motorcyclebloggers.com

Another racer gets injured off the track. First it was MotoGP’s Alex Hofmann busting up his wrist in a parade on his Kawi. Now AMA takes a loss with Jamie Hacking dislocating both elbows in a bicycle accident. (We can’t forget Kellen Winslow jr. even though he’s not a racer of any type, but a pro-athlete nonetheless). Check it…

Hacking Injures Elbows In Bicycle Crash, Will Miss Road America Race
May 30, 2005

Copyright 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yamaha/Graves Yamaha rider Jamie Hacking will miss the AMA round June 3-5 at Road America after injuring both of his elbows in a bicycle crash while training Saturday, May 28 near Fort Collins, Colorado.

In a telephone call to

What started as an innocent article where I realized “Holy $%^!”, my Arai RX-7RR4 is only a Snell 1995 (I always thought it was M2000), turned into a pretty big learning experience. My original search was to compare the Snell ratings between the 1995, 2000, and the soon to be released 2005 standards. The other purpose was to research the expected life of a helmet that was not crashed or dropped. Little did I know that in the meantime the June issue of Motorcyclist Magazine (MM) had dropped a bomb on the Snell ratings. And an expected (and necessary IMO) response was issued by Snell / smf.org was also published and posted in my

We all know that tomorrow is a day of remembrance for our servicemen and women in uniform who have given the ultimate sacrifice for their (our) country. To date, our country has had 42 million soldiers in service and about 1.2 million deaths (combat + non-combat) during a time of war. Today, our military is doing what they do best over in the Middle East - Afghanistan & Iraq.

Admittedly, I do not have any military members in my family. My grandfather was in boot camp in 1918 headed of for WW1 when the War ended. After that, we have a legacy of tinkerers and brake engineers. I mention this because this year I was

I think the article says it all.

Survey ranks states with dumbest drivers
Test shows 1 in 10 licensed U.S. drivers don’t know basic rules. In the East, 20 percent fail quiz.
May 27, 2005: 3:15 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - When faced with a written test, similar to ones given to beginning drivers applying for licenses, one in ten drivers couldn’t get a passing score, according to a study commissioned by GMAC Insurance.

The GMAC Insurance National Driver’s Test found that nearly 20 million Americans, or about 1 in 10 drivers, would fail a state driver’s test if they had to take one today. GMAC Insurance is part of General Motors’ finance subsidiary, GMAC.

More than 5,000 licensed drivers between the ages of

No matter if you are a member or not of the AMA or you do or don’t support them they do provide a comprehensive list of information for everyone regarding your right to ride and legislation that could effect your rights. They offer easy links to send emails to most government officials about each of presented issue. If you disagree with AMA supporting or opposing a specific legislation you can change the email body to present your view.

On the website you can find state by state laws both on and off road. It’s interesting that Arizona has a law that state handlebars can not be more than 15″ above the seat height. I don’t think I have

Ok, unless you live near Phoenix Arizona, you really may not care. But I live just 15minutes way from Arizona Motorsport Park (AMP) during rushour traffic.

The track was closed early last year due to issues with the noise the new facility caused. I am all for the track trying to be quiet, but it is near an airforce base. Below what was printed in the Arizona Republic on May 24th. [Arizona Motorsports Park aims to get back on track]

LITCHFIELD PARK - The owner of Arizona Motorsports Park scored a legal win recently that he hopes will help him reopen his racetrack, which came under heavy community fire after it opened in

I have read of a ‘buzz’ in the motorcycle race fan world regarding SPEED’s coverage of last week’s Superbike and Supersport race viewership. A SPEED sales rep cut the data (albeit truthful, but intended to deliver a specific message) so that the race ratings outscored ESPN’s Track & Field as well as ESPN2’s IRL coverage. This was sent to potential advertisers to try and garner new accounts. Well my friends, while what he presented was true, it was not the whole picture. Here is the letter that people are buzzing about (snagged from RoadRacingWorld):

Subject: AMA Road Racing from PPIR Dominates SPEED Channel’s Viewership, Sunday May 22

SPEED Channel’s record setting year for motorcycle racing ratings continued

Yeah, I know it was passed around a couple of months ago (so please…pass it around again to your favorite jackass comedian friend), but its getting late and I’ve been working on a site upgrade and fixing those damn comments for hours. Needless to say, I think they are fixed for good.

My picture caption:

This maiden road test was the birth and death of adding a high-speed reverse gear to the new GSXR line of bikes…

Click on the “Post your comments” link below to leave your picture caption.

Continuing from May 21st:

Well…”ABC Superbikers” to be exact. So I was one letter short from my recollection of “Superbike”. You’d be surprised what one letter will do to your Google results! Here’s the basic summary of what I’ve found (this is a cut and paste job from a lot of different sources + some paraphrasing):

The phenomenon started 24 years ago with ABC’s “Superbikers,” a made-for-TV competition intended to determine the sport’s best all-around rider. This basic concept — racing street-tire-shod dirtbikes on a TT-style dirt-and-pavement course. In the late 1970s, ABC’s Wide World of Sports was the highest-rated sports show in America. Racing promoter Gavin Trippe pitched ABC the idea of a motorcycle competition

I know in AZ it is legal to ride without a helmet. Your can also ride with the least amount of cloths as possible as long as you aren’t considered indecent.

Here is why I say it is only “Common sense” to wear protective gear and it has nothing to do with accidents.

It was the last weekend of Arizona Bike week. Joanna and I had ridden out to Bartlett lake and were on our way back when we came around a corner and went right through a swarm of bees at about 40 mph. After we got through them and a ways down the road we pulled over and picked off numerous live and dead bees. I would guess we each