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Now with locations in IA, IL, KS, MN, MO, NE, SD, WI
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March 2009 online edition:
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Across America on
a Honda Rebel 250
Andrew Sychra does the
seemingly impossible
By Andrew Sychra
I was a 23 year old naive college student with an ambitious plan: I wanted to see most of the United States — on my Honda Rebel 250. No one recommended doing such a thing, especially on a Honda Rebel 250; several actually discouraged it. I entrusted that the Rebel would last across the expanse of our great country, so armed with a credit card, several hundred dollars cash, and full-fledged stoicism, I set forth.
The final plan was to cover about eight thousand miles in a time span of just under a month. The ground I would cover was as far east as Pennsylvania, south around New Orleans, and up along the West Coast.
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Do you know?
Chris Morris
By R. Kabel
Chris Morris has been riding no less than 10 years now. Growing up he recalls riding a small dirt bike and he’ll even admit he rode a moped. But those days are over. He’s now joined the big boys and rides his 07 Harley-Davidson Road King as much as possible. Married to wife Michelle, Morris says, “I have triplet girls, seven years old and beautiful. They take after their wonderful mother.”
Morris is proud of his ‘07 Road King with a custom Harley paint set and many extras. “I’ve added tons of extras including a Thunder header exhaust and a power commander,” Morris says. “Staying busy with the restaurant we don’t go on very many long trips. Mostly on a few little over night trips here and there. The most memorable trip with the bike was probably Sturgis. But they are all memorable.””
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They ain’t for just
the “Wild Ones”
Bike nights have become a part of our culture
By R. Kabel
Bike nights have become a part of every biker’s weekly “get out of jail” adventure. Whether, a fella or gal just wants to drive up the block to meet buddies, or wants to hit the road for a destination, bike nights are an embedded part of motorcycle culture.
Understandably, the origin of bike nights may have been as simple as a few riders gathering at a local pub, a diner or bowling alley. Bike nights have now evolved into a spectacle of immense proportions where there’s something for everyone. No matter what you may ride, a beer and telling lies with fellow riders makes the hum-drum cycle of life seem all that much more meaningful.
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Ida Grove Kawasaki
on three wheels
The Wunschel clan captures a new niche
By Alec “Chop” Brynnenson
Don Wunschel knows that as his generation grows older, they would still want to ride motorcycles. And for Wunschel, trikes were a very viable option. So he started looking into companies that made trikes. He wanted to be a dealer for a trike company, but there was not a company that made a Kawasaki trike. Since both Wunschel’s dealerships are Kawasaki, he wanted to have a Kawasaki trike instead of another brand. Which only left one alternative: to find a manufacturing company that would work with him to build a Kawasaki trike.
The Wunschel’s have been in the automotive business all of their lives and Kawasaki motorcycle dealers since 2001. Their business is all family. Don and Peggy are the parents of Kriss, their daughter and business manager, Matt, their oldest son, does motorcycle sales, is parts and service manager, and is an excellent technician. They all work at the Ida Grove, Iowa dealership, and Donavon, their younger son, manages the Spencer, Iowa dealership.
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Plenty to write home
about touring
With the way these 2009 HD Touring
bikes ride, you might ride one home
By Harley Rhoades
The new 2009 Harley-Davidson Touring bikes have many new features this year. But first, keep in mind the multitude of new features added on the ’08 bikes. Like the 6 gallon tank, electronic throttle system, Brembo brakes. You would think they would rest on their laurels a bit but that is definitely not what Harley-Davidson did.
They came out with a touring bike that has literally hundreds of new features on it for 2009. Certainly, we can’t cover all of them in this article, so stop into your local Harley dealer and we’re sure they would let you test ride a 2009 Touring bike — just tell them Throttler magazine sent you.
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 Ying vs. Yang of
the `09 VMAX
Examining the high tech and layman’s views
By Tony Tice and Jeff Glass
Note: We thought it would be interesting to put Mr. Know-it-all Tice up against a regualr Joe. The following is Tony and Jeff’s remarks concerning the 2009 VMAX.
The first thought that comes to mind when I think of VMAX is V-Boost, the defining feature of the old VMX12, 1985-2008, God rest it’s soul. V-Boost was a computer controlled valve that made a single carb intake into a two carb intake by opening a passageway between intake manifolds. The power feeling from the engine felt like the 4 barrel carb of an old muscle car when you pinned the footfeed to the floorboards, just a kick in the shorts.
Jeff: My first thought is, man, how fast is this thing? And what’s a V-Boost?
Tony: Fast enough to flatten your eyeballs and make your sphincter pucker to a factor of 6. Even though it’s limited to a top speed of 138 mph, it still has 195 hp and all of it until 138 mph.
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Motocross madness
Why kill the 2-strokes?
By Sean Goulart, MXNewsfeed.com
Braaaaap brap brap! That’s a sound familiar to all off-roaders. It’s the sound of a 2-stroke engine, one of the most efficient engine designs ever invented. The advantages of a 2-stroke engine over a 4-stroke unit include light weight, easy tuning and it’s also inexpensive to rebuild. These are all highly desirable qualities for off-road riders and especially motocross racers.
So why are the AMA and the motorcycle industry pushing so hard to get riders to accept the 4-stroke motocross machine?
Let’s examine the truth versus the hype:
Back in the day legendary manufacturers like AJS, BSA and Husqvarna all used 4-stroke engines.
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Grassroots is grassroots
Getting back to
the basics
A few weeks ago I spoke with my friend Rick Long, owner of Papa Bags about continuing his advertising with us. Rick let me know that he had received good response from his last ad campaign with us but times were getting rough for his day job.
As a professional carpenter, Rick has seen his livelihood dry up like your eyeballs do riding 100 mph. This economy has gnashed its teeth in every direction imaginable.
So what’s a guy to do? Well, Rick has picked himself up and is hitting the proverbial road this month driving door to door with his saddlebag bracket system in a grassroots effort to carve out his own niche.
Rick, a.k.a, Papa Bags noticed the stock bags on his 2001 Heritage H-D started to collapse after about a year of purchasing the bike. As you know, the Heritage comes with stock bags from H-D. Original factory Softail Heritage bags start to “cave” after just several months of use. And, the more leather conditioner you use, the worse they get.
Being good with his hands, in 2002 Rick made a bracket system for his bike that allowed his saddlebags to keep their original shape. Pleased with his handy work, a friend of Rick’s had him install the brackets in his own bike and as word traveled, Rick found himself with a much needed product for the H-D motorcycle industry.
Rick’s brackets insert and mount easily enough that anyone can do it he told me. He says they are also a preventive and restoring measure which still allows the bag to be flexible.
This is what I’m talking about folks. I admire Rick for getting back to the basics of business. Rick will be driving across this country speaking with H-D dealers face to face. He isn’t emailing nor is he calling on the phone. He’ll be in person selling himself as well as a great product.
If you would like to see Papa Bag’s bracket go to www.papabags.com and if you want to see the brackets in person, give Rick a call while he’s on the road at 330-242-1588. He just might be able to swing by to see you.
As always, ride hard.
— Roderick Kabel
p.s. See Papa Bags on page 23 in the magazine.
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