Thursday, July 31, 2014

Throw Back Thursday: The flightless bird who traveled around the world

One day in August, 2008 I took place in an around-the-world relay to benefit Riders For Health, involving an ostrich Beanie Baby, and a Pelican case to which each rider would add local trinkets. I was part of the 3-rider Delaware team which took the bird and case on a very hot, humid and occasionally rainy tour of some of our state's historical and otherwise notable sites.  The case eventually visited all 50 states before heading overseas and completing the ATW trip.  For a time, the bird was held for ransom in Indonesia.  His whereabouts are currently unknown, but there are rumors of a possible second ATW tour.

Taking the hand-off from the Pennsylvania lead rider.





The bird distracted this officer long enough for him to forget to ticket us for the totally illegal parking job we did in order to secure the photo below.



Meeting the Delaware state bird, a Blue Heron.

Meeting some strange old birds.

Found a lady friend along the way.

So this is where your state politicians "work"?

Handing-off to the Maryland lead rider near Chestertown, MD.

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Thursday, July 24, 2014

How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Motorcycle Photo

Include me in it!
Photo by "Rodon" from the ST.N forums.

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Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Cool motorcycles: Ephrata ride-in July 2014

July's ride-in event in Ephrata, PA was its typical self: motorcycles of every type, from ADVers to race bikes to rat bikes to vintage to the bizarre.  Here's a tiny sampling of the thousand-odd bikes that grabbed my attention.(Click to enlarge.)


One doesn't often see this treatment applied to sportbikes.
Nice detail.
Keeping with the military theme.
I'm a sucker for any R90S.
Every CB400F I've ever seen was in pristine condition.
10 point penalty for the swastika at an American Legion event, but "interesting" nonetheless.
First Place, Most Tomahawks category.

Great '80s GP theme on a modern bike.
The "79" reference may be obvious to someone hipper than I.
Unidentified Furry Object?
Best scooter I've seen for maybe...ever.
I bet people try to put him down.
I hope the rider wears a long, oiled flight jacket.
There's a rumble in Brighton tonight.


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Monday, July 07, 2014

Ephrata Under Surveillance?

Snapped this pic of a quadcopter (please don't call it a drone; this Air Force vet recoils at this common misnomer; it's an unmanned aerial vehicle or a remotely piloted vehicle) at yesterday's ride-in at the Ephrata, Pennsylvania American Legion post, and today found some video online that it shot.  I can tell it was early in the day because there were 4-5 times as many motorcycles by the time I headed home. There was a RPV at Americade this year, too.  I think we'll soon find this to be very commonplace at large sporting events and other large gatherings. (To watch the video in larger format, click on "vimeo")



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Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Product Review: Wolfman Bottle Holster

Below is a slightly edited version of the review I posted on Revzilla.com of the Wolfman fuel/water bottle holster.





5 / 5
5 / 5
Adaptable mounting solution; top-notch quality
June 30, 2014
Customer avatar
From Newark
State:DE
Rider Type:Road Warrior
Age:45-54
Gender:male
Bang for the Buck 
4 / 5
4 / 5
Ease of Install 
5 / 5
5 / 5
Performance 
5 / 5
5 / 5
Finish 
5 / 5
5 / 5
Durability 
5 / 5
5 / 5
Typical top-quality, well designed and durable (though pricey) Wolfman product. With a little ingenuity, one can mount this holster to almost any bike or other piece of luggage; it's not limited to mounting to other Wolfman products. For a 9-day trip a few weeks ago, I wanted an easily-accessible water bottle, and I wanted to save space in my side cases, so I mounted the Wolfman holster to my trusty old Ortlieb waterproof duffle bag that was strapped to the pillion seat. I simply looped the holster's upper and lower mounting straps around ROK straps that were securing the duffle bag. The holster carried a 21 oz. vacuum bottle; the typical bottles you find at outfitters like EMS -- be sure you get a loop top for any bottle you want to carry in the Wolfman holster. 
Yes, I recommend this product.

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