorcycle's "lack of conspicuity." And they can find support for this false proposition in an unfortunate phrase culled from the first large motorcycle accident survey by Harry Hurt. But it is indeed unfortunate that this phrase has been so oft repeated without critical analysis by those who have political agendas other than to actually reduce the incidence of motorcyclist injury. An additional problem is that the phrase "lack of conspicuity" is actually a term of art which has been mistaken by policy makers and used to advantage by politicians to suggest that intersection motorcycle accidents are the result of the reduced "visibility" impugned to the motorcycle's smaller size. Putting aside the misunderstanding and misrepresentation, the fact is that motorcycles are just as "visible" as cars at the short distance at which a car entering an intersection or turning left at an intersection would pose a threat to the motorcyclist. Motorcycles can stop very quickly and take evasive action much more nimbly than cars so when a car entering an intersection or turning left in front of a motorcyclist causes an accident, the car must turn directly in front of the oncoming motorcycle. Furthermore, since the Harry Hurt study, motorcycle manufacturers uniformly equip their motorcycles with head lamps which turn on at ignition and remain on day and night, so it is likely that oncoming motorcycles are in truth more obvious in the visual field of an auto driver when he enters or turns left at an intersection.

The etiology of intersection motorcycle accidents does not derive from the motorcycle's smaller size; rather, the reason why auto drivers don't "see" motorcycles is a function of what is described in the scientific literature as "inattentional blindness." This is a body of literature which analyzes why people don't see what is readily apparent in their visual field. There are half a dozen factors which are identified in the literature, and again if you would permit me to speak to you or one of your staff I could explain my understanding of the relevant literature or provide references for you and your staff to consider. One of the factors which I have concluded is probably the most potent in leading auto drivers to fail to consciously attend to motorcyclists in their visual field is "relevance." One gross aspect of the lack of "relevance" many auto drivers attribute to motorcycles is derived fro the auto driver's perception that motorcycles don't pose a risk to them in the same way that an oncoming car, truck or bus would pose a risk to them when entering an intersection or turning left into the path of one of these larger vehicles. There are solutions specific to modifying that aspect of "relevance" including by specific conscious task oriented auto driver education, discussed below. In addition, the auto driver's perception of the "relevance" of motorcycles can be enhanced by penalty legislation, for example, by providing for drivers license suspensions or potential jail terms for reckless inattention which results in serious motorcyclist injury or death.

I've been told that many politicians might find such penalty legislation "politically unacceptable," as it calls for imposing upon the majority for the benefit of a vulnerable minority; but this public health crisis truly affects us all, including by the fiscal impact upon the state and all of the citizenry associated with this obscene incidence of the panoply of catastrophic motorcyclist injury caused by auto driver inattention.

But accepting that politicians must be sensitive to undermining their majority political base, a substantially less effective solution, although a good step in the right direction would be general penalty legislation for any serious injury resulting from reckless inattentive driving, if combined with a well funded public relations campaign specifically focusing upon the vulnerability of motorcyclists to serious injury, perhaps combined with photographs or film of a motorcyclist being carted off to an ambulance and the auto driver being carted off to jail.

I haven't yet touched upon what we consider to be the centerpiece of our proposal for effectively reducing the incidence of motorcycle accidents and hence for reducing all manner of motorcycle injury. Before I do that permit me to describe some the secondary contributory factors to the two-thirds of motorcycle accidents resulting from auto driver negligence.

As noted above, the majority result from auto driver inattention at intersections. Other factors include lane change accidents and rear end accidents. When an auto driver turns into a motorcyclist riding or passing in an adjoining lane it is commonly because the auto driver doesn't know that his rear view mirrors have holes in them large enough to obscure a motorcyclist in an adjoining lane of traffic. The auto driver doesn't appreciate that he needs to turn his head into his rear view blind spot to look for a motorcyclist riding or passing in the adjoining lane. Motorcycle rear-end accidents occur both as the result of inattentional blindness, including the sub-issue of "relevance" discussed above, and because auto drivers simply do not realize that motorcycles can stop much more quickly than cars so that they need to provide a greater distance when following a motorcycle.

Now, to the real solution to your public health crisis, because the real solution is one readily within the powers of the Governor. Lets first make plain the real problem. The problem is auto driver ignorance of motorcycle safety issues, and in particular, auto driver ignorance of the motorcycle accident avoidance strategies which they must employ for the protection of their vulnerable two-wheeled brethren.

The solution to ignorance is education. Specifically mandatory auto driver education on motorcycle safety issues and motorcycle accident avoidance strategies. First, modify your auto driver education booklets and written materials to include comprehensive information on motorcycle safety issues and motorcycle accident avoidance strategies. Second, include in the written tests which your auto drivers must take to obtain and renew their drivers licenses again a comprehensive list of motorcycle safety questions. Third, because of the singular importance of assuring that auto drivers fully appreciate their responsibilities to avoid endangering vulnerable motorcyclists, adopt a policy to deny driving privileges to any auto driver who fails to answer correctly even one motorcycle safety question.

This same type of information and testing process should be included in all other auto driver safety programs, including, for example, state auto driver education and instructional materials, the written materials provided in connection with driving schools, including those attended by drivers as an alternative to paying traffic violation fines, as well as every other curriculum for your state's auto drivers, such as those required of individuals convicted of DUI or other serious driving offenses.

I would be pleased to consult with your staff or Department of Motor Vehicles staff in developing appropriate motorcycle safety information materials and motorcycle test questions. Obviously, I would be pleased to do this without charge. I have some specific recommendations which might not be obvious to others, which are derived from my research in this subject matter. For example, since inattentional blindness is an "unconscious" phenomenon, it is necessary to provide auto drivers a specific conscious task to perform when engaging in the behaviors during which they pose a risk to motorcyclists. Just for the purpose of example, auto drivers might be informed that the speed of oncoming motorcycles is more difficult to gauge, and so they need to take the time specifically to assess the speed of an oncoming motorcycle before entering an intersection or turning left at an intersection when a motorcycle is within the visual field. It might appear "common sense" that the auto driver has to "see" the motorcycle before he can engage in a conscious task with respect to the motorcycle. But that is not accurate. When one has a conscious task to perform specific to a particular object in the visual field, in this case oncoming motorcycles, this actually has the effect to raise to conscious attention the object in the visual field upon which the task must be performed.

Bank robber Willie Sutton was once asked why he robbed banks. Mr. Sutton responded, "Because that's where the money is."

Those who focus on helmet legislation are robbing convenience stores, or to put it more plainly "convenient stores." There is no real "money" in convenience stores. It is not the scientific evidence that meaningful reduction in the incidence of the panoply of accident related motorcyclist injury can be achieved by helmet legislation, as politically "convenient" as it may be for politicians to pretend, in speeches to the majority, that they are doing something for the protection of our vulnerable minority, by paternalistically dictating what the minority should wear.

Your state "bank" is bulging at the seams with the caskets of dead bikers and gurneys filled with those who have been rendered catastrophically paralyzed, amputated, orthopedically wrecked, and disabled as the result of motorcycle accidents caused by the inattention and negligence of auto drivers.

If you veto the helmet repeal bill, all you will do is guarantee that this issue remains the focus of our legislative efforts in perpetuity, because our good freedom fighters will never give up their good fight for our personal dignity and our right to chose. By failing to take this unproductive helmet law debate off the table, by vetoing your legislatures bill to strike your helmet law, you will also tragically make it impossible for those of us concerned about the broader and much more important motorcycle safety issues to bring about a debate on the real motorcycle safety issues, and obtain real solutions to your real public health and real state fiscal realities.

Please, for the sake of your state's motorcycling community, show us that you are not just a political Governor, but a governor who actually cares about this peculiarly vulnerable minority of your citizenry and refrain from perpetuating the helmet debate with a veto of your good legislature's helmet law repeal. And then, let us turn to your real public health issues and work together to achieve the true solutions.

Thank you for your consideration, and if I can be of any further assistance in the above regard, please do not hesitate to contact me.

"M-A-D-D Ray" Henke
Motorcyclists Against Dumb Drivers
http://www.motorcyclists-against-dumb-drivers.com

Posted by: Ray Henke at June 14, 2006 05:48 AM

What a Whole lot of blah blah. I live in Michigan and have been riding for 18 years. I would like the choice of wearing a helmet or not; just like my fellow riders in 31 states across our great country. Why is it that some stuffed shirt, republican or democrat, (I am a republican), who does not even ride thinks that he can make an informed decision on this issue?? We have so many busy bodies out there that want to restrict what we can see on television, because they have the inability to make a logical decision to CHANGE THE CHANNEL. Now people want KFC to show people that they use bad oil. DON'T EAT THERE!!!! IT IS FAST FOOD!!!!! Go somewhere else. How about a restraunt that has a NO SCREAMING CHILD BECAUSE OF BAD PARENTING SECTION!!!!!
If you do not like that our elected reps have SPOKEN FOR THE PEOPLE, then don't ride. Just don't limit my ability to make a choice. My one regret is that I wasted 60 seconds of my life reading your comment about the law. It really hurts to know that I fought in the Military for RIGHT TO BE WRONG!!!!!!

Posted by: Joshua at June 14, 2006 02:11 PM

"Motorcycles beware, cars are EVERYWHERE!"





Posted by: Oblio at June 14, 2006 03:53 PM

I'm an avid biker - have been for over 35 years. However, I do not consider the selfish and illogical bikers who promote riding without a helmet as part of my group.

Pure and simple, every statistic ever published clearly shows a direct cause and effect between riding without a helmet, and increased fatalities and serious head injuries. Bluntly, there is absolutely no data whatsoever to support their position - other than their patently selfish proclamations of "Freedom".

As a retired Military Officer, I take great exception that individuals would improperly assume that what I served for was to defend their "right" to be stupid, and to inflict the ramifications of their selfish behavior on the rest of us.

For all of you out there who insist that helmets should be a "choice", GROW UP!

Posted by: WinPit at June 16, 2006 09:35 AM

I can't believe I'm taking the time to comment on this "idiot's" article. You just worry about shining your BMW, and ironing your shirts. Does the sound of thunder bother you? It should! I make myself heard, so idiots like you talking on your cell phone and weaving in and out of traffic will see me. Mr. Kiley, I think you should permanently wear a helmet considering the only thing occupying your skull is hot air. Protect that air! Watch out for the flying ball bearings after you cut off a biker, "expletive deleted"!

Whitie PREJUDGED MOTORCYCLE CLUB MICHIGAN

Posted by: WHITIE PREJUDGED M/C MICHIGAN at June 16, 2006 05:48 PM

It's about time Michigan and all states wake up. Motorcycles are dangerous, and requiring helmet usage does not change that fact.
ABATE of MI is a biker organization currently supporting free choice, however this choice is not for the benefit of law abiding citizentry. The majority of ABATE of MI board members are also members of the OUTLAWS M/C. The Outlaws are a gang whose members are drug trafficers, wanted for child molestation, illegal guns, some are wanted for child pornography and some are wanted as "killers for hire". These are DOMESTIC TERRORISTS. And they have infiltrated both state and local governments by becoming political party delegates and lobbing canidates for both parties.
These criminals have a greater adgenda than repealing the mandatory helmet law.
I think its time our lawmakers finally get their heads out of the sand and not only ignore any helmet repeals, but actually pass laws that would eliminate motorcycles altogether. Insurance companies could raise their rates to extreme levels, local comunities could ban cycles within the same distance parameters as with street drugs. Localities could start by banning cycles from residential areas as well as community parks. Banks could put up restrictions to prevent bikers from using drive-up ATM's. Cities like Royal Oak could ban Bike Nights. Local laws and fines enacted to reduce noise level and congestion, and reducing the exhaust pollution caused by these murdercycles could increase the police budgets.
The state needs to stop funding terrorist training. Michigan subsidizes education for cycle driver education. It does not use taxpayer dollars to fund auto driver education. Why are bikers above the law? This state has for years had "No Fault" insurance. Yet cycle riders have been exempt from this requirement. Why haven't the police ticketed bikers for noncompliance to seatbelt requirements? In this state two cars are prohibited from driving two abreast in one lane, yet bikers are never stopped from this dangerous behaviour. Why aren't bikers required to carry the same insurance liability coverage as automobile drivers? Studies have shown that at least 73% of bikers don't have their bikes legaley insured. Why do the taxpayers in MI need to pay for their medical coverage? Why aren't bikers pulled over in sobriety check lanes? Insurance studies have shown that there are at least three times as many bikers that have blood alchol levels higher than allowed compared to other motorists. No one seems to care about the dangerous levels of drugs in their bloodstream.
Why do we allow bikers to drive at unsafe speeds while the rest of the motoring public must obey the safe limits.
Michigan needs to get rid of terrorists, and not laws that protect the innocent.

Posted by: Joe Klemmer PHD at June 16, 2006 08:46 PM

Heh, why in the world someone has this guy, who doesn't even ride or know what he's talking about write a article about this subject is beyond me. Of course if you go by AAA's or any of the 'coalition for helmet law' stats, it will be a biased horror story showing the worst case scenario and theories. however there are states that do not have helemt laws, and guess what? what they're saying just isn't true. fatalities do not go up like they claim, costs do not go through the roof like they claim, and many people even in those states still choose to wear the helmet. Also a side note, refrain from calling us all idiots and greasers or asking if we have health insurance...come on...We're lawyers, we're movie stars, we're politicians, we make the full spectrum of wages and we live the full spectrums of lives, just like any cager. Some motorcycles have price tags of well over 100K, and we buy them up like candy. Don't make the mistake of thinking cagers are somehow higher society than us. If Gramholm, vetoes, we won't have to worry about her doing it again when we pass it next time, cause she won't be our governor, plain and simple.

Posted by: Foghog at June 17, 2006 03:49 PM

Freedom, freedom to choose....if I choose to ride without a helmet and get killed....well it was my stupid choice....now what if I get killed wearing a brain bucket....still my choice....keep the darn government out of my life Iam an adult living in the USA I don't need or want the government running my choices...

Posted by: Penny at June 18, 2006 03:48 PM

Maybe if Mr. Rothlisberger's bike had a nice set of LOUD thunder headers or something of the like, the driver of the car would have heard him and not made a left hand turn in front of an oncoming motorcycle. As well, the average motorcycle helmet does not protect the jaw-line nor nose areas.

Posted by: Missy at June 18, 2006 10:53 PM

yada yada yada

Posted by: kiley at June 20, 2006 01:43 PM

I cant believe it either. What you said is moronic.

Posted by: kiley at June 20, 2006 01:47 PM

Let those who ride decide, I have been riding for 42 years, I wear my helmet, but at least give us the choice.... Most bikers carry more insurance than they need on their machines..

Why don't school children have to wear seatbelts on their bus, talk about stupid....

Posted by: Jon Osborn at June 21, 2006 05:41 PM

OK, now I know I am not alone with the thoughts I have concerning the helmet repeal. All the talk about costs going up, brains being bashed on the pavement, insurance rates increasing, cagers being required to pull money out of their pockets for victims of bike crashes.
It's true folks, many riders will still wear a helmet. I know many of them. The opinions made by those who do not ride astound me. It's like me giving my opinion on baseball, football or golf.
I face it that I know nothing about certain things in life so I have nothing of any value to add to them.
Why would I want to look like a stupid ass anyway?
I've written many responses to this topic and I realize time is running short for the repeal to become any type of reality. I'm saddened by hearing so many down grading remarks about those who ride too. Doesn't any of those people notice how bad some people drive automobiles? Don't they hear of accidents every day? Who pays for those uninsured motorists? How about those who don't even have a drivers license or insurance?
Most motorcycles cost more than some of the cars on the roads, maybe even more than some people's homes. I know mine wasn't cheap and I take care of it and I insure it too.
We generally all have jobs and many of us also contribute much of our time and money to benefits for those who need some help in life.
Not only are there those who speak of bikes in general who know nothing about them but they also criticise the people who ride them. I've met more decent people on two wheels than I ever did who drive on four.
And this includes the M/C riders too. And guess what? They actually have love for one another and take their brotherhood seriously. Try hugging another cager and you'll probably get punched.
Stay out of my back yard people and I'll stay out of yours. This does not concern any of you but somehow you think you need to step to the front and pretend you know something about it.
As for those who do ride and still wish to pronounce that this issue is ignorant, you can remain wearing your helmets so you don't really have anything of value to add either. When all people on our roads realize that is their actions they take while driving or riding that matters most, maybe then we will no longer need to worry about injuries to ourselves and others. Hence, mandatory seatbelt usage and helmet useage will not have to be mandated any more.
One thing I do notice while riding helmetless in Ohio is that the people there are treated as adults. Their parks don't need railings over cross walks, they can use fire works and you can ride free. Why must Michigan residents be treated like children?

Posted by: Tuch at June 22, 2006 12:34 PM

Mr. Kiley, Talk only about what you know from experience. Hand wringing won't do any good. Only brings you stress..

Posted by: David Bradley at July 3, 2006 06:49 PM

I have been riding for four years. I wear a helmet sometimes and sometimes I don't. The real issue is choice. I made a decision 6 years ago to be right with God through His Son Jesus, who died for our sins.Made a choice to be right with God. Real simple, not religion but relationship. If I die on my motorcycle helmet or not, I know it is well with my soul that I made the best choice.
A FREE GIFT FROM GOD!!! HIS SON
JESUS!!!

Posted by: andrew runyard at July 10, 2006 06:59 PM

Unlike Mr. Kiley, I do ride. I am also a physician in Michigan and have written every member of the State House Transportation Committee and Gov. Granholm to veto SB 297 (that is I support the mandatory helmet laws). I am happy, both personally and professionally, that Gov Granholm vetoed this stupid bill.

The opponents of mandatory helmet laws frequently site the same, flawed studies claiming that helmets don't save lives, reduce injuries, or in fact increase them. The overwhelming body of evidence directly supports the efficacy of helmets. Many studies compare the fatality rates and injury rates before and after a change in a given state's helmet law (e.g. California, Kentucky, Louisana). Like the rest of the substantial mountain of evidence, death rates and injury rates drop in states when helmets are required and rise in states where helmets are made optional (adjusting for miles driven, number of registrations, etc).

To those who think that helmets don't increase saftey or even more dangerous than going without, think about this: ever notice that Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher, Jeremy McGrath, etc. are all wearing helmets? Every professional race car drive and motorcycle driver wears a helmet. Don't you think that their governing bodies would eliminate the helmets if they didn't increase safety of were even more dangerous that going without?

Posted by: Jame Chang at August 12, 2006 05:07 PM

In response to one of the postings discussing the ABATE board and the Motorcycle Club "The Outlaws", to group all motorcycle clubs into the category of lawless and criminal is idiotic in itself. Would you say that the "Band of Brothers" Motorcycle club is made up of criminals? How about the multitude of Christian bike clubs? You state that we should ban motorcycles and bike nights among others. I am sure the US workers employed by the bike manufactures would love to support a bill like that. In addition the bike nights that occur all over the country generate a huge amount of revenue, which this state needs. There is another comment in your response which states that motorcyclists are not required to carry as much liability insurance as automobile drivers are, I'm not sure what insurance company you looked into but my insurance has both liability as well as a requirement for me to carry additional medical coverage if I did not have a comprehensive medical plan. As far as 73% of motorcyclists not having legal insurance, is asinine as well, finance companies require a motorcycle to be insured just as car companies do and with the cost of motorcycles I know very few people who pay cash for them when they cost anywhere from 5,000 to 40,000 dollars.
Motorcycling is a recreational sport that we have the freedom to participate in, just like backyard football and downhill skiing, both of which contribute to emergency room visits as well. Should we all just go to work daily, go home, and sit in our houses so that no one is injured?
I believe riders should have an option but knowing how much my insurance will increase without the helmet law, I would prefer we keep it.


Posted by: J Oswald at August 17, 2006 12:50 PM

I have seen many crashes. One I remember a cyclest was curled up like a rag doll or pretzel on a 3 lane highway. His helmet was smashed into a thousand piceses. I steped over the body asuming he was dead. Five moments later the paramedics had him strightened out and talking. I saw a amazed. If he had not had a helmet on. It would have been his head smashed on the pavement instead of his helmet. I was glad he lived because of his helmet.

Posted by: John McKimmy at August 18, 2006 10:45 AM

I disagree I believe people no matter what age should wear helmets because you never know when your gonna go and if your on a motorcycle maybe if your wearing a helmet you'll prevent death. And i know you'll regret when it happens to you or a loved one.

Posted by: Rachel at August 28, 2006 06:02 PM

Mr. Kiley,

As a person that would truley enjoy riding my motorcycle without a helmet, let me put this into perspective for you.

Judging from your picture, you sir are eating in a manner that is causing you to be over weight. It would also appear that you are not getting the propper amount of exercise. Statistically, over weight people that do not exercise are at a far greater risk of ailments and disease that will kill you. Not to mention that these ailments will drive up our collective cost of health insurance.

With your logic, you should support legislation mandating that people eat only healthy foods, in the appropriate portions and exercise daily.

Statistically, there are far more people dieing from disease and conditions related to these problems then there are people dieing from not wearing helmets on motorcycles. If you do not support this type of legislation, by your logic, you are an idiot. Really, look at all those lifes you could save, including your own. You know that you are eating recklessly - cant you see that?

The problem in this country is that everyone thinks we live in a democracy. Because most think this, we in effect do live in a democracy. Our fore fathers established a constitutionally limited republic, not a democracy. Would like to live in a democracy of 9 canibals and yourself? We should have individual rights, choice and yes responsibilities in this country.

If it costs the insurance company more because I do not wear a helmet - how about them charging me more. This plan eliminates your whining about me costing you money. I don't want to cost anyone a nickel. Just give me the freedom to do what I want and I will pay the bill.

It is unfortunate that this is no longer possible in this this republic that has truley turned into a democracy.

You can have no individual rights in a democracy. Be careful, when the masses decide to vote, there is no telling what they will save us from next.

Sir, please read the constitution and explain to me why it is illegal for me to drive my motorcycle without a helmet. The law is simply unconstitional - you just cant find judges and legislators with the guts to preserve our rights.

Posted by: Mike Davidge at August 29, 2006 11:54 AM

Sep 27, 2006

http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=3706

Uneasy rider

By Geoff McMaster, ExpressNews Staff

Kate Sutherland

January 16, 2003 - In her life as an academic, Kate Sutherland's identity is relatively transparent. She fulfills certain expectations people have of her role as an instructor, and there is only so much room for ambiguity.

But when she slips into her leathers and pulls on her motorcycle helmet, all of that changes. She's often mistaken for a teenage boy--and she revels in the misconception. It's like putting on a disguise, she says, and the feeling is liberating.

"No one knows where to put me," says the professor of English from University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops, B.C. "I like the cloak of invisibility."

While she enjoys being 'invisible' as a rider, what interests Sutherland most as a scholar is that which is most visible in our culture--sexual stereotypes, and images and icons of power--especially as they relate to motorcycle culture.

In a talk Wednesday entitled Riding Bitch: The Uneasy Ride of a Chick on a Bike, part of the University of Alberta English Department's Culture on the Edge visiting speaker series, Sutherland spoke about the contradictory ways in which women are defined in motorcycle culture. (A 'riding bitch,' incidentally, is anyone, male or female, who rides on the rear seat of a bike.)

At times, she says, the culture defines women as subservient, as ornamental trophies paraded on the back of a Harley. In one biker's ritual, especially among Harley riders, women are expected to show their breasts on demand. Sutherland says it happened once to her at a gathering of motorcyclists; she politely declined.

But if a woman has her own bike, says Sutherland, she is often accorded far more respect. "In my own experience, women have been incredibly supportive of my riding," she says.

In order to tease out the implications of woman as an ornament, however, Sutherland examined the history of hood ornaments on mid-twentieth century cars, and nose art on aircraft, both showing bare-breasted female figures evolved from the figureheads of old ships.

Sutherland noted that the ship's figurehead was derived from the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Greek sculpture depicting a very powerful goddess of victory. The figurehead and its descendants, therefore, which remove the legs of the original goddess, are attempts to tame a powerful female sexuality, says Sutherland. And there, in a nutshell, is the complicated relationship between man and machine.

In fact the desire for speed itself, says Sutherland with reference to a prominent theorist on the subject, is really an attempt to reconnect with the mother.

Heady stuff, to say the least. And she admits to being slightly apprehensive when she considered these topics for a new course she is teaching called Motorcycles, Speed and Literature. On day one, she found herself face-to-face with a mostly male class, many of them mature students, "and they all love, love, love riding," she says.

"It's a real contrast with my Indian literature class," she says, "which has all these eggheads who want to read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses--the pure English major types. (In the motorcycle class) I have these guys who want to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."

Perhaps the toughest moment so far, she says, was when the class had to discuss the motorcycle gang initiation ritual of rape.

"What I learned is that, ultimately, the class is very receptive to tough topics," she says. "There might be some resistance initially, but it's a matter of how you approach the subject. If you encourage them to be forthcoming about it and solicit their reaction to the material first, rather than coming in and saying, 'This is how I see it'…then they are not so defensive."

And there is, of course, the added convenience that, for this class, anything is cool by association with motorcycles. Take, for example, a feminist text called The Perfect Rider by a female motorcycle enthusiast and academic. "It's a feminist text, but they all really liked it. They feel, she knows how to work on her own motorcycle, so she's gotta be okay," says Sutherland.

Sutherland's lecture was the first in the Culture on the Edge series. Next week, U of C film studies professor Maurice Yacowar will speak on the television series The Sopranos at noon in HCL-3.
Related link – internal

The U of A Department of English Web site:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~englishd/ENGHOME1.HTM

http://smgct.typepad.com/spinning/2006/04/...ction_of_b.html

LITERATURE: Joyce's Portrait... - Colloquialisms

April 30, 2006
REALITY?: Of Birds, Shirts and Motorcycles
Beautiful day today. A good day. The cardinals have forgiven me for my sad neglect of them and have returned to the feeder within an hour of my filling it. The outdoors calls to my heart but I respond to the practical side that decides indoors work must be finished first. I iron, iron, and iron and may be done some time tomorrow early morning. But it will feel so good to be caught up.

Ironing, listening for two, three minutes to motorcycles rumbling by our long winding rural road. I look out the window, curious now, and count seventy-two more come by. Sometimes I wish I'd kept and learned to ride the motorcycle I bought years ago. Instead, I gave it up after riding twenty feet and flopping over in the driveway just like Laugh In's Arte Johnson on his tricycle.

http://www.wildlandscpr.org/resourcelibrar...ikingreport.htm


Ecological Impacts of Mountain Biking: A Critical Literature Review

Author: Jason Lathrop (Missoula, MT, 406-327-1501)
Prepared for Wildlands CPR through the University of Montana's Environmental Studies Scientific Approaches to Environmental Problems



Introduction
In the post-World War II period, public interest in outdoor recreation has grown steadily. As affluence and leisure time have increased, use of public lands for recreation has risen steadily, often exceeding 10% annual growth rates through the 1960s (Knight, 1995). Today, in many areas, intensive activity by recreational users, not industrial enterprise, poses the chief challenge for land managers and activists (Knight, 1995).

In recent years, participation in some recreational pursuits has grown at a much faster rate than others. Mountain biking, in particular, has expanded rapidly. In this announcement it reported "an estimated 13.5 million mountain bicyclists visit public lands each year to enjoy the variety of trails. What was once a low use activity that was easy to manage has become more complex" (BLM, 2002). Despite this, there is currently a relative lack of scientific literature on the differential effects of mountain biking on natural systems. While the effects of recreation generally have been well studied, the extent to which mountain bicyclists affect natural systems differently remains only thinly represented in the literature (Knight, pers. comm.).

This paper will undertake a comparative review of the extant scientific literature on the impact of recreational mountain biking on ecological systems. It will then identify key areas of weakness in the literature and suggest a framework for future research.

A note on political context
This has proven to be an interesting time to write this report. The Bureau of Land Management in November finalized and released their National Mountain Bicycling Strategic Action Plan. This document will guide local land managers across the United States as they develop their approach to mountain bike recreation in their territories. In addition, California Senator Barbara Boxer has introduced a bill into the U.S. Senate (California Wild Heritage Act of 2002) that would expand California's total 14 million acres of designated wilderness by 2.7 million acres. The International Mountain Bicycling Association, now a mature, well-funded advocacy group objects to about half of the proposed new areas because they encompass current mountain biking trails. Once designated as wilderness all mechanical conveyances, including bicycles, would be banned.

As the numbers of recreational users, wilderness advocates, and industrial firms in the United States continues to increase, political controversy over America's backcountry will only intensify and become more complex. Generally, this controversy is centered on on-site conflicts between user groups (the purview of the local regime) or political conflicts between advocacy groups representing, generally speaking, certain user groups (a question of status under the 1964 Wilderness Act).

Scientific issues
Like all recreational groups, mountain bikers affect the land they use. As the numbers of mountain bikers have increased steadily and as improving technology has increased their range, these affects have increased. These impacts can be classified, broadly, into the following categories:

· "Trampling:" Defined as the mechanical destruction and mortality of ground level vegetation on undeveloped terrain (off-trail).
· "Erosion:" Defined as the mechanical mobilization of sediment. In an off-trail context, this is related to trampling. For the most part, when erosion is studied individually, it is in the context of a developed trail.
· "Wildlife disturbance:" The disruption of animal ecosystems through human presence, leading to added stress and consequent affects on populations and individuals.

Long intuitively grouped with other "ecologically friendly" users such as hikers, mountain bikes are regarded to be relatively low impact in these categories. However, there really isn't much data currently showing that mountain bikers do, in fact, impact land similarly to hikers. On the other hand, as it turns out, there is also very little data showing they don't.
Differences between bicyclists and other user groups can generally be divided into two categories:

· Behavioral
· Mechanical

The clearest if these two differences are the mechanical. A mountain bike tire, propelled by human power, would seem intuitively to exert much less erosive force on trails and vegetative cover than a motorcycle tire. However, it may inflict sufficient damage to these surfaces to be better grouped with a motorcycle than with a hiker. Further, the distance a bicyclist can travel in an hour with the advantage of modern gearing far exceeds that of a hiker. A mountain bike traveling downhill at a high speed might stress wildlife more than a hiker.

However, there may also be behavioral differences between groups. It could be that bicyclists are more (or less) likely to go off-trail, cut switchbacks, or litter in the backcountry. Mountain bicyclists may be more prone to bringing off-leash dogs that harass wildlife. This study will focus on the scientific literature as it addresses impact differences between hikers and bicyclists. To the extent that credible experimental treatment design must attempt to reflect real-world use of wilderness areas, some behavioral attributes of hikers and bikers (e.g. how fast they travel) are an important component of any study. In fact, a lack of this tends to be a weakness of all experimental designs discussed here.

Behaviors characteristic of mountain bikers but not necessarily of the bikes themselves (i.e. higher propensity to litter as opposed to speed of travel) will not be addressed in this report as they vary from location to location. For example, some areas are likely to be near a population center with riders willing to build illegal trails, while other areas may have fewer such riders. Such issues are questions for local management and enforcement; the study of them requires sociological methods.

Vegetation affects: Trampling
Trampling is the mechanical exertion of force on a vegetative structure. The total amount of damage inflicted on vegetation can be understood as a function of the energy released onto the structures by the means of transportation (York, 2000). Terence York has developed a general model for understanding the varying impact of different modes of travel:

Land Impact = ((weight + output acceleration) x swath)).

In the above equation, "Output Acceleration" is defined as vehicle power (horsepower) divided by its mass. "Swath" is the width of the vehicles track (tire, foot, or tank-style track) multiplied by its length of travel.

York's methodology provides a very useful analytic framework for examining the amount of energy transmitted to plant structures by various modes of travel. He applies this formula to a range of common modes of transportation, from hiker to military battle tank.

There are some problems with this method of measuring a vehicle's impact on land, particularly when evaluating a specific user type in a specific area. For example, it has been shown that motorcycles actually widen and deepen downhill sections of trail less than horses, but more than horses on uphill sections of trail (Weaver, 1978). This is explained by the fact that walkers (human or animal) must check their speed as they proceed downhill by generating friction with the ground surface. Wheel-driven vehicles can check their speed by using braking mechanisms integral to the vehicle, without necessarily applying a shearing force to the soil surface. Though, again, operator skill and decisions can influence this, as in the case of a novice mountain biker skidding downhill.
These problems with applying this framework to actual results in the field cited above, suggest some limitations as a practical tool for managing land use. However, according to York, "the weight, power, and swath equation that was presented here is consistent with long term observations of vegetation, soil, and pavement changes following land use" (York, 1997).

York (1997) further conducted a meta-analysis of the 400 citations dealing with the impact of foot and vehicle impacts on vegetation, "Toleration of Traffic by Vegetation: Life Form Conclusions and Summary Extracts from Comprehensive Data Base" (York 1997). In this study, he distilled the data into a uniform Access database format. York's work provides a very useful examination of trampling studies, only two thirds of which were sufficiently detailed for York to normalize the data for the purposes of his database. With others he made some compromises, reducing the level of detail in some to allow comparability among various data sources.

Given the constraints he faced in aggregating diverse studies utilizing differing endpoints, York reached some interesting conclusions about the effects of trampling. First, graminoids appear to have the greatest resistance and recovery capacity among plant forms. Climbers and cactoids are the most vulnerable overall to trampling. Shrubs and trees suffer the greatest long-term reductions in diversity following traffic impact.

While all vegetation forms suffer impact linearly increasing from added traffic as predicted by York's (2000) overall formula, this database is telling in its lack of attention to the affects of mountain bikes specifically. None of York's records includes a specific mention of the application of trampling by mountain bike users, though an otherwise wide array of conveyances is listed (from hikers to armored vehicles).

I can only speculate as to the reason from personal observation: Unlike other user groups, there is very little use of mountain bikes off-trail. In fact, for the majority of the mountain bikers, the trail is the most desirable place to ride for safety and pleasure. Hikers often wander off trail, regarding their own diffuse impact as negligible. Other groups, such as ORVs and four-wheel drive light trucks often regard off-trail travel as the point of their sport. Military tank are used off-trail in a localized but intensive manner for training purposes.

York's work provides a macro-level analysis of the various mechanisms by which human movement through ecological systems damages vegetation. However, it does not provide an in-depth examination of effects on a very local level. York's work is in part a response to the difficulty in making management decisions based on all the extant knowledge about trampling on vegetation (York, 1997).
Cole and Bayfield (1992) proposed a set of standard experimental procedures for studying the recreational trampling of vegetation. This is an effort "to promote an increased ability to compare results from different studies" (Cole and Bayfield, 1993). When such forces are applied, changes in vegetation can be measured using two primary measures, relative cover and relative height. In both cases, "conditions after trampling are expressed as a proportion of the initial conditions, with a correction factor applied to account for spontaneous changes on the control plot (Cole and Bayfield, 1992).

Relative cover, using Cole and Bayfield (1992) methodology, can be expressed as:

surviving cover on trampled subplots
Relative Cover = --------------------------- x correction factor x 100%
initial cover on trampled subplots

The advantage of measuring relative cover is that it serves as good measure of total plant mortality and recovery. It can be measured for either overall total vegetation or by individual species. This enables an observer to determine if certain plant species are affected disproportionately to others, as less resistant species occupy ground lost to trampling effects. Total cover may remain constant, but species proportion change.

Total height is calculated by Cole and Bayfield (1992) by adding the height measures of a fixed number of observations per sample plot and dividing by the total number of observations to obtain a mean height. These mean height numbers can be substituted in the formula for cover above to obtain relative height. Relative height provides a sensitive quantification of trampling effects where total cover is not reduced (e.g. where trampling is intermittent and modestly damaging).

Thurston and Reader (2001) attempted to specifically compare the trampling affects of mountain biking and hiking through the use of a controlled experimental design. This is the only citation I could find to use a controlled experiment to ascertain the differential trampling effects of mountain biking versus hiking on vegetation.

Thurston and Reader (2001) applied five different intensities of experimental use to test lanes in Boyne Valley Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. The intensities of treatments were 0, 25, 75, 200, and 500 passes each for hiking and mountain bicycling. Before and after these treatments they measured plant stem density, species richness, and soil exposure. They made follow up measurements of these endpoints at two weeks and one year after treatment. They found no significant differences between the mountain biking and hiking plots. Both stem density and species richness were reduced by nearly 100% at the highest treatment intensities, but recovered within the study period to pre-treatment levels. From this they conclude that both mountain biking and hiking impose fairly similar short-term damage and that vegetation recovers quickly once either use is halted.

This study is useful in that it is the only study to use a controlled experimental design to measure the trampling effects of mountain biking and hiking on untrammeled vegetation. More studies like it in different ecological areas and with different treatment intensities would be useful. However, it suffers from some weaknesses that limit its real world applicability. Chiefly, this study's treatment passes at best loosely approximate the forces exerted by actual mountain biking. On real trails, riders possess widely varying levels of skill, resulting in variant speeds, turning, and braking. This study does not address these variables.

Soil and trail affects: Mechanical erosion
Most literature examining the direct effects of a recreational use on the surface of the soil itself focus on pre-existing trails. Most of these studies examine the factors that contribute to the degradation of trails by all user groups. Few studies have attempted to compare various user class effects on the trails. These studies differ significantly in that they examine the effect of recreational use on trails, which can be considered a form of environmental impact themselves.

In the August 1999 issue of Outside magazine, Jill Danz wrote, "a 1987 effort, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, found that only one user group clearly messes up wild places, those who build trails in the first place. Every group's impact after that is relatively negligible." This study highlights one of the key challenges in studying the effect of mountain bikes and other user groups on ecological systems. The majority of damage off-trail is done by the very earliest activity-whether sanctioned (trail building) or not (off-trail travelers). As such, in the context of an existing trail, it may be the case that distinctions between user groups are less meaningful than most other factors, including enforcement of regulations, overall use level, ground conditions, and topography. Some studies discussed below tend to reinforce this.

Weaver and Dale (1978) examined the differential effects of these three user groups on trails in a northern Rocky Mountain ecosystem. The authors assert that theirs is the first study comparing differences between user groups. In the study, the investigators applied 1000 passes each from hikers, motorcycles, and horseback riders in a meadow and a forested area, both in Montana.

They found that the percentage of ground eroded bare increased with the number of applied passes and that the exposure was more rapid on sloping sites than on level sites. On level ground horseback riders cause the most damage and hikers the least. On grassy, sloped terrain, motorcycles cause more damage than horses. Hikers in all situations cause substantially less damage than all other user groups. Most importantly there is a non-linear relationship in most situations and user group combinations between damage done and number of treatment passes. Early users widen and deepen trails much more than later users. This suggests managers can limit unplanned compaction and vegetation damage by appropriately planning and building the trail in the first place.

This study's strength was the number of experimental passes applied and the number of endpoints examined, including sediment erosion measurements as well as vegetation trampling. However, its chief weakness today is the motorcycle used-a Honda Trail 90 built in the 1970s (one of which this review's author rode many thousands of miles while on family camping trips in elementary school). The Honda Trail 90 is a small, fat-tired motorcycle with an engine much lower in power than even the very smallest of today's off-road motorcycles. It cannot be compared to the dirt bikes of today.

Kuss (1983) compared the difference between the effect of conventional lug-soled boots and corrugated rubber compound sole boots on woodland trails. While this study finds no difference between the two types of boots, it is frequently cited as a prototype methodology for examining different user classes' impact on hiking trails (in this case wearer's of lugged and non-lugged soles).

One study specifically compares the impact on trails of four user classes, hikers, horses, motorcycles, and off-road bicycles. Wilson and Seney (1994) applied experimental passes to various sites on an existing trail system in the Gallatin National Forest of Montana. They found that users on foot (hikers and horses) make more sediment available than do users on wheels (mountain bikes and motorcycles).

Wilson and Seney (1994) applied 100 experimental passes by hiker, horse, mountain bicycle and motorcycle to 108 sample plots on existing trails in the Gallatin National Forest of Montana. They then used a rainfall simulator to measure the amount of sediment mobilized during the rain event as a result of user-created soil disturbance. Using statistical analysis they found that about one third of total sediment mobilization could be attributed to the various user groups, and the remaining two thirds attributed to the solid texture and the slope of the sample trail plot. Further, they determined that feet (hooves and boots) made somewhat more sediment available than did wheels (motorcycles and bicycles).

The results of this study are much more applicable to the real world than, for example, Thurston and Reader (2002). First, they used many more test plots on trails that varied in slope, soil, and pre-existing moisture. Second, treatment passes were applied along longer lengths of trail, making it more likely that experimental behavior more closely approximated actual user behavior. Finally, they examined many more variables.

Wheels and feet
The available comparisons of wheeled and foot- or hoof-based methods of transportation measure endpoints associated with trail use, such as sediment mobilization or vegetative cover reduction. They do not directly attempt to describe the varying mechanisms by which these different modes transportation create these effects. For example, York's theoretical model comparing the total impact of different conveyances only accounts for the power, size, and distance traveled by a vehicle. While his model approximates the effect of these vehicles accurately (when validated against empirical data), it does disregard the mechanism (wheel or foot) through which these different modes operate on vegetation and soil. Weaver and Dale (1978) confirmed there may be meaningful differences in impact when comparing wheels and hooves/feet unrelated to power, weight, and distance traveled.

Quinn et al. (1980) found that the feet of a hiker damage trails and vegetation in two distinct phases. First the heel applies compaction in the first part of the step. Second, the toe applies shearing forces as it rotates through the step. Quinn et al. (1980) determined that this shearing accounted for the greatest share of a human foot's damage.

Wheels also apply both compaction and shearing damage, but they do so in different ways (Cessford, 1995). Wheels apply a constant swath of compaction, unlike feet, which apply an interrupted series of localized compactions. However, wheels apply shearing force to the ground either during acceleration or braking (Cessford, 1995). In this, mountain bikes and motorcycles will differ greatly as a motor has the ability to exert sustain shearing force over time and uphill. Such loss of traction for a mountain bike causes a halt to forward progress and cannot be sustained meaningfully.

Keller (1990) described some other ways that wheels will impact ground surfaces differently. For example, because wheeled vehicles create long, continuous swaths of wear, they may be more prone to "channelizing" the soil (the creation of gullies through which water can readily flow). Wear caused by feet create discontinuous pockets of disturbance less likely to result in such gullies. This effect remains untested, however, in a controlled experimental design.

Cessford (1995) noted that the mechanism of compaction, when applied to a hardened, planned trail should not be considered damage per se, as a compacted soil surface is an intentional design aspect of backcountry trails. Shearing, particularly when associated with water flows, does cause damage to existing trails, but this is generally an issue for the trail engineer whose design should result in a trail capable of handling the demands of the planned user groups.

Wildlife affects: Disturbance
The studies discussed so far look at the mechanical impact of mountain bike recreation on vegetation and soil. Another key area of concern is the effect of mountain bike recreation on wildlife. There are two basic mechanisms by which mountain bikes can affect wildlife populations:

· Direct mortality: Impact at high speed resulting in death-in practice, this only affects small animals.
· Disturbance: Changes in animal behavior associated with the presence of recreational users in their habitat.

Direct mortality is virtually unstudied. I could find no references to it in the literature. Anecdotal evidence suggests, however, that small mammals are vulnerable to impact and are not uncommonly killed (Switalski, pers. comm.).

While a great deal of literature exists on the effect of human recreation on animals, very little of it attempts to compare the effects of mountain bikers with those of other user classes. Difficulties in study design may be a main obstacle to such comparative studies. In studying influences on vegetation and soil, controlled, experimental designs can be readily conducted. While first-hand observation of animals can possibly show differences in response to various recreational user classes, in most areas it is not realistic to separate the effects various user groups have on wildlife populations over time.

Animals will exhibit one of three responses to the presence of humans in their environment: attraction, avoidance, and habituation (Knight, 1995). For mountain bike recreation, the most important of these are avoidance and habituation. Attraction is most commonly associated with food availability, where animals are conditioned to approach humans in search of food.

While study design is very problematic when looking at the effect of one specific user class on wildlife, opportunities do present themselves. Stake (2000) looked at the impacts of mountain biking activity on golden-cheeked warblers at Fort Hood, Texas, a military training area. In 1998, a local mountain biking club was allowed by the U.S. Army and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to open a mountain biking park at the Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area on Fort Hood in Texas. The golden-cheeked warblers in the area had already been under study by Stake, so he was able to make direct comparisons between the area before and after. He reported no impacts from the new mountain biking activity on Warbler territory density, return rates, or age structure (Stake, 2000).

Such opportunities to look at the effect of mountain biking before and after introduction to a given area are rare, however. A more typical study is that conducted by W. Sue Fairbanks, who looked at the distribution of pronghorn antelope on Antelope Island. This island in the Great Salt Lake of Utah was once home to a native population of pronghorn antelope. After being hunted to extinction, wildlife recovery teams reintroduced the species to the island in the 1980s. In 1983, a flood destroyed the causeway providing vehicle access to the island. In the 1990s, the island was re-opened to recreational use. The addition of recreational access created an opportunity to study the effect of people on the pronghorn population (Fairbanks, 2002).

Fairbanks (2002) measured the distance from recreational trails that pronghorn antelope tended toward before and after the re-introduction of human recreation. She found that pronghorn antelope did in fact alter their behavior based on the presence of humans, moving and staying further from the trails and recreational corridors after the re-introduction of human use than before. The smallest groups of pronghorn tended to stay further from recreational trail areas than did the larger groups, particularly groups with mixed sex and fawns. From this, Fairbanks (2002) concluded that pronghorn are affected by non-consumptive recreation (activities that do not involved killing of wildlife) and that management strategies should incorporate this in planning use rules.
The chief drawback of this study for the purposes of this paper is that it does not (and could not have) separated out the affects of various user groups. As a result it provides only a perspective for management of all recreational use. In addition, this study examines only short-term behavioral changes, which may or may not have implications for long-term population viability.

Antelope Island was also used by a graduate student at Colorado State University, Audrey Taylor, to examine the differential effect of hikers and mountain bikers and several species, including bison, mule deer and pronghorn antelope. Taylor (2001) observed and calculated the probability of each animal flushing when approached by both hikers and bicyclists. Taylor (2001) found no difference between mountain bikers or hikers in flushing response. For both user groups, alert distance and flushing distance did not significantly vary (Taylor, 2001).

Taylor (2001) concluded that short-term behavioral changes do not vary between bicyclists and hikers on a per encounter basis. However, because bicyclists are capable of and, in most areas, typically do travel much farther than hikers; it is reasonable to conclude that they will create a somewhat higher total number of encounters and flushings. In addition, Taylor's (2001) methodology does not attempt to measure long-term population changes in the animals studied.

Future research needs
Taylor (2001) asserted "Mountain biking is emerging as a form of outdoor recreation which may compete with more traditional forms of recreation, such as hiking, for space on public lands. Virtually nothing is known about whether wildlife respond differently to mountain biking versus hiking" (emphasis added). Little is also known about the erosion and trampling effects of mountain biking. More research is needed in both areas to help inform the development of local management regimes.
Three broad areas should be given priority for study: (1) mountain biking styles, (2) broad behavioral differences, and (3) long-term population studies.

Broad behavioral differences
This area of inquiry should be pursued using sociological survey techniques. It would seek to understand some of the specific chosen behaviors exhibited by mountain bikers versus hikers. Accompanying it should be a series questions about the value systems of the two user groups. The main purpose would be to find answers to such questions as:
· Are mountain bikers more likely to cut switchbacks?
· Do mountain bikers litter more or less often than hikers?
· How often do mountain bikers go off trail?
Because these behaviors are not inherent to the bicycle as a mode of transportation, the management of adverse ecological effects caused by them would fall to local management and enforcement.

Mountain biking styles
Some aspects of mountain biker behavior, however, should be comparatively studied using many of the same controlled scientific study designs used in the various works discussed in this literature review. For example, some mountain bikers will travel faster than others, skid more going downhill, or jump logs more often. In order to understand how much trampling, erosion, and wildlife disturbance mountain bikes cause, factors like these should be introduced as variables in studies examining these endpoints. One could suggest that experimental treatment passes or experimental harassment of wildlife would not be a reliable source of data if such factors as speed and propensity to skid were not introduced as variables.

Long-term population studies
The most important-and certainly most difficult-research need made evident by the extant literature on mountain biking and wildlife is the need for more long-term population studies comparing the effects of various user classes. In practice, few opportunities such as Stake (2000) are available. It is, in most cases, impossible to sort out the long-term effects of various user groups on an animal population. However, for macro-level management of natural areas, such studies are the most important for securing wildlife health.

References:

Bureau of Land Management 2002. Letter inviting involvement in the development of a new National Mountain Bicycling Action Plan.

Cessford, Gordon 1995. Off-Road Impacts of Mountain Bikes. Department of Conservation. Wellington, New Zealand

Cole D.N. and Bayfield, N.G. 1993. Recreational trampling of vegetation: standard experimental procedures. Biological Conservation 63: 209-215.

Danz, Jill. "Hey (Hey!) You (You!) You Get Off of My Trail", Outside magazine, August 1999.

Fairbanks, W.S. 2002. Distribution of pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana Ord) on Antelope Island State Park, USA, before and after establishment of recreational trails. Nature Areas Journal 22(4):277-282.

Keller, K.J.D. 1990. Mountain Bikes on Public Lands: A Manager's Guide to the State of Practice. Bicycle Federation of America, Washington, D.C.

Knight, R.L. and Gutzwiller, K.J. (eds.) 1995. Wildlife and Recreationists: Co-existence Through Management and Research. Island Press, Washington D.C.

Quinn, N.W., Morgan, R.P.C. and Smith A.J. 1980. Simulation of soil erosion induced by human trampling. Journal of Environmental Management 6:209-212

Stake, M. M. 2000. Impacts of Mountain Biking Activity on Golden Cheeked Warblers at Fort Hood, Texas. In: Endangered Species Monitoring and Management at Fort Hood Texas: 2000 Annual Report, Fort Hood Project, The Nature Conservancy of Texas, Fort Hood Texas, USA.

Taylor, A. 2002. Wildlife responses to recreation and associated visitor perceptions at Antelope Island State Park Utah, Master's Thesis, Colorado State University, Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology.

Thurston, E. and Reader, R.J. 2001. Impacts of experimentally applied mountain biking and hiking on vegetation and soil of deciduous forest. Environmental Management. 27(3): 397-409.

Weaver, T. and Dale, D. 1978. Trampling effects of hikers, motorcycles, and horses in meadows and forests. Journal of Applied Ecology 15:451-457.

Wilson, J.P. and Seney J.P. 1994. Erosional impact of hikers, motorcycles, and off-road bicycles on mountain trails in Montana. Mountain Research and Development 14(1): 77-88.

Yorks, T.P. et. al. 1997. Toleration of traffic by vegetation: life form conclusions and summary extracts from a comprehensive data base. Environmental Management. 21(1): 121-131

Yorks, T.P. 2000. Should People or Machines Have Equal Rights, an automated Web presentation available at http://cc.usu.edu/~olorin/vehicles/index.htm

For an aging biker - a California memory

Can you name the songwriter?
Hint: He made the Hungry I in San Francisco Famous
Vintage Chilly Winds

July You are a Woman

I can't hold it on the road
When you are sitting right beside me
And I'm drunk out of my mind
Merely from the fact that you are here
And I have not been known as the
Saint of San Juaquin
And I just as soon right now
Pull on over to the side of the road
And show you what I mean

July You are a woman
More than any one I've ever known

And I can't hold my eyes on the white line
Out before me
With your hands on my collar
And you talking in my ear
And I have been around with a gypsy girl named Shannon
Daughter of the devil
It is strange that I should mention that to you
I haven't thought of her in years.

July You are a woman
More than any one I've ever known.

I can't hold it on the road
When you are sitting right beside me
And I'm drunk out of my mind
Merely from the fact that you are here
And I have not been known as the
Saint of San Juaquin
And I just as soon right now
Pull on over to the side of the road
And show you what I mean


July You are a woman
More than any one I've ever known
More than any one I've ever known.

BIKERS USA Online magazine for the bikers lifestyle. Features bikers, shotgun wedding, and article on roadnames.
bikersmag.com/

BikerHeaven.com: The one-stop resource for Bikers on the Internet. Live chat, message boards, and tech talk.
www.bikerheaven.com/ -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biker

Biker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Although the term refers to any motorcycle enthusiast, sometimes the word "biker" is sometimes used to mean an outlaw biker, or bikie, who is a member of a 1%er or outlaw motorcycle gang.

Amongst riders of motorcycles, the term "biker" or "rider" is used to refer to anyone who rides a motorcycle. The word "bikie" strictly refers to European and Australian members of "1%er" or "outlaw" motorcycle gangs. Non-riders tend to place all motorcycle riders into the same category, but within the riding community there are many sub-sets of riders.

Some bikers ride heavy cruiser-type motorcycles. (Motorcycles in excess of 700cc displacement are considered "heavy," and "cruisers" are large, heavy bikes designed for relaxed travel that allow the rider to sit upright or lean back. A chopper is a motorcycle that has been stripped down—or "chopped"—to the bare essentials: engine, frame, gas tank, wheels, handlebars, and seat.)

The other more popular styles of bikes are

Sports Bike (those who have the fastest, most maneuverable of bikes. Like going fast, and most importantly, taking corners as fast and leaned into as low as possible)
Tourers (Big comfortable bikes, built for covering long distances comfortably)
Dirt bikes (Designed for off road riding)
Adventure Tourers (Bikes built for travelling across vast distances where roads do not exist. Cross between a dirt bike and a tourer)
Bikers tend to associate with others that share their enthusiasm, and congregate at motorcycle events such as "bike week" rallies and races.

Contents [hide]
1 Motorcycle Gang
2 Outlaw Motorcycle Club
3 See also
4 External links



Motorcycle Gang
A motorcycle gang (also known as a biker gang) is a controversial term to describe a motorcycle club whose members (outlaw bikers and one percenters) are motorcycle riders, usually of Harley-Davidson or Triumph motorcycles. The term is primarily used by law enforcement officials.

Major motorcycle "gangs" include:

the Bandidos
the Hells Angels
the Outlaws
the Pagans MC

Other notable motorcycle gangs include:
Coffin Cheaters (Australia)
the Gypsy Jokers (US, Australia)
the Straight Satans (notable for having members in the 1960s involved with the Manson Family)
The Finks MC (Australia's Gold Coast)
The Rock Machine (Quebec, Canada; absorbed into the Bandidos)
The Warlocks Motorcycle Club
The Breed
The Mongols
There have also been scooter gangs, notably the Mods in the UK in the 1960s.


Outlaw Motorcycle Club
The concept of an "outlaw motorcycle club" came about to describe motorcycle clubs who did not adhere to AMA standards. Later, after a rally turned riot in Hollister, California, U.S.A. during the July 4th weekend in 1947, it was used by a reporter to exaggerate actual events that took place. It received national attention which resulted in the president of the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) to make a statement to the effect that only one percent of bikers give anyone any trouble. As a result some bikers started calling themselves "one percenters". Over time there evolved the idea of the "big four" motorcycle clubs: Hells Angels, Pagans, Bandidos, and Outlaws. These clubs wear patches with various symbols made up of a specific set of "colors". For example the colors of the Hells Angels are red and white while the Bandidos colors are red and gold.

See also
Rockers
Mods and Rockers
Bousouzoku

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
bikersSturgis Motorcycle Rally
Daytona Beach Rally
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biker"

Written by and Dedicated to John Stewart

CALIFORNIA BLOODLINES

Had I been born in New York City
A New York City girl I'd know
Ah Working in the concrete, not the sunlight
Living in that New York rain and snow.

Oh, There's California Bloodlines in my heart
A California Woman in my song
Oh, There's California Bloodlines in my heart
And a California heartbeat in my soul.

And just to think I may have never known you
Had I lived my life in Tennessee
I really could have never let that happen
For you and California are in my me.

Oh, There's California Bloodlines in my heart
A California Woman in my song
Oh, There's California Bloodlines in my heart
A California heartbeat in my soul.

Have you wondered where we were before we were born
Pulling around the heavens like a swan
I know its there I saw the big Sierras
Saw a California sunrise in the Fall.

There's California Bloodlines in my heart
A California Woman in my song
Oh there's California Bloodlines in my heart
A California heartbeat in my soul.

We spend out whole lives being cool. But,
On the tombstone its going to say, he didn't have any fun, but he was cool.
Now you owe it to yourself, it feels great to sing

There's California Bloodlines in my heart
A California Woman in my song
Yeah there's California Bloodlines in my heart
And a California heartbeat in my soul

Easyriders
Easyriders has been the biker's bible for more than 30 years. ... -This is the party book for true bikers everywhere.
www.easyriders.com/

http://sepnet.com/rcramer/biker.htm
UNUSUAL AND HARD-TO-FIND FILMS AND TV SHOWS ON VIDEO!

BIKER FILMS
Biker Films
The Angry Breed (1969)
While hanging around Hollywood trying to peddle his screenplay, a Viet Nam vet rescues the daughter of a movie mogul from the clutches of a biker gang. The gang's leader (James MacArthur) returns later and it turns out he's an aspiring actor who wants to star in the film, so he breaks out the LSD for everybody! Weird 1960s drama also stars Jan Sterling, William Windom, Jan Murray (as a homosexual talent scout), Murray McLeod, Lori Martin, Melody Patterson, Karen Malouf and Suzi Kaye. Color. $19.95

Biker Fantasies
Working on bikes with Felicia, Kendra and Penthouse Pet Seana Ryan. Adults only. Color. $24.95

Black and Chrome (2000)
Underground cult classic. Motorcycles...yes, drugs...yes, sex...yes, violence...yes, fetish sex...yes, great music...yes. Shot in 16mm black and white. Starring Dave Hughes, Kathleen Cronin, Oedipus, Cha Chi Loprette, Cynthia Von Buhler, Cockroach and Tattoo. Music by Tree, Colin Owens and Element 47. Adults only. $19.95

Born to Ride (1991)
John Stamos leads a gang of young bikers against the Nazis during WWII. Color. $29.99

C.C and Company (1970)
Immensely popular biker flick featuring Joe Namath, Ann-Margret, Sid Haig and William Smith. Color. $19.95

Crazy Baby (1968)
Youthful rebellion, European-style with music and motorcycles as the rockers battle the mods. Ricky Shayne is a sullen rock singer (from Liverpool, of course) who gets blamed for the death of a sexy groupie (she was actually stabbed by a biker rival). He flees to Italy where he meets up with various heathens, whores and hustlers. Color. $14.95

Cycle Cinema
The hottest scenes from the coolest biker films of all time! Original theatrical trailers for 'Rebel Rousers,' 'Angels Wild Women,' 'Satan's Sadists,' 'The Losers' and many others. Color. $14.95

Cycle Savages
Hot steel between their legs! The wildest bunch on wheels! Starring Bruce Dern (as a renegade roughneck), Chris Robinson (as a talented artist) and Melody Patterson (as a beautiful but heartless biker babe). A classic from Trans American Films, produced by Mike Curb and Casey Kasem. Color. $29.95

Death Riders
They rode the highway to hell! A fuel injected action epic showing the cold, cruel life of the biker underworld. Two strong men, one good, one bad, both desperate, face off in a desert biker war and only one will come out alive!. Starring Jason Williams, Robert Brando Susan Brinkley and Mary Jo Cruise. Color. $29.95

Easy Rider (1969)
Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson star in the classic 'looking for America' picture. Color. $24.99

Evel Knievel (1971)
Starring George Hamilton as the motorcycle daredevil. Also with Sue Lyon and Rod Cameron. Color. $19.95

Harley-Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)
In need of money to save their bar, two cycle-riding pals (Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson) plot a daring armored car robbery and get mixed-up with a gang of killers. This popular action feature also stars Chelsea Field and Vanessa Williams. Color. DVD only $29.95

Hell's Angels on Wheels (1967)
Two-wheeler classic starring Jack Nicholson and Adam Roarke. After being fired from his job, Jack gets into a scrape and impresses the Angels with his fighting ability. They take him on as a 'recruit' and soon he moves in on the leader's woman. Plenty of action in this one. Color. $24.95

Hollywood Biker Chicks
Leather and lace strip show with Amelia Young, Ashe Lynn and Penthouse Pet of the Year Julie Strain. Adults only. Color. $29.95

Knightriders (1981)
Modern day version of the Camelot story, directed by George Romero ('Night of the Living Dead'). A group of MC enthusiasts stage medieval style festivals with their bikes, including cycle jousting and more. Starring Ed Harris, Tom Savini and Amy Ingersoll. Watch for Stephen King in a cameo. Color. $29.95

The Long Ride (1998)
J.T. Monroe lives in Los Angeles and it just keeps getting worse. Get a job, can't keep it. Find another and lose that too. Finally it's time to move on. Helen is alone now - her husband took his long ride already and she's been waiting for someone to arrive. In the Arizona desert it's hot, dusty, dry and dangerous. A lone rider doesn't stand a chance. Unless...he falls in love. $14.95

Motorcycle Gang (1957)
A young biker (imprisoned for hit-and-run) gets mixed up in a gang fued while wooing a sexy newcomer. With John Ashley and Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer. From American International. $19.95

Motorcycle Squad (1937)
A policeman goes undercover to thwart a criminal gang. With Kane Richmond. $14.95

Motor Psycho (1965)
Three sadistic bikers meet their match after an orgy of violence in Russ Meyer's brutal boob-fest. $59.99

On Any Sunday (1971)
Bruce Brown's legendary MC documentary. Featuring the Widowmaker Hill Climb, Bonneville trials, MX, desert racing and more. Steve McQueen makes several appearances in this film, which he financed. Color. $39.95

On Any Sunday II (1981)
World Champion Bruce Penhall is only one of the racing luminaries profiled in this motorcyclist's cinematic Bible. Thrill to the pulsating sound of high powered cycles in the desert, on the road and tracks around the world. Color. $39.95

Psychomania (1974)
After learning the secret to eternal life, a biker (Nicky Henson) kills himself, then rides out of his grave on a motorcycle. His fellow gang members soon follow, and before long there's an army of undead bikers on the loose. Also starring George Sanders (who really did kill himself soon afterwards) as a devil worshipper. Specify 1970s version. Color. $14.95

Renegade (1993)
Feature-length pilot for the hit syndicated series. Starring Lorenzo Lamas as Reno Raines, ex-cop turned cycle riding avenger. Also with Kathleen Kinmont, Martin Kove and Chuck Napier. Color. $29.95

Renegade: Murderer's Row
Fugitive-manhunter Reno Raines (Lorenzo Lamas) goes after a female spy with the help of his friends Branscombe Richmond and Kathleen Kinmont. They run into trouble when a rival bounty hunter sets his sights on the spy and vows to kill anyone in his way. Also with Elizabeth Gracen. Color. $29.95

Road Kill
Is she a dream or your worst nightmare? You mess with dirty Sherry, you're gonna get hurt...big time! Sherry and her gang, the 'Biker Babes' stand for truth, justice and revenge! After witnessing the shameless degradation of an innocent girl by an outlaw biker gang, the Babes rescue the girl and recruit her for their gang. Revenge is sweet as Sherry's gang gives it to those badd-ass bikers in the end. Starring Crystal Gold, Bridgette Monroe, Ariel Daye and Ambrosia. Rated X. Color. $29.95

Roadside Prophets (1992)
Two bikers (John Doe of X and Adam Horovitz from the Beastie Boys) travel from L.A. to Nevada with the ashes of their buddy. Along the way they meet an assortment of strange characters (Timothy Leary, David Carradine, Arlo Guthrie, John Cusack). Color. $29.95

Run, Angel, Run (1969)
Classic motorcycle flick starring William Smith. Directed by Jack (Race with the Devil) Starrett. Color. $24.95

Running Cool (1993)
A biker and his gang travel south to help out a friend in this action adventure. Set in South Carolina and starring Dedee Pfieffer (sister of Michelle) and Paul Gleason. Color. $29.95

Savages from Hell (1968)
a.k.a. Big Enough and Old Enough
A sleazy biker moves in on the daughter of an immigrant worker, then beats up a black guy who shows an interest in his regular girlfriend. 'An innocent girl the prize in a dirty game!' Produced by K. Gordon Murray - starring Bobbie Myers. Color. $14.95

The Stranger (1995)
A mysterious woman appears in a town ruled by a violent biker gang. Starring martial artist Kathy Long, Andrew Divoff and Eric Pierpoint. Color. $99.95

Then Came Bronson (1969)
When a motorcycle bum (Martin Sheen) commits suicide, his pal Jim Bronson (Michael Parks) quits his job as a reporter and takes off on the bike to travel the U.S. and learn what he can about the meaning of life. At the start of his journey, a 9-to-5er asks Bronson where he's headed. The classic reply: 'Wherever I end up I guess.' Note: This is a black and white print - but the complete pilot for the series. $19.99

Under Hot Leather (1971) a.k.a. The Jesus Trip
In an effort to elude police, an outlaw bike gang hides out in a convent and even takes a young nun hostage. Starring Elizabeth 'Tippy' Walker, Robert Porter and Billy 'Green' Bush. Color. $19.95

Viva Knievel! (1977)
He's powered his Harley over autos, Mack trucks and seething lions. But if the mob has its way, his next incredible leap will land him six feet under. Evel Knievel plays himself - and is joined by Gene Kelly, Lauren Hutton and Cameron Mitchell. Color. $24.95

Werewolves on Wheels (1971)
A motorcycle gang battles a band of bloody Satan worshippers. Despite the sensational title, this is actually a pretty decent cycle flick. Starring Stephen Oliver and Barry McGuire ('Eve of Destruction'). Rated R for nudity and violence. Color. $14.95

The Wild One (1954)
Based on an actual event that took place in Hollister, California, The Wild One is THE classic cycle flick. After being thrown out of a motrocycle race, Brando and is gang 'invade' a small town, drink beer and stage their own impromptu event. Brando has eyes for a local beauty (Mary Murphy) who turns out to be the local cop's daughter, and things really deteriorate when Lee Marvin and his rival gang show up in the same town.DVD only $29.95

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/breakingn...ws_1575134.html

Hells Angels biker clubhouses raided
Toronto Star

Hells Angels biker clubhouses across southern Ontario were hit with pre-dawn raids by heavily-armed paramiltary police units today in the culmination of an 18-month undercover operation.


The sweeping raids, organized by the Ontario Provincial Police, targeted members of the Greater Toronto Area Hells Angels and Vagabond biker clubs.


Charges laid include drug trafficking, weapons, counseling to commit murder and various criminal organization offences, the OPP said today.


Police are expected to release more details tomorrow about the operation, dubbed Project Tandem.


Vehicles, weapons and illegal drugs were seized in the operation, which included more than 20 tactical police units and some 500 police officers.


Aside from biker clubhouses, the raids also hit a West End health club on the Queensway, where some 20 people were questioned.


The OPP said that dozens of outlaw motorcycle gang members from across the province were arrested.


A Hells Angels spokesperson was not available for comment today.


Police forces involved include Toronto, Barrie, Durham, Halton, Hamilton, Niagara, Peel, RCMP, Windsor Police Service and York.


The Hells Angels have dramatically expanded in Ontario in the last six years. In December, 2000, a massive "patch-over" ceremony took place in which old Ontario clubs like the Satan's Choice, Para-Dice Riders, Lobos and The Last Chance were suddenly absorbed into the Angels.


The Vagabonds, who have a clubhouse on Gerrard St. E. near Woodbine Ave., are a longstanding Toronto club. The Vagabonds did not join in the massive migration to the Angels.


The Greater Toronto Area has the highest concentration of Hells Angels clubhouses in the world, with a downtown chapter on Eastern Ave., as well as in Toronto West, Toronto East, North Toronto, Niagara Region, Woodbridge, Richmond Hill, Oshawa and Toronto North and Simcoe County.


There are some 190 Hells Angels belonging to 16 chapters across Ontario, an increase of five chapters and about 25 members from five years ago. The largest Hells Angels chapter in Canada is located on Eastern Ave., with three dozen members.


There are 33 Angels chapters and roughly 500 full members nationwide.


Police estimate the rival Bandidos have less than 20 members in Ontario and Manitoba, after a massacre last April in Shedden outside London, in which eight gang members were killed.


Bandido member Wayne Kellestine of Dutton, near London, has been charged with the slayings.


Police say outlaw biker gang members deal illegal steroids, hash, cocaine, crack and ecstasy, and also profit from extortion, tractor-trailer theft, money-laundering, exotic dancing and telemarketing fraud.


In an interview after the Shedden murders, Donnie Petersen, a Hells Angels spokesman and member of the Toronto chapter, said the Angels have been blamed for many of society's woes.


"We're an industry to many people, something to make a living off of," he said at the time. "Any society needs a boogeyman."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/wireS...TC-RSSFeeds0312

ABC News
Biker Brawl Trial Opens in Las VegasFederal Trial to Begin in Las Vegas for 11 Hells Angels Charged in Deadly Biker Brawl
Two unidentified men detained by police are led out of a side entrance at Harrah's Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nev., after rival motorcycle gangs armed with guns and knives clashed inside the casino leaving three people dead and at least 12 wounded on Saturday, April 27, 2002. Federal prosecutors are expected to tell a jury Tuesday Sept. 27, 2006 that 11 Hells Angels were among the members of the biker gang who plotted to attack rival Mongols at the Harrah's Laughlin hotel-casino after years of friction were sparked to violence by minor disagreements at a crowded motorcycle rally. (AP Photo/Steven K. Doi)

By KEN RITTER

LAS VEGAS Sep 26, 2006 (AP)— Videotape images show rival motorcycle gang members wielding guns, knives, wrenches and chairs in a brawl that killed three and injured at least a dozen in a southern Nevada casino in 2002.

The footage is among hundreds of hours of videotape jurors may view during the trial of 11 Hells Angels charged in the deadly casino brawl.

Federal prosecutors are expected on Tuesday to tell jurors that the bikers plotted to attack the rival Mongols gang at the Harrah's Laughlin hotel-casino after years of friction erupted into violence at a crowded motorcycle rally.

They are the first of 42 men from California, Washington, Arizona, Alaska and Nevada, and ranging in age from 28 to 63 to stand trial in the brawl. All face the possibility of life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, racketeering-attempted murder.

Each has pleaded not guilty, and defense lawyers say the men will argue they were attacked first.

"The tapes are going to reveal clearly that the Hells Angels were threatened and were engaged in lawful self-defense," said lawyer David Chesnoff, who represents defendant Calvin Schaefer of Chandler, Ariz.

Chesnoff has argued previously that police knew trouble was brewing and federal agents missed a chance to prevent violence at the 2002 Laughlin rally, an annual event that draws tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts to the Colorado River resort town about 100 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

Two Hells Angels were shot to death and a Mongols member died of stab wounds at the event. Another Hells Angels member was later found shot to death near his wrecked Harley-Davidson motorcycle on Interstate 40 in California, about 100 miles from Laughlin.

Court officials say the trial could take three months or more, with 11 defense lawyers questioning witnesses.

Federal prosecutors declined comment Monday through a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Las Vegas.

One defendant in the case remains a fugitive.


Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06271/725849-28.stm

Does stock by any other name smell as sweet?
Thursday, September 28, 2006

By Jennifer Valentino, The Wall Street Journal

For at least two years, Harley-Davidson Inc.'s investor-relations folks had thought about it: Their ticker symbol, HDI, wasn't exactly evocative of the motorcycle maker's image. And there was something better available: HOG, biker-slang term for a Harley motorcycle.

Something surprising has happened since Harley-Davidson adopted the symbol in mid-August: It shares have gained nearly 16 percent, compared with about 4 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.

It wasn't the first time a stock has risen after adopting a catchy ticker symbol. Counterintuitive as it may seem, research suggests that companies with clever symbols do better than other companies. Any suggestion of a cause-and-effect relationship may be hokum, but tickers that make investors chuckle -- think Sotheby's BID, Advanced Medical Optics Inc.'s EYE or the apt PORK of Premium Standard Farms Inc. -- also may make them richer, at least for a time.

The studies do nothing to prove that a stock's ticker symbol has any influence on its price, and a ticker symbol certainly shouldn't rank high on an investor's crib notes for stock-picking. But the research may offer some insight into investor psychology and the importance of being memorable.

In one study, published in June in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at Princeton University found that companies with pronounceable symbols do better soon after an IPO than companies with symbols that can't be said as a word.

Princeton's Adam Alter and Daniel Oppenheimer looked at nearly 800 symbols that debuted on the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange between 1990 and 2004 and divided them according to whether their symbol was pronounceable (like Rite Aid Corp.'s RAD) or not (like Reader's Digest Association Inc.'s RDA). They found investing $1,000 in the pronounceable stocks at the start of their first day of trading would have made you $85.35 more in that day than investing in unpronounceable ones.

A separate study suggests even longer-lasting effects. Pomona College finance Professor Gary Smith asked participants to rate ticker symbols according to "cleverness." From 1984 to 2004, a portfolio of stocks people considered the cleverest returned 23.6 percent compounded annually, compared with 12.3 percent for a hypothetical index of all NYSE and Nasdaq stocks. The clever stocks included such well-known stocks as Anheuser Busch Cos. (BUD) and Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV), along with companies eventually delisted or acquired, such as Grand Havana Enterprises Inc. (PUFF) and Lion Country Safari (GRRR).

"A couple of these symbols crossed my path, and I thought 'Why do people do this? Just to be cute?' I really didn't know how this was going to turn out," said Prof. Smith, who wrote a paper on the study with two students and is submitting his findings to journals for review. Of course, not all of the companies with cute symbols did well. Concord Camera Corp. (LENS) did worse than the index for the period of the Pomona study.

Usually, ticker symbols are simply an abbreviation of the company name. Originally, they weren't even developed by companies, but by telegraph operators who were trying to save time as they transmitted data. One-letter tickers like C, the ticker symbol for Citigroup Inc., have long been considered the most valuable.

"It was a lot like what we do today with email and text messaging," said Shawn Connors, whose Stock Ticker Company makes historical replicas of ticker machines. "They had to come up with shortcuts for saying things."

Today, new companies submit their ticker-symbol preferences to an exchange for approval, and their requests are usually granted as long as the requested ticker isn't already taken.

Sometimes, when more-obvious choices are gone, a company is forced to come up with something less conventional -- and more clever. Town Sports International Holdings Inc. (CLUB), a fitness-club company that went public on June 2, chose a descriptive symbol only after learning that TSII was in use.

"We thought it would be good for people to have something they could easily remember," said Robert Giardina, the company's chief executive.

Some companies are more deliberate in aligning their ticker symbol with their brand. Yum Brands Inc., which runs restaurant chains including KFC, Pizza Hut and Long John Silver's, actually changed its name in 2002 in part to reflect its ticker symbol, YUM. The company, formerly known as Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., is trying to attract individual investors by advertising its name and ticker symbol at events such as the Kentucky Derby.

"It's easy for people to remember and puts a smile on their face," said Virginia Ferguson, a Yum spokeswoman. With a share price of $53.01, the stock is up about 230 percent from its 1997 debut price of $16, adjusted for splits, and has risen 68 percent since the name change to Yum Brands.

The idea that clever or pronounceable ticker symbols might better stick in investors' memories is an important component of both recent studies. Neither report proves causality, but one possible explanation for the results is that people prefer to work with information they can easily process.

When faced with complicated information -- say, stock listings -- people have a tendency to rely on mental shortcuts to simplify things. This leads them to develop "naive theories," said Princeton's Mr. Alter, a graduate student who did his research with Prof. Oppenheimer under a grant from the National Science Foundation to study how people react to differences in "fluency," or the ease with which information is processed.

Mr. Alter explained that people are more likely to believe that fluent information is true and that they have seen it before. For example, test subjects consistently rate the phrase "woes unite foes" as more true than "woes unite enemies," because the rhyme in the first phrase makes it easier to comprehend.

"It is possible that (people) are initially more attracted to fluently named stocks, that they pay particular attention to those stocks, or even that they favor those stocks because they have developed an association between easily processed names and success," he said.

Prof. Smith suggests another possibility: that clever ticker symbols could indicate something about a company's management or marketing team that turns out to be important to the stock's performance.

"Maybe it's a weird marker. Maybe it doesn't show up in the balance sheets and profits and losses when the companies start out," he said.

Prof. Smith said he believes the results raise doubts about the efficient-market hypothesis, the theory that stock prices reflect all known information and that it isn't possible to consistently beat the market without inside knowledge. A stock's ticker symbol is public information, so, under the hypothesis, differences in symbols shouldn't be tied to share performance.

Michael Cooper, an associate professor of finance at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, who has studied investor behavior, said that both papers were "intriguing," but that he would need to see further study before accepting the results.

"It doesn't mean there isn't some truth to them," Mr. Cooper said. But he said both studies need to more carefully control for fundamental differences among the companies studied to determine whether ticker symbol alone accounts for differences in performance. A stock with a hard-to-pronounce ticker might just happen to underperform a cleverly tickered stock simply because it is poorly managed.

And he thought the Princeton paper in particular could have a problem with "survivorship bias" because it dealt only with stocks for which activity was recorded a year after their entry into the market, possibly excluding poorly performing stocks that were delisted or otherwise disappeared before the year was up.

The researchers themselves say it probably wouldn't behoove investors to make decisions based on their studies. The effects in the Princeton study were statistically significant only for the first day of trading in a company's stock. And both studies were backward-looking, so there is no guarantee they could predict future results. Town Sports' stock, for example, has fallen as low as $10.74 from its opening price of $13, despite its catchy symbol.

"We certainly don't recommend that people make trading decisions based on our findings," Mr. Alter said. "Rather, our findings suggest that economic models should take psychological factors ... into account if they are designed to faithfully capture how the markets operate in practice."

http://www.whiznews.com/article.php?articleId=15901

Ride for the Red
Thu, Sep 28, 2006. 01:38 PM

The Muskingum Valley Red Cross is putting the word out; they’re looking for bikers for a new event taking place this Saturday.

It’s the first ever Ride for the Red sponsored by Neff Paving. The event is similar to a poker run with riders making four stops along the way.

The idea came from three employees who also work as firefighters and wanted to help the Red Cross.

It didn’t take much arm-twisting to get their boss involved.

“I’m proud of my guys to be involved in this. I kind of push people to be involved,” said Clint Berkfild. “You know being involved in the community.”

The Red Cross says it’s always great to see people get involved.

“It’s absolutely wonderful. It’s so nice to know that people in the community want to give back and we’re very proud they’ve chosen the Red Cross as a non profit.”

The race starts at the Zanesville Yacht Club at 9:30am and a flat screen television will be given away at the end of the day.

Cost of the ride is 15 dollars for riders and 10 dollars for passengers, which includes a meal.

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/75161,1...28.articleprint
Biker rides into loot
(http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/75161,1ND4-28.article)

September 28, 2006

By Steve Schmadeke Staff writer

Tim Larkin was pedaling his Trek bicycle Wednesday from an Oak Forest auto dealership on 159th Street when he noticed a $5 bill on the sidewalk.

And a $10. And a $20.

Soon, Larkin had stuffed the front pocket of his jacket full of cash. So, he grabbed a plastic White Hen bag lying along the street and crammed that full of bills, too.

All told, the New Lenox carpenter figures that he grabbed about $5,000. Instead of keeping it, he turned it over to police, he said.

His motive wasn't exactly altruistic.

"If it didn't have any dye on it -- hell yeah, I'd keep it," Larkin said. "There's no doubt. (But) if it's got red dye on it, I can't spend it anywhere."

Oak Forest police believe the cash -- stained red by exploding dye packs that a bank teller placed with the stolen money -- was abandoned by a robber who held up the Chase Bank branch, 6040 W. 159th St., Wednesday morning. It was at least the second time that the branch was robbed this year.

Police did not release any details beyond confirming that Larkin had returned the cash.

Deputy Police Chief Dave DeMarco praised Larkin but said he actually collected much less than $5,000. He said the money was turned over to the FBI.

"It's good to know there are honest people out there that didn't just look at the money and see a windfall," DeMarco said, unaware of Larkin's admission that he would've kept the cash if it hadn't been stained.

Larkin also gave police a long-sleeved white T-shirt, stained red from the dye, that he found with the cash. He said there was a hair on the collar.

"I watch CSI. Maybe that'll help them solve (the robbery)," Larkin said, standing next to his bike in a pair of black Chuck Taylor gym shoes, blue jeans and a T-shirt with the image of playing cards and captioned "I was a jack off in Lake Tahoe."

Larkin said he hopes for a reward or at least a thank-you card. He does his banking at the Chase branch, Larkin said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"I'm thinking that's why I'm not getting interest (on my deposits)," he said. " 'Cause these a--holes keep robbing banks."

Larkin took his bike on a Metra train to Oak Forest to look for a new truck at the dealerships along 159th Street, he said. He said his driver's license was restored recently after being revoked in 1985 because of several drunken driving convictions.

Steve Schmadeke may be reached at sschmadeke@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5966.

http://www.banburytoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2...ticleid=1794185

'Dave would have loved it'
TOWN centre streets resounded with rock music over the weekend in memory of a much missed music-loving biker.

The New Flyer in Parsons Street, Banbury, played host to the inaugural Mantlefest – a two-day concert set up to honour Dave Mantle who died in a motorcycle accident in Ruscote Road in July.
The popular 31-year-old had a passion for live music and his death shocked the entire scene as well as friends, family and his partner of eight years Helen Reavell.
Pete Bailey, lead singer for Leatherat who headlined on Saturday night and who Mr Mantle was a road manager for, was the main organiser of the event.
"It's been brilliant, a real success. It was absolutely heaving on Saturday night and it's great to have Dave's name associated with a live music festival," he said.

"It's been a lot of work and I've had to call in a lot of favours but it's been worth it. People have been so generous and all the bands are playing because they knew Dave and wanted to help."
Held under a marquee in the pub car park, the event featured 16 bands over two days, the Saturday having a metal and punk theme while the Sunday was dedicated to blues and folk.
It is hoped that Mantlefest will become an annual event.
Proceeds will be split between the British Motorcycle Foundation, National Association for Bikers with a Disability, towards equipment for the Horton Hospital – where doctors fought to save Mr Mantle's life – and Miss Reavell, a decision taken by friends who wanted to support her while she grieved.
Speaking amid the set of Negative Space Field on Saturday afternoon she said: "It still feels a bit weird more than anything. I'll think of something and want to go home and tell him about it, I think 'I'll tell Dave that'. But generally I'm coping all right.
"I was surprised by everyone's response to help me. They're already raised £1,000 for his funeral and I'm really touched to have friends who are willing to do something like this.
"When he died part of me wasn't shocked. He loved his bike and I knew that would be the way he would go. I was surprised by the response to his death though.
"I knew he had a lot of friends but it's amazing what's been done and he would have loved a day like this. I'm enjoying the day too, and it doesn't really feel that emotional; I just keep thinking how pleased he would be that this was done in his memory."
Reveller Cara Hodges-Melia said: "I think this is amazing, such a good idea and Dave was always talking about wanting a metal festival. He was an amazing man, always full of life and living life to the full."
Her partner Sarah Kelly, a friend of Mr Mantle's for many years, added: "It was pretty unbelievable when he died; heartbreaking – at first I thought it was a mistake. Then the next day, to see how many people were broken up was quite a sight.
"This is definitely what he would have wanted. He would have found it amazing. It's a great way to remember someone forever; he was a metaller to the end."
28 September 2006

http://www.record-eagle.com/2006/sep/27well-being.htm

Thinking pink — all month
National Breast Cancer Awareness is October focus
BY AL PARKER
Special to the Record-Eagle

Special to the Record-Eagle
Cheri Sprik, Irma Brownley and Pat O'Connor participate in last year's Bikers Against Breast Cancer event. TRAVERSE CITY — Every October for the past few years, Irma Brownley invites about 100 of her biker friends to straddle their motorcycles and go riding with her.

It's not just a social function — though there's plenty of fun and biker camaraderie. Brownley does it to raise funds for the ongoing fight against breast cancer, a disease that hasn't really afflicted any members of her family.

"Why wait until it affects my family?" asks the Traverse City resident. "We all should do something now."

Irma represents the millions of Americans who are involved in efforts to raise funds for research about one of America's most dangerous diseases, with quite a few happening in October during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many volunteers have lost loved ones to breast cancer. Many others — like Irma — have not, but still recognize the need to support the fundraising campaign.

An estimated 212,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the U.S. this year, according to the American Cancer Society. It's the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women. About 1,700 cases of breast cancer will afflict men. In Michigan, about 7,070 new breast cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed this year, with about 1,360 deaths.

Brownley's annual ride has raised $1,000 to $2,000 a year for the past two years. This year's event is set for Oct. 7, with registration at 11 a.m. at Kick's Cycle Shop in Kingsley. The ride begins at 1 p.m. The registration fee is $20, with all proceeds going to the American Cancer Society earmarked for breast cancer.

"I'm grateful to all the riders who come out every year," said Brownley, who also credits her employer Airway Oxygen for helping to support the ride in several ways. "We ride every year on the first Saturday in October. It's cool enough then that the riders can all wear their leathers."

Also on Oct. 7, the Traverse City Track Club will host Remembrance Run 2006 to raise money for the Women's Cancer Fund. The non-competitive 5K walk/run at Timber Ridge Campground will be held in conjunction with a Breast Health Fair where exhibits will emphasize issues important to women, including breast cancer. The run begins at 10 a.m.

The Breast Health Fair, which runs from 8 to 10 a.m., will feature door prizes beginning at 8:15 a.m. Pre-registration is $20 before Sept. 30. Registration at the event is $25. Timber Ridge Campground is at 4050 Hammond Road in Traverse City. For information, call 941-4608 or go to www.tctrackclub.com.

With its distinctive pink ribbon logo seemingly everywhere, the breast cancer campaign draws support from women, men, teens, merchants and large organizations.

"Of all the calls we get on our 800 number, breast cancer is the top concern," said Kelli Kaberle, communications specialist for the American Cancer Society.

That concern is reflected in the widespread support that the effort has received across the Traverse City region, especially during Breast Cancer Month.

For example, Vera Bradley Designs has created a special pattern — "Hope" — to help raise money to fight breast cancer. From Oct. 1-15, the specially designed handbags, luggage and accessories with the "Hope" pattern are being featured at Kay's at 219 E. Front St. in Traverse City. Twenty percent of the funds raised from "Hope" products during this event will go to Munson Healthcare's Women's Cancer Fund. Pink ribbons, priced at $5 each, will be available at Kay's with all of that money going to the cancer fund.

On Oct. 14, a Recovery Plus Conference will be held at the Waterfront Conference Center in Traverse City. Breast cancer patients who are undergoing treatment and those who have gone through treatment are invited to attend the event which begins at 8:30 a.m. and runs until 3 p.m. For more information, call (800) 723-0370.

Hundreds of participants will get up and get moving during the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at 10 a.m. on Oct. 21 at Lay Park in Traverse City. This will be the region's fifth annual walk to raise awareness and money to fight breast cancer. At similar walks across the nation nearly 3 million walkers have raised more than $194 million by lacing up their shoes, collecting pledges and stepping out against cancer. Donations will be collected at the walk or may be made online at www.cancer.org/stridesonline. For information, call 947-0860.

"Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a great way for everyone to help increase the awareness of, and funding for, breast cancer," said Bob Burian, Northern Michigan Area Executive Director of the Cancer Society. "While those diagnosed with breast cancer have more hope today than ever before, much still needs to be done in order to eliminate this disease. That's why we hold a Making Strides in northern Michigan."

Early detection, through annual mammograms, is crucial in the fight against breast cancer. It's important that women get their mammogram every year, so physicians have something to compare from year to year. On the front line of the early detection campaign is Hilary Dodge, a mammography technologist at Munson Medical Center. Every day she performs mammograms on women who are fearful about the possibility of having breast cancer.

"I find breast cancer," said Dodge. "I see these patients every day. I do their biopsy. They often come in worried. I'm a hand-holder during the process."

If a woman detects a lump in her breast, she should contact her family physician immediately, advises Dodge.

"Get right in to your doctor," she said. "You can't ignore it."

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14299481

Sep 27, 11:14 AM

Biker Bajaj

By Helen Coster

It's monsoon season in India, and an afternoon rain has slicked the terrace outside of Rajiv Bajaj's office in Akurdi, 100 miles southeast of Mumbai. At age 39, Rajiv is the managing director of Bajaj Auto, for long India's first name on two (or three) wheels. In 2001, a year after he unofficially took the reins of the family-run manufacturer, Rajiv watched Bajaj lose its market lead in the country's basic form of transport for the first time in 45 years. Editor's Choice
Slideshow: The World's Biggest Companies
Slideshow: Top Ten Hottest Jobs In India
Slideshow: Top Ten Richest Indians
Slideshow: India's New Billionaires
Slideshow: India's Billionaires of Technology


So you'll excuse a mordant sense of humour. "If I tell you that no one has fallen off this balcony," he says, "You can tell me, 'Not yet’."

Slideshow: India's biggest companies

These days young Bajaj is unlikely to take a spill. The company, sitting on $1.3 billion in cash, has regained momentum in its battle with its main competitor, Hero Honda. Last year Bajaj made $238 million on sales of $1.9 billion, ensuring a spot on Forbes Asia's Fab 50 companies list. (Hero Honda scored considerably lower, though still respectably, by our measure.) Rajiv is credited with the turnaround, transforming Bajaj from a stodgy scooter manufacturer to a tech-happy motorcycle maker in a country where two-wheelers account for 80 per cent of all vehicles.

Rajiv officially took over the company in 2005 when his father, Rahul, stepped down after 35 years at the helm. But informally he's been in charge since 2000, when, after rising in the ranks for a decade, he was made president and walked straight into a crisis. Gas prices, though state-controlled, had been on the rise, and Hero Honda had launched a four-stroke motorcycle that was more fuel-efficient than Bajaj's scooters—and more manly as well.

Motorcycles took over the market, and Hero Honda's dominance was so great that such bikes, regardless of brand, were known as "Hondas". Scooter sales shrank by 38 per cent, and Bajaj, which was concentrated in that output, saw its operating profits plunge 48 per cent and its stock price drop by a third. "We needed to do something quickly," Rajiv says. "The ground was slipping so fast."

Till then the climb had been slow and steady. Rajiv's grandfather, Kamalnayan Bajaj, founded Bajaj in 1945. In the 1950s, the company imported a smattering of scooters and three-wheelers from Italy's Piaggio, which makes the Vespa. In 1960, Bajaj listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and began manufacturing Piaggio products. By 1966, with a protective screen of import limits, Bajaj had become the largest Indian producer of two-wheelers. Starting in 1970 (and continuing through the 1980s) waiting lists for Bajaj vehicles averaged 10 years.

In 1984, the government allowed foreigners in a bit, as investors and technology partners. Bajaj began importing parts, but little innovative genius from Japan's Kawasaki, while Hero Group partnered with Japan's Honda, forming Hero Honda. (India's TVS, meantime, joined forces with Suzuki.) Bajaj grew steadily through the early 1990s, buoyed by its dominance in sales of three-wheelers, which are used as goods carriers and taxis. By the Numbers
Burn rubber (and paychecks)
A young demographic is ready to wheel the Golden Quad on a Bajaj.

7.1 million - Two-wheelers sold in India last year.

267 million - Indians between 20 and 35, the age group that typically buys motorcycles and scooters.

41% - Asia-Pacific's share ($12.9 billion) of the global motorcycle market.


So when the market began to shift, Bajaj was slow to react—until Rajiv emerged. Rahul and Rajiv do not seem to be a case of "like father, like son". Rahul has relished a public role, extending to service in Parliament. At a conference with Bill Gates last December, he was reported to have challenged the world's richest man on technology's role in India and offered that Microsoft's products could be cheaper and better.

Rajiv, by contrast, shies away from meetings and publicity (only reluctantly cooperating with Forbes Asia). He'll spend hours in an R&D lab. "Rahul spent most of his life in a protected market where he was king," says an analyst who covers the company. "He was not willing to accept that scooters had become obsolete. Rajiv came of age in a completely different atmosphere and accepted the realities of the market." He brought on a Japanese expert in productivity and, for personal guidance, turned to a homeopathic doctor who lives in the Himalayas and, Rajiv says, has "hair down to his feet".

"Everyone was blaming our problems on the outside world," Rajiv says. "But we discovered that the problem was inside, not outside." Since 1986, Bajaj had been producing a small number of two-stroke motorcycles priced 20 per cent below Hero Honda's cheapest model. But because of the bike's poor quality and despite Kawasaki's help, its warranty costs were five times Hero Honda's.

Then there was Bajaj's image, which its motorcycles did little to improve. The company's familiar slogan, "Hamara [Our] Bajaj", didn't resonate with the young, tech-savvy urban men the company wanted to target. Hero Honda's basic four-stroke bike had a better ring to it.

Rajiv needed to do something drastic. The market was dominated by Honda's 100cc bike, which sold for $900 (Rs 41,306). Rather than launch a bike that would compete directly with Hero Honda, Rajiv broke the market into three segments. He wanted Bajaj to flank Hero Honda's product with cheaper "entry level" bikes ($800 [Rs 36,716] and up to 110cc) and more expensive ones ($1,200 [Rs 55,074] and up to 150cc and higher). For the premium segment, Rajiv bet that consumers would trade up, paying up to $400 (Rs 18,383) more for better technology and sex appeal.

As engineers set to work, Rajiv cut the supplier ranks from 855 to 200, cut head count by 12,000 employees (through layoffs and attrition) and closed a plant that had been producing half of the company's scooters. He spent $68 million to build a new plant in Chakan, 15 miles from the company headquarters. Chakan became the company's "manufacturing lab," with educated, young workers and spacious shop floors. To avoid stockpiling, the Chakan plant used nearby suppliers that could deliver parts within four hours, in response to e-mail requests.
In 2001, Bajaj used Chakan to produce its new line, the Pulsar. Out went "Hamara Bajaj", replaced by Pulsar's "Definitely Male" campaign, which shows men in jeans and sunglasses, shirts unbuttoned, sharing the motorcycle seat with scantily clad women. Bajaj also began emphasising the company's technology. The Pulsar, it said, had 52 per cent lower emissions than what was on the market and was 20 per cent more fuel-efficient. (Hero Honda won't speak to these comparisons.) Bajaj sold 12,000 Pulsar bikes in 2001 and 1,84,000 the following year. Today the Pulsar accounts for 20 per cent of Bajaj's overall motorcycle sales and has the highest margins—18 per cent Ebitda, say analysts—of any of the company's two-wheelers.

With its new image, the company followed with the Avenger bike, which uses the slogan "Feel Like God" and targets men age 28 to 30. In 2004, Bajaj made its first direct attack on Hero Honda with the launch of the $900 125cc Discover. Bajaj dubbed it the "mini-Pulsar" and sold 1,54,000 Discover bikes during its first year on the market. So, even though Hero Honda now sells more than a million more bikes than Bajaj does, Bajaj has begun to close the gap with about double the sales growth rate over a recent 12 months.



Bajaj's next battleground is the overseas market. It will be a critical and uphill battle. Today Bajaj exports only 13 per cent of its two-wheelers, and its global market share trails behind Honda, Yamaha, Harley-Davidson and Suzuki. Bajaj wants to be the world's third-largest player. To do that, Bajaj will have to export up to 1.5 million bikes—nearly as many as it sold in India last year—according to Rajiv's brother Sanjiv, who heads the company's export strategy. "If we miss the international opportunity over the next three to five years," says Sanjiv, 36, "someone else will take it."

Someone already has. Although Hero Honda has a small presence outside of India, Honda itself is ubiquitous, claiming 21 per cent of the global market share. In countries like Indonesia, where almost all customers receive financing on their motorcycles, Bajaj will need to establish relationships with foreign banks that don't already partner with Honda or other competitors. Japanese companies control 95 per cent of the two-wheeler market.

Bajaj's plan for Indonesia sounds familiar. "We want to get into Indonesia and surprise the normal way of doing things by coming in with a high-end product," says Sanjiv. "We're not taking the competition head-on."

The other spectre looming over Bajaj is a domestic market shift, similar to the one that surprised the company in the 1990s. Seventy-one per cent of Bajaj's revenue now comes from motorcycles, and with Tata Motors' claim that it will launch a Rs 1 lakh car within two years, Bajaj may face new competition. S Ravikumar, vice president of business development, says that Bajaj has several confidential projects in the works and that it has the technology to keep up with any market shift. "Manufacturers of two-wheelers are better suited to grow into [making inexpensive cars] than those coming from the top down," he says. "The technologies are not so far apart. It's not like making a heavy truck and a two-wheeler."

Slideshow: India's biggest companies

Then there's the three-wheeler market, Bajaj's cash cow. Thanks greatly to it, Bajaj has been debt-free since the late 90s, even during the rough patch that awaited Rajiv. Bajaj has 80 per cent market share in the three-wheeler market, which accounts for 21 per cent of the company's overall sales. While Hero Honda has stayed away, last year Tata Motors launched the Ace, a four-wheel minitruck that carries goods. "Our own four-wheeler goods carriers in the Ace category are under development," says Ravikumar.

If Rajiv is worried, he's not working as if it's 1999. In fact, his office time is typically down to four hours a day, after which he spends two to three hours practicing yoga and reading about homeopathy. He recently spent $1.7 million to redesign the company headquarters in a minimalist, Zen-like style.

"We are not playing someone else's song," he says. "All questions will be answered when we answer the question 'Who am I?' Bajaj has rediscovered itself."



© Copyright Sify Ltd, 1998-2006. All rights reserved. India News Portal, Sify.com hosted at SifyHosting India's first Level 3 Internet Data Centre.
Site optimized for Internet Explorer 5.5 and above.