1. Crazy Deals from Cruiser Customizing

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2. Still Crazy After All These Years

Jim’s Roadstar is a sleek custom statement in black. Notice the Longshot pipes from Vance & Hines.

Check out the passenger backrest for Jim’s wife Norma. Soon he might just have to trade it in on a new bike for her!

Jim’s smile is one of pure joy only a rider can understand.

I first rode a motorcycle some thirty-eight years ago. Into the 1970’s I rode street, then discovered dirt bikes. Over the years I’ve owned maybe a dozen bikes or more. Somehow, as time passed, I gradually lost interest and ceased to be an avid rider. I did keep one link to motor biking, though, an old Yamaha 1100 that I rode from time to time. But I admit that mostly it just sat around the shop collecting dust.

A few months ago, out of the clear blue, my wife suggested that I stop fooling around with the old Yam and go out and buy a new bike. I gave her a spring-loaded response, saying “I need a new bike like I need a hole in the head.” Then a few weeks later, we went to purchase some brake parts for the old 1100, and—while I was at the parts counter—I turned around and noticed her talking to the salesman. I joked with the parts guy that I’d probably end up riding a new cruiser home. At the time, I had no idea how prophetic the statement was.

Strolling over to the sales floor, I began discussing with the salesman the pros and cons of the various metric cruisers, confessing that I have admired Yamaha engineering over the years. Suddenly, the beautiful lines of the big Yamaha V-twins caught my eye. I’ve always been partial to black motorcycles. When the salesman led us to a black Silverado cruiser, my wife Norma immediately began telling the salesman how she would like to customize it. Naturally I chimed in that the whitewalls would have to go, and all the while the salesman was making his mental notes… Wow! Realizing what we were getting into, I asked Norma if she was sure about this motorcycle thing at our age (sixtish). She replied, “At our age, who cares!?” Since her logic had me, we finalized the deal then and there and I became the proud owner of a sleek black Yamaha Roadstar Silverado.

It was late, and when the shop assistants hurriedly filled the tank for us, they failed to notice that there was a little water in their gas can. On the way home the engine kept sputtering and I was unable to hear the engine due to the quiet stock pipes. Had I made a mistake? Well, the next day, Norma and I decided to do some serious riding. We live in Northeast Florida so we planned a road trip to Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. When some fresh gas was filled into that long, large tank, I was finally able to see what the Silverado is able to do, and after a day in the saddle we were a couple of happy campers. The next step? Customize!

Then I heard about Cruiser Customizing from the Road Star Forum. Several of the guys on the site discussed Cruiser Customizing, so I checked it out. The way the site offers reviews of products is sort of like a biker’s consumer’s report. I enjoy reading the reviews, especially on the items that I am considering. This is where we can get the real scoop on what’s working and what is not. Cruiser Customizing offers incredible exposure in the way it facilitates trends and upgrades for today’s cruisers. I went ahead and purchased a new set of Vance & Hines Longshot HS pipes from Cruiser Customizing, which I love. Now with a carb rejet and a K and N breather from Thunder Manufacturing, I’m beginning to see and hear what my big Yam is truly capable of. (Of course, the pipe mods are simply meant to awaken all those comatose drivers, right?) Next, a Dyno 3000 ignition system will boost that cheesy stock rev limiter, and who knows where it will go from there?

The bottom line is that once again I’ve been bitten real hard by the bike bug. I love riding my Roadstar, the way it feels and how it sounds. We live about fifteen miles out in the country around Glen Saint Mary, Florida, so like a kid I find whatever excuse I can to ride into town. I’ve got bugs in my teeth again, and now I’m beginning to see the method in my wife’s madness: she’s begun asking me to get her a bike. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it!

Jim Owens (owens2699)

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3. Backfire: Motorcycling through the Ages

While the near-sighted media has been fast asleep at the wheel, we cruisers have been wide awake at the handlebars! Motorcycle popularity has expanded exponentially, and 2006 promises to be a banner year for bikes on American and European roadways! In fact, for centuries now motorcycles have celebrated a far greater popularity than most people realize. Take a look:

Winston Churchill, who led Britain through World War 2, is also rumored to have been a great motorcyclist. Churchill was once declared in a speech at the Victory Riders Club meeting, “Victory at all costs, Victory in spite of terror, Victory however long and hard the road may be; for without Victory there is no survival.” We hear that Churchill had all his bikes decked out in Arlen Ness accessories.

Charles Dickens was also a great rider, one who worried about the British motorcycle industry after Honda brought out the CB750 in 1969. Thus he wrote, “We shall not see the Triumph.”
Of course, Dickens was wrong. Triumph now makes the Rocket Three cruiser, and a host of other great motorcycles.

Charles Darwin, it is well known, came up with his Theory of Evolution after trading in his old chain-drive Knucklehead for a belt-drive Harley Evolution. How modern scientists turned Darwin’s writings on increasingly better bikes to some ridiculous ideas about humans evolving from monkeys is still a great mystery to us riders. I mean, how many monkeys even have a motorcycle license?

Albert Einstein was an avid rider, we’ve learned. As the story goes, once while attempting to discuss the benefits of riding with an incredulous group of nerdy scientists, Einstein presented his love of motorcycling in the form of a formula as follows: E = M.C. X 2. Einstein was of course saying quite simply, Ecstasy = Motor Cycling With a Friend (times 2). Somehow one of the physicists scribbled it down as E=mc squared and from that atomic energy was unleashed. Brilliant mind that he was, Einstein was simply trying to promote motorcycling!

Shakespeare loved motorcycles and he kept a stable full of cruisers which he washed and polished daily. When cleaning his bikes, his neighbors often heard him exclaim, “Out damn spot!” Each one of Shakespeare’s bikes was customized; in fact, he wrote, “And to the manner born it is a custom.” Once, he nearly fainted to find his Yamaha Road Star soaking wet from rain, when he wrote, “The moist Star…was sick almost to doomsday.” The Bard was also a die-hard Kawasaki rider. He once sent a letter to his mechanic, chastising him for doing a poor job on the tune-up: “And my imaginations are as foul as Vulcan’s stithy.” We suspect that stithy is an antiquated term for a foul spark plug. As for his Honda, Shakespeare noted, “Making it momentary as a sound, swift as a Shadow.” A lover of Harleys, too, it was his Milwaukee iron that inspired him to write Road King Lear. When the poet wrote, “Heat me these irons hot” he was talking about warming up his Harleys! And when Shakespeare’s riding buddy Yorick Schnitzlebank sold his, he lamented, “Alas, poor Yorick, he bought a Volvo!”

Hey, Cruisers, know any good (clean) biker jokes? Hit us with all you’ve got and we’ll run the best laughs in next month’s Backfire…be sure to send us pictures of you with your cruiser. And please don’t forget the sale (below). Cruise and be happy, Miles Davis Editor

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4. Write Far and Live Long

Last month’s story “Ride Far and Live Long” (Newsletter #68) proved to be the most popular story we’ve ever run. We received hundreds of responses, all favorable. The story has been circulated on a number of web sites, printed in newsletters of at least one major organization and generally printed and disseminated widely. At least one reader wisely reminded us that riding far means riding safely. We agree, and that’s why we have a section on the site called “We Care About You” (check it out) which serves as a reminder of the need for wearing the right protective gear and riding within your own limits. Thanks for the feedback, Cruisers. We love hearing about your biking experiences and customizing projects.

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