Feeling guilt over a riding obsession
A riding buddy of ours admitted the other day that he is quickly loosing interest in what he’s cherished for years. He says that he’s fallen out of love with riding his motorcycle. He’s lost the passion that not so long ago burned inside of him and he doesn’t even cast a glance towards his bike anymore. The two have not even shared a moment together since last Fall. Simply put, he says he’s lost his mojo… even lost the nerve to ride.
So, how can this happen? His bike and his love for riding has been such a big part of him for so long that it’s hard to imagine one without the other. What will bike nights and rallies and just the act of riding around be like without him on the wing?
If the two really do part ways, will we still be friends? One of the main common bonds that fortified our friendship over the years was our mutual passion for riding. Of course we’ll still be friends, but can we still maintain the strength of our bond when the glue has been stripped away? Most likely.
We asked him what has changed so suddenly for him to have such a drastic change of heart. He said that it’s complicated, as matters of the heart tend to be. He said that there was no one single moment, but a combination of moments that built up inside of him over the last few years.
We asked him point blank — was it fear? No, not fear, he said, at least not entirely. But he admits that’s part of it. He said that he’s not really that afraid of getting injured or of dying, but more afraid of what he would leave behind if something should happen while on his bike.
Specifically, when you boil it all down, he’s afraid of the risk that one wrong turn could leave his wife and their kids alone without their father and husband.
It was that point which hit him one day that he felt selfish for owning this machine, especially while his kids were still young.
He added that in merely a few years they wouldn’t have time for him because they will be in their teenage years and focused on other things, so he wants to make every moment count while they do have time for him.
He said that he couldn’t stand the thought of being involved in a fatality and become nothing more than a topic of banter on the news blogs on whether or not helmet laws should be changed and that’s not the memory he wants to leave behind, let alone, die young.
We’re really bummed that our friend feels this way and we sure hope it’s a phase he’s going through. Hopefully he’ll find some way to get through this funk.
Our advice to him was to just wait a while and not to sell the bike just yet but instead, go ahead and let it collect a little dust and then start taking it out in short spurts.
Maybe a bike night here and there until he and his bike can trust one another again. And if they can’t get over their differences after an attempt to reconcile, then he should do what’s right for himself and his family.
As always – Ride Hard
R. Kabel, S. Kabel & S. Chambers
R. Kabel, S. Kabel & Scott Chambers
June 2011 online edition:
Click on the cover above for a page flipping version or the iPad for your iPad or mobile phone.
Knights and Warriors A different side of motorcycle clubs
By Roderick Kabel
Photos By Richard Hildreth We’ve all heard about outlaw biker clubs and likewise, we enjoy the television shows and documentaries that give us a glimpse into their lifestyles. Some of us might even revel in the thought of being a little devilish ourselves from time to time.
However, have you ever wondered what was on the opposite side of outlaw clubs? Or, if there’s even such a thing and what might that be?
How about cops and civil service professionals on bikes? Actually, there are many such clubs and we have recently met two motorcycle clubs, which show that not every biker is like the fictional “Del Fuego’s” out of the “Wild Hogs” movie.
To name just a few of these clubs — many of which you may have seen around — there are the likes of the Wild Pigs, Renegade Pigs, Iron Pigs, Defenders MC, Iron Crew, Law Dogs, Roughnecks, Reguladores, Street Forces, Iron Brotherhood, The Unwanted and America’s Guardians.
We sat down with two Iowa club members each from the Blue Knights and the Iron Warriors whom are a few of the most prevalent civil service motorcycle clubs in the U.S. They are both law enforcement based, but the main difference is that the Blue Knights accept any make of motorcycle and Iron Warriors ask that members must ride an American made bike. READ MORE
Do you know? Kurt Burkhalter
At a recent bike night something caught our eye that we weren’t ready for. It was a custom V-Rod that was tricked out beyond our wildest imaginations. Now don’t get us wrong here, V-Rods look nice tricked out but as you can see in the photo, this is a beast beyond belief.
The owner and customizer is Kurt Burkhalter of Des Moines, Iowa. He’s an Assistant Store Manager for Lowes’ home store and his wife Danielle works in Human Resources for Iowa Health.
The V-Rod itself has an aura about it, generally you get the Harley riders that say “Man that thing is fast yet its not for me” and then you get the Crotch Rocket riders that say “That’s the only Harley I would ever own.” “I think the way this bike is customized brings out things that everyone likes. This thing gets attention everywhere we go. It’s fast, low, agile, easy to ride, and it looks amazing against even the full custom bikes,” Burkhalter asserts.
Putting miles on a BMW Reviewing the new BMW K1600 GTL
By Tony Tice Back in March of this year for this publication, I termed the new Beemers K1600 GT/GTL as “probably the most significant motorcycling contribution of the year.” After spending some time on the GTL version, I’m convinced that was a very good prediction (OK, you can pat me on the back now).
Let me just say WOW! I never really expected what I experienced on the first ride to come shining through like it did. Familiarity with something always breeds confidence. In this case, knowing that the bike weighs 767 pounds and that there is a lot of bike above the axles, I was expecting some piggish behavior from the handling. I was also expecting the heavy handed turning at parking lot speeds that is synonymous with heavy, long motorcycles. What I got was solid sport-touring bike low speed maneuverability and very good high speed handling. My confidence grew quickly.
Product Corner SHIELD-TRIM Chrome Cover-Up
JM Krome
www.jmkrome.com If you have windshield mounted storage pouches mounted to the inside of your windshield then you know that they look pretty nice from the seat of your bike and give easy reach convenience to your smaller items. But the pouches don’t look so hot when you stand in front of the bike. You can see right through the windshield to the back-side of the pouches and frankly they just don’t look right from there. They give an unfinished appearance from the front angle and standard trim pieces rarely give the amount of coverage needed to mask their appearance.
With JM Krome’s windshield trim piece — SHIELD-TRIM Chrome Cover-Up — now you can have the convenience of the extra storage without compromising the aesthetics of your bike. JM Krome’s quality cut trim pieces, designed for the 1996 and later Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic, Classic, Standard and Street Glide models, come in styles and finishes that will compliment nearly any windshield and will hide away the view of the ugly backside of those windshield pouches.
National Cycle, Inc.
www.nationalcycle.com The simple fact is that even the smallest of windshields cut the air flow so dramatically that it alters your riding experience completely. A windy day becomes less of an obstacle and a long ride is almost effortless with a large percent of the wind being cut out of the equation.
Windshield choices are numerous and practically an unbearable dilemma of what’s right for “me.” That being said, we’ve come across a couple from National Cycle that we tested and highly recommend.
National Cycle’s Harley-Davidson® Adjustable Gladiator Windshield at just 14.50” is as unobtrusive as they come. We were plenty happy with the Gladiator while riding. The Gladiator is for the person that wants a smaller shield.
The clean appearance of their unique bracket is achieved by mounting directly to the top clamp, leaving the bike’s handlebars and forks uncluttered.
On the Road with Johnny & Jay Will the real Kid Rock please stand up?
By Jay Barbieri Jay Barbieri produced and hosted American Thunder of the Speed Channel, authored the “Bikers Hand Book” and is currently the executive producer and host of Two Wheel Thunder on the Discovery Networks HD Theater. Johnny Lange is the founder and owner of Strip Club Choppers. A few years ago when I went to Sturgis to film for American Thunder, I had a few of my friends join up with me there. Paul and Darryl had never met before and the plan was for them to hook up in Wyoming then ride out to meet me in Sturgis.
I had warned Paul in advance that Darryl was a cop magnet and that he should be careful when riding with him. About 5 p.m. that evening they pulled into the hotel to meet me.
Of course Darryl had been pulled over by a cop already within the first ten minutes they were on the road.
The three of us hung out for a while, had a beer and then jumped on our bikes to head into town.
We where no more than two hundred yards out of the parking lot when a cop hits his lights and pulls Darryl over; something about rolling through a stop sign. That night we partied ‘til about 2 a.m.
About a mile from the Whitewood exit I ran out of gas. Paul and Darryl cruised by off the exit. Fortunately my cell phone was working so waited a few minutes and called Paul. Paul told me that a cop had Darryl pulled over at the top of the exit ramp and he didn’t know what he should do.
Trailer Kings & Sidecar Queens Getting cargo from A to B
By Dean Lambert
Trailers are a polarizing issue among motorcycling enthusiasts. “I Rode Mine to [insert rally here]” patches are worn proudly by so-called iron butts who scoff at the idea of pulling their scoots to events. But sometimes it is necessary when a rider needs to get below the freezing zone, is physically unable to ride long distances, or has limited time to spend at a rally.
If a trike is not your bag and you’d prefer not to ride with a passenger in the conventional two-up mode, perhaps a sidecar is in order. Sidecars change your riding dynamics a bit, but they provide flexibility that trikes do not — you can remove a sidecar and ride solo or two-up pretty quickly. Sort of a “trailer for human cargo.” (Or animal cargo, as you’ll learn.)
For your consideration, here’s a review of three Midwest manufacturers: N-Line, Aluma and Motorvation. The creativity and functionality offered by these companies is impressive and if you are not trailer-averse, these products are very compelling.
By Sean Goulart
Editor, www.MXNewsfeed.com, The #1 Rated Motocross Newsfeed
There are many ways for kids to have fun outdoors, whether on bikes or ATV’s and amateur motorcycle racing (motocross) is one of them. This two-part article will cover some things to consider if you are considering taking your child racing.
The first thing to remember as a parent is: this is all about fun for your kids, it’s not an exercise in developing a world champion racer, that’s another article completely. If you are going to be the typical “team parent” who stresses out and screams at the soccer coaches, you can forget about being a part of this sport.
If not, read on.
Kids are naturally competitive, it’s human nature. Whether siblings, classmates or neighbors, kids like to race, they like to compete and they like winning. If you’ve ever seen a child receive a $3.00 trophy, you’ll know what we mean.
So, if your child is showing some skills on the bike and you both want to try a bit of time on the track, here’s how you do it.
WTF?...Really! Write your best caption describing what you think is going on in this photo. If we like your caption we'll publish
it in the next issue of Throttler
Motorcycle Magazine.
Click photo to submit
David Mann: Outlaws who
saved biker history
David Mann — an American icon
known for his depiction of motorcycles
and the biker lifestyle — learned as
much from Iowa’s outlaw bikers as
they did from him. CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE
Throttler Magazine's 2009 Hole Shot
at the Iowa Speedway.
Filmed by Jay Knoll
We’ve all heard about outlaw biker clubs and likewise, we enjoy the television shows and documentaries that give us a glimpse into their lifestyles. Some of us might even revel in the thought of being a little devilish ourselves from time to time. 
At a recent bike night something caught our eye that we weren’t ready for. It was a custom V-Rod that was tricked out beyond our wildest imaginations. Now don’t get us wrong here, V-Rods look nice tricked out but as you can see in the photo, this is a beast beyond belief.
Back in March of this year for this publication, I termed the new Beemers K1600 GT/GTL as “probably the most significant motorcycling contribution of the year.” After spending some time on the GTL version, I’m convinced that was a very good prediction (OK, you can pat me on the back now). 
If you have windshield mounted storage pouches mounted to the inside of your windshield then you know that they look pretty nice from the seat of your bike and give easy reach convenience to your smaller items. But the pouches don’t look so hot when you stand in front of the bike. You can see right through the windshield to the back-side of the pouches and frankly they just don’t look right from there. They give an unfinished appearance from the front angle and standard trim pieces rarely give the amount of coverage needed to mask their appearance. 
The simple fact is that even the smallest of windshields cut the air flow so dramatically that it alters your riding experience completely. A windy day becomes less of an obstacle and a long ride is almost effortless with a large percent of the wind being cut out of the equation. 
A few years ago when I went to Sturgis to film for American Thunder, I had a few of my friends join up with me there. Paul and Darryl had never met before and the plan was for them to hook up in Wyoming then ride out to meet me in Sturgis.
