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Keeping this article motorcycle-related, I have a friend who does a dedication ride every Memorial Day for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice to my country - the USA.  He is a Vietnam veteran and simply a great American.  I have asked him to include me in spirit on his ride tomorrow as I will be unable to be on two wheels.  This is something I greatly appreciate.

Motorcyclebloggers.com as an entity supports our troops 100%.  That is unwaivering.  I cannot and will not speak for the individual contributors here as to their personal opinions, but this site will never have disparaging remarks against our troops, especially in a time of war.  Ask each contributor about the “rules” for contributing and here

It has to do with welding a fuel tank…not flatulence.

I don’t know what made me think it was safe to weld a fuel tank from my old Hurricaine race bike when I was a youngster - lack of money?  Boredom?  A willing accomplice?  You guessed it:  All three of them.

I had a buddy living at my house at the time and between us, we had quite the tool setup.  I had the air compressor and tools, and he had the welder.  I decided that I had stored my old Hurricaine race bike long enough and it was now time to sell it.  That said, it had developed a leak around an area that had been bondo’d over from a previous

It all happened on the beginning of May 2006, in the French Alps. 

The setting was the currently off-season ski resort of Meribel. 

The event? The launch of the 2007 Can-Am ATV range. 

What do I mean by Can-Am?
Well, this is an unexpected move from BRP, which owns Bombardier ATVs. 

BRP decided to change the ATV range name from Bombardier, to the former Motocross motorcycle branch it used to own.
The change is of course geared towards the US market, since Can-Am is a legend there, and also sounds quite US friendly (Canada-America is the most widely accepted interpretation of the brand name).
 
Beyond a “mere” change of a name, Can-Am had more aces up its sleeve, during the launch.
In Meribel, it presented a brand new mouth-watering sport-ATV, taking the Outlander 800 platform

Valentino Rossi, arguably the best roadracer of all time, has only one win and two DNFs (did not finish) for the first 5 races of this year’s MotoGP World Championship. In a series he dominates (he’s won 4 times in a row), and in what is supposedly his swan song season, things are not looking good for “the Doctor” to leave motorcycle racing on a high note. In addition to Rossi’s undeniable talent, he’s also had incredible luck for the bulk of his career. So much so, that many believe he’s charmed.

One of Rossi’s innocuous comments about fellow rider Sete Gibernau a couple of years ago announced no more wins for the rest of the Catalan’s time in MotoGP. At the time

I had the revelation today that my wife married an outlaw.  In some ways I am amused, and in others I am disappointed as a Rule of Law kind of guy.  I have no idea how my head got shove up my arse so far, but I have mentally convinced myself that the Futura was legal to ride.  It’s not.  I still have not passed emissions, and in turn, I haven’t even transfered the title yet.

Again, I have no idea how this slipped my little pea-brain but it did.  I had the revelation when I got to work this morning with th odometer just turning past 9k miles.  That nice round number got me thinking about how many mile it

I read about this in the latest issue of Roadracing World last night and found it rather interesting.  I don’t know much about Italy, let alone it politics.  I do know they make great cars and motorcycles and produce some of the greatest racers ever.  I knew Rossi was popular, but his influence is greater than I imagined.  Check it out from the Guardian:

Barbara McMahon in Rome
Tuesday March 28, 2006
The Guardian

Italians are being wooed by their flamboyant prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is mailing a glossy magazine detailing his government’s achievements to millions of households this week.

The 160-page publication, called The Real Italian Story, is crammed with flattering facts and photographs of the 69-year-old billionaire, proclaiming his five-year term of

Los Gatos trio arrested in assault on dirt biker
Three Los Gatos residents have been arrested after they allegedly strung a rope across a road and pulled it taut when a dirt biker approached, causing the rider to be thrown off his motorcycle and sustain serious injuries, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
But wait, there’s more:
The first rider was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, where he remained in a coma for five days.

He suffered severe bone damage and tissue loss and required more than 500 stitches and titanium plates inserted in his face.
I don’t what to say… I’m stunned speechless by the criminal stupidity; especially given the ages of the perpetrators.

After stopping to help out at another accident while on my ride up to Bakersfield, I began to think on some of the items I should perhaps carry with me in my saddle bags. My first thought was latex gloves. Both times I have helped I have come away with blood on my hands and clothes. The clothes I don’t care as much about, but blood on my hands kind of freaked me out. My dad was a Sheriff, and he always had a small pack of gloves, alcohol wipes, and a mouth guard (for CPR) stashed in the glove compartment of all of our cars.

I then also thought full-on first aid kit, but realized I would have to scale

When I started to go out for Track Days, I was going out for a good time. I wanted to go fast and hang it out a bit. But by my 4th Trackday, I started to understand that while going fast is fun, it is hard to judge how fast you are going. Lap times add to the understanding of how fast you are really going.

So I had the wife try to record a few laps, but it was kind of difficult for her to take photos and run the stopwatch. So something had to improve, and that was buying another toy.

My new toy is the… Ultra-Lap XT Racing Lap Timer

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April is the unofficial end of the Track Day season in Phoenix. While some people try to continue though the long summer, for me it’s quits at the end of April. Sitting in pit lane in full leathers in 100+ heat is not fun for me.

The end of season for me was my first trackday at Team Arizona’s Track Riders group. I have been running the easier to get into AZTrackDay’s run by Ted Rich. Ted runs a good show and you can’t complain that his grids are a bit big when he lets everyone pre-register up to 5 days in advance.

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