The Biker Web - Biker Blog

Robbie Knievel Breaks Another world Record

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 12:51:53 -0600

Congrats to Robbie Knievel for jumping 25 cars yesterday, July 4, 2008, at Six Flags.

Great work!

Check out the video of Robbie’s latest record-breaking jump here.

The 47-year-old son of famed stunt riding sensation Evel Knievel out did his personal best of 23 cars and leaped over 25 Dodge Chargers in the parking lot of Six Flags St. Louis.
-- from a short article about it on FoxNews --

A Harley Advertisement That Does Not suck

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 08:57:09 -0600

And for today (unlike yesterday), we have a Harley advertisement that doesn’t suck. :-)

No RUBs chanting biker cliche’s and thinking they’re rebels when all they’re doing is following each other off a cliff (though some of the phrases included in this aren’t all that much better).

Making a good Harley advertisement is probably very hard to do. The best people for the job would probably be the bikers themselves -- as opposed to hiring a bit New York marketing firm, and giving the project to a team of marketers that have probably never been on a motorcycle (let alone having ridden a Harley) in their lives... You do that, and you’re just asking for biker cliche’s and an ad that follows every biker stereotype since Easy Rider came out.

So here’s my idea for Harley -- run a contest (think YouTube) for bikers to make their own Harley ads. Choose the three that get the highest ratings/votes as a percentage of views. Then run those 3 ads in a national campaign, and pay those three guys/gals what you would have wasted on a big New York firm. You’ll get a better return on your ad dollar, and you’ll get a lot of good PR along the way.

A Terrible Harley Advertisement

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:34:21 -0600

OK, this is one of the worst Harley ads I’ve seen. I think it totally misses what us Harley folks are all about. Mike Werner, over at Motorbiker.org thinks so too.

When I saw this, I thought “Oh, that’s nice. So I’m just following the herd here?” Having the herd chanting cliche’s about riding, just before they head out to ride their bone-stock bikes isn’t exactly my idea of a good time -- or a good image for Harley itself.

Ya, make ‘em feel like cattle.
That’ll get ‘em to buy a bike.

I give that puppy a “2” out of “10” -- but only because I know there’s always something worse (same reason I’d probably never give out a MacArthur award if I were on the panel of judges...because in that case, there’s always someone better... somewhere.)

Thanks to Mike Werner, over at Motorbiker for bringing my attention to this terrible Harley video.

Race Car Hits Deer -- And Sends It Into Orbit Also, Motorcycle Cop Hits Deer -- But Bike, Deer, and Cop All OK

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:31:27 -0600

Here’s something you don’t see very often. Usually, one, two, or all three participants in such a crash (vehicle, deer, driver) suffer some serious injury in crashes. For instance, check out the video above -- this race car hits a deer, and sends it into orbit! You don’t even see it hit the ground... For all we know, it’s still up in a tree somewhere... Hit the “Play” button and check it out!

Luckily, the Harley, the motorcycle cop, and the deer are all OK in this accident detailed below (which is worth reporting, since usually one, two, or all three members of such a collision suffer some serious injury):

Officer on Harley Hits Deer on Route 1
YORK, Maine — A police officer riding a Harley-Davidson collided with a deer early Friday morning and the officer, the deer and the motorcycle were all unscathed, said Sgt. Gary Finley.
"He was very, very lucky," said Finley of officer Shaun Darrow, who was riding the full dress Harley when a deer ran into the motorcycle's fairing.
...
"We've been using them at night to try and cut down on gas," said Finley of the police bikes, which are leased to the department "for next to nothing," he said.
— Elizabeth Dinan

Harley-Davidson Announces Layoffs at the York Plant

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:43:44 -0600

It would appear that Harley-Davidson’s recent reports of poor sales (which I posted about here and here), due to the slumping US economy, are forcing some serious cutbacks for the American motorcycle giant.

Aside from other cost-cutting measures (for instance, you may remember that HD shut down production for 4 days back in fall ’07), Harley Davidson has just announced an “undisclosed” number of layoffs at the York, PA plant as of next week.

These layoffs are in addition to a previously announced annual shutdown of the plant, scheduled for June 30 through the July 4th holiday.

Harley-Davidson also says that “it plans to permanently cut about 300 workers from the York County plant. Harley spokesman Bob Klein says potential retirees are receiving information about early retirement, though he knows of no offers being made.” (quoted from The Sentinel)

My best wishes go out to all the HD employees who are affected -- this is a Hell of a bad time to lose a job (not that there is ever a good time, but things being as they are economically, it’s particularly bad news right now).

A Couple of Babes on a Chopper

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:52:31 -0600

For this week’s Biker Babe Photo: a couple of biker babes together on a chopper at a biker rally...

I’ve also added a handful of new Biker T-Shirts to the Biker Shop. If you’re planning on attending a few rally weekends, you just might find a Biker Tee Shirt that will do the trick. :-)

Here’s hoping you have a great weekend!

Get out there and enjoy the ride!

Buell in the Coming Transformers Sequel -- A Pink Buell Fembot

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:33:54 -0600

I was trolling around the Net this morning, looking for some more interesting motorcycle industry news... And this caught my eye:

A Buell Firebolt will be in the upcoming Transformers sequel.
This Buell Transformer will be hot pink.
This Buell will be a fembot (a chick Transformer).

Here are some details on the Buell fembot Transformer:

If leaked documentation, which you should avoid if you don't want to read any plot spoilers, regarding the upcoming Transformers sequel is accurate, it appears that Mr. Bay may be bringing a motorcycle-based female robot to the big screen. We've heard that the character known as Arcee was considered for the initial film but was discarded so as not to confuse the audience with multiple gendered robots. If the rendering seen above is any indication, though, we'd imagine that Arcee's pinky-purple coloring would get that point across right away. There are two female riders listed on a leaked Call Sheet for the upcoming movie, and it appears that they are to be riding the oddly-colored Buell in the film.

..:Read the rest over at AutoBlog:..

Gas Prices Push Scooter and Motorcycle Sales Through the Roof

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:00:27 -0600

I can vouch for this around Denver too -- I have never seen so many scooters on the road as I do now. Even full-size motorcycles are far more common. (See the article cited below for some real stats on the exploding sales of the more economical scoots and bikes out there.)

So what’s the difference about all the new motorcycle riders I’m seeing? They’re riding old bikes. I’m seeing a ton of 15 or 25 year old Hondas & Suzukis and such on the road. Gas guzzling baggers, however, are on the decline (compared to previous summers, I’m seeing fewer of those big comfortable hawgs than before.)

And that actually jives with Harley’s dismal financials (which I’ve written about months ago: here & here), since those baggers are the true cash cows (or “pigs”) for Harley Davidson, Inc.

Of course, this is also really, really good news for the motorcycle industry in the long term. All these new scooter riders, who are getting into riding for purely practical reasons (many little scoots get up to 70+ mpg), will quickly find themselves hooked on riding... Even I started on a mid-80’s little Honda Rebel 250 (like the one top left). That old girl got some amazing mpg too... But after that first season, I was totally ready for a bigger, more powerful bike. From there, I moved to a chopped ’74 CB550, then on to a Shadow 600, then on to a Suzuki Marauder, then on to my current Harley... Trading up, and up, and up -- just like first time house-buyers over the course of their lives...

Of course, the real problem for the big bikes is that they’re simply too expensive for most people these days. If you’ve got that kinda cash to blow, good for you, but these people are trading in Suburbans and buying brand new Vespas for $3k... If they can’t afford $4 gas, they certainly can’t buy a custom Fat Boy. So unless that economy picks up (WAY up) the scooter folks won’t be getting in line for the new Indian Motorcycle anytime soon.

However, all of these new scooters WILL lead to more older, or less-expensive small to mid-size cruisers on the road a few years from now.

Just wait and see.

I do pray that all these scooter moms and new riders are taking safety courses, and are wearing some protective gear... I always get a very bad feeling in my gut when I see someone on a one of those 50cc scoots trying to power their way up a hill, while riding in traffic. Those bikes are for in-town riding only, for God’s sake. And they’re even harder to see for cagers than our full-sized bikes. But one thing is certain, every time someone trades in their SUV for a scoot, that’s one less cager for us to worry about. And after their first close call, all those scooter moms will never ignore bikers on the road again. Like the saying goes, don’t judge a biker before you ride a mile on his 2-wheels. :-)

From the Arizona Republic story, “Cycle, Scooter Sales Soar with Gas Prices”

...Sales of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds are soaring as consumers cope with runaway fuel prices that analysts predict will hit a record $5 a gallon by the Fourth of July.

The non-profit Motorcycle Industry Council in Irvine, Calif., estimates that there were more than 1.1 million motorcycles and scooters sold nationwide last year. The increase marked 14 consecutive years of gains.

The council estimates that sales of scooters alone jumped 24 percent in the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2007. It attributes the increase to the rise in gas prices, though it doesn't yet have the data to prove it, said Mark Mount, the council's communications director....

...Read the rest of the article here...

A Hot Babe in Leather

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 12:15:51 -0600

A lovely babe in leather for this week. :-)

Also, a bunch of new biker babe pics were added to the Hot Biker Babe Pics section of the Hot Pics galleries.

I’ll be out this weekend looking for some great choppers to add to the Bikers and Bikes section too.

In the meantime, enjoy your weekend, and ride safe.