Motorcycle Pastimes in the August Sun

It's been a slow week. Maybe people have finally decided to take a motorcycle vacation since gas prices are starting to inch downward again. Some have gone to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally but I hear that vendors and attendance there are taking a hit this year.

A lot of people are taking staycations this year. I guess I'm one of them. I have to save up to be able to participate in the Polar Bear Grand Tour that starts the last weekend of October. Gasoline for two trikes could end up costing $1000 for that six month tour throughout the winter. I take all the pictures at the various runs and maintain their website.

For those not out on their motorcycles, here's a few things you can do on my website:

• Take my Motorcycle Quizzes to test your knowledge of bikes.
  
• Play around with my online Motorcycle Jigsaw Puzzles. These puzzles use pictures I took on Polar Bear runs.
  
• Check out my Motorcycle Tattoos gallery. Got your own tattoo? Send it in.
  
• Look at my Women on Motorcycles gallery. Be inspired by women who ride their own motorcycles.
  
• Look at my Antique Motorcycle Ads gallery. See how motorcycles were advertised when they sold for only a few hundred dollars.
  

Now if only they had motorcycle racing or motorcycle trials in the 2008 Summer Beijing Olympics, there would be more to do.

Ink, I think

I’ve wanted to do a post on tattoos lately, as I think tattoos and motorcycles kinda go hand in hand.

I have a few, literally.

I’ve recently seen Dave Perewitz get a tattoo on video http://www.lifeatperewitz.com/ at ACME Tattoo in Minnesota while he was here for the Donnie Smith Bike Show, and I recently commented on a fellow blogger’s post regarding a Harley tattoo he got.
http://harley-davidson-mystique.blogspot.com/ The comment was "similar" to what I’m about to tell you here:

I have three tattoos, and only three for a very good reason. I had two before I got married. I decided I needed a third tattoo and got the blessing from my wife. So, a friend and I decided we were going to get tattoos together after work one day. I told my wife I was going to get a Harley tattoo, which I honestly did intend to do. She said, "Are you sure? I don't want anything evil!" Well, needless to say, I came home with an evil tattoo, not related to Harleys at all. It started out innocent enough, but the tattoo artist asked if I wanted it embellished after he got the basic tattoo done. He said he had no one else in line and he’d do it for free. I said sure, and he made it kind of portrait looking, like it was under my skin. It looks pretty damn evil. This was to be my last tattoo if Mama was to remain happy. We all know if Mama ain’t happy, ain’t no one happy. She was not happy with me at all for a very long time. You should know if a very long time turns into too long, you ain’t happy with half your stuff. Well, It took a long time for her to stop complaining about it. She hates it to this day. She'd say "cover it up, It's looking at me!" I love my wife dearly, and the fight over wanting to get more tattoos is not worth it. I got a Harley though, and she doesn't complain about that,(much). The Harley is a whole different story. Anyway, I told him to enjoy his "first" tattoo, and said I'm sure there'll be more to come.

By the way, I still don’t have that Harley tattoo yet. And I love tattoos as much as my wife, Harleys, and custom paint.

Motorcycle Tattoos - Art or Ego?

I have a Motorcycle Tattoos Gallery that is quite popular. I make it a requirement that each person submitting a tattoo must be a motorcyclist and must state what bike they currently ride.

Now some think that tattoos are done impulsively without much thought. Others create whole galleries of tattoos on their bodies to reflect their own outlook on life or to characterize their experiences. Still others view tattoos as art -- motorcycle art.

What's your take? Leave your comments below.

Have you got a tattoo to place in our Motorcycle Tattoos Gallery? Send it in and see your art on our site.

GoDaddy OCC Bike, Moto Terms, Pics, Forum Talk

I was watching American Chopper last night and found out they were building a chopper for GoDaddy.com. That was interesting since I have my Motorcycle Views Web site on GoDaddy.com and have been quite happy with their service so far. I was amused to see the CEO of GoDaddy.com, Bob Parsons, as he invited the OCC guys to his Customer Service area. Seems Bob likes to award his group with bonuses by letting each person spin a wheel with dollar amounts around the outside and then giving them the amount the wheel stops on. Fortunately, Mikey was standing next to the wheel and made sure each person's wheel landed on $500 and Senior had a pile of cash that he kept doling out to the winners. Everyone seemed happy and apparently Bob Parsons runs a pretty happy shop. I know I had a few problems when I started up my site and I called GoDaddy. I expected minimal help but instead got a very nice young lady who walked me through a 30 minute process and answered all my questions.

I continue to build the Motorcycle Views site. I had all my motorcycle terms and definitions in five files but wanted to separate out each term into its own file so I could link to definitions directly when I'm writing articles. So, I spent the better part of three days creating over 200 files and the result was worth the effort. I also created my top 20 terms based on stats I got from the old site. Here are my Top 20 Motorcycle Terms. Some of these terms are Crotch Rocket, Naked Bike, and Ride Bell.

I'm actively looking for submissions to grow my Moto Pic Gallery. I need pictures of you and your motorcycle. This was a popular feature on the old site.

I'm also looking for pictures of your tattoos for my Moto Tat Gallery. Send them in today.

While you're on the Motorcycle Views site, please take a moment to subscribe to my Newsletter.

Finally, I'm going to be providing links to current discussions going on in the "Still Cruisin' The Curves Motorcycle Forum." Most of the regulars from the old place are now posting there. Here's an excerpt from a discussion by PHIPSD entitled, "What do you look for in a bike?":
"When you go shopping for a bike what features or design elements do you look for? For me the most important by far is comfort and the ergos. In my 50s pain doesn't go away like it used to. Next would be good lighting. The eyes, especially with my night vision, don't work as well either. Third is brakes. Modern traffic and inattentive drivers make this more of an issue every year. Nothing more needs to be said. What would be your list of must haves on that new ride?"
Read the complete discussion

Busy, busy, busy and it all has to do with motorcycles.

On Sunday, I rode my trike to East Brunswick, NJ for the 11th ride on the Polar Bear Grand Tour. It was 20 degrees and I had to ride a total of 44 miles. Fortunately, the sun was out, the wind was nonexistent, and the roads were clear. I thought I was OK since I had my electric vest and gloves hooked up. But, as the ride progressed, I didn't feel much heat and I slowly realized that my battery connection was not working. Same thing happened last week to my wife and I found out that when the battery had been replaced in the spring, the mechanic had not reconnected the leads to the electrics. I was now waiting for a warmer time to strip off the seat and take a close look at the leads on my own trike. I left early after I took the pictures for the day and hurried home to make a 1:30 p.m. staff meeting of my GWRRA Chapter NJ-F. After that, we all went out to dinner together.

When I returned home, I got a burst of energy and decided to trace down the electrical problem with my electrics. It didn't take long to see that the connections to the battery were all OK. Then I noticed that the cap on the fuse in the line had popped off and the fuse was a bit loose. I repositioned the wiring and fuse holder and snapped it back into place. Then, I got heat through my vest when I tried it out. Guess that was the problem.

Last night I was busy working on the Motorcycle Views site when I heard a strong humming, crackling noise from outside and then everything went black. I mean the entire development of 500 homes went out in an instant. I had to feel my way through the house to get my flashlight. After about 30 minutes in the dark, I decided to take the old car out and look for the problem. I drove through my development and found no lights until I got to the very end of it and saw the shopping center in blazing light. I turned down the main highway and headed back toward home. I could see a truck working on the lines about a block ahead of where I finally turned off. About an hour later, the lights were back on. Tonight the New York TV channel 7 had a helicopter report taken last night over the next major intersection where the lights were out and the cops were directing traffic. Anyway, that incident really put a kink in my work schedule last night.

Today, I decided that I wanted to create a newsletter for the site and spent about six hours getting it setup. Now my site has a newsletter subscription box and the software behind it to handle the complete newsletter job. I was able to find a company on the Internet that could do the whole job for a reasonable price. If you intend to stick around with me as I continue to build the Motorcycle Views Web site, please subscribe to the newsletter. I plan to use it to point you to the new stuff as it's created and to hot forum discussions. Some people have told me that they miss my newsletters on the old site because they gave them a reminder to take a look at the site and forums. My new newsletter will continue this reminder service.

So, please look at the Motorcycle Views site. It's changing and growing daily. I've just added a Tattoo Gallery based on the best tats from my old gallery. Got a tat of your own? Send me a picture. Take a look at the Tattoo Gallery. And, don't forget to sign up for the Motorcycle Views Newsletter.

Also, if you have a big site, consider linking to me. Right now I'm competing with my old links on Google and they were very numerous and extensive. It's hard for me, the little guy on a new site, to compete with me, the big guy on the old site. The day is coming when the old site will be taken down and all my links will be gone. It's sad to see so much work go down the tubes but that's life I guess.