I don’t think I’ll ever understand the American motorcycle racing fan. I recently rambled on how American race fans can’t hold a candle to the throngs of Euro bike race devotees. They may be a little crazy, but they routinely come out by the tens of thousands, and they’re rabid about the sport of roadracing.

Granted, there’s far more world-level roadracing and motocross taking place in Europe than here in the U.S. You could also argue that we in the States have plenty more organized sports (most of them involving a ball of some kind) than can be found elsewhere. Maybe the rest of the world just doesn’t have much other than motorsports to occupy all that government-mandated vacation time. No one has bothered to do a study.

For those paying attention to the motorcycle industry this year, you may have noticed how many anniversary models have launched. It’s a banner year for getting older. And it’s time again for Motorcycle.com to celebrate its birthday, on Saturday. November 1 is the 14th anniversary of MO’s facelift and launch into the web web web as we know it today.

Reading skills are dropping like bank account balances these days, but some of us can still seam together a pair of thoughts and tell a good motorcycle story. Thanks go out to the fans that’s have stuck it out with us! I know reading is hard work but I think you’ll agree that it’s worth the effort. At minimum, it’s not boring time spent on the planet.

Motorcycle accidents have allegedly taken more Marine lives in the last 12 months than enemy fire in Iraq, according to a recent report on CNN. Twenty-five Marines have suffered from fatal accidents in motorcycle crashes since November 2007. It was also noted that all but one of them involved sport bikes. In that same time period, 20 Marines have been lost their lives while on active duty in Iraq.

Perhaps these brave men and women aren’t exercising the same care at home as they do in battle by wearing the proper gear or abating that itchy trigger finger. Who knows.

Thankfully the Marine Corps are taking action. Although they have policy in place previously that all Marines who ride motorcycles must take a mandatory basic riding course, more recently they added a second more advanced training course specifically designed to train Marines who ride sport bikes.

Although these 25 deaths are the highest motorcycle death toll ever for the Marine Corps, it is clearly a statistic that Marine officials, or all of us for that matter, would not like to see rise any higher.

Source

Who doesn’t love Halloween?

Well my neighbor down the street who turns off all his lights and flips the sprinklers on for Halloween night doesn’t, but he’s a jerk.

Honda was in a Halloween spirit when they came up with this ad campaign consisting of some of their rides “dressed” in ridiculous outfits.

I always thought that more things should glow in the dark and apparently I’m not alone.

Stuff that needs to glow:

• Car keys
• light switches
• people who are about to jump me in a dark alley (so I can see them coming)
• golf balls
• dog poop so I can avoid stepping in it
• tv remote
• the toilet seat
• low door frames or anything else I can bump my head into.

Glo-Tek has decided that maybe motorcycle and bicycle riders should probably glow too and have released a line of products to do just that. And what better time to release these products then on Halloween when tons of people will be lurking in the darkness.

Evan Cantrell is a 16 year old from Oxnard who will be using his ’72 Harley that he is restoring to make you afraid, very afraid. This year marks the 10th Halloween that the Cantrell family has gone overboard with the festivities. This year will have a haunted hotel porch theme. “Little kids screaming is like music to my ears,” Cantrell said, joking.

I remember my first bicycle. A blue frame with white handlebars and a long white banana seat for comfort. I was riding a Smurf. While I waited for my inner ear to develop, my dad strapped on training wheels to my two wheeled Smurf to keep me from face planting.

The comfort and safety of those training wheels… Riding with those on was like being back in the womb.

But, my co-workers here at work started making fun of me for being in my late 20’s and riding to work on a blue and white banana seated bike with training wheels so I decided to throw that bike into a river and never speak to my co-workers again.

Walking to work sucked so I did a little research on some more manly machines that didn’t need my inner ear and balance to stay up.

Here are 7 bikes I am looking into:

The Indianapolis MotoGP was arguably one of the most anticipated motorcycle events of 2008. It just so happened that the XDL had a stop of their tour in Indy at the same time. Coincidence? I would guess not. As we all know it was a wet weekend, which cut the MotoGP race by a few laps but the slick conditions didn’t put a damper on the excitement in the 4th round on the schedule.

If you have never seen these guys in action just watch the video below and be amazed. It’s hard to believe what these guys can pull off on a bike. In fact, the rain made things all the more interesting as many competitors came from California or Nevada where they get little, if any practice in such conditions.

Look out for coverage from the XDL Championships held in Long Beach, CA. November 7th and 8th if you cannot make it in person. It is sure to be a spectacle worth watching! Check out their site for details.

Are you sick of that fiberglass fairing always blocking the wind and getting in your way? Pour gasoline liberally across desired surfaces, light a match and in no time you’ll have the bike of your dreams! Not only will you get rid of the fairing but also those pesky eyebrows your girlfriend has been bugging you to tweeze.

Since the V-Rod came to fruition a number of years ago, it has been somewhat of an overlooked and under appreciated stepchild in the Harley Davidson family. Die-hard Harley guys just don’t seem to accept it as one of their kin. And why would they? There are Japanese-made cruisers that feel more like Harleys as the V-Rod doesn’t look, sound or ride like any Harley Davidson I’ve ever swung my leg over.