Open Road Biker

I had my last ride in Europe yesterday with all of the guys from SHAPE HDC and a few friends and then they threw me a little farewell party. We went out to Lille France and sat down in the Grande Place for a little while and then headed back. It turned out to be a descent day even though the clouds were threatening and we got a few drops. Later on at DZ’s we ate a fair amount of BBQ and polished off a couple of bottles of Tennessee’s finest whiskey. I tell you though it sure was great to be around friends. People you know you can trust and depend on. Those guys have been there for me many times and I really appreciate it. To all of those that were there thanks. I couldn’t think of a better way to head out than with a last ride and a party with your friends. For those that didn’t show up, all I have to say is you missed good day of friends, food and ridin’. The bike gets shipped tomorrow so I guess it will be a few weeks before I ride again (I will be riding my dads sporty until my Dyna gets to me in the U.S.). Only 2 more weeks here in Europe so I am going to still try and enjoy it. Thats all for no, I will come back tomorrow with a few things I found on the internet that yall may find amusing.

As some of you my have noticed I have been trying to do a feature every Monday on some type of motorcycle organization. Whether it is a club, organization, or association if it deals with motorcycles I am going to try and write about it. Well todays featured organization is the worlds oldest motorcycle club. Yonkers M.C. got it’s start way back 1903 (didn’t a famous motorcycle get it’s start that year?) from a dude named George Eller who was also their first club president. Now before that they were a bicycle club but they managed to rectify that situation fairly quick when people started putting engines on bicycles. They are charter No. 6 in the A.M.A. and were around before F.I.M. (Federation of International Motorcyclist). During WWII they served as Civil Defense messengers for Yonkers. If you head on over to their site you can check out their history and a whole lot more. They have some vintage shots of early club activity and a lot of newer stuff. If you are in the area in August you can also attend the annual Joe Cool Run.

www.yonkersmotorcycleclub.com

Next week we will cover the A.M.A. so until then keep the shiny side up.

It has been a fairly busy week. I have only been able to push to a few little posts so maybe I can make up for it next week. I have added a whole bunch of pictures to the gallery thanks to El Diablito over in the Biker Forums. You may find them in the Super Rally album or the La Louviere album. There are a few pictures that are PG13 but hey this is a biker site right? I have a few more pictures to add as soon as I can put a password on them so they can only be viewed by those who want to. Because all of the pictures rotate through here in the side over there I just can’t add any picture to the gallery.

On another note our club did a little ride out with Tandt Harley-Davidson. That was a great ride through a bunch of small roads all the way to the beach up in Raverside (I am not so sure o the spelling) where we had lunch. On the way there we passed by two military cemeteries that I think were British and Canadian from WWI. We rolled out after lunch and wound our way past fortifications and more cemeteries all the way to Kleine Prins where we had a huge meal with all the beer and drinks that we could soak up (I only had one beer but a whole bunch of food, man I am going to miss this Belgian beer). Tandt HD made great hosts for the ride and when a friend in the club sprung a oil leak (his clutch cable rubbed a hole in his oil filter) the mechanics gave him a free oil filter and oil change (did I say free?). What a great dealership. This is one of the few that I will not refer to as the stealership.

Well I hope this has been a good week for everyone, I just got through shipping most of my household stuff. The movers left yesterday and my junk will be in Tennessee by the end of August. My bike is still here though. I won’t let it go until July so I can take advantage of a little more riding here in Europe. Until next time take it easy and keep the shiny side up.

Everyone knows about the noise debate when it comes to motorcycles. We have all heard the “loud pipes save lives” slogan. Well no matter what side of the fence you currently reside I am sure you will not be happy with the politicians that are trying to whittle away our rights when it comes to our pipes. Denver is currently trying to crackdown on noisy motorcycles, how far they go will be the question. Current EPA standards say that a motorcycle can not be louder than 80 decibels from 50 feet. A stock Harley is around 82 from the factory with EPA approved pipes. Check out the video and tell me what you think about it over in the biker forums.

I had to pull the video out because it continued to auto play and I know that bothers a lot of people. Sorry, when the news site gets their site straight I will repost.

How many people have heard of Myspace? What you haven’t heard of it? What rock did you crawl out from under (just kidding of course)? Chances are if you have spent anytime on the internet you have heard of it. Most adults though steer clear of it because they have the opinion that it is for kids when it is just a social networking site. Well if you want to steer clear of Myspace then go and check out Biker Worlds. It is a site dedicated for us bikers to use. Here is my site over there, I haven’t done much with it yet but I plan on making it look similar to my other website ( Open Road Biker dot com ). I said earlier that Myspace was a social networking site. Well Biker Worlds can be used for that also. You seem to meet some fairly good people on the internet and you never know you could happen across someone who becomes a lifelong brother (or sister). Head on over to Biker Worlds today and check it out.