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March 2010 online edition:
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Fast, customized scooters
KS Power with possibly the next big thing
By R. Kabel
KS Power, of Indianola, Iowa, started out selling Chinese-made ATV’s and dirt bikes in 2004 after owner Jason Merfeld watched the television show “Two Wheel Tuesday” on Speed Channel. He was instantly hooked on scooters and their potential.
“They were showing these new, inexpensive motorcycles and ATV’s from China. This caught my attention, since a used 250cc road bike was going for $3000 at the time,” Merfeld says. “So I did some research and found a distributor of these in Chinese Products in Springfield, Missouri, I ordered six ATV’s and sold them all with in a week.”
After Merfeld’s initial purchases, he began purchasing container loads after that. KS Power was selling 20-plus units per month out of their garage. Sales were good, and they took everything they made and bought some used bikes, some accessories and moved out to their current location south of Indianola.
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Do you know?
Les Gorsline
By James Larson
Les Gorsline rides one of the big bikes and I mean BIG. It is a 2001 Boss Hoss trike, with a 383 small block Chevy in it. The rating is 450+ horsepower. Les states, “When I get on it hard, the front will pull up about eight inches; that is just pure power. At 14 mpg’s, I try not to do that too often. One of the best things about this bike is that it has a very large trunk in the back for my wheel chair, my tools and luggage and whatever else I need to haul.” You see, Les lost the use of his legs from an auto accident back in 1979. The T8 vertebra in his back was broken from that accident, leaving him unable to walk.
Les has been riding for a number of years. He has had two Harleys with side cars to haul his chair around. The last one he had was T-Boned on the left side, and as a result of that he lost his left leg from the knee down. He did love his Harleys, but the Boss Hoss fits his needs much better now. “To be honest, it looks so cool too and there’s not one on every corner you come to. It looks so cool to see it with all the chrome. That big engine sitting there ever so nice in the frame rails, along with the big tires and wheels on the back,” Les says. One thing nice about this bike is that he can pull into any auto parts store for his engine parts.
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Motorcycle Clothing
Getting a bang for your buck
By Tony Tice
There are many styles of clothing in the motorcycling industry for riders to choose from. Some pick form over function. Some pick function over form. Some pick leather over textile. I’m a function over form person. I prefer textile over leather. Not to say I don’t have my fair share of leather, there is nothing better for sliding across the pavement, I can attest to that.
Until recently, it was impossible to get technical function from leather gear. By technical function, I mean, the protection of leather combined with the technical functions of modern fabrics like Gore-Tex. Alpinestars, one of the World’s largest manufacturers of motorcycle gear, has combined the two in a garment with the protection of leather and the technical sophistication and function of Gore-Tex. I’m sure they did not do it for the sales, the jacket is $1,300, and the matching pants are $1,200 (they really don’t expect to sell many sets). They did it to prove they have the technical skills as a company to make the two completely different types of materials work together. The feeling and handling of it is “sick” and surprisingly light for a leather garment. The leather pieces are completely perforated and free flowing and 100 percent waterproof. A true contradiction of terms. I don’t understand how they did it but, I like it. And as a safety function, the piping of the coat is four times more reflective than the average reflective piping sewn into a jacket like this.
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Apparel tips for 2010
The right clothing can make or break a ride
By Sean Goulart, MXNewsfeed.com
FMF CLOTHING
FMF is well known throughout the motocross world, not only for their incredible selection of exhaust pipes, but more recently for their new line of moto-inspired apparel. Ranging from the old school “Classic Don” series of T-shirts to the more eyeball-searing cut of the “Erratic” fleece, the FMF lineup offers something for every motocross fan. We’d suggest a combination of fleece “Cargo” hoody for this cold winter season, and match that up with the “Boxter” belt for a coordinated look. The T’s retail for about $19.99. For more information visit www.FMFracing.com or contact your local FMF dealer.
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2010 Season Arrives
No time to waste. Buy it and put it on.
By Scott Chambers
Ahhh… There’s nothing like manning your two-wheeled machine in the heart of a Midwest winter. The arctic wind in your face as you navigate the twists and turns and the frozen snot on your beard lets you know you’re alive. Of course I’m not talking about your two-wheeler with “Harley-Davidson” on the gas tank, but rather the one with “Briggs & Stratton” or “Toro” stamped on the motor.
By now you’ve blown the snow off your driveway (or shoveled it for you hard-cores) for the fourteenth time in as many days. It’s pretty hard to keep your mind on the task at hand as dreams of spring consume you. The blowing snow, frozen pipes, nine-foot drifts, black ice, towing bans — it all seems so relentless and yet we all continue to yearn for the first warm day to get our bikes out.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE
Greetings motorcycle enthusiasts
Gearing up for the 2010 season
It’s great to be back publishing this magazine after our winter sabbatical, which consisted almost entirely of snow removal. We’ve heard from many of you over these long winter months, wondering when the next issue would be out. We appreciate all of your comments and thoughts and encouraging statements like “Great mag” and “Keep up the great work.”
Yes, it was a tough winter. Tougher than most by far. It seems that everyone has been in a funk and who can blame them. We certainly don’t want to dwell on the pain from the piercing cold and relentless snow because we’d much rather look forward to what really matters to all of us, the upcoming riding season... where the rubber finally meets the road, literally.
Since it’s been awhile since you’ve seen a new issue of Throttler magazine, we would like to take a moment to reintroduce ourselves.
We have a motto that we use to describe our magazine; “For Riders, About Riders, By Riders.” When we first launched Throttler in May of 2008, we did it without any financial backing from a parent company on the west coast or the east cost or anywhere in-between and we’re proud to be printed in the Midwest. We’re a group of riders from the Heartland that launched this magazine by ourselves without any constraints (or franchise cookie-cutter) beyond our own vision of what a respectful quality magazine is all about.
Our sole focus was/is to make a magazine that as long-time riders, we would want to read ourselves. It is vitally important to us that we publish it with high quality materials and that we keep it clean and clutter free. We want to be sure that our articles are 100 percent motorcycle based and not a bunch of incoherent rambling or articles that seem out of place.
Our advertisements had to be visually appealing and to the satisfaction of our advertising clients. We think we’ve hit a homerun on all of these points, and we hope that you agree that Throttler magazine is one of the finest free motorcycle publications around.
Lastly, we want to thank Fred and Jackie of F&J Racing in Marshalltown Iowa for assisting us last September with a break down. An end of summer ride found us in their neck of the woods with a flat tire. A quick call to Jackie and her and Fred came to the rescue. They’re the type of friends and business owners that exemplify the the best the Midwest has to offer. If you know them, you would agree. If you don’t, then get to know them.
Keep reading, keep contacting us and please always give first consideration to our advertisers. Without them, you wouldn’t be reading this.
As always — Ride Hard
Roderick Kabel & Scott Chambers
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