My Bike - from New 'Virtual Gang' Member Kevin

Robert,

Thanks for doing this. I’ve attached a picture of my new bike. A 2009 V-Strom 650

Kevin

My (former) MZ 660 Supermoto

Hi Rob,

Some photos of my MZ 660 Supermoto, a bike which I sold recently to buy myself a Goldwing 2009.

The original bike is hidden behind the sheet metal work, the paint job, and the fabrication done by my friend masterbuilder Greg Rice, of Greg Custom Cycles Works (www.gregscycles.com).

We changed the headers to make the 660 powerplant breathe better, using headers made in Germany by a company specializing in MZ kits.

To take care of the heat, Greg wrapped the headers, and built a heat shield. He also built a mudguard beneath the engine.

The front headlight was changed to an Acerbis Diamond block.

The bars are Renthal, much better than the original. The guards on the bars are Acerbis too.

To give the MZ a better look, we also polished the lower legs of the fork, and the swing arm.

A bit part of the metamorphosis of the bike is in the back. The original MZ has an unsightly tail piece which is so long you could rip it up if you would pop a hard wheelie. Ugly as hell. Greg designed a completely new piece which we welded on the subframe. The big squarish stock taillight was replaced with this beautiful ovoid LED taillight. And for the turn signals, we chose 2 much more discreet metal pairs (can’t remember the make).

The exhaust pipe was also changed. The stock one weighs a ton, and it was specifically made to pass CA emission standards. The previous owner got rid of it to install an M4 exhaust with a beautifully throaty (and very loud) sound.

And for the paint job, Greg offered a green mica paint with gold undertones, no airbrush job.

Man, what a bike. It gained some HP after we changed the headers and rejetted the carbs, and I could have continued the mods with a Stage 2 kit (made by the same German workshop) which would have gotten rid of the rev limiter. The stock version limits revs at 7500 rpm, which is a bit short when you push the bike hard in 3^rd and 4^th after the tune-up.

Anyway, this was a pleasure to ride this MZ, and its motor (the Yamaha Raptor modified at tranny level) is an unkillable, super-flexible powerplant.

Best,

phil

Press Release from Boostaroo for Motorcycles

March 31, 2009 For Riders Who Love to Cruise with Music…. The New Boostaroo Revolution MC ™ Audio Amp Has Just Arrived! UpBeat Audio has received its first limited shipment of the new Boostaroo Revolution MC. A few years back our team at UpBeat Audio designed an amp called the Boostaroo Revolution™. It gives 4x the volume enhancement, so that we could hear over road and engine noise. Plus we designed and patented a cross feed circuit that cracks open the compression that limits the sound field of iPods and other music players. The result is full rich home stereo sound from your small digital player. Motorcyclists loved it, we loved it – but there was one problem. It used batteries. A lot of our customers wrote to us that they wanted an amp that was powered through their cigarette lighter. So, this year we came up with a new amp just for motorcycle riders. It's the 12 Volt Powered Boostaroo Revolution and we just received our very first shipment. This unit plugs into your motorcycle's cigarette lighter, and has been engineered with special filters to eliminate electrical and engine noise. Best of all, it's made right here in the United States. I am very excited about this unit because the sound reproduction is far better than anything you've ever heard from your iPod. It also features a powered splitter, so that you can share your tunes with a rider. The additional power means you can turn down the volume on your player, which will eliminate distortion and also add significantly to the battery life of your player per charge. That means you can take the longer rides and not have your player battery die after four to six hours. There is one catch. We are only selling it on the web. It was a tough call, but we had to make a choice. Manufacture in the US and keep our price down in these tough times, or manufacture overseas and have the margins to sell it in to mass retail. So, if you'd like to try it, you can do so at http://www.boostaroo.com/store_detail.php4?id=114 We give a 90 day no questions asked money back guarantee if you don't absolutely love it, and a one year warranty on all parts. As a thank you for trying our new product, when you click on the link above, you'll receive a $5.00 discount if you order by April 15th. We ship within 24 hours when we receive your order, so if you have a ride coming up, you can get your unit fast . It's plug and play – nothing complicated to install. Poke around our web site and read the comments from other riders. You'll learn what they think of the battery powered Revolution – so that you can get a good idea of what to expect from our new model. Please let us know what you think – and send us a photo . We'd like to show all the places the Boostaroo has traveled. http://www.boostaroo.com/store_detail.php4?id=114

John Merriam Story from long ago....about ridin his Norton 100mph+ across the Hwy 520 Bridge!

Click on the photos to explode them to full size!

THIRTY FIVE CENTS The Colonel waited on an overpass above the highway. He sat astride his Norton and surveyed the flow of traffic headed to the toll bridge over Lake Washington to Seattle. It was Sunday morning, April 1st. That was the date selected for his breach of the toll plaza without paying toll. The Colonel waited until there was a two-mile gap in traffic, the length of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge spanning the lake. He kicked over the English motorcycle and left the overpass to ride out onto the highway. The Colonel was not really a colonel. He had been given the moniker "Colonel Okie" by the Muskogee Motorcycle Club—so named because of the rag-tag assortment of two-wheeled machines ridden by its members, of which he was one. Another member of that motley crew, Willie, had been dubbed The Admiral. Willie had earned that name the day he used his old motorcycle, a Triumph, for an unsuccessful assault on an island from the banks of Keechelus Lake. The Admiral's motorcycle did well on its amphibious mission until the water rose to the air intake for the carburetor, at which point the ragged riders of the Muskogee had to dismount and perform a rescue at sea. Willie had previously announced that since he had "discovered" the island—which barely stuck above the surface—he was entitled to be its governor. Watching Willie's failure to establish a beachhead on his new estate, the Colonel promptly entitled it the Isle of Disappointment. Even though the Admiral's tool kit typically consisted of little more than a hammer, vicegrips and electrical tape, the riders of the Muskogee were able to dismantle the carburetor to drain water out. The Admiral, getting both cylinders firing again, thereupon felt required to demonstrate his prowess by riding up to the summit of "Snowplow Mountain"—a forty-foot mount of snow piled on the side of Interstate 90 to keep Snoqualmie Pass clear for traffic. It was then Willie was dubbed The Admiral, while yelling about his dominance—finally proving he could be victorious on water, at least in its solid form. Another member of the motorcycle club, Bob, worked as a warehouseman. Bob had dreams of breaking out of his dead-end job to make a living as a photographer. He had already received some encouragement. The magazine "Easy Rider”, oriented toward owners of Harley Davidsons, had published one of Bob's photographs taken during a Muskogee trip. The Colonel assumed he would be doing Bob an excellent service were Bob to be poised in the bushes with his camera during the Colonel's observance of April Fool's. The Colonel thought that giving the finger to the occupant of the booth, as he accelerated through the toll plaza, would definitely be a gesture worthy of publication in "Easy Rider". The Colonel told Bob about the photo opportunity he proposed. All Bob could say was, "You're nuts!" The Colonel was crushed but went on with his planning for April Fool's anyway. The Colonel had originally targeted the toll road—officially called the A. D. Rossellini Bridge after a former governor of Washington—because he viewed the imposition of tolls on highway travel anywhere west of the Mississippi River as somewhat unAmerican or, at least, unWestern. Even at a charge of 35 cents, the toll was an affront to his driving dignity. The Colonel's planning had been extensive. From numerous reconnaissance sorties, he knew that the lightest traffic flow during daytime hours was on Sunday mornings. In case he was pursued across the two-mile bridge, the Colonel had rehearsed an elaborate escape route through the University of Washington Arboretum, such that his Norton could slip through roadblocks and travel where no police car could follow. (He already knew from drag races on the street that full-dress Harley Davidsons, like those used by the State Patrol, were no match for his Norton.) Only a mile of the Evergreen Point Bridge actually floated—on concrete pontoons. The other half of its expanse inclined to the water from either shore. From the toll plaza on the eastern side of Lake Washington to trails through the Arboretum in Seattle, the Colonel had measured a total distance of three miles in which he would need to engage in a high-speed getaway. The Colonel rode west on the highway, State Route 520, and nonchalantly pulled to a stop at the toll both. The clerk at the plaza stuck out his hand, pregnant with the anticipation of 35 cents. Without Bob and his camera to record the gesture, the Colonel saw little reason to give the finger to the poor toll-taker. Instead, he stared solemnly straight ahead, eased out the clutch handle with his left hand, and gave the throttle a mighty twist with his right. The motorcycle roared away from the toll plaza. Rapidly shifting through all four gears, the Colonel soon achieved the Norton's top speed of 115 mph. It was no coincidence that the Colonel had waited until there was a two-mile gap in traffic. Traveling at more than double the posted speed limit, the Norton and the Colonel would have been knocked into Lake Washington should a car in front make even a casual lane change. The Colonel had no desire to compete for the Admiral's title in such a fashion. At 115 mph, the Colonel had calculated he could transit the bridge in slightly more than 60 seconds. He knew, however, that police cars were capable of faster top speeds than his motorcycle. There was intense wind pressure on the face shield of the Colonel's helmet. He hunched down, thrusting his chin forward past the handlebars and over the headlight, to minimize the resistance from the velocity at which he was traveling. His knuckles were white from a death-grip on the handlebars. To this day the Colonel does not know if he was pursued across the floating bridge. He couldn't look behind. The rearview mirror was useless because he poked his face in front of it. To turn his head to look behind would have been certain suicide; at the speed he was traveling, a turning of his head—with helmet and face shield attached—would mean being torn off of the motorcycle by sheer pressure. The Colonel's timing worked. No cars were on the floating bridge during his high-speed traverse of the lake. No roadblocks or barricades had been erected at the exit. Assuming there was a host of demonic law enforcement vehicles in pursuit, he carried on with his escape plan. The Norton entered the Arboretum at 50-60 mph and decelerated rapidly thereafter. The Colonel steered for footpaths, in accordance with his pre-planned route. Various strollers and joggers were appalled at the approach of a motorcycle violating all the rules on a calm Sunday morning. They promptly yielded the right-of-way when hearing the roar from defective mufflers and seeing the crazed look in the Colonel's eyes. The Colonel traveled the length of the Arboretum and scrambled his motorcycle up a hillside out onto Lake Washington Boulevard. He was close to home. The Colonel drove the Norton into his basement and hid it. He began to realize that he was probably never even pursued. ‘What toll taker gives a damn about 35 cents anyway,’ he wondered The next time the Colonel kicked over the Norton he noticed smoke issuing from the exhaust pipes. A compression check revealed that he had burned all four of the motorcycle's valves by exceeding the red line for R.P.M.s during his field trip across the floating bridge. Not having the tools for a valve grind, he had to pay a motorcycle shop to do it. For the valve job the shop charged over 200 times what the Colonel had saved by not paying toll on the floating bridge.

Hello from Triumph of Tacoma,Washington

Just a few things to share with you. MARCH 27th DISCOUNT EXPIRES TOMORROW - Just a reminder of the deadline for the Advanced Street Skills class. Call 253-770-8888 and talk to Lauren. Tell her the promotional pass code "RATT PACK" to receive the $265.50 tuition versus the $295 tuition. You do NOT have to prepare your bike in any way for this event. Traditional track days require mirror removal, leathers, etc. You may ride with your regular riding gear on the streets with the exception of pants. Pants with more protection than jeans are required. Spend a day with friends while honing your cornering skills. It's going to be a great day of fun, laughs and friends. Yesterday I called Puget Sound Safety to enroll three more customers and 30 out of 60 spots are full. Hurry and sign up to receive your discount! MARCH 29th, SHORT LUNCH RIDE ON SUNDAY - We have had feedback asking us for shorter rides so this Sunday we plan to do exactly that. The forecast for Sunday is 20% chance rain, 50 degrees and partly cloudy. We will meet at the shop at 10:00 a.m. (no breakfast meeting), ride the many backroads to Centralia, stop for lunch and take the freeway home. Total mileage should be between 100-150 miles depending on the group, weather, etc. This will be a RELAXED SCENIC PACED ride for beginners and for anyone needing a little wind therapy. 2009 TRIUMPH CRUISER - If you're thinking about a 2009 America or 2009 Speedmaster now is the time to think hard. Triumph is offering our customers 5.9% APR for 72 months for qualified buyers PLUS your choice of $1000 in Triumph Clothing/Accessories OR $650 in Dealer Cash. That's around $125 per month! At this point, we have no notice as to when this offer expires. USED BIKES - Our website currently has all our consignment bikes online. There are some really sweet deals for bikes well cared for with low miles. We know the owners of the motorcycles and have the liberty to not accept a consignment bike if we think it may be a problem for another owner. It's all about good karma and a good reputation. MARCH 31, 2009 DEADLINE for 2008 ROCKET III TOURING - We have one left in our shop. Triumph's quick offer is giving our customers rates as low as 3.9% APR or $2000 in Triumph clothing/accessories if you purchase it before March 31, 2009. ROCKY NEWS - Thank you for your kind inquiries as to Rocky's progress. He is now walking without a walker and improving daily. He is now at home and can use his left arm and hand to eat and dress himself. If you want to visit him just let me know. I go with riders to visit him regularly and he loves the company - both new friends and old! 2008 DAYTONA 675 SPECIAL EDITION - My precious baby is up for sale. Drop me an e-mail and I will fill you in on the details. It took a lot of mental counseling to part with my bike and I don't want everyone online laughing at how I came to the decision to sell my bike so drop me an e-mail if you're interested and I'll tell you the story. LOCATION CHANGE FOR RATT CLUB - Our next meeting is April 15th. What a better way to spend tax day then with a group of friends at a casino... Our meeting location will change from Carr's Restaurant to The Ripe Tomato Bar and Grill. The Ripe Tomato Bar and Grill is located within the casino on the northeast corner of South Tacoma Way and 512 across the street from Eagle Leather and McDonald's. I will have a formal address for you with the next RATT meeting reminder. HAD ENOUGH? I have more to tell you, but I'll stop this novel length e-mail for now. Have a great day and ride safe! Vena Triumph of Tacoma

My Bike Pic

Dear Robert,

Thank you for your email. I have attached a picture of mine with my bike. I would really appreciate if you could upload it in the association website.

I am proud to be a member of Worldwide Motorcycle Association..

Warmest Regards,

Nick Lawson

Sr. Executive Business Development |ZSL Inc

85, Lincoln Highway, Edison, NJ - 08820

New Member - Frank Paetzold

Hi Robert,

 

I have attached two pics of my motorcylces.

I can’t wait for the season to start again. Almost there!

 

Thanks,

 

Frank

 

Location: Tyngsboro, MA

Gunbus Motorcycle

CLICK ON THE PHOTOGRAPH TO EXPLODE IT TO FULL SIZE!


Take a look at this bike, it doesn't look that big, then scroll down and
see it with a girl sitting on it. A big production motorcycle engine would
be 140 cubic inches, this one is 410!

The Gunbus 410 cubic inch (6728cc's) V-Twin motorcycle is complete.
The monster engine placed in a motorcycle frame of comparable size looked
impossible and many who saw the photos were skeptical of the bike ever being
finished, but I guess Clemens F. Leonhardt is one of those persistent guys who
ignores the naysayers and keeps at his work.
The fuel-injected, 45 degree 6728 cc/410 cubic inch V-Twin runs through a 3 speed
transmission with reverse and actually looks pretty good in its finished state. In fact,
everything looks good!
It puts out 523 foot pounds of torque. Seat height is 31.5 inches and overall length is
136 inches. It is a little heavy at 1433 pounds so high speed corner carving might be
an issue and there aren't any photos of the big bike on the road, so I guess we'll have
to wait for the road test, that is if someone can actually road test this monster.
This is actually going to go into limited series production and a sidecar will
be available as well, which might help with balance when waiting at a light.
I don't even want to think about a driveway tip over.

New Member: John Mouser

Hi Robert.

 

Here is my pic.

 

Rider: John Mouser

Bike: Star Raider (First one purchased in NC).

Location: Catawba River, Charlotte, NC

 

Thanks!

 

-JDM

 

I Love Track Days.........by John Cloonan

Four years ago, I figured something out. I love track days, but there are way too many people at them. So I figured out a way around it. I decided to find a racetrack where I could host a 10-person track day. I'd split the cost 10 ways, and invite nine friends.

Talladega Gran Prix Raceway fit the bill perfectly. Now, four years later, I just completed the fourth 10-person invitational track day. This year, however, was a little different.

I usually book the track and announce the date around December 1, and it fills within a week. Last year, I actually filled 9 of the 10 spots in the first 6 hours. This year, on February 23rd, with only a month left, I still had 7 spots left. Since I already had paid the track deposit, I was a little nervous.

Actually, I was a lot nervous. I lost my job shortly after announcing the date, and decided to host the track day anyway, figuring I'd never have trouble filling it. So I had a big chunk of cash riding on filling this day, and another big chunk due on the day of the track day. If I canceled, I lost the substantial deposit, but if I didn't fill it, I was stuck with writing a huge check for the difference. So I removed the "invitational" part of the track day, and went public. I advertised it on about 30 different sportbike forums, and said "first come, first serve." Even then, I only sold the last spot about 14 days prior to the event. One hurdle gone over.

The downside: I only knew two of the other guys showing up this year. Then, wouldn't you know, one of those guys got sick with a week to go, and had to sell his spot, so now I was hosting a private track day where I knew only ONE of the riders who was scheduled to be there.

Got there Sunday afternoon and hung out at Elite Sportbike's track day, saw a few friends, and got ready to walk the track. As their day finished up, I talked to the track owner, asked him if we were cool to walk the track, and he agreed. Just as my girlfriend and I were finishing up the track walk, one of the riders called to let me know they were about a half-hour out. I told him we were gonna bail and meet them at the hotel, but they were cool to come drop their gear. 

On the road back to the hotel, we saw his truck coming the other way, and I got a wild hair and decided to turn around and follow them back to the track, so we could meet the guys we were gonna be riding with the next day. Well, this guy had brought about half of our track day attendees with him, so we met them all, helped them get their gear dropped at the track, and went for dinner.

Monday was warm, sunny, and beautiful. Everyone got there early, got the pits set up, and we hit the track. I hadn't been there since the prior year, and the new pit set-up out there is great. Lots of places to get power! Other than one guy (who should have known better, to be honest) running out of gas a couple times, we had nothing but sunshine, clear track, and no incidents. Strangely, even though we had 10 registrations, only 8 guys showed up, so everyone had as much track time as they could want. I led a couple parade laps around for people new to the track to show some suggested lines.

Lunch from Big Daddy's Barbecue was fantastic. These ladies went out of their way for us. They're normally not even open on Mondays, but decided to make an exception because, in their words "We're big fans of the guys there at Talladega." 5 pounds of pulled pork, two sauces, baked beans, cole slaw, peach cobbler, and iced tea. The South knows how to eat, folks.

The crew at TGPR was excellent, as usual, and ran pit out for us all day! (We've had to do it ourselves in the past.) We had a couple relative newbies who did very well, and were really picking up speed by the end of the day. In my final session of the day, by some weird mutual non-verbal agreement, I got into an out-and-out race with one of the other guys for the last three or four laps. We had a blast dicing it up out there!

By 4pm, I was spent. I just physically couldn't do it anymore, so I sat out my last session. A successful track day - I was uninjured, and we can use the motorcycle again!

OF Motorcycle Club - Birmingham, Alabama

 

CLICK ON THE PHOTOGRAPH AND IT WILL EXPLODE TO FULL SIZE!

 

Dear Blog Grawet-here's a story for your website

 

Dixie Classic Bike Club (aka OFMC or Old Farts MC) is based in Birmingham, Alabama and was established in 1979 by a small group of British motorcycle enthusiasts trying to keep their machines together after the demise of the British MC industry in the 1970's..  Today's OFMC includes vintage and classic bikes of all marqueshas with nearly 60 members, average age of 58 year, but many active members still riding in their 70's and 80's!  Members are often asked if "OF" refers to the bikes or the members....but we're not telling!!     Birmingham is also home to the famous Barber's VIntage Motorsports Museum, the largest private collection  of vintage bikes in world, so vintage bike enthusiasts are as easy to find in Alabama as biscuits and gravy!  Visit http://barbermuseum.org/ 

 

OFMC meets monthly and holds several annual evens as well as a monthly ride for members and their guests.  The March 22 event drew 17 bikes on a sunny 70 degree SUnday, riding from Birmingham, up through the twisty two-lane Appalachian backroads to the Clarkson Covered Bridge in remote Cullman County, Alabama.  Built in 1904 at a length of 270 feet, it is the second-longest covered bridge in Alabama and the fifth-longest in the US, listed as an Historic National Landmark.  From there, the OF's rode the perimeter of 22,000 acre Lewis Smith Lake, stopping for a Southerm-style "meat and three (veggies)" lunch at a lakeside marina.  After a long break, the crew pushed onward through the Sipsey National Forest where the confluence of several rivers and old growth trees make for some great countyside riding.  After nearly 200 miles, all 17 bikes arrived home without incident or mechanical mishap and a great time was had by all. 

 

 

 

Richard Schlinkert

 

 

 

 

bikefotographs 2/2

second mail

bikefotographs 1/2

2nd mail to follow

Kingpin Cruisers Club

From: jlke.noss@gmail.com [mailto:jlke.noss@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Cycle Solutions

Hi Robert,
Please find attached a photo my bike.

Here is my club information.

Kingpin Cruisers
http://www.KingpinCruisers.net

Thanks,
Jim

New Member Ed Bird- Member #300- Welcome to the Gang, Ed!

--- On Sat, 3/21/09, Ed Bird <edbird@charter.net> wrote: From: Ed Bird <edbird@charter.net> Subject: Re: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn To: "Robert Grawet" <rjgrawet@yahoo.com> Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009, 8:33 AM  Hi Robert attached is a picture of my daughter Brittany & I in the Belchertown Parade. We are riding my pretty much original 1972 Harley Electraglide. The next pic is my Glide and my 1960 Sportster Chopper that I built.   Best regards, Ed

From India - A ride Beckons! Call of the wild beckons...on an all-india motorcycle journey!

-----Original Message-----
From: Sankara Subramanian [mailto:sankara.cs@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:41 AM
To: robert.g@advancedmethod.com
Subject: call of the wild beckons...on an all-india motorcycle journey Re:

Starting Dec 1, 2008 through May 31, 2009, I will be on my all-India
motorcycle trip traversing the remotest parts of India
(http://sankaracs.wordpress.com). Hence, I will have extremely limited
connectivity (email, mobile, etc.).

Cheers!
Sankara
Blog: http://sankaracs.wordpress.com
Cell: +91-98803 60199
Blog: http://sankaracs.wordpress.com
Cell: +91-9880360199

Fireworks and Motorcycles; we've just hit WMA Member #300!!!!!!

Click on the Photograph to explode it to full size!




FIREWORKS AND MOTORCYCLES!



Welcome to Edmund Bird...WMA - The Virtual Motorcycle Gang...Member #300!!!!

Just 10 months ago, this was an idea. There has been virtually no promotion of our club. It's grown mostly thru Linkedin.com on its own. Even better; ALMOST every member is an addicted motorcyclist, and joined this (out of the 1000's of Linkedin.com groups) because they love to ride their bikes!

We truly are a Worldwide Motorcycle Gang....with members from all continents and over 50 countries!

Please consider sending us a photo of you, you and your bike, or any related bike photograph! Make sure to check out the Motorcycle Photograph Gallery, by clicking on the Blue Motorcycle on the upper right side. There's more than 100 photos there from around the world.





Ride Safe Edmund! Ride Safe Brothers and Sisters! Keep the rubber side down!

Thank you for adding me

Robert - Thank you for adding me to your group.

I have attached pics of my 2003 Honda Valkyrie for your website.

My wife and I love to ride every chance we get. My son likes to get on board too.

 

Stan (SKAR) Karkowski

 

re: my bike!

Robert:

I agree with every one of your talking points!! See my bike picture
attached, my Ninja 250!

Thank you for allowing me to join the group!

Best Regards,

Bob Mazzola

294 Members in the WMA!

We're at 294 members today....moving ever so quickly to the 300 member level.

Ride Safe, brothers and sisters!

The Longest Day Ride 5 Capitals 20/21 June 2009 in aid of Make A Wish Foundation

The Longest Day Ride 5 Capitals 20/21 June 2009 in aid of Make A Wish Foundation Hello Everyone, I hope no one minds me posting this as I thought it might be of interest to some of you. I am part of a large group of motorcyclists that on the weekend of the 20th/21st of June 2009, will ride from Edinburgh to Belfast, on to Dublin, then back across the water to Cardiff and finish in London at the Ace Cafe, all in under 24 hours. Oddly enough, we're calling the event The Longest Day Ride 5 Capitals challenge. We are aiming to raise £5000 in aid of Make A Wish Foundation, a charity that works with children who have life threatening illnesses, granting them what for many, sadly, will be their final wish. www.make-a-wish.org.uk Make A Wish Foundation want to be able to grant 1000 wishes to 1000 special children in 2010. With your help we can help them to achieve this. You can support us in two main ways. You can join us on the ride, and raise sponsorship, for which you would be more than welcome, and you can find contact details here: http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=33983 . Sponsorship forms and flyers can be downloaded from here: www.thelongestday.org Alternatively you can support us by donating to the justgiving website we have set up here: www.justgiving.com/thelongestday2009 . Last year we raised in excess of £15,000 for MacMillan Cancer Support, by riding from John O'Groats to Landsend in under 24 hours. This year the challenge we set ourselves is tougher, but with your help we will be able to make an outstanding success of it and raise that £5000 for those magical wishes to be made real for those wonderful, special children. Please contribute anything you can. We are totally self funding, covering all costs of ferries, petrol, accommodation, and food from our own pockets; by donating directly to www.justgiving.com/thelongestday2009 you can be assured your donation goes directly to Make A Wish Foundation. Thank you for reading this far. If you can help us, I extend the gratitude of Team XRV to you in advance, for helping us to make those wishes come true. Be part of something special. Donate today at www.justgiving.com/thelongestday2009 Keep it rubber side down and thank you once again. alpslapper (on behalf of Team Xrv and The Longest Day )

We have 291 members worldwide as of this morning!

Hello fellow 'Virtual Motorcycle Gang' members!

I hope you've all had a chance to go for a ride recently.....I'm waiting for the snow to stop once more here in Washington State, USA.

We are nearing another milestone in our club. We will soon go over 300 members in the WMA! Considering we have never done any promotion at all....that it has grown stictly from word of mouth....that's quite impressive; AND its only been 10 months since the club started. It was almost 2 weeks before the first member signed on....then another few weeks til the next. Somewhere around June 2008, we began to pick up momentum.

Please consider sending me a photo of you, you and your bike, just your bike, your favorite bike related shot, or anything that a fellow motorcyclist would find interesting.

REMEMBER: You can make your own post (including photos) by sending a normal email to this email address: robertgrawet.motorcycles@blogger.com

Whatever you send (the words and the photos attached) will automatically post to this site within 5 minutes after you send them.

I audit the site every hour or so, if someone sends something by mistake - just let me know and I'll fix it.

Ride Safe brothers and sisters!

Robert Grawet
Founder - Worldwide Motorcycle Association (WMA)
"The Virtual Motorcycle Gang"

Jarrett Conway - New Member - The Virtual Motorcycle Gang

Welcome to new member: Jarrett Conway....Ride Safe Brother!

An Awesome Post about rides in New Zealand!

the post is on our Events Page. To get there; just click on the photo of the couple riding away on a red motorcycle with white helmets. It will take you right to this great info page on several rides in New Zealand, including a tribute to Burt Munro, "The World's Fastest Indian".

Ride Safe Brothers and Sisters!

Motorcycle Motorcycle Magazine seeks story ideas/topics.

Motorcycle Motorcycle Magazine seeks story ideas/topics.  

Greetings fellow motorcycle riders. We are looking for ideas for
future stories/articles that are compelling to motorcycle
enthusiasts of all types.

I am the founder of a monthly motorcycle magazine titled "Throttler
Motorcycle Magazine" ( www.throttlermagazine.com ). We are a free
magazine available through a distributor network of businesses in Iowa,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin and South Dakota.

We are a clean publication (No T & A) with a bias towards human
interest topics specific to the enjoyment of motorcycle riding plus,
business profiles and product reviews. We print a full-color, high quality,
high gloss magazine and cover topics related to all brands of motorcycles.

Throttler Motorcycle Magazine was recently awarded honorable
mention as one of the nations best home based businesses by the
entrepreneurial peer group, StartupNation.com.

Plus, we’re also looking for first hand accounts on...
“Getting to Sturgis. The ride. The experience. The stay.”
We want to hear from anyone who has made the trip or WILL make the trip to
Sturgis this year. Take us down the road with them on the trip. How far did
they or will they ride, what was it like, where did they stay along the way and
where did they stay when they got there? What did they see along the way?
What were their hurdles? Etc...

We are looking for contributing writers with some degree of writing
experience. If you might like to toss us an article idea, please email
me directly at roderick@throttlermagazine.com.

Thank You!
Roderick Kabel
Publisher

www.throttlermagazine.com

A Ride Story about the 'Sturgis' of Japan by Jeremy Sanderson!

THERE IS ANOTHER POST BY THE SAME AUTHOR JUST BELOW THIS ONE; WITH LOTS OF PHOTOS.

The following is an account of my recent epic motorcycle journey around Kyushu, the southern island of Japan. The ensuing folly should only be undertaken by trained professionals with high pain thresholds and who have scant regard for their personal safety or public decency. Essential equipment: One large and well seasoned Harley Davidson Motorcycle (1584 CCs thereof), one hernia belt and one pair of ear plugs. (Loud pipes save lives – but damage hearing!).

The trip was a great voyage of deep spiritual refreshment and acute lumbar pain, but my riding buddy Akira has had some chiropractic training, so he helped me stretch out every morning and keep in reasonable shape. There were a couple of times I was in so much pain I couldn't get off my bike without doing stretching exercises to free up my back - they don't tell you about that in the Harley Davidson service manual! They should come with a warning label saying 'CAUTION! This is the world's most enjoyable motorcycle. Limit your riding pleasure to 12 hours a day or paralysis may set in and you may have to get the ear-to-ear grin on your face removed by surgery. Harley Davidson Motor Corp accepts no liability for excessive enjoyment of our product!'

The trip was a great way for me to really get back in touch with why I came to Japan in the first place, and it was my first real good look at Kyushu. I finally found the kind of scenery I've been missing since I left the UK. The mountains and alpine pastures high up in central Kyushu were stunning, the air crystal clean and the food and water delicious. It was a really refreshing and soul cleansing experience. We rode 2300Km and had two 12 hour ferry journeys in 6 days. The final day's ride was from Osaka ferry terminal back to Tokyo, 15 hours and about 400 miles through relentless rain the whole way. We had barely a drop of rain for the whole of the rest of the trip though, except when we rode up above the cloud line in central Kyushu to the top of Mount Aso, which used to be Japan's highest mountain until a volcanic eruption blew the top off it about 200 years ago. All in all it was an amazing trip with too many good moments to recount. (The on-sens were great too. That's the great thing about touring in Japan, there's always a nice hot bath waiting for you somewhere!).

We set off on the first day at 04:00 from Tokyo and rode nearly 400 miles to Kobe to catch the evening ferry to Kita Kyushu (The Northern end of Kyushu), arriving at the ferry terminal at around 16:00. The overnight ferry was quite comfortable as we had private berths booked with a nice comfortable bed. There was even a big on-sen style bath on the ferry, which was very nice. The next morning we arrived in kyushu at about 07:30 and set off on the ride down to Kumamoto on the West coast of Kyushu, where we turned east and headed up into the mountains. The road wound on for several hours, climbing high up into the clouds and eventually taking us to the caldera at the summit of Mount Aso, a live volcano with smoke and steam belching out and mixing with the clouds. The scenery and views on the way up were fantastic, reminding me a lot of a trip through parts of the Yorkshire Dales, or the road up through Northumberland and over the tops to the Scottish border. We then headed down the other side of the Aso mountain range and several hours later arrived in Beppu, a medium sized tourist resort on the East coast. It had the feeling of a Japanese Scarborough, and we stayed in an hotel that looked shabby and unprepossessing from the outside, but surprised us with really first class service, delicious food and an excellent on-sen bath to soak away our aches from the day's ride.

The next day we headed north and rode up to the top end of Kyushu and crossed the Kanmon straits, the narrow channel of sea running between Kyushu and Honshu. We rode on for another two hours into the center of Yamaguchi prefecture and the site of the Vibes rally, and annual gathering of Harley Davidson riders and enthusiasts from all over Japan. Approximately 5000 bikes and around 10,000 people attend and it's held in a different part of Japan each year, so it's an annual pilgrimage for die-hard bikers from all over Japan. It's a truly spectacular gathering of the most beautiful gleaming machinery and grubbiest humanity (self included!) Japan has to offer. We got there in the early afternoon, pitched our tents and spent the rest of the day admiring bikes and browsing the many stalls selling all manner of paraphernalia guaranteed to tease and entice the discerning motorcyclist. By around 9:00pm my legs were tired and my wallet decidedly thinner so I hit the sack. The next morning my riding buddy Akira told me the people in the tent next to ours had been up partying until 03:00 but I didn't hear any of it, I slept like a baby. 3 days of hard riding starting to catch up on me.

We broke camp and headed out at about 11:00 the next morning, heading back to the Kanmon Kaikyo - the straits between Honshu and Kyushu, where we stopped for coffee, junk food and photos. We then headed south again into the heart of Kyushu and went way up into the central mountain range, again near mount Aso, and aimed for a beautiful area in the heart of the range called Kuju, in Oita Prefecture, where we were to spend the night. The final two hours of the night was a hair raising adventure through tight twisting mountain roads in pitch darkness. In October night falls at around 5:00 pm in this part of Japan, and we finally arrived at our lodgings at around 7:30pm. Amid the inky blackness that one only experiences deep in wilderness territory we arrived at the Kuju Highlands Resort, a log cabin style hotel, onsen and camp site complex. We had a log cabin cottage booked, and they were packed with visitors which was good as we got bumped up into a higher grade room as someone else needed our original one. The evening meal, which was included, was a royal feast of locally farmed barbeque steak, chicken, fresh veggies and all manner of other delicious things. The on-sen was a volcanic spring rich in ferrous mineral deposits that took my back pain away and left my skin feeling like silk. It was a strange feeling being in this little Shangri-La in the mountains yet having no clue about what the surrounding countryside looked like, having arrived in pitch darkness. The next morning as dawn broke we awoke to a stunning view through the picture window in our room, of mountain tops poking up above the clouds lingering in the valley down below us. We had truly found a little piece of Japanese heaven, courtesy of Messrs Harley and Davidson!

After another dip in the mineral springs and a sumptuous breakfast of fresh local produce and milk from Japanese cows that had clearly only ever eaten the sweetest grass, bathed in hot springs, been educated in the tea ceremony in a temple in Kyoto and spent their lives reading novels by Natsume Soseki and Shiga Naoya, we headed out on the bikes for one of the most beautiful rides of my life. Weaving through high mountain pasture roads, past dairy farms and hay fields gradually down through the foot hills we eventually left Oita Prefecture and crossed into Miyazaki prefecture, the Japanese Riviera on the south east coast of Kyushu. Warmed by the waters of the South Pacific Miyazaki is famous for it's beautiful sea coast, palm trees, Pacific Island resort ambiance and the most interesting and entertaining Prefectural Governor in Japan. Until recently he was a famous television personality and comedian, he ran for Governor of the nearly bankrupt Prefecture of Miyazaki as an outsider and won in a landslide vote. He promptly fired all the corrupt officials who had been taking bribes and hiding money, opened up the prefectural government building to the public and set about advertising Miyazaki prefecture like his life depended on it. A year later it is the top tourist destination in Japan outside of Tokyo and it has a thriving economy. We arrived in Miyazaki city in the mid afternoon, rode on through the city and out the other side up to a stretch of coast line called the Pheonix Line, for it's rows of beautiful Pheonix palms along the roadsides. The views along the coast were beautiful, and a fitting close to our last day of touring before the grueling trip back to Tokyo.

After a quick visit to the local Harley Davidson store to buy a Harley Davidson Miyazaki T shirt we got to the ferry terminal at around 5:00pm, checked in, boarded, enjoyed another great hot bath on the boat and readied ourselves for a much needed evening meal in the ships canteen. By the time we were changed and ready for dinner however the ship had set sail, launching into one of the choppiest seas of the year. My buddy Akira, who had earlier told me with great authority that "you don't need sea sickness pills on Japanese ferries, the ride is smooth as silk" came knocking on my cabin door saying "Jerry....have you got any of those pills to spare?". I gave him my last pill, having taken mine earlier, and while he went off to nurse a queasy stomach I tucked into a hearty dinner, then hit the sack at about 8:30 pm. The ship bucked and tossed around like a fairground ride in the rough seas, but my pills did their job, and with the thrumming of the ships engines and motion of the ship I told myself I was lying in a huge massage chair, which is exactly what it felt like, and drifted off to a deep and peaceful sleep.

We arrived at Osaka ferry terminal at dawn on the sixth day of our trip. Disembarked on our bikes and immediately donned our waterproofs. The end of our trip brought the rain, and we had a 15 hour slog through sheet rain all the way back to Tokyo. October is the end of one of the budget cycles for the local councils in Japan, and all along the Tomei expressway between Nagoya and Tokyo, a stretch of about 200 miles, local authorities were digging up the motorway carrying out unnecessary repairs in order to use up money so they could claim more government grants the following year. The result was that around 200 miles of our 400 mile final journey was solid traffic jams. The highlight of our trip home was being caught cruising down the emergency lane to avoid the traffic jams.

We were pulled over by the motorway police, given spot fines and got a couple of points on our licenses. By then I really didn't mind. I had been riding through solid rain for 10 hours and I got to sit in the back of a nice warm dry police car while the officer processed us two bedraggled villains. The policemen were really very nice and one of them was actually thinking of buying a Harley Davidson. I really can't remember when I've enjoyed being fined 35 pounds quite as much! The rest of the ride home was uneventful except for one point when fatigue suddenly hit me about 13 hours into the ride. My vision went blurry and I lost my sense of balance completely. I got semi hypnotized by the rain drips on my visor and the truck brake lights in front of me. Luckily we were moving very slowly in a traffic queue at the time (OK maybe the road works were a good thing after all!) I pulled over into the emergency lane, cleared my eyes and shook my head around a bit, then slowly headed up the on ramp for a motorway service area that was only a quarter of a mile ahead. We took a long break, got some hot food and dried out a bit, then headed out on the last two hour ride back into Tokyo. The final couple of miles on the Tokyo urban expressway was terrifying. Narrow as it is, with frequent right angle bends, with steel expansion strips in the road surface every few hundred yards, that are like ice in the wet. Huge trucks driven by retarded blind psychotic killers came charging up behind my bike sitting two feet off my rear fender trying to push me to ride around the treacherous bends faster. I kept telling myself, "you've just ridden 2300 Km, don't screw it up in the last 10 minutes of the journey!". So, shaking, wet and exhausted I finally made it off the freeway and arrived home at 11:30 pm to a sleeping baby daughter and a very very relieved wife who wanted to talk to me until 01:00 am! It was the trip of a lifetime and I still can't get the stupid grin off my face. Can't wait 'till next time!

Well, cheers for now. I'm off to get a back massage!

Jeremy M Sanderson
President. Sanderson Icon Ltd.