Sunday Cycle Ride and Beating Murphy's Odds

Submitted by: Roy Bryan

Last Sunday I decided to take advantage of the last of the good weather and go for a day-ride up into the Cascades on my Harley Sportster 1200. Being Sunday I thought that heading into the mountains on a sunny day would be the next best thing to being in church, choosing to sit on a cycle seat rather than a pew. I wanted to ride my favorite little road, Oregon Byway 11, which heads south off of Highway 22 a couple of miles past Marion Forks.

Who Invented The Motorcycle

Author: Alan Liptrot

Good question, but I have to ask you one; gas or steam? No, that's not what my Dental Hygienist asks me before she sets to work cleaning my gnashers. You see Gottlieb Daimler invented the first gas powered motorcycle in 1885, when an engine created by Nicolaus August Otto was attached to a wooden bicycle. Just to clarify things here; 'gas' is not a reference to gasoline, but fuel in a gaseous state rather than liquefied. As two extra wheels were used on this bike as stabilizers, the more pedantic amongst you will disqualify this vehicle as being a four-wheeler, but let's be fair; he didn't have a lot to go on did he?

The Great Helmet Debate

Wear a motorcycle helmet if you like,
but this writer makes a case for riding bare.
By Dick Teresi


ABATE, or American Bikers Aiming Toward Education, is a nationwide organization of helmet-hating Harley riders. Mensa is an international organization of geniuses and near-geniuses. Its members must score in the top two percent of the population in an intelligence test.

The Gator Alley chapter of ABATE challenged its neighbors in the Southwest Florida chapter of Mensa to a whiz-kid test of knowledge. No bikes, no chains, no colors. Just tough questions, such as what was established by the Lateran Treaty of 1929? The showdown took place in Bonita Springs, Florida. It was a seesaw battle, but in the end, the bikers won.

Burly EasyBoy Lite Clutch Kit

Product: Burly EasyBoy Lite Clutch kit 
Purchased from: www.motorcycle-superstore.com
Purchase Price: $25

Just the Guys

Submitted by: Darrell

The last two stories I have written have been about rides that my wife and I have made. In the Summer of 2007 some friends and I decided to have a “Just the Guys” trip. Really we didn’t decide that. My wife Treca couldn’t get off work to make Sturgis that year, otherwise it wouldn’t have been just the guys.

ROT 2009

Well ROT rocks as usual.  Got here Yesterday got set up then messed up!!! Had a blast last night and felt like crap this morning....so business as usual. I will be posting updates to this as the rally goes on but don't expect too much...there are too many boobies to see and beer to drink to do too much work.  Check out the gallery I will upload pics everyday!!!

Iron Head Sporty Build Part 1

I figured there were some bored people out there that had nothing better to do than read about a project that me and my buddy Joe are working on.  Joe bought a '73 Ironhead Sporty off of eBay a few years back, and last year while on a ride the motor shit itself, so we decided to have the motor rebuilt and try our hand at custom bike building. I mean they build 'em on TV in an hour....How hard could it be.  By the way the picture to the right is my buddy Joe on the back of Charlie's bike right after his died.....They are gonna kill me for puttin' that pic on the net, but they'll get over it or I will kick them out of my shop.  Anyway I digress on to the rest of the story......

Smoky Mountain, Blue Ridge Parkway

Submitted by: Darrell
   It was the summer of 2008 and thoughts of going to Sturgis was weighing heavy on my mind. Less than a year earlier I had used all my sick time and most of my vacation healing up from a broken sternum and ribs, as well as a broken arm and cuts and bruises to most of my body due to a head on collision. This 50 mph collision put me down for quiet a while as well as destroyed my 02 Heritage. I had bought a new bike since the accident, but I only had 1 week of vacation time to use. Treca, my wife, had said she wanted to go to N. Carolina and ride through the Smoky Mountains and up the Blue Ridge Parkway instead of going to Sturgis.

The Big Texas Toy Run 2008

Well to start with it was COLD!!!! I mean real cold.....when I left my house in Glen Rose it was a bone chilling 17 outside....I almost turned around 2 or 3 times on the way to the start point in downtown Fort Worth. But toughed it out mostly because I am not quite right in the head :-)

Stories From The Road

OK so you've gone on a good ride with your buddies and your buddies and you posted the route to the site but you had such a great time and tellin' all the folks that visit the site where you went just wasn't enough. You want to tell them about the great time you had, the funny thing that happened, the hot waitress at the restaurant you had lunch in whatever. You also want to share more than the 4 pictures you can post on a ride listing......Well this is the place for you. This section of the site is open to our members to write about their adventures and mis-adventures.  The good times and the not so good times like when the bike broke down and ruined an otherwise perfect day. Or the near amazing roadside repair you pulled off to save the rest of the ride.  Whatever you want to tell us and the members of this site about this is the place to do it.  Just like the ride posting we will also be giving prizes to the best stories submitted and the same rules apply. Unlike the ride section these will be reviewed by our staff before being posted. And like the rides section once you submit an article it is ours and we can use it how we see fit. Below is a list of all the stories people have submitted to us as well as the pictures they sent. If you would like to submit a story for the site click here. 

Ellis County Toy Run 2008

  This was  my first time to go on this toy run and it was a pretty good one.  I rode with a few buddies some which had gone on this one before....we had great weather compared to last year (or so I was told)  We all met up in Glen Rose at The Big Cup (a local restaurant) and had some breakfast (the biscuits are the size of a small childs head) and coffee to get us going.  On this ride I took my six year old son...this was his first long ride and he enjoyed it a lot.  Well off we went after getting some gas we headed down US 67 to the start point in Midelothian.  We got to the start point and registered it went smooth with no long lines and walked around and looked at the bikes (my sons favorite part of the day) There were alot of cool bikes and trikes.  I saw a homemade reverse trike (2 weels in front 1 in the rear) that was kind of cool. It was built from an old gold wing. There were also a lot of decorated bikes from a simple wreath (mine) to holy crap that's a lot of stuff on that bike! But anyway you can check out the pictures to see some of these. OK on to the rest of the ride.....

Wise County Toy Run 2008

I met up with a group of friends and went on this ride today.  I was suprised by the number of bikes when we pulled into the starting lot. I was told the count was over 900 bikes.  This is a run that I plan to attend next year and if you are looking for a toy run that is not too big but not too small this is the run for you.

Sturgis, Glacier, Canada, Yellow Stone 2006

Submitted by: Darrell

    In June of 2002, on the way to an Eagles concert, after a 16 year wait,   I was finally given kitchen clearance to buy a motorcycle. We stopped at the first dealership I could find and I bought one on the spot. I didn’t want her to change her mind. I bought a 2003 Honda VTX 1300C After a year and about 13000 miles later my wife Treca thought it would be cool if she had her own bike. She had to have a Harley of course. She bought a 2004 1200xl. She had never ridden a bike before so she went and took a two day bike riding course . After she completed the course it took her all of two days to crash and she crashed hard. She broke her wrist and got scrapped and bruised up all over. I just knew that the riding days was over for good. I asked her as she was laying in the emergency room what she wanted me to do with her bike. She said to fix it. She said she wanted it fixed by the time she was.

Flush Mount Gas Caps

Product: Flush Mount Gas Caps
Purchased from: www.jpcycles.com
Purchase Price: $35-65 each

UPDATED  APRIL 5, 2009

Cycle Sounds Kit

Product: Cycle Sounds
Purchased from: www.cyclesounds.com
Purchase Price: $299.95