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Over the course of my adult motorcycle riding adventure, I have had good luck buying used parts.  It originally started with the print classifieds in RoadRacing World, then to online classifieds of RRW & 2wf.com, and now its from forums and ebay.  I’ve had one scam (lost $50), and one ‘parts not as described’ in about fifteen years.  That’s not too bad.

For me, the used market has been my main source for aftermarket parts.  It takes two things to be successful - patience & a little street smarts regarding the sought after parts.  I have had many, many used parts for which I would have never purchased new.  Yes, I am cheap.  But check this out from my ‘99 R1

I while ago I wrote an article about a rumored merger between Ducati and Harley Davidson.  I’m not sure exactly what happened, but check out the comment stream.  Glad I could provide a medium for discussion fellas!

http://motorcyclebloggers.com/2007/06/22/rumor-harley-davidson-and-duc ati-merger/

SuperbikePlanet, my favorite source for roadracing information, has released it’s 2008 calendar and the racing start ONLY a month from today!

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/calendar2000/

 You’ll notice the first serious race of the 2008 season is next month!!! World Superbike from Qatar on Feb 23.

Other notes:

First MotoGP race is also at Qatar and is UNDER THE LIGHTS AT NIGHT on the same weekend as Daytona!

 For American fans, instead of one World Championship, we get 3 this year, and two are combined with the AMA series:

 Miller (June 1) - World Superbike/AMA

Laguna Seca (July 20) - MotoGP/AMA

Indy (Sept 14) - MotoGP

 Biggest racer to watch: Kenan Sofuoglu, World Superbike. He ran away with the Supesport title last year and is riding the TenKate Honda World Championship seat vacated by James Toseland

The Beast Report

Team: 2up Racing By Myself. / Event: CCS/SW – January 12th and 13th, 2008 – Round #1

Sponsors: Kurveygirl.com / M4 Exhaust / Euro Motorsports of Scottsdale

Preferred Tire Vendor: / Jim Cox Racing (Dunlop Racing Tires)

Spring time temperatures fell upon the Phoenix Arizona area for the first round of the 2008 CCS/SW racing series. Many would find racing in January a bit strange, but for phoenix this is the norm not the exception. The weather was a near perfect with clear skys and

Our liberal governor has decided to expand the photo radar system here in Arizona.  The reason you ask?  Public safety?  Nope.  See, AZ has a budget shortage of about one billion bucks.  Her motive is to generate revenue “to avoid raising taxes”.  I say bullshit.  How about reducing spending???  Alright, this is not going to turn into a political rant, but how European of her.

I have always had a problem with photo radar for two main reasons

1. You cannot face your accuser
2. Its about revenue generation versus public safety

This proves it.  Period.  In fact, check out the bolded type below and you’ll see that rear-end accidents have increased a bunch at the sites of the cameras.  I also found it humorous that

You might call this an open letter to the management of Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company or “A Word to the Wise” in hopes of avoiding  a future tragedy.  During 2007 Harley Davidson announced that they were going to shut down their motorcycle production facility for one week and temporarily lay off a number of their employees without pay because of insufficient new bike orders.  Also during 2007 the HD employees went on strike.  Recall the five year period during the 1980’s when Harley Davidson had to have U.S. Federal Government help to stay alive under intense foreign motorcycle manufacturers targeting of the American motorcycling market.  These are all bad omens for America’s most prominent motorcycle company.  Wake up, Harley, before you lose it all.  Beware!  You

Tuesday was the first time in 2 months I’ve attempted to ride my motorcycles. We get some pretty serious winter here in Salt Lake City and between snow and below freezing temperatures, there have been precious few opportunities to ride. The mountain passes have been closed for some time, so commuting is pretty much the only choice.

 What prompted me to ride wasn’t improved weather, but peer pressure. I’m know as one of the more hardcore riders at my place of employ, and when a coworker rode in on Monday, I was chastized by several others about being a “sissy biker”. I was having none of that, so when the weather report for the next day was clear and cold, I was

To add to the stupidity of my attempt to fight a wrongly issued ticket, I received a letter the AZ Department of Public Safety last night.

I filed a complaint with DPS due to the ticketing officer’s (that would be Officer Gamboa) conduct NOT because I got a ticket.  As he handed me the ticket, and I quote “Don’t even think of challenging this ticket.  If you do, I’ll up it (passing in a no passing zone) to criminal wreckless driving, you’ll lose your license, and you could go to jail.”  Bullshit.  Just as it is any officers perogative to issue a ticket, its my right to challenge its issuance.  Of course, as linked above, the cards are stacked against

Not too long ago, I would be driving on a section of winding asphalt and and think “this would be a great motorcycle road”.  Lately, I’ve noticed a change in the way of my thinking.  With my bias towards dirt bike riding now, I am now thinking “that would be a sweet trail to hit”.

See, I have this habit and its probably not a good one.  Ever since I started deer hunting, I look for deer off in the fields while I’m driving in an applicable area.  That habit has been consistent whenever I road trip or get in out of the city.  This has now translated into trail searching.

I recently took a family trip to Williams, AZ for a train ride to and from the

Let’s be clear, this is not ‘motorcycle mama’ but rather my mom.  Long ago, when I started my motorcycle career, it was a family event.  We would load the pickup with dirt bikes (ahem…four of us in a Ford Courier with bucket seats), hook up the pop-up camper and away we went up north to the Michigan woods.  It was a family event with my dad on an Yamaha DT250, my mom on a Suzuki TS185, my brother on a TS90, and me on a Honda SL70.

My mom was a trooper, although not a great rider.  Even with my bro and I on smal bikes, it was always the guys waiting at the end of the trail.  Admittedly, she never