Red Flaming Road Glide: Paul Aliotti's drop-dead gorgeous flamed Road Glide...Distractions

According to various sources, it appears that Harley-Davidson is experiencing a significant downturn.

The Kansas City Business Journal reports:

In the wake of lower first-quarter earnings despite higher revenue compared with last year, Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday that it will temporarily close some plants, reduce daily production and cut about 730 jobs.

Forbes, BusinessWeek, and many other business journals are all reporting similar news. How will this affect the 2008 year sales, and what will this do to the 2009 model line-up?  Read  More »

Crowds, Motorcycles, and Sunshine

2007 International Motorcycle Show in San Mateo Presented by Toyota

KTM Racer: The KTM display featured this lovely racerThe 2007 International Motorcycle Show in San Mateo featured the expected assortment of motorcycle manufacturers, accessory vendors, and crowds. Manufacturers large and small were in attendance, presenting their latest offerings to an eager crowd.

The weather was superb compared to past years' events; event organizers claim over 41,000 in attendance - the motorcycle parking lots were full all weekend.  Read  More »

Close-up: Dwight prepares for a macro shot on a BMW K1200R at the 2007 Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in San Mateo.These events are offer a good opportunity to try out bikes and accessories from many manufacturers in one place - motorcycles, helmets, jackets, gloves, you name it. Some manufacturers had other product lines on display: personal watercraft, generators, and the like. Whatever your interest in motorcycling, it's a great opportunity to immerse yourself in motorcycle and motorsports technology.

Demo Bikes: 2008 Buell 1125R demo bikes lined up in the pit lane.

Buell Inside Pass 2008 Schedule

The 2008 Buell Motorcycles Inside Pass Track Day Schedule has been announced. I enjoyed the final event of the Inside Pass at Laguna Seca last year in spite of the rain. This year's schedule features impressive race tracks and the opportunity to ride the Buell 1125R.  Read  More »

• 04.22 - Barber Motorsports
• 05.19 - Virginia International Raceway

I snatched a photo of this very clean Indian outside the Incahoots restaurant in Plymouth California the other day. I thought the setting was quite ironic.

2008 Arlen Ness Bike Show

Arlen Ness: Arlen Ness, legendary bike builder.Cory and Zach Ness: The next generation...

The 2nd annual bike show and parts extravaganza did not disappoint. There was a wide variety of American v-twins and metric cruisers on display. From his humble beginnings in 1967, custom painting his Harley-Davidson Knucklehead and winning the first show in which it was entered, Arlen Ness has built an empire with hard work and innovative design.  Read  More »

It's no surprise that Arlen's son Cory has been around motorcycles all his life and has the Ness gift for unique designs. Cory is Chief Designer for Arlen Ness Enterprises, and in this role he builds his own rolling artwork.

I replaced my motorcycle battery last week. It stopped holding a charge sometime this winter.

The amazing thing about this is that the battery was manufactured in 1997. That's right - ten years ago. It was the OEM YUASA YTX12-BS battery that was in the bike when I bought my Honda CBR1100XX new in 1998.

Complicating the situation: the UNGO motorcycle alarm that I had installed when I bought the motorcycle. During periods where the motorcycle was left unused, it could drain the battery fairly quickly, due to the standby current draw.  Read  More »

Selecting a sportbike or sport-touring motorcycle tire

I read with great interest an editorial in a recent issue of Sport Rider Magazine in which Kent Kunitsugu laments extreme tire bargain-hunting among sport bike riders (We're a Legion of Cheapskates, Sport Rider, March 2008) - including buying 'cheap' off-brand motorcycle tires and used race tires ("take-offs") for street use.

Expensive skins

While I understand the need to put quality rubber between me and the road, I can sympathize with the bargain-hunters. The last time I bought a set of quality skins (Metzeler ROADTEC MEZ6 front and rear) for my '98 CBR1100XX, I paid close to $400 for the pair, including mounting, balancing, California and local sales tax, and the obligatory California tire disposal fee penalty. If I ride as often as I can, I can expect the pair of tires to last about a season.

Weary of uneven wear

And, as is often the case for those who commute to work, or live a long way from the twisties, I ride long stretches of straight-up highway or secondary roads - that being the case, I can expect to throw away over 2/3 of the useful rubber on the tire - the center strip wears out much faster than the edges, and I end up feeling like I'm throwing good money away. I live where there are lots of mountain roads, so I do try to get out as often as possible and 'balance' my riding style, and put some wear out at the edges - sadly, I'm may not get a chance to ride the desired 'back road' miles...  Read  More »

Fairing and bags: The body work showcases the beautiful striping and plasma flame effect.

Paul Aliotti's beautiful 2006 Road Glide custom was on display at the 2008 Easyriders show in Sacramento.


Gas Tank
Paul was one of the many local owners showing their outstanding rides at the 2008 Easyriders show in Sacramento, California.  Read  More »

View our image gallery for more photos.

Ringtones, Ringtones, and More Ringtones

I'm sure you've noticed that there are "Ringtone" ads in various places on this site. This is because Google AdSense (which provides our main advertising revenue at present) seems to think that Ringtone ads are appropriate for a motorcycle-related site. Apparently, there are people who enjoy buying and downloading ringtones and are interested in seeing ringtone ads.

Are people visiting this site really looking for the "best ringtones"?

And, exhaust ringtones and motorcycle ringtones seems to be the most common types of ringtone ads.  Read  More »