Ride With Tank

Tanks bike night, originally uploaded by Tank Mobile.

Here I sit, all alone. Nothing but my bronchitis to keep me company.

It’s 70 degrees out here! I am aware of the fact that bike night has not officially started yet, but since when do bikers need da man to tell them when they should hang out?

Where are the BMW guys? Yes, during the summer they are all hard core with their stickers and electronics bolted to the handlebars, but they are a no show until da man tells them to show up.

The squids are no where to be seen either. There is a ton of empty blacktop to use for their squidly adventures, but they also don’t show till da man tells them to.

There are some Harley guys, but as expected they are inside drinking beer. Gotta give them credit though, they drink beer whether da man tells them to or not.

I am going to hang a little while longer. If anyone else shows up I’ll give them a helmet sticker.

I heard back from Bob. I have also heard back from some other people. These other people think I am too picky about helmet stickers. Bob seems OK with it:

I see your point. I would like to add that when we stopped for gas in Wisconsin Dells the rain was blowing sideways. My gloves looked like soaked chamois and only froze once we were past rain. My arthritic hands were so bad I couldn’t make a fist for the weekend. My boots were soaked through and when I took them off I poured enough to fill a beer glass. When we stopped for gas in Northern Wisconsin I was so stiff that I could not bend to get off the bike and had to be dragged off the bike by my friend. Might I also add that while the torrential down pour had ended it did continue to rain the entire weekend.
I must commend you on your desire to keep standards high. It is good to see in this day and age when standards appear to be lowering everywhere you look. I will continue to visit your site and to enjoy it.

Thank you

Bob

These are the details I am looking for! Still, it would be nice if somebody had got some pictures of this nightmare! Any time you have to be dragged off the bike by a friend that is what I call a hard core rider. Bob gets a sticker!

In fact, this has caused me to rethink the entire helmet sticker system. From this point on I will link back to the full story of the helmet sticker. I have redone the page, and where possible I have included a link to the story of the existing awards.

Movie actors really have it made. Every time you turn on the television they seem to be giving each other awards. I find this odd because I rarely see a movie that makes me think “That person should get an award”. Even when I do it seems like no awards are given. Fight Club is the best movie ever made, but I do not know of any awards that it has won.

Over the years I have witnessed many acts of greatness from my motorcycle and decided it was time for these people to get some recognition. It was actually my buddy Mark who came up with the idea for awarding helmet stickers. The thing is, I am a cheap bastard and stickers cost money so I decided to award virtual helmet stickers on the web site. Since then the RideWithTank.com helmet sticker has become a true indication of riding greatness and those who have been given this honor are treated with much respect.

I get many requests for helmet stickers and reject most applicants. This week I got another request and I was about to hit delete when I had a bit of a change of heart. Here is the request:

I have just found your site and it is great. I would like to submit the following for a helmet sticker:
On Thursday, September 9, 2008 at 5:00 AM while accompanied by my two friends Bob Dolan and Jim Dolan, we set out from Chicago, Il. to Duluth, Mn. Normally it would be a 9 hour ride however on this day the midwest was whipped by the remenants of a hurricane that had wrecked havoc throughout the gulf states and rain storms had spread north. When we left Bob’s garage it was raining hard. By the time we were on I90 it was a deluge. For six hours we road in rain that you would not want to drive in. The only thing stopping us from turning around and going back home was the thought that we didn’t want to have to ride back through the storm. The rain finally stopped when we were in north central Wisconsin. We made it to Duluth and spent the next several days riding around Lake Superior and through the Superior National Forest and as far north as Ely Mn.

I don’t know if this qualifies us for a sticker but it was a true adventure.

Thanks

Bob Weisskopf

OK, so they rode a long way in the rain. They considered turning around and going home. Is that the mark of greatness? The fact that they thought about turning around proves that they are not stupid enough to get a helmet sticker. It is a very fine line between greatness and stupidity.

They also show no physical proof of misery. We like pictures. We like pictures of people suffering.

There should also be specific examples of suffering. “My feet were wet for so long that some kind of strange fungus grew all over my feet and made them smell like spinach” would probably get a helmet sticker.

Then I got to thinking about the date and realized that was MotoGP weekend. Here is how I spent three days in Indianapolis:

Thats right, I spent three days on this hillside in the rain. My chair was stolen so I spent two days sitting in the mud. Thousands of others did the same thing. How can I give a helmet sticker to 3 guys who spent one day in the rain while tens of thousands spent three days in the rain?

This made me realize that everyone in Indianapolis that weekend deserved a helmet sticker. Anybody who suffered through that weather is a true fan. The only people who do not get a helmet sticker are Dave and Christy. Christy talked Dave into leaving before the race started because she thought they would never race in those conditions. Dave called me as they were driving home (in their truck!) and I told him the race was starting in five minutes!

No helmet stickers for giving up!

I have been trying to get myself to post up some more about the Cycle World motorcycle show, but I just can not seem to get started.  I finally realized why this is happening.  There is nothing exciting to talk about.

Thats right, nothing exciting.  Perhaps it is because of the economy, but there just was nothing interesting to talk about.  I think with the state of the world economy everyone is just closing the shutters and trying to weather the storm.  If you happen to be lucky enough to still have a good income this will be a great year to buy a new motorcycle.  I have heard of many dealerships closing their doors and I suspect tthere will be many more this summer.

As I write this I am waiting to see the first World Superbike race of the year.  Normally I don’t follow WSB, but I am going to watch this year.  I think it will be pretty interesting with BMW and Aprillia involved.

Above is the BMW.  We have never seen a BMW like this one before.  At one time BMW was a leader in motorcycle racing, but that was a lomg time ago.  I think they have some great hardware to work with and a rider that can get the job done, but I suspect this will be a hard year for them.

Aprillia has a spectacular machine, and they have been in MotoGP for a while now, so they are not exactly starting out green.  The only problem I have with them is their rider, Max Biaggi.  I just don’t like him.  Yes, he is a very good rider and it helps that he is Italian, but I just do not like the guy.

I suspect the guy to watch this year is Ben Spies.  I like him a lot, and he is a excellent rider.  I got a chance to see him in action last year on a MotoGP bike and I was very impressed with his performance.

I don’t know if I will be able to stay interested in WSB for the whole year, but I am going to try.  Once the riding season starts it is hard for me to stay interested in too many classes of racing, but I suspect WSB may be very exciting this year.

Normally I don’t say too much about new models and gear because this site is about riding, not hardware.  We are in the dead of winter now so I can’t really talk about riding so here is my impressions of some of the new models on display this year.

First off we have the 2010 Honda Fury.

If you are into the chopper thing I suppose it is a nice looking machine, but I am not sure people are all that into choppers anymore.

Continue reading →