OBE, PhD, CEng, Shilling crammed a whole lot of awesome into her 81 years on earth until her death in November of 1990.

Shilling, an aeronautical engineer, was perhaps most famous for her work in correcting a serious defect in the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine during the Second World War, was also a well-known motorcycle and automobile racer.

Beatrice Shilling

It was Shilling who, when faced with the dicey task of fixing a carburetor problem on the Merlin aircraft, came up with an elegant solution that was referred to as the “R.A.E. restrictor.”

Essentially a small metal disc with a hole in the middle, her device was placed into the Merlin engine’s carburetor to prevent fuel starvation during taxing aerial maneuvers. Allowing RAF pilots to perform quick “negative g” maneuvers without loss of engine power, Shilling’s solution was, as you might guess, immensely popular with pilots unhappy at the prospect of plunging to earth at the most inopportune moments during the stress of aerial combat.

In honor of her efforts to preserve their ongoing survival, pilots named her device (demonstrating a characteristic English sensibility and dry wit) ‘Miss Shilling’s orifice.’

Scientists believe that the extra concentration needed to successfully operate a motorcycle can contribute to higher general levels of brain function, and it’s that increase in activity that’s surely a contributing factor to the appeal of the motorcycles as transportation. It’s the way a ride on a bike turns the simplest journey into a challenge to the senses that sets the motorcyclist apart from the everyday commuter. While the typical car-owning motorist is just transporting him or her self from point A to point B, the motorcyclist is actually transported into an entirely different state of consciousness .

Riding a motorcycle is all about entrance into an exclusive club where the journey actually is the destination.

Dr Ryuta Kawashima, author of Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain, reported the outcome of his study of “The relationship between motorcycle riding and the human mind.”

Kawashima’s experiments involved current riders who currently rode motorcycles on a regular basis (the average age of the riders was 45) and  ex-riders who once rode regularly but had not taken a ride for 10 years or more. Kawashima asked the participants to ride on courses in different conditions while he recorded their brain activities. The eight courses included a series of curves, poor road conditions, steep hills, hair-pin turns and a variety of other challenges.

What did he find? After an analysis of the data, Kawashima found that the current riders and ex-riders used their brain in radically different ways. When the current riders rode motorcycles, specific segments of their brains (the right hemisphere of the prefrontal lobe) was activated and riders demonstrated a higher level of concentration.

His next experiment was a test of how making a habit of riding a motorcycle affects the brain.

Trial subjects were otherwise healthy people who had not ridden for 10 years or more. Over the course of a couple of months, those riders used a  motorcycle for their daily commute and in other everyday situations while Dr Kawashima and his team studied how their brains and mental health changed.

The upshot was that the use of motorcycles in everyday life improved cognitive faculties, particularly those that relate to memory and spatial reasoning capacity. An added benefit? Participants revealed on questionnaires they filled out at the end of the study that their stress levels had been reduced and their mental state changed for the better.

So why motorcycles? Shouldn’t driving a car should have the same effect as riding a motorcycle?

“There were many studies done on driving cars in the past,” Kawashima said. “A car is a comfortable machine which does not activate our brains. It only happens when going across a railway crossing or when a person jumps in front of us. By using motorcycles more in our life, we can have positive effects on our brains and minds”.

Yamaha participated in a second joint research project on the subject of the relationship between motorcycle riding and brain stimulation with Kawashima Laboratory at the Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer at Tohoku University.

The project began in September 2009 and ran until December 2010, and the focus of the research was on measurement and analysis of the cause and effect relationship involved in the operation of various types of vehicles and brain stimulation. The study measured changes in such stimulation over time by means of data gathered from a long-term mass survey.

The reason for Yamaha Motor’s participation in this project is pretty obvious and not a little self-serving, but further research into the relationship between motorcycle riding and brain stimulation as it relates to the “Smart Aging Society” will certainly provide some interesting results.

The second research project was divided into two time periods throughout 2009 and 2010 compared differences in the conditions of brain stimulation as they related to the type of vehicle and driving conditions. A second set of tests measuring the changes in brain stimulation over time involved a larger subject group.

Yamaha Motors provided vehicles for the research and made its test tracks and courses available for the study. What the study revealed is that what you’re thinking about while you’re riding – and your experience on the bike -  changes the physical structure of your brain.

Author Sharon Begley concurs with Kawashima’s findings. In her tome, Train Your Mind – Change Your Brain, Begley found much the same outcomes.

“The brain devotes more cortical real estate to functions that its owner uses more frequently and shrinks the space devoted to activities rarely performed,” Begley wrote. “That’s why the brains of violinists devote more space to the region that controls the digits of the fingering hand.”

And you may also get some mental and physical benefits from just thinking about going for a ride on your machine.

A 1996 experiment at Harvard Medical School by neuroscientist Alvaro Pascual-Leone had volunteers practice a simple five finger exercise on the piano over five days for a couple of hours each day. Pascual-Leone found that the brain space devoted to these finger movements grew and pushed aside areas less used.  A separate group of volunteers were asked to simply think about doing the piano exercises during that week as well, and they dedicated the same amount of “practice time.”

Pascual-Leone was somewhat take aback to discover that the region of the brain which controls piano playing finger movement expanded in the same way for volunteers who merely imagined playing the piano.

Along with the obvious benefits of riding motorcycles; like saving money (motorcycle insurance is relatively inexpensive), motorcycles take the edge off the grind of the daily commute, and that appears to make your brain a better place to be…

Chris Page riding. July 2nd 2011.

#44

Team Guzzi Nerd…

Related posts:

1. Bike Find of the Day – The 1970 Moto Guzzi 750 Ambassador
2. Bike Find of the Day – A Custom Moto Guzzi You Can Afford
3. New Moto Guzzi V7 Cafe Racer Recaptures the Past With a Distinctly Modern Upgrade

While you’ll never see one in the parking lot at your local bike night, it remains a demonstration of what people with a vision can do.

Capricorn co-founder Ro Lehew:

“The wheel is, in fact, inspired by classic watch movements. We’ve taken an existing engineering concept and applied it in a purely decorative manner. The gears bear no load, so the performance of the wheel is not impacted. Using high-grade aluminum and composites, we balance weight and mass carefully, so the weight remains within normal parameters. In fact, the entire system is safety-verified. If an object, such as a small stone, introduces itself into the mechanism, the gears will continue to rotate with the wheel.”

Quoting Randy Edwards of the former Capricorn Cyclo-Works:

“Gearing holds up well under normal road speeds, due to the care taken in balance and alignment. We haven’t noticed any gyroscopic peculiarities yet, but the Involution is designed to be a custom wheel, so the designs can vary greatly. The true “secret” to the wheel is that the gearing you see is decorative, and not critical to the function of the wheel in its basic form. We have even engineered a slip mechanism, so that if something should become lodged in the action, the wheel itself would continue to turn normally. The gears and such are not critical to function.”

The functional, passive planetary gear system would surely be a joy to behold as it spun at speed, and the team who made them say many combinations of custom appearances could be created by manipulating system ratios, angular velocities, direction of rotation, details in machining and a wide variety of plating options. The whole deal works according to careful management of wheel balance and gyroscopic effects. The frictional and inertial loads are carefully planned to come together and work by taking care of component weight, symmetry, and distributing the various masses equally – even if the two sides of the wheel have different configurations.

Why, you ask? So what’s the big deal about pictures of a messy old motorcycle shop?

I’ll tell you. Each and every piece is in miniature scale. Tiny. And each piece has a beautiful custom patina applied with loving care.

Malmberg also photographs these intricate dioramas, and his photography is every bit as beautiful and crafted as his model work.

Many of the pieces come as part of the Diopark Factory Tools Set (http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1518.0) and the Harley-Davidsons are assembled and modified versions of the MiniArt WWII Harleys (http://miniart-models.com/index.htm?/35080.htm) and http://miniart-models.com/index.htm?/35101.htm

Many of the 1/35 scale detail parts come from Royal Models, Tamiya, Verlinden and a variety of model manufacturers, but it’s what Malmberg does with them that make them rise to the level of art.

If you want to look behind the curtain and see how Malmberg makes these tiny bits of realistic motorcycle joy, you can check out his construction thread here, and it includes additional information on detail parts and how he accomplishes the finishes (http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1453.0)

Check out more of his startling work here…

Dar Holdsworth is the owner and operator Brass Balls Bobbers and Darwin Motorcycles, and his Navy F3 Rocketeer, based on one of his ‘kit’ machines, is one sweet ride. Built for the Rolling Thunder 25th anniversary in Washington DC, the Brass Ball Bobbers Rocketeer F3 became this US Navy tribute custom, and what a tribute it is to our fighting men.

The Navy F3 Rocketeer is built around a 93″ S&S Knucklehead mill. It features a 6-speed transmission, took something like 300 hours of machining and fabrication, and a custom gas tank and rear fender which were milled from solid aluminum billets.

Add to the list Avon tires, Wilwood front brakes, an Autometer gauge, the Alloy Art Panhead headlight and a custom Kyle Hix seat, and you have one fine ride, my friend.

It’s a throwback look to a time when Harley-Davidson ruled the world, but it’s the Knucklehead motor which makes the bike a complete statement. It was, after all, the Knucklehead which signaled Harley’s switch to the now ubiquitous V-twin configuration (from the previous ‘flathead’ design) and overhead valves which is still the basis for the Harley motors of today. It was the overhead valve design which led to the change in shape of the new rocker covers on the powerplant, and that now precious motor was immediately christened the “Knucklehead” by owners for its distinctive look. The nickname has, with time, achieved iconic status.

The ‘Knucklehead” engine was a two cylinder, 45 degree, pushrod actuated overhead valve V-twin with two valves per cylinder, and it was manufactured until 1947, though replica engines, cases and parts are still manufactured today by various companies like the one on this Holdsworth creation.

A relatively low production run of 1,829 Knuckleheads produced for 1937 means that these lovely pieces of engineering are sure to hold their value for many years to come, and you can have this one for something over $100,000.

The EL Knucklehead motor featured a new recirculating oiling system which eliminated the messiness and inconvenience of the previous ‘total loss’ setup from the flathead days, and the new features on the 1936 EL motor, principally those rocker-shaft covers and air intake, marked a sea change in Harley design.

The timing case cover was designed and re-designed no less than three times during the initial model year of the EL, and each change was considered an improvement by riders. When you consider the original EL’s welded fuel tanks and the tank-mounted instrument panel, you can see the genesis of a styling cue trend still in evidence on Harley models to this day.

It was a stunt which, back in April of 1937, really made the Knucklehead a legend. Fred Ham, a Pasadena motorcycle cop, took his Model E to Muroc Dry Lake where he set up a five-mile circle with flags and flares and then set off on an all-day, all night endurance run. Stopping only for fuel, oil, refreshments (and taking time to repair a broken rear chain during the 20th hour of the marathon), Ham traveled 1,825 miles, averaging 76.02 mph. Ham’s ride set 43 new speed and distance records and his ride created the legend of the Knucklehead.

Check some other work from Darwin Motorcycles here…

Dar Holdsworth’s Foremost Insurance Chopper

The also offer some excellent safety information, sponsor racing events across the nation in a variety of disciplines and offer their advice on a wide range of motorcycle-related topics.

American Motorcyclist magazine, the in-house organ of The American Motorcycle Association has released it’s list of the top 15 motorcycle roads in the United States, based on votes from AMA members.

If you ever get the chance to ride any of the roads in the list, do it, you won’t be sorry.

1. Beartooth Highway (Between MT and WY)
2. Blue Ridge Parkway (NC)
3. U.S. Route 129 – The Tail of the Dragon (NC/TN Border)
4. U.S. Route 550 (Ouray to Durango, CO)
5. California Route 1 – Pacific Coast Highway (CA)
6. Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park (MT)
7. Cherohala Skyway (NC and TN)
8. California Route 36 (CA)
9. U.S. Route 12 – Lolo Pass (MT and ID)
10. Angeles Crest Highway – California Route 2 (CA)
11. Natchez Trace (Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN)
12. U.S. Route 33 (Harrisonburg, VA to Seneca Rocks, WV)
13. California Route 58 (McKittrick to Santa Margarita CA)
14. Ohio Route 170 (Calcutta to Poland, OH)
15. Washington Route 129 and Oregon Route 3 (Clarkston, WA to Enterprise, OR)

But We Say the Best Rides Are All In the Midwest

I-135 from Bloomington, Indiana to the Ohio River at the border.

Most sections of the run include sharp turns which lead to breathtaking climbs and descents. The fall colors are awesome, and Brown County and the northern tip of the route is a camping and hiking mecca.

M 119 from Mackinaw City, Michigan to Harbor Springs, Michigan.

This ride follows the Lake Michigan lakeshore through what the locals call the “tunnel of trees,” and features perfect road surfaces and stunning scenery. Do yourself a favor and stop in lovely Wequetonsing, Michigan to see how the other half lives along Little Traverse Bay.

Want to forge your own path and ignore the excellent advice we’ve put together? Yeah, we know, you’re a rebel and you have to go your own way.

The AAA Triptik Travel Planner can give you an excellent starting point for your journey.

Now that you’re ready to roll and you’ve picked your route and destination, here are a few things to consider to make sure your trip goes off without a hitch:

I know, you love your Classic Coke and your Nike golf balls and your Ed Hardy t-shirts, but do you really feel a connection to those items? An attachment you’d defend with your fists if anyone dared insult your choice of soda?

You do not.

But the lovers of Harley-Davidson are a fierce breed indeed.

Willie G. Davidson back in the day.

The Motor Company promotes the “Harley lifestyle experience” through “designer store” dealership outlets which have either been completely remodeled or built from scratch in the last few years. The stores and floor plans are laid out to draw customers in, where they are summarily surrounded by motorcycles. And not just their iconic machines, but every possible item a rider could use to ride one or let someone know he or she rides one. There are separate areas for Harley “MotorClothes,” customer lounges, rider meeting rooms, antique bikes and not a single detail is ignored.

Dealerships which converted what were once “motorcycle shops” to the Designer Store concept received, in return, burgeoning revenues and a startling return on investment. At this stage, more than half of the Motor Company’s 1,110 worldwide dealers have become, in essence, motorcycle boutiques. The Harley-Davidson merchandising line extends to items from clothing, tattoo patches, coffee mugs, belt buckles, baby clothes, memorabilia and every manner of item which can be painted and packaged in Orange and Black.

But when you consider the intense popularity of the Harley-Davidson brand today, it’s seems beyond belief that the company was ever on the verge of bankruptcy, but it most certainly was.

Harley-Davidson came within a hair’s breadth of bankruptcy and dissolution during the years spanning 1969 to 1981. How did it happen? It all came about when the American Machine and Foundry (AMF) company bought H-D and proceeded to begin the insane task, at least metaphorically, of painting over the Mona Lisa.

The AMF decision to “streamline production” and “slash the workforce” brought on vicious labor strikes, produced ugly and low quality motorcycles, and resulted in horrifically declining sales numbers. Riders abandoned the company’s showrooms like theatre patrons after a  bad movie and sought out older models to modify and restore.

It wasn’t until AMF threw in the towel and sold the gasping enterprise to investors Vaughn Beals and Willie G. Davidson – for a bargain-basement price of $80 million -  that the company started to once again turn a profit and appeal to a generation of riders lost to the makers of the last American motorcycle.

So how did Willie G. make it happen? He took Harley-Davidson back to the sort of retro-styled look of the company’s storied past. He started using high-quality parts and put manufacturing techniques in place to produce them. And above all, he listened to his customers, and they in turn told him when he was finally on the right track.

It's King Kong, a bike Fay Wray might like to ride

Stored in the late-model display section of the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, there’s one machine sure to cause it’s share of shock and awe.

It’s the King Kong Harley. A one-of-a-kind custom with two complete engines and transmissions, four pipes, two saddles and two sets of handlebars, the King Kong was built (or should we say grafted together) by motorcycle builder, customizer and genius, the late Felix Predko.

Predko, a man who’s name became synonymous with custom-built motorcycles, was a factory-trained mechanic who worked for Zepka Harley-Davidson from 1940 to 1962.

King Kong, his masterwork and magnum opus,  was created in 1949 when Predko came up with the wild idea to combine two motorcycles in one. The entire project took him four years to complete.

Equipped with bullet-shaped taillights recycled from a vintage Cadillac, twin 1,200-cc v-twin engines , a stereo radio for the rear passenger and two scuba tanks to hold compressed air to power deafening air horns (horns loud enough to shatter windows and the occasional eardrum), King Kong is now on display at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

This enormous sucker is more than over 13 feet long from end to end, weighs more than 1,000 pounds with its two synchronized Knucklehead motors, and more than 4,000 hours of work went into the final product, but above all, it lives on as a tribute the the work of a madman and a master, Felix Predko.

Predko passed on in 2004 at the ripe old age of 88…

This fall, they looked at seven brands of motorcycles and rated the bikes based on performance, safety, and comfort factors.

Motorcycle deputies and officers assigned to the drivers’ training divisions of the LAPD took a hard look at the BMW R1200, Harley-Davidson Electra Glide, Harley-Davidson Road King, Honda ST1300, and Kawasaki Concourse. They also considered the relative merits of Victory Motorcycles – specifically the Commander I and Vision. The rigorous evaluation included tests like a 32-lap run at high speeds on a closed course, checking the bikes for how they handled in simulated pursuit situations, emergency braking tests, and a review of rider comfort.

High-Speed Course

As part of the lap evaluation, four riders took each motorcycle out for eight laps where they run the bikes up to their top speed. The lap times are recorded using a GPS device, and they were then each given ratings from 1-10 in regard to steering, lean angle, suspension characteristics, brake fade and pull, and the effectiveness of their ABS systems.

So which machine came out ahead?

The BMW R1200. The German entry scored the highest overall ratings garnering at least a nine out of ten in six categories and a 9.5 in when it came to steering and lean angle. The test riders rated the BMW brakes as “smooth and controlled, easy to modulate” and added that the ABS operation was, to use their word, “transparent.”

Harley-Davidson’s Electra Glide notched solid eights in most categories, but fell to a six when it came to testing lean angle and just under eight for steering. The rider’s said the brakes had a firm feel and no fade, and they liked the H-D’s gear ratio, calling it “well-spaced.”

The Harley-Davidson Road King came in with a group of sevens, but fell again to sixes for lean angle and ABS performance, but they did say the bike’s steering input was “light and predictable” and that the Road King provided good low-end torque.

The Honda’s ST1300 scored well, mostly nines, when it came to brake performance like fade,  pull, and ABS response, but fell off to  seven when it came to lean angle. The riders said the Honda “rolls quick and consistent into corners” and added that the machine held a firm line through the corners.

The Kawasaki Concours managed at least 8.2 in every category with a high score of 8.7 for lean angle. Testers said the bike’s transmission was a good match for the engine and that the traction control helped when it came to exiting corners.

The Victory Commander failed to impress with riders not impressed with brake performance which they said “felt spongy.” The Victory Vision fared slightly worse and came in at a disappointing five on lean angle, exhibited slight brake fade lost more points for a shift level the riders said was hard to find at times.

On the demanding pursuit course (a 2.45-miles of city streets) is meant to simulate actual riding conditions officers face and presents the riders with few straights and a series of roadway obstacles.

It might come as a surprise, but the stopping  distance leader from 60-0 mph was the Harley-Davidson Road King which needed only 126 feet to quit moving.

If you want to check out the report in full detail in .PDF format, you can download it here…

Mert Lawwill on his famous Harley

But it was Lawwill who became the star. An American dirt-track and road racer born in Boise, Idaho, Lawwill began his racing career as an amateur on a local TT track in his hometown and branched out to compete in scramble races across the United States, mostly in the northwest .

Lawwill turned professional in 1963 following a move to California, and in 1964, he signed a contract to race dirt-track machines for manufacturer Harley-Davidson. He stayed with H-D throughout his racing career and won his first AMA national race at the  Sacramento Mile on September 19, 1965.

During the 1969 season, Lawwill took the A.M.A. Grand National Championship and was voted AMA’s Most Popular Rider of the Year. It was this stellar year that made him the co-star of Brown’s classic motorcycle epic.

By the time Lawwill retired in 1977 after suffering an inner-ear disorder which wrecked his sense of  balance, he had strung together 161 career AMA Grand National finishes during a 15-year racing career.

Lawwill now spends his days developing racing motorcycles and mountain bikes, and he developed a prosthetic to allow arm amputees to ride motorcycles.

Lawwill was inducted in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998…

According to the report, some five times as many rider deaths occur where no helmet is worn in states with less restrictive laws.

The CDC says the results are clear and unequivocal.

“These laws save lives,” said epidemiologist and the study’s lead author, Rebecca Naumann.

The CDC researchers looked at a government data derived from reports of fatal traffic crashes and focused on 2008 through 2010. That data included some 14,283 rider deaths, 6,057 of those accidents included bikers with no helmet. The study found that about 12 percent of those deaths occurred in the 20 states which currently require everyone on a motorcycle to wear a helmet. The researchers also made cost calculations for the year 2010 based on medical expenses and lost work productivity which resulted from motorcycle deaths and injuries.

And the CDC study makes no bones about their conclusions.

“In 2010, more than $3 billion in economic costs were saved due to (motorcycle) helmet use in the United States. Another $1.4 billion could have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets.”

In states where helmet are required, the study found that the savings per registered rider are higher than in states with fewer or no restrictions. Researchers estimated those savings at $725 in those states with tight restrictions versus only about $200 in less restrictive states. At the time of the study, Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire had no helmet law and  27 only required helmets for teenagers or various other classes riders. Twenty states had comprehensive motorcycle helmet laws, but since the study was completed, Michigan has changed the state’s helmet law in 2012. Michigan now allows riders older than 21 to go without a helmet if they carrying an additional $20,000 in medical insurance and have been registered riders for at least two years.

Some motorcyclists, led by lobbying groups like ABATE,   argue that riders should have the freedom to wear a helmet or go without according to their personal preference.

The report says that motorcycles make up only 3 percent of the registered vehicles on the road but account for 14 percent of the total number or motorists who die in traffic accidents.

See the entire CDC report here: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

Here’s what he came up with to school us:

This is called Autorace. Very popular in Japan. One big reason is that you can gamble on it, and for the riders there is more money there than the more traditional series.

I used to take minibike lessons from Shuhei Aoyama (have posted this up here before) who is the younger brother of Hiroshi Aoyama. He did that after a brief stint in WSBK and not securing a ride with the moto2 teams or WSBK. Also joining him was Hiroomi Iwata who helped out on the minibike schools (all japan champion on 125s).

Kind of like a sumo stable, you go off for months cut off from the world and start from the bottom rung and work your way up. From what I understand Shuhei left the “stable” and did extremely well….

some links:

Autorace Home page (Japanese)

Autorace Guide (English)

Other random trivia, from the original lineup of the Japan supergroup SMAP, Katsuyuki Mori left the group ages ago to pursue Autorace…. he was at the Motegi motoGP last year and made an appearance in the daijiro/norick stands. i didn’t know who he was at the time, but he was popular for taking pics with….

Seems like these races are all about the gambling, and they take place at half a dozen tracks across Japan.

Auto Race motorcycles are unique in that they’re small and light in weight and chopped down to the bare minimum.

• There are no brakes
• The left side handle bar is set higher than the right for handling
• There are no gauges
• The engines are set in diamond-shaped frames
• All the bikes have unique custom-made suspension systems
• Knee guards
• Each bike has a two-speed transmission
• Triangular tires

Thanks for all the info and we’ll keep tabs on this awesome hybrid racing.

The legendary John McGuinness retained the Joey Dunlop Trophy for the overall TT Championship as he collected 74 points overall, but he was ultimately disappointed when the premier event was shut down.

“No one wants to see a race cancelled, but I think the right decision was made. There was so much rainfall on Friday that the course was saturated and on some parts of the course it simply wasn’t drying up,” McGuinness said. “As riders, we want to put on a show for the thousands of fans that come to the TT – and I feel for them more so than anyone – but not knowing what lies round the corner on a 200 hp Superbike with slick tires is a very scary prospect. When conditions are perfect, there’s no better place in the world to race a motorbike, and we’ve seen some fantastic racing this weekend, so it’s a shame to end on a bit of a low note, but we’ll all be back next year to give it another go.”

Championship Standings
As of June 6
Overall 2012 TT Championship
2012 Privateers Championship

Race Results

Saturday, June 9
BikerPetition.co.uk Lightweight
BikerPetition.co.uk Lightweight – Lap-by-Lap

Wednesday, June 6
Monster Energy Supersport 2
Monster Energy Supersport 2 – Lap-by-Lap
Sure Sidecar 2
Sure Sidecar 2 – Lap-by-Lap
SES TT Zero

Monday, June 4
Royal London 360 Superstock
Royal London 360 Superstock – Lap-by-Lap
Monster Energy Supersport 1
Monster Energy Supersport 1 – Lap-by-Lap

Saturday, June 2
Dainese Superbike TT
Dainese Superbike – Lap-by-Lap
Dainese Superbike – Lap-by-Lap Sectors
Sure Sidecar Race 1
Sure Sidecar Lap by Lap

Friday, June 1
Supersport – Fast Laps
Lightweight – Fast Laps
Sidecar – Fast Laps

Thursday, May 31
Superbike – All Laps
Superstock – All Laps
Supersport – All Laps
Lightweight – All Laps
Sidecar – All Laps
Superbike – Fast Laps
Superstock – Fast Laps
Supersport – Fast Laps
Lightweight – Fast Laps
Sidecar - Fast Laps

Wednesday, May 30
Superbike – All Laps
Superstock – All Laps
Supersport – All Laps
Superbike – Fast Laps
Superstock – Fast Laps
Supersport – Fast Laps

Tuesday, May 29
Senior – All Laps
Superbike – All Laps
Superstock – All Laps
Supersport – All Laps
Lightweight- All Laps
Sidecar – All Laps
Senior – Fast Times
Superbike – Fast Times
Superstock – Fast Times
Supersport – Fast Times
Lightweight – Fast Times
Sidecar – Fast times

Monday, May 28
Superbike – All Laps
Superstock – All Laps
Supersport – All Laps
Sidecars – All Laps
Superbike – Fast Times
Superstock – Fast Times
Supersport – Fast Times
Sidecar – Fast Times

Saturday, May 26
Lightweight – All Laps
Lightweight – Fast Times
Sidecar – All Laps
Sidecar – Fast Times
Newcomers – Superbike
Newcomers – Superstock
Newcomers – Supersport

Saxon Motorcycles Mad Jack

All you have to do is contact Mark Borodkin at mborodkin@saxonmotorcycles.com, and presumably come up with a large pile of “rescue cash,” and you’re on your way to the corner office.

If no one rises to the bait, Saxon Motorcycles is surely destined to join American IronHorse, Big Dog Motorcycles and Big Bear Choppers on the quickly expanding list of failed chopper ventures.

Saxon Motorcycles used their Twitter account to let their followers know that the company is officially up for sale. The tweet included a link to the company Facebook page where they outlined the deal:

“Saxon Motorcycles is officially being offered for sale. The sale of the company shall include all intellectual property, inventory, parts, tools and equipment. If you have an interest in this very unique opportunity please e-mail mborodkin@saxonmotorcycles.com”

Saxon Motorcycles has made of “production custom bikes” in the OCC mode since 2004. Their goal, and it was a worthy one, was to build bikes at a competitive price, but Saxon jumped into the market just as the demand for custom “chopper” motorcycles jumped the shark, as it were. A series of financial setbacks and customer service and warranty complaints from consumers dogged the company throughout it’s first five years of operation.

As the company came near the end, Mark Borodkin and Tim Gueltzow bought Saxon late in 2009 in hopes of saving the firm. The pair  opened a 40,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona, and just as they got all their ducks in a row, the U.S. market for high-end custom chopper motorcycles  dried up like the high plains.

Looking for an out, Saxon focused on creating a presence in the international market, principally in Europe where wild  production choppers are still in some demand. The pair managed to establish dealerships in Belgium, Fance, Germany, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands and Russia, but it appears it was all for naught.

And it’s too bad. Saxon made a couple of really fine-looking motorcycles over the years, but it appears they were caught up in a web of poor economic conditions and changing tastes from which few have managed to escape.

Who knows, maybe you have the formula. And for the right price, you can step up and take your shot at custom motorcycle manufacturing glory.

The GHSA report comes on the heel of a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this month which said overall motor vehicle fatalities declined 1.7 percent in 2011.

That number represents the lowest level since 1949.

But both reports arrived at a similar conclusion: motorcycle deaths remain one of the few areas in overall highway safety efforts where little progress is being made.

This new report, the first state-by-state look at motorcycle fatalities occurring in 2011, was compiled by Dr. James Hedlund of Highway Safety North. Since most states have their date for fatality counts complete for the first nine months of 2011, the GHSA says it’s confident enough in their understanding to project the numbers for the full year. Hedlund authored similar projections and reports for GHSA in both 2009 and 2010, and both those reports ultimately came very close to predicting the final fatality numbers for the years in question.

Comparing the first nine months of 2010 to 2011, motorcyclist fatalities decreased in twenty-three states, with notable declines in many. In Connecticut motorcycle deaths dropped 37 percent, while in New York and North Carolina fatal accidents fell 16 and 21 percent.

According to the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, the decrease in fatal motorcycle crashes in that state is due to a mix of what that state calls “countermeasures” which  focus on enforcement, education and engineering.

“In New York, we’re educating motorists to watch for motorcycles, encouraging riders to wear bright protective gear to make themselves more visible, and asking law enforcement officers to conduct efficient and effective motorcycle checks,” Fiala said. “It’s encouraging to see that these efforts, which have been conducted with our state and local partners, are making a difference.”

But those efforts, while the state touts them as critical for motorcycle safety, haven’t always been popular.

Some twenty-six states and the District Columbia did report an increase in motorcyclist
deaths.

In South Carolina and Texas, those counts rose 26 and 16 percent, respectively, while in California they increased 10 percent.

GHSA’s former Chairman and Director of California’s Office of Traffic Safety, Christopher J. Murphy, pointed out that the state experienced a dramatic 37 percent decline in motorcycle deaths from 2008 to 2010. He said while the latest numbers are disappointing, it wasn’t unexpected to see a smaller decline or even an increase in deaths for the year 2011.

So what hidden factors might play into the numbers?

The economy influences motorcycle travel, for one. With the economy improving in 2011 and continuing to  strengthen in 2012, more people will have disposable income to use for purchasing and riding motorcycles. Rising gas prices are sure to cause more people to choose motorcycles for their fuel efficiency alone, and that equates to more fatal accidents.

As part of the GHSA study, Hedlund compared gas prices, motorcycle registrations, and motorcyclist fatality trends since 1976. His latest study found that for that period fatalities closely track registrations and point up significant similarities from 1990 to 2008.

One rule of thumb? As gas prices increase, fatalities also rise.

Analysis of the preliminary data from 50 states and the District of Columbia indicated that there were about 4,500 motorcyclist deaths last year, and that’s essentially the same number as in 2010.

Troy Costales, GHSA chairman, was also surprised by the overall numbers.

“It’s disappointing that we’re not making progress in motorcycle safety, particularly as fatalities involving other motorists continue to decline,” Costales said.  “Every motorcyclist deserves to arrive at their destination safely. These fatality figures represent real people — they are family, friends and neighbors,” Costales said in the news release. The good news is that we know how to prevent crashes and the resulting injuries and fatalities involving motorcycle riders and their passengers. ”

So what are the specific recommendations the report calls for?

• Increase helmet use
• Reduce alcohol impairment
• Reduce speeding
• Provide motorcycle training for all who need or seek it
• Encourage all drivers to share the road with motorcyclists.

Check out the full report here:

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has more about motorcycle safety.

And check out the New York Times article here:

Motorcycle fatalities hold steady

You don’t have any…nada…zip…zilch.

The driver, and I hesitate to even give him even that most elemental of descriptions, of a Toyota Prius has been fined $20 for knocking a two bikers off their motorcycles. He managed that feat while – get this – using his smartphone to record video of a group of riders.

The 19-year old tool got his phone out to film some bikers who were passing him in the outside lane last week. Distracted by his artistic work with the phone, he swerved into the passing lane and wiped out one of the bikers. His car went on to crash into a dividing wall and another motorcyclist, presumably while he was texting the results of his idiocy to a friend, before coming to a stop.

A twenty dollar fine for running over a motorcyclist? Bring me my bat...

Needless to say, some of the bikers in the group were a touch peeved at the lunatic, went over to the crashed car and started laying a much-deserved beatdown on him, at least according to some witnesses at the scene.

So what do you get in the way of  fines for wiping to riders off their machines? It appears in California, you get less than a slap on the wrist.  The driver will be cited for distracted driving under California’s law against using using a handheld phone while driving. That heinous piece of outright stupidity brings with it a $20 fine for the first violation and a $50 fine for any subsequent convictions.

Twenty bucks.

For taking matters into their own hands, and they were clearly in an agitated state after watching their brother flattened by an idiot with a cell phone as a weapon, it’s entirely possible that the bikers who slapped the Prius driver around in retribution could be charged with battery. That’s defined in California as “the intentional use of force against another person,” and if they’re convicted, they could all be punished by terms of up to six months in
jail and fined $2,000.

I, for one, am not seeing the justice in that.

Wiping out a pair of riders on the highway? Well, it will only cost you $2o bucks. Delivering a message to anyone stupid and thoughtless enough to take a chance at killing a motorcyclist? That could cost you one hundred times as much and leave you dining on cheese sandwiches in the County Lockup for half a year.

If this actually happens and the riders are convicted, I am proposing that riders everywhere take immediate action to redress this woeful, wretched miscarriage of justice.

More on the story as it develops…