North Alabama, town of Waterloo plan annual Path of Tears motorcycle ride arrives this weekend

WATERLOO, Ala. (WHNT) - The roar of motorcycles will be heard from one aspect of north Alabama to the other this weekend, as riders commemorate the Trail of Tears.

This year, a single ride will take place instead of the divided rides we’ve seen in years past.

On Thursday morning it was relatively calm along the banks of the Tennessee River in Waterloo, saturday this place will be packed but come. For 22 years, the small town of only a few hundred has hosted one of the biggest motorcycle trips in the southeast.

“People come in here on motorboats, they come in on bikes, and they result from everywhere,” Waterloo Mayor Mel Grimes explained.

Relating to Grimes, he and the town council plan year-round because of this event.

Grimes said after several years of parting, there is only going to be one Path of Tears trip this season.

On the ride will start in Bridgeport at 8:00 a Saturday.m. and end in Waterloo at 3:00 p.m., with an end at Rocket Harley-Davidson in Huntsville for lunchtime. These are the streets that will be impacted Saturday morning and midday:

Highway 72 from Bridgeport to Huntsville, then riders can get on I-565 (leaving at 8:00 a.m.)
At approximately 10:30 a.m. riders exit I-565 Western at Exit 3, to stop at Rocket Harley-Davidson (departing there at 12:30 p.m.)
At 12:30 p.m. riders will get back again on I-565, mind exit and west at Mooresville Street, Exit 2, heading north to Hwy. 72
Riders turn still left on U then.S. 72 west to go to Athens - the condition will stop access to Athens from I-65 and the U.S. 72 ramp. Motorists cannot exit at 351. Athens Police urge motorists to take U.S. 31 to get and southern in Athens north. In the past, the function has extracted from 15 minutes to an full hour to complete Athens, depending on the variety of riders.
Riders will continue to Waterloo western world.

Waterloo marks the place where thousands of Indians were forced onto motorboats and taken west.

The mayor is excited about the rides combining, and says he looks forward to the bigger than normal crowds.

“So many of the riders are already here in Waterloo before the ride even begins,” stated Grimes. “You can find thousands of people out here and you can expect free camping. Waterloo is the most beautiful place in the state of Alabama probably.”

And the town can't wait to welcome the motorbike riders who plan to memorialize the trek.

As you can tell out of this map, the ride begins in Chattanooga. Participants will meet in Chattanooga on Friday, where they'll travel to Bridgeport for the official kick-off party.

Head Tremble - For OUR VERY OWN Good?

How much will do? When will a logical person take a look at what's available in motorcycle showrooms and say, “Okay, that’s enough for me personally.” Or more paternalistically even, that’s enough for you, too. What's too much? Is there too much?

There are bikes that are too dangerous to ride. I understand this to be true. We'd a long-term loaner Buell once, an S2-T, it cracked one of the welds that comprised its right pseudo clip-on bar. It had been one hard countersteer or braking maneuver away from no more having the right clip-on. Bicycles are hard to steer without pubs. Buell experienced released a recall but somehow ours experienced slipped through the recall splits. That bicycle was too dangerous to trip.

Kenny Roberts, Sr. once received the Indy Mile aboard a TZ750-centered dirt-track bicycle that Kel Carruthers and a bunch of diabolical people from Yamaha’s Diabolical Department had constructed for him. It was, to hear him inform the tale, half the weight and double the hp of the competition. He famously announced post-race that they didn’t pay him enough to ride that thing. The AMA prohibited that bike from competition subsequently. That bike was too dangerous to trip.

Okay, reasonable enough, bikes at the mercy of NHTSA recalls to improve a defect that could put you on your head are too dangerous to trip. So is any motorbike that Yamaha cannot pay Kenny Roberts, Sr. enough to ride. But how about the rest?

A two-part interview of KTM’s chief executive and CEO, Stefan Pierer, by Alan Cathcart in Routine News, broached this issue inadvertently; the response from Mr. Pierer got my attention.

“But let’s be honest,” said Pierer, “if your Superbike is reaching 200 horsepower or even more, it’s impossible to argue it belongs on the road. It certainly doesn’t, anymore … As soon as the RC16 is available for customers we will stop with the RC8. The design (of the RC8) is outstanding. I would say it’s still condition of the art, and there is certainly nothing else enjoy it. It’s a vintage Superbike. But with the upsurge in basic safety concerns, I’m afraid bikes like this don’t belong on the street, only on the shut course.”

 

Convinced that I have to have misunderstood what I got read just, I went back and read it again. Cathcart was asking Pierer about KTM’s future programs, Pierer indicated KTM’s wish to compete in MotoGP, and he has concerns about the bureaucrats in Brussels in his role as a leader in the ACEM - think Euro-version of our Motorcycle Industry Council here stateside. Pierer cites the possibility of an EU-wide bicycle ban. The RC8 will be phased out to be replaced with what these are calling an RC16. The RC16 will not be homologated for the road. Why?

“No, because we at KTM believe a sport bicycle with such performance doesn’t have any place on the public roads,” Pierer further explained.

I had been taken by that statement aback; I've heard and read similar sentiments before, albeit from much different sources. The message didn't surprise me, the messenger did. The leader and CEO of a significant motorcycle producer just conceded the wrongheaded rationale of not only the pointyheads in Brussels that would prefer to ban bicycles from European tarmac, but also of all the “security” zealots here stateside which have tried to restrict or eliminate “race-design motorcycles” from public roadways. That’s a amazing concession for a highly positioned industry insider to make, and a first to my knowledge.

It is interesting on several fronts, not the least of which is that Pierer’s claims echo some of the very same language utilized by Senator John Danforth in explaining why he introduced his legislation, “The Motorcycle Safety Action of 1987.” In his launch of the costs, Danforth explained his concerns to the U.S Senate and the American people in an extended printed statement;

‘“Mr. Chief executive, in 1984, the Japanese began selling what can only be described as “killer motorcycles” in this country. These are race bicycles which were developed for use on the track however they are being driven on our streets … Top speeds for some of these bicycles can range up to 162 mph … the marketing of these killer cycles is a lesson in corporate and business irresponsibility.”’

A little over 30 years Pierer’s words echo the Senator’s sentiments later.

Senator Danforth didn’t emerge from some kind of mystical vision that compelled him to business forth and propose eliminating performance bikes. The driving force behind the bill’s launch came by means of the Insurance Institute for Highway Basic safety (IIHS), an organization that developments and represents the passions of its associates, the insurance industry namely.

The IIHS has perennially campaigned to have performance bikes eliminated from industry, and helpful information was produced by it because of its account, the insurance firms, to use in establishing blacklists of certain bikes that, in their view, the insurance firms should no more offer to insure. Having failed to eliminate the bicycles, Perhaps, the next most sensible thing from the IIHS’ perspective was to remove the insurance coverage for them. The rationale was not difficult; no insurance coverage leads to no bicycle loans being secured against reduction, and fewer loans means fewer high performance bikes on the highway, or so their thinking went.

The IIHS was hoist on its own petard when its “study”, which was not peer reviewed, was debunked. None other than USC’s Dr. Hugh “Harry” Harm, the business lead researcher in the landmark, “Hurt Survey,” was one of the principle critics of the IIHS study’s methodology at the time.

Senator Danforth’s legislation was stillborn, and regardless of the best initiatives of the IIHS, its marketing campaign to remove performance bikes is not successful to date. That is a concern that seems to surface perennially and will probably continue to achieve this. Particularly now, as the global world gets smaller in a worldwide industry that ties our fates closer together, we've not only U.S concerns to consider account of, however the EU as well also.

Which brings us back to Mr. Pierer. He's a thoughtful man and a good businessman certainly, and KTM does very well and processing some world-class bikes. He has reputable concerns about the near future with an eyes on Brussels and any forthcoming European union regulations that could affect KTM and their customers. All of this begs the relevant question, how much will do? And who, if anybody will put the brakes on? And really should they?

 

 

“…we at KTM think that a sport bicycle with such performance doesn’t have anyplace on the public roads.”

If Senator Danforth was concerned with sport bikes in the 1980s that could top out at 162 mph, I could only imagine what his present day counterpart would end up like today - apoplectic maybe. While performance criteria have continued to go up, performance numbers only are not the sole measure of the “basic safety” of any motorbike. We have observed other advances as well, everything from the rise of monitor times producing more capable riders, more complex riding gear to safeguard the overzealous, and most critically maybe, the introduction of a whole host of electronic rider helps to keep errant pilots upright. The increasing prevalence of from launch control to bank-sensitive ABS and a choice in engine maps to account for weather and using conditions leads to what, I believe, are arguably the safest bicycles this world has ever seen.

Inform me what in your estimation is more dangerous: a 1972 Kawasaki H2 Mach IV shod with a single entrance disc, a hinged body, and wheels chiseled from granite? Or the latest iteration, a 2015 Kawasaki Ninja H2 with well over twice the hp and enough new age technology to accounts for every ham-fisted move under power or brakes, upright or heeled over, dry or wet, that mankind can conceive?

A moped is a potentially lethal object in the hands of the irreconcilably idiotic - that’s a given - but a good rider knows the throttle goes both ways. For each and every performance advance evident in today’s bicycles, rider basic safety has quickly advanced as well, which is constructed into many of today’s machines.

Underneath line from my knothole is this: Full-tilt big-bore sportbikes are only as safe, or unsafe, as the person piloting them. I’m ready to concede that working out top-shelf sportbikes to anything of their potential on public roads is practically impossible for most mere mortals in virtually all conditions. Not only would it be unwise to take action, it would also be damn near impossible. Track days are best for that type of WFO exercise.

However, I think we, as riders, need to be careful in lending credence to any declare that such-and-such bicycles do not belong on public roads predicated on nothing more than open public perception or worries of future regulations decreasing the pike. The arguments that propped up Danforth’s “killer motorbike” bill back the ’80s, and the same old tired tune trotted out by the IIHS that promulgated insurance blacklists, were specious in the past, and are still without merit today.

Trip hard, be safe, look where you want to go…

 

British isles motorcycle company fined $2.9M for failing woefully to report safety defects

The National Highway Traffic Security Administration (NHTSA) is fining Uk motorcycle manufacturer Triumph $2.9 million for allegedly failing to report safety defects on vehicles sold in the U.S. to federal government regulators.

The agency said the business failed to properly notify officials about 1, in Sept 2014 300 recalled motorcycles that were found to have faulty steering mechanisms.

The agency said the company didn't report the rate of completed repairs and offer copies of service bulletins that were supposed to be submitted to owners of the vehicles.

Transport Secretary Anthony Foxx said the fine, which is the latest in a string of large penalties doled out with regards to recalls, is a sign of the Obama administration's dedication to U.S. road safety.
“Manufacturers must adhere to their reporting commitments. The statutory regulation requires it, and public security needs it,” Foxx said in a declaration. “When companies neglect to meet those commitments, we will hold them accountable.”

The National government has been wanting to crack down on vehicle manufacturers lately after coming under fire for its oversight following widespread recalls at General Motors and Takata in 2014 that involved parts found to be defective years ago.

Lawmakers first took the highway basic safety agency to task last spring because of its handling of recalls at General Motors that affected about 2 mil vehicles. NHTSA officials were accused of failing woefully to notice the trend of accidents including GM's faulty ignition switches for quite some time before issuing the recall in February.

The highway safety agency faced criticism again this season over a recall involving faulty air bags created by Japanese auto parts manufacturer Takata. Takata at first claimed the faulty airbags affected about 8 million cars, but the recall was later extended to add 34 million cars.

The agency said Monday that Triumph has agreed to pay $1.4 million in penalties for the recall failures and spend an $500,000 on safety improvements. The company would be accountable for another $1 million in fines if it violates the terms of the contract.

NHTSA Administrator Tag Rosekind touted the settlement as a sign that regulators are more vigilantly watching auto and motorbike companies than they had been in days gone by.

"Today’s enforcement action penalizes history violations, and it promotes the proactive safety culture manufacturers must adopt if they are to reduce protection defects and identify them quicker than they occur,” he said.

Vintage motorbike collection to hit auction block

After 30 years, the long-closed Greenfield Honda Shop will be liquidated and 130 lots of classic Honda approximately, Harley, and BSA motorcycles will be auctioned. Additional plenty of memorabilia and parts will be sold, making this auction a can’t-miss event. While the onsite sale will attract large attendance, those who cannot go to the auction personally can bid confidently online with Proxibid and know these are transacting in the only Market with a scams avoidance system designed specifically to protect high dollar buys like the collector motorcycles available in this sale.

A few of the most eye-catching and extraordinary plenty in this sale include:
- 1979 Honda CBX: This great deal is entitled, and an original bicycle from the shut Greenfield Honda Shop. With only 295 kilometers on the odometer, the bike works with all original parts. This is an amazing addition to any collection, and is selling at no reserve!
- 1962 Honda Benly: This rare and original Honda Benly was only imported for a few years, causeing this to be a hard-to-find collector piece. It has a 3 cyclinder, 750CC engine, and has 10,553 on the odometer. The classic 1962 Benly is the perfect find for motorbike enthusiasts.
- 1985 Honda Yellow metal Wing GL-1200L: This never-been-sold demo model is a beautiful, like- new bike from the Greenfield Honda Shop. This yellow metal bike has 3 approximately,000 kilometers logged.
- 1969 BSA Rocket 3: The 1969 BSA Rocket 3 is a rare and unique find. It has been serviced, cleaned, and it is in good condition. They have a three cylinder, 750CC engine, and it is titled.
“The Greenfield Honda Shop is a bit of automotive history, and it’s gained a lot of attention among collectors” said Yvette VanDerBrink, owner and auctioneer of VanDerBrink Auctions, LLC. “If you’re a lover of vintage and Honda motorcycles, you won’t want to miss this public sale, whether you bid onsite or online with Proxibid.”

Vintage Motorcycle Celebration showcases classic bikes paired with basic tales

The Seattle Cossacks Motorbike Stunt and Drill Team end a performance by slapping hands with the audience at the fourth annual Vintage Motorcycle Festival at LeMay-America’s Car Museum in Tacoma on Sunday. Peter Haley Personnel photographer

Dave Secrist had a beautiful 1964 Ducati to show off at a vintage motorcycle festival Saturday, but it wasn’t his bike that stoked jealousy among individuals who dropped by to meet him.

What made them envious was the complete story of how Secrist came to possess the classic motorcycle.

He found it in a barn, he’d tell other collectors.

Then, underscoring his fortune, he’d add that its original owner “practically gave it” to him.

His story was the type of tale that inspires enthusiasts to scavenge garage sales and antique shops looking for precious finds.

It also was one of the highlights at the fourth annual Vintage Motorcycle Celebration at the LeMay-America’s Car Museum in downtown Tacoma. The function brought jointly more than 2,000 site visitors who checked out about 250 motorcycles that dated back to 1909.

The festival continues Sunday with a 74-mile motorcycle road trip hosted by the Classic Motorcycle Enthusiast Membership that starts at the museum at 9 a.m. (Enrollment begins at 8 a.m.)

This year’s festival had a few familiar attractions, like a series of stunts by the Seattle Cossacks. Users of the motorcycle stunt and drill team connected hands as they drove across a grass field and produced pyramids on moving motorcycles.

 

It also presented a competition in which collectors asked judges to rate motorcycles in a variety of categories, such as antique American and classic Italian.

Judges toting dark brown clipboards looked focused as they moved from bicycle to bike, inspecting restored and original machines.

“We’re looking to discover the best of many, many really good bikes, and that’s hard to do,” said Terry Kellogg, a judge visiting from Seattle.

The festival is a partnership between the museum and the motorcycle club. Its chairman this full 12 months was Mark Zenor, 58, of Graham, who is the owner of five vintage motorcycles.

“It seems like once you start (restoring) one, you always get a different one,” he said.

Secrist, 48, of Edgewood, plans to leave his Ducati almost as he found it two months ago in a Pierce Region barn.

“It’s going to be original,” he said. “It could only be original once.”

He’s a glazier who travels for work often, meeting customers at their homes. He likes to get them speaking with see if indeed they have any distributed interests.
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He jokingly phone calls those conversations “fishing, or trolling.”

It takes care of. It once led him to a vintage 1941 Willys-Overland coupe.

“I’m always turning over stones,” he said.

Earlier this full year, one of his customers mentioned that a vintage was had by him Ducati saved in an old barn. They kept speaking, and Secrist eventually got a glance at the machine.

The prior owner “felt bad about any of it sitting in the barn,” Secrist said.

He carried it from the barn and found that it didn’t need much work to get jogging.

Secrist’s display at the festival inspired one apparent question from other collectors: “Everybody’s asking, ‘Where’s the barn?’”

He wouldn’t tell.

 

Harley-Davidson Brick Ride (Full Tale)

The legendary ride marking the H-D/Sturgis 75-year deal

On January 15, 2015, Harley-Davidson announced that it had signed an unprecedented 75-season deal with the city of Sturgis, South Dakota, to be the state Motorcycle of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. As part of the announcement on that frigid, grey morning hours in Milwaukee, a H-D worker, mounted on a new Street 750, began yanking bricks from the wall of the famous Motorbike Only parking area beyond your Juneau Avenue headquarters. The high-revving, liquid-cooled twin did burnout after burnout, until 73 bricks were free. He repeated the semidemolition process once more at the historic entrance to the initial factory location a few hundred foot away, and again at the H-D Museum.

 

These 75 bricks, honoring 75 years of the Sturgis Motorbike Rally and representing The Engine Company’s past, present, and future, were destined for use in constructing The Harley-Davidson Rally Point, a fresh year-round, open-air plaza in downtown Sturgis. The plaza rests on the part of Main St. and what's now officially called Harley-Davidson Way (previously Second Road). As well as for the occasion Harley also announced that on March 23, the bricks would be loaded onto motorcycles and ridden the 900-plus kilometers to Sturgis, making Harley Owners Group (HOG) and dealership appearances along the way.
A few weeks later, I received a phone call from The Engine Company asking me to become listed on the trip. As a Wisconsin resident, I know that icy conditions, below-freezing temperature ranges, and probable snow storms are very much a factor that time of year still. As though anticipating that very notion, the next word of my invitation mentioned that I'd also be provided full heated equipment and a 2015 CVO Street Glide for the trip. I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.

A few weeks later I awoke bright and early in Milwaukee’s Iron Horse Hotel for the ride. Monday it was, March 23rd. Bursting with enthusiasm, I flung the curtains open to benefit from the view of the H-D Museum and sunlight increasing over Milwaukee’s unique skyline. What I got instead was a snow shower that got already begun showing its white aftereffects on the museum and downtown Milwaukee.
But to my pleasurable shock, we got the green light to fire up the bicycles and hit the highway for our westward adventure. Our first stop would be Wisconsin H-D in Oconomowoc about 30 minutes outside Milwaukee. We brushed off our snow-covered steeds, cranked in the heated gear, and to perplexed onlookers and motorists exited away from the brick entrance to H-D’s head office on Juneau Avenue for the first knee of our trip. I couldn’t help but notice that the entry got one brick lacking as I motored past.

The ride to Oconomowoc took nearly an full hour as our caravan clawed our way out of town, carefully staying within the clean tire tracks organized by the motor cars before us. The CVO Road Glide sensed surprisingly stable in such conditions, thanks a lot in large part to the bike’s low middle of gravity. The Dunlop auto tires never lost grip, and the 110″ engine’s power let me decide on a higher equipment to minimize comfortably, or even eliminate, wheel spin. We’ll have a complete report of this bike in another issue.
Enthusiastic employees, offering hot cups of coffee, greeted us when we arrived at Wisconsin H-D, mon which was supposed be closed on the. Term got away that conditions were considerably worse inland eventually. That didn’t deter us, though - we were having a significant amount of fun to call it quits at this time! So, we saddled and headed to Madison to go to Badger H-D up, which is the dealership which i frequent.

From Madison we collection our GPS for Sauk City, home of Sauk Prairie H-D. My warmed riding gear made the cool, one-hour trip almost uneventful. Our path sheet pointed us to scenic Highway 60 along the Wisconsin River, however the snow plow crews experienced yet to project that far, so we waited at Sauk for much longer than anticipated awhile. A brand new snowfall in rural Wisconsin is as serene and beautiful as one could ever come across, and I used to be thankful to be experiencing it on the motor­cycle where all the senses come into play. We eventually returned on the road, stopping for lunch about halfway to Waukon H-D in Waukon, Iowa. As each of us emerged from our riding equipment at the diner, our waitress politely asked how our snow­mobile trip was going. She nearly freaked out whenever we told her that people were on Harleys. We were the crazy ones maybe?
Crossing the mighty Mississippi River from Wisconsin into Iowa offered significant amounts of pride and reprieve as the most challenging area of the day was behind us and we had ridden every single mile of it. With darkness approaching and dark ice a major concern, we loaded the grungy, road-weary machines into the support trailer at Cedar River H-D and did the final stretch out to the hotel in Mason City in the pick up truck. Foremost, though, we had accomplished our goal of stopping at every planned dealership along the real way. And we do etc two wheels, not four.

The following morning hours there is no snow to contend with, but the temperature was lower, the humidity was higher, and I put my heated equipment to the test. We kicked off your day at H-D of Mason City, where, extremely, local HOG people acquired also braved the frosty to greet us and wish us well on our trip. Four of them, including one female on her behalf brand-new Softail Deluxe, even took up extra bricks and became a member of us for a extend! We halted at Okoboji H-D in Okoboji, Iowa, before hitting the road for J&L H-D in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, our last stop for the day. As though heavy and chilly winds weren’t enough for us to contend with, it started to rain. No, make that a downpour. Again, due to the inclement weather, we were way behind timetable, forcing us to insert the bikes for the ultimate knee, and five hours to Rapid City, South Dakota.

It was a short, sunny hop from Quick City to Black Hills H-D, our last dealer destination. After enjoying an in-depth tour of the state-of-the-art dealership, we going to downtown Sturgis to provide all 75 bricks for the official groundbreaking of the Harley-Davidson Rally Point.
A sizable crowd got gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony, enthusiastically cheering us - and the bricks - once we drawn up and parked in the cordoned-off section out front. Expenses Davidson and Sturgis Mayor Tag Carstensen began things off with speeches before the dirt structure zone. Looking over us from the hillside was the famous Sturgis sign, and you also couldn’t help but feel proud to be a part of the occasion. Where were the shovels for the ground-breaking ceremony? There wasn’t a shovel to be seen (unless you count number the Shovelhead chopper that was present). Instead, motocross celebrity Carey Hart, riding a Project LiveWire, and H-D stock flat track racer Brad Baker aboard a Street 750, made an appearance and, on command, proceeded to do pavement and dirt burnouts, respectively, shrouding attendees in a swirling storm of car tire and sand smoke cigarettes. It had been only fitting that the trip of an eternity that started in Milwaukee with a Harley-Davidson burnout result in Sturgis with a double Harley-Davidson burnout. You can read more news here : http://www.buygenericsonlinenoprescription.com/

Wily readers might be questioning how we fit 75 bricks onto only seven motorcycles. The simple truth is, we didn’t, although we probably could’ve used the added weight for traction. Before departing Juneau Avenue, we were each given one brick to steward from the site of the initial manufacturer in Milwaukee to the Rally Point in Sturgis, the rest were in the truck, and handed out to the brave few riders who joined us. Ceremoniously, the riders and support vehicle drivers collected in a group and lowered our bricks into the dirt that would soon be their last host to honor.
It was an epic ride truly, one that, using ways, took 75 years to perform. And we seven riders helped place the foundation, one brick at a time. AIM

 

Why More Women Should Get On LEADING Seat OF THE Motorcycle, And Ride

The Highway Runaways traveled across the national country inspiring badass women to hop on.
In 1915, Effie and avis Hotchkiss embarked on the road trip that no woman had ever tried before. The mom and daughter duo drove across the whole country on the three-speed twin cylinder Harley Davidson motorcycle and sidecar. Back then, women couldn't even vote.

A hundred years later, Portland-based photographer and women's motorcyclist advocate Lanakila MacNaughton and four friends followed in the trailblazers' path. They documented their journey on Instagram in order to inspire a fresh wave of women riders.

MacNaughton, 26, and her friends, who are also called the "Highway Runaways," attempt to ride from Brooklyn, New York, to San Francisco, California, of July at the start. Their 4,500-mile journey, that was peppered with stops along the way to connect with other communities of riders, took a month to complete and was chronicled in photographs published online and in the Women's Moto Exhibition.

Some motorcycle riders are men -- or men who prefer that their girls ride on the trunk -- the Women's Moto Exhibition highlights portraits of women who trip their own bikes. The goal of the journeying photography show was to encourage women to take the plunge and ride for themselves.

HuffPost spoke with MacNaughton days after she completed the journey. Answers have been edited for size and clearness.

That which was the motivation behind this cross country ride? What made you gals do it?

I bought a motorcycle 3 years back when I acquired sober, and started meeting amazing women who I used to be using with. I [felt] that the motorcycle driving industry didn’t represent myself and the ladies I was traveling with. I just started taking photos of different women in the united states, and then it just acquired a snowball impact to sold out [picture taking] shows.

 

I believe Harley Davidson has seen the development of the Women’s Moto Exhibit and has put blowing wind in my sails in helping this new influx of women riders who are getting on leading of the bike rather than staying on the trunk. Women who have been on the advantage and didn’t think they could [get on a bike] are now viewing other women, their friends or people on Instagram maybe, and have decided to choose it up. And so, the ride is to merely inspire and motivate other women they can get outdoors their safe place and do things that are scary, with other women, and feel strength and power within that.

Who did you meet along the journey? What were their tales?

We linked with different communities of women. We got their tales, we required photos, and it was kind of just this connection we had along the way.

A complete lot of people maybe grew up riding dirt bikes and then progressed to a Honda, like a smaller motorbike, and got a Harley then. I heard in one female whose father died, and he always wished her to ride. And so when he died, she found a bike and started operating. Others are similar to my tale, women who noticed other folks, other sets of friends, men riding mostly, and wanted to experience what they’d been experiencing.

As well as the buzz is got by you. You’re on the back, the power is sensed by you to be on the bicycle, you feel the emotion, freedom from it. You’re in this accepted place where you have to jump off and just do it, and there were a lot of women who've been on the edge. And in the last couple of years, with Instagram, people have determine to take the plunge and actually buy a bike.

Do you think seeing more women on bikes just, the visual inspiration of seeing women riding of on the back seats instead, is accountable for the shift?

Motorcycling is a male-dominated industry primarily. Women, historically in motorcycling, have been used as more of an accessory in motorcycling. I just think with what’s happening politically, and just how progressive places are, a powerful girl is beginning to turn into a more trendy female. It’s getting to be cool, you know.

I don’t know if you’ve seen Maybeline’s new female [Ruby Rose], but she’s this tatted chick, she’s very androgynous, she's short hair. She just looks like a badass. You can see [the shift] occurring in popular culture. It’s cool to see really, and I think that’s totally translating to the motorcycling industry as well.

And I believe that the photos that we’re viewing, these type or kind of all women’s motorbike occasions, campaigns of Harley Davidson featuring all women are just kind of evidence that things are needs to shift.

Where do you think the movement because of this new wave of female riders must go still? How do you envision that future to play out?

I think that all women’s motorcycling events is huge, that’s what we’re building. I believe, just more women riding, kind of creating a far more supportive community just. [What we've now] is supportive, but it’s still pretty small. I think more of popular culture needs to check out what’s happening in women’s motorcycling, and keeping on a single route that we’re already on. Continuing to have fun and to share our own tales, pay attention to people. That’s what’s so cool about Instagram and the Internet, you can view women in Australia doing these amazing journeys. Or women in Japan. It’s kind of writing our enthusiasm and our love just, and it kind of just will go from there.

I don’t really know where the future is, I just know very well what we’re doing right now could be extremely fun, and it’s a really fun community to be apart of and also help inspire other women to do the same. THEREFORE I think as long as we keep on the same monitor, only good stuff are going to happen.

Being a photographer, what are you trying to capture through your artwork?

I wish to empower badass, powerful women. Keeping it honest and keeping it real is what it’s about. All I attempt to do in the very beginning was to represent women accurately, also to show them as they are seen by me, so that as they see me. And to inform their stories. ONCE I began shooting, I would come with an “ah” instant -- I’d meet these women, and be like, how come no one knows about you? You have incredible stories. I turn to you up, other women would look up to you. Why are we focusing on women draped on the bike just? I know so a lot of women who own their own companies, are one moms, and also have been working since they’re 15, and work their ass off and also have a great tale and good attitude. It’s about placing the light with them.

What do you tell women to get them riding?

I’d say there are so a lot of women who are like them just, very worried, very apprehensive, and have done it. And it’s completely changed their lives and made their lives richer and fuller. There’s this sort of magic that traveling has also. Traveling across the country was absolutely incredible. It’s hard to share that emotion and feeling with someone who hasn’t experienced it. Motorcycling is so amazing because you might have the most severe day ever and once you can get on your bike, and are using in the sunset at an incredible location, you check out just. Things aren’t affecting you as these were before. It’s this type of magic, a connection you have with something greater than yourself.

 

Why ‘Child Is Smarter Than Einstein’ Tales Are Junk

THE WEB was abuzz this week more than a 12-year-old British girl who comes with an IQ that is supposedly greater than that of both Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Many outlets posted stories on Nicole Barr’s super brain, including the U.K.’s Western Daily Reflection and Press, as well as Yahoo Cosmopolitan and Parents magazine. And all of them indicated she is smarter than the famed scientists.

Barr’s score of 162 puts her in the top 1 percent of the populace, Ann Clarkson, a communications supervisor for English Mensa, told Yahoo.

Einstein and Hawking are thought to have IQs of 160. Kids, like Barr, who rating higher are often compared to them and tales about children being “smarter than Einstein” pop-up with some regularity.

But there’s one problem that all the geniuses come up with can’t solve - it’s very hard, if not impossible, to state what Hawking’s or Einstein IQs are, Clarkson told The Huffington Post within an email.

“There is, as far as anyone knows, no evidence that Einstein ever took an IQ test,” Clarkson said. “I believe Hawking probably has, only if as part of his treatment for engine neurone disease, but it appears he has never made the rating public.”

Clarkson said the 160 amount is a regularly quoted “guess” that “opens up a whole different argument about the difference between IQ and genius.”

So if anyone lets you know smarter than Einstein they’re, inform them it’s a matter of relativity.

http://breakingnews24h.com/

With his motorbike company up for auction, Erik Buell craves another comeback

His business is scheduled to be sold at public sale Tuesday, but that hasn't extinguished Erik Buell's excitement for making yet another comeback in the motorbike industry.

Buell is the founder of Erik Buell Racing, an East Troy manufacturer of bicycles focused on performance and acceleration until it shut down all of a sudden in April, leaving about 130 employees out of work and the business seeking courtroom security from creditors.

It had been the sequel to Buell Motorbike Co., which Harley-Davidson Inc. possessed for greater than a 10 years before dropping the brand in 2009 2009 and departing Erik Buell to start over on his own.

Now, the 65-year-old entrepreneur is with out a business again as he awaits the results of the auction of the property of Erik Buell Racing, under a state statute that's much like federal bankruptcy laws.

At his home in Mukwonago, Buell works on metal sculptures in his garage and answers questions from the court-appointed receiver who's handling the auction.

What he really wants, however, is to return back to the motorbike business, where he's known for product innovation and a competitive soul that has led to racetrack victories against a few of the world's largest bike manufacturers.

If he previously his way, Buell said, his company would be building motorcycles and racing on a global stage again tomorrow.

"We could literally be shipping motorcycles, probably within a few days, as once we cut back an set up team soon. The bicycles are sitting there just, covered in plastic material, waiting around to be completed," he said.

In its six-year lifetime, Erik Buell Racing hand-built $40,000 motorcycles for racing enthusiasts, developed a mass-production version of these bikes that sold for about $18,000 each, and cultivated dealerships in the U.S. and Europe.

In 2014, Buell was concerned about not having enough room in his small factory as he ramped up production and put his engineering efforts into overdrive. He spent his own money in to the enterprise and received help from Hero MotoCorp., a motorbike producer in India that acquired a 49% stake in Erik Buell Racing for $25 million.

The ongoing company hired dozens of people, including engineers, and was doing intensive product development work for Hero. Erik Buell Racing bikes were earning accolades from motorcyclist magazines and were doing well in world-class races in america, Asia and europe.

So what sent the company tumbling into virtual personal bankruptcy?

It grew too fast, Buell said, and the expenses got ahead of his financing.

"We thought that people could balance it all...but we just couldn't. That's what got us out," he said.

Court records show that Erik Buell Race has $20.8 million in possessions and $20.4 million in liabilities. Previous employees are owed $202,000 in paid time off, and some of the biggest quantities owed to lenders include $733,000 to Mito Tech Co., a Japanese engine design firm, and $390,000 to Porsche Executive Group.

Previous employees will be at the top of the line as it pertains for you to get what they're owed, according to attorneys, while unsecured creditors could be forced to talk about what's remaining after employees, secured creditors, the court-appointed receiver, consultants and lawyers are paid from the proceeds of the asset sale.

Buell expectations the continuing business will be sold without trouble, therefore the buyer could start producing motorcycles, and he expectations he'd have a role in the new venture.

"Given the right situation, and the right people up to speed, it's what I would like to do. I still have a lot of energy for this," he said.

Some have said that Polaris Industries, the Medina, Minn., manufacturer of Triumph and Indian motorcycles, is actually a buyer. That would give Polaris a sport bicycle it doesn't have now, along with access to Buell's other product designs.

But the business also could be sold in pieces, with some buyers acquiring things such as the factory machines, tooling, EBR-owned motorcycles, bike parts and office equipment, while others might acquire the company's intellectual property.

The assets owned by Hero are not included in the auction, nor are other things such as leased equipment and employee-owned tools and personal property.

The auction will be held at the Milwaukee Athletic Club in downtown Milwaukee, and only qualified bidders shall be allowed to attend.

The court-appointed receiver, Milwaukee attorney Michael Polsky, will review the bids and determine what's in the best interest of creditors. Then Thursday, you will see a hearing in Walworth County Circuit Court to approve the results of the public sale.

Inside a court document, Polsky said he believes the "going-concern value of the assets" is greater than their liquidation value.

Buell hasn't said whether he'll be among the bidders, but he said some individuals have shown interest in buying all of the assets in one piece.

In hindsight, Buell said, it could have been better to run the continuing business at a more measured speed.

"It demanded more money than we had access to. We thought that we got the cash to protect the space, however when it dropped through at the last minute, there was nothing at all we're able to do," he said.

Competing in world-class race was expensive, but Hero and other sponsors protected those costs, so they didn't cut deeply into Erik Buell Racing's revenues, according to Buell.

"It had been good promotion for us, but it wasn't anything that arrived of our marketing budget," he said.

If the ongoing company is restarted, Buell said he's sure a few of the employees would come back.

"We'd a bunch of fantastic products. We really proved that American executive is completely world course," he said.

Some dealerships, however, said they would watch out for carrying the brand again.

They spend a lot of their own money to advertise products and support them with customer support. If bikes don't sell, or the maker doesn't honor its commitments, a dealer could be forced out of business.

"There's lots of risk for the incentive," said Kirk Topel, leader of Hal's Harley-Davidson, in New Berlin, which carried Erik Buell Racing motorcycles.

Buell's most recent bicycle, the 1190RX, was gaining traction available on the market prior to the ongoing company closed.

Within a 45-day period earlier this season, Hal's sold more 1190RX bikes than it sold in all of 2014, according to Topel. The dealership experienced some customers coming in looking designed for Buell motorcycles rather than Harleys, he said.

Dealers had hoped that a few of Buell's designs would surface in smaller, less-expensive motorcycles. They hoped to have the ability to carry the Hero brand also, but that never occurred.

Some sellers said they greatly admired Buell for his design talents but not his ability to perform a company.

"The guy has made some really cool bicycles. He's definitely got skill," said Joseph Tortora, a dealer in St. James, N.Y.

Tortora said he was disappointed when Erik Buell Racing closed, but he wasn't totally surprised because the business was struggling with retail bonuses and warranty reimbursements at his dealership.

"I had been very cautious in the number of bikes I took....I'd like to consider myself a seasoned veteran of the industry, and I've seen several brand go out of business," he said.

In racing circles, Buell has been an underdog focusing on a good budget always.

In the 1970s, as a rider, he recorded the quickest qualifying time for a rookie in the past history of the Daytona 200. It was significant for a man who journeyed from competition to competition in a vehicle with two motorcycles in the back, sleeping between your bikes while an occasional hitchhiker distributed the driving on his long-distance trips.

When a race in California was canceled because of rain, Buell borrowed money from other racers to cover his trip home to Pennsylvania. He had counted on successful in the competition, and his winnings could have covered his expenditures.

Now he desires to remain in the competition as a bike designer.

"I am an engineer at heart," Buell said, "and I wish to show that technology coming from the U.S. can compete with the best stuff in the global world."

Ministry of Transportation announces intend to scrap motorbike road fees

HA NOI (VNS) - After several fits and begins, the Ministry of Transport has veered around to the view that an annual street maintenance fee on motorbikes should be annulled.

Transport Minister Dinh La Thang said at a gathering on Tuesday that his ministry will work with the Ministry of Financing on the proposal to the federal government, recommending that the annual charge on motorbikes should be cancelled.

At the interacting with organised by the transport ministry and attended by officials of the finance and planning and investment ministries, Thang said the two ministries shall propose amendments to Decree 18, that was issued in 2012 to collect fees on motor vehicles.

But the road-maintenance charge on trucks and cars will remain, Thang said.

Under Decree 18, the street maintenance charge on vehicles will be collected when the vehicles are registered and remitted directly to the National Account for Road Maintenance.

The collection was left by it of motorbike fees to the discretion of local specialists, who would use a portion of it for maintaining local highways then.

However, because the decree arrived to effect in 2013, only a few provinces have began to collect this charge, and many more have been hesitant to do so because of level of resistance from motorbike owners.

At Tuesday's meeting, several participants expressed concerns over many areas of collecting the charge on motorbikes, arguing that it should not collected without sociable consensus.

While acknowledging that not collecting the fee would mean that the continuing state Budget would lose a source of revenue, it was said by them would be difficult for local authorities to impose penalties strong enough to enforce compliance.

Insufficient uniformity

Tuesday's meeting of the ministries occurred after two central provinces waived the fee last week.

Da Nang City decided to temporarily stop charge collection last Tuesday and was followed by Khanh Hoa Province a day later.

These moves were interpreted by many as a sign for removal of the charge on a national scale.

Also on Tuesday, in a meeting with voters in Ha Noi, Mayor Nguyen The Thao pledged to consider waiving the fee for motorbike owners.

When a few of the voters cited Da Nang and Khanh Hoa and asked him why Ha Noi should not follow suit, Thao said the waiver proposal was a "good notion worth consideration."

In July 2013 ha Noi began to gather the fee, charging VND50,000 (US$2.5) on motorbikes up to 100cc capacity, and VND100,000 ($5) for those with higher engine capacities.

The dissatisfied voters have been backed by experts as well as Country wide Assembly deputies who've told the federal government that the current situation is unfair.

Tran Ngoc Vinh of the Country wide Assembly's Legal Committee said: "If a locality refuses to gather the fee while another continues to do it, it might be unfair for residents who have to pay". - VNS